Iāve been eyeing the ZMF dynamic line of headphones for a while now and will probably end up being the next line of headphones iāll be purchasing next. Iāve been particularly looking at the Verite and Verite Closed. I know the entire line of flagship models are suppose to compliment each other but does it make sense to look at the Auteur line if I go with the Verites first?
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The Verites are compared to the Focal Utopia a lot. Elevated and extended treble and bass with a LOT of detail. The Auteur are more laid back with a neutral presentation. quite nice. So i think those would be good together. but the Aeolus is a darker headphone (unless you used the suede pads) but i suspect has similar tuning to the Verite. Maybe @M0N can weight in here.
From what i hear the Verite Closed has gotten a better reception than the open. and ive heard some people have problems with the verite ironwood closed. not sure what the problem is.
The neutral Auteur may give you a better idea of what the artist intended.
I think the aut is a different enough headphone from the verite to own both imo. Also perhaps consider the eikon as well as thatās a more fun tuning of the aut almost
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Iāve had the pleasure of listen to the auteur with my tube amp today. Iāve really been enjoying them so far so I thought Iād give them some props which I think they deserve. I donāt intend to A/B them with my Aeolus nor my Clear, but I will say that after listening to the Aeolus pretty much all week, the auteur provides a me a touch more bass, resolution, and aggressiveness that I wish it had.
One thing that Iāve noticed with the auteur is that it is pretty well balanced in my opinion. Iām impressed with the mids as I do feel this is where these excel. Some tracks with great vocals or strings or piano have stopped me in the middle of what I was doing demanded undivided attention. I find the bass to be very present and punchy with plenty of quantity with a good amount of kick, but not bloated. Likewise the treble on the auteur is resolving, I donāt find it sibilant and the detail is sufficient for my taste. It also does really well many types of music and Iām liking the bass heavy tracks, EDM, hip hop, which is a pleasant surpise.
tldr: balanced, does well with various music genres
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Who has tried any of the other pads outside of the stock Auteurās? Iāve heard from enough people that have mentioned that the Auteur can change up their signature a fair amount depending on the pad. Not surprising actually but curious what experiences others have had. Figured I would try out the ZMF universal suede but looking to test out at least one or perhaps two others. Eikons? Gracias.
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Welcome to the forum! I donāt have any experience with the Auteur, just wanted to say hi! 
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In Joshua Valors video he talks about how its changes with the suede. i think he tried another too. heres the video
I dunno, can you live with just one type of wood? 
Someday in the not-too-distant future a closed Verite will join my Eikons and Auteurs. It was easy to start with Auteurs and Eikons because I already had Utopia and Stellia for beryllium detail, and Auteur & Eikon are more different than just open and closed versions of the same headphone. I actually liked the Auteur sound bestāIām partial to open headphones when I can get away with themābut (back when my world involved working out of an office) closed-back headphones work better for the majority of my listening time. So I got both.
That mix of open-and-closed ZMFs has been a good way to stretch my experience with the line; since many accounts have described the open and closed Verites as a pretty close match, perhaps something like a closed Verite + Auteur or an open Verite + Eikon would be a good way to do the same?
Iām not sure anymore how much āoverlapā there is between Auteur/Eikon and Verite in terms of style / sound signature. However, what was once my justification for avoiding Verite before has become my justification for getting it now: the Eikon and Stellias are my two favorite headphones, and if the closed Verite is something of a marriage of the two it can only be a good thing.
Meanwhile, owning a couple pairs of ZMFs expands opportunities for pad-rolling, playing with multiple amps and tubes and whatever.
Does it make sense to own both? I suppose if you can afford to ask the question, you can afford to answer it. How many flimsy excuses lead to extravagant purchases in this hobby? Thatās rhetoricalāwouldnāt want to incriminate myself. 
Anyway, Iām probably a few weeks out from my Verites (I just got on the list), so Iāve got nothing but year-old listening impressions telling me that, yes, I absolutely need more super-pretty looking, super-pretty sounding ZMF headphones. Whenever they do come in Iām going to want to play with the line, anyway. I can come back with impressions to retroactively justify why it was worth owning both VC and Auteur (hint: itās the wood 
).
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MY REVIEW OF THE AUTEURS. ADDENDUM
Ok so in respose to my review @Zachary_Mehrbach said this
Now recently i just got a DarkVoice sitting in the quarentine zone (my dining room) And ive been thinking about what Zack said. So i finnaly pulled it out and unpacked it. I also had purchased a russian tube 6H8C i got off ebay for 10$. And WOW 
these headphones really come alive! Soundstage is increased. Bass sounds fantastic. and despite the reputation of tube amps i found the detail has increased. These headphones now sound fantastic!I The vocals pop much more to the fore than the Arya. Has a more natural presentation. These headphone now compete with the Aryaās.
So ive picked up this beautiful headphone, careful not to mar its charming surface, and have not put it back down. So what do i recommend now? The Arya or the Auteur? I recommend you get them both! WOOO! 
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This is making my LCD X and Eikon purchase in the future look like I need to purchase another ampā¦ I think itās time I go house shopping for the audio equipment.
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Guys these headphones sound really great on the RNHP amp. Great imaging and dynamics. Just wow.
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This should be good. 
I made an innocent comment to the video and he almost flipped on me; I should have known with his reputation and high sensitivity to anything but 100% appraisal of his stuff.
The video is actually decent and no rants, but either you are part of his private religion or he is attacking you, if you demean yourself to think you are worthy to comment his video.
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The TL;DW of that video is while the Auteur doesnāt excel at much, itās a great all rounder that does everything well. Itās has a natural and neutral sound that isnāt fatiguing at all.
What was that comment? LOL
I wrote this comment about his frequence of using his ZMF HPs:
āAll my ZMF HPās get usedā ā¦well, the dust on the Aeolus and the shelf seems to prove you wrong.
He then replyed:
Here we go. The nitpick train has left the station. Please, ignore the fact I paid for these headphones and am trying to help others who are interested, and instead concentrate on the dust and conclude I donāt use the very costly headphones. I just donāt understand what compelled you to bother writing that comment in the first place. What does it matter to you if I use my gear every day or twice a month?
The dust was thick and all over the Aoelus, and I would never accept that on my HPs. And it was so obviusly in contradition to what he said; he is right that it has nothing to do with the video as such, but it made my focus switch. Details are important and if you make a YT video you could at least show some clean HPs and not dust covered; I canāt take reviewers like that serious and thus it impact the review, for me at least. OCD strikken as I am.
It looks like he doesnt care about his HPs and for me, +1800$ is a lot of money and I take good care of my things accordingly. I meanā¦ if you want to make YT videos to people who appriciate high-end audio stuff, then dont show you treat the same things, like it doesnt matter to you what state they are in. Handle them with care and show that - THEN we can move on to talk about what you hear or dont hear.
Christā¦ 
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I was kind of bothered by the title. It feels like click bait to me. He doesnāt really address this question until the very end and the rest of the review is not really related to the idea of āis it a waste of moneyā. I donāt know, maybe this is just how he titles his reviews.
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I canāt say, I am not really following him. I have seen a few of his videos, but they were not to my taste.
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He tends to gush quite a bit in his reviews in quite a many cases and he canāt take criticism whatsoever. Definitely not the best reviewer despite being fairly intricate in his descriptions. Title is definitely click bait to invite ire from those who would get set off from a guy claiming itās a waste of money despite the video actually stating great things about the headphone.
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I really wish people would stop watching and sharing No Themeās reviews. He is an awful reviewer and does not deserve any attention he gets. He acts like a spoiled child and he should not be seen as a legitimate reviewer.
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