đŸ”¶ ZMF Auteur & Auteur Classic

Headphones [Official] Open Back
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I was under the impression the Auteur was one ZMF’s more popular models. Is that not the case? I almost never see these go up for sale.

Also has anyone done some comparisons between the stock cable and OFC cable? ZMF says the OFC cable sounds better. But if that’s true then I don’t see why he wouldn’t make that the new stock cable since it’s only slightly more expensive. He charges $70 for OFC and $50 for stock.

From the store page
"This is an immediate upgrade from any standard headphone cable, the added liveliness and quality is immediately noticeable. "

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Maybe it’s because we’re all keeping our Auteurs :wink:

To be honest though, I don’t think it has the same hype has either the Eikon or Verite though. With that being said, it is still a superb headphone and I am glad I have mine.

The OFC cable is actually stock on the flagship models. I am sure the kept the “stock” cable on the mid to lower end models just to keep the pricing tiered. You can see similar logic where the Verite has the magnesium chassis stock as well

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Oh there is hype and deep conflict but I know personally if I had to have 1 ZMF for balanced everything
 I’d get the Auteur personally. Since I have other headphones that compete with the Auteur’s neutral space. The Auteur I think is the single headphone to get from ZMF coming from a matrix of characteristics and compromises to have. I can say if I had Auteur, I’d keep it.

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That’s it lol.

But I wonder if I’d like the Eikon more. If I remember right, both Josh Valor and Max Settings said the Auteur was comparable in tonality (or maybe just feel) to the 6XX. Which is partly why I’m leaning that direction. Do you think that’s a reasonable comparison?

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I think where they got that comparison is that the Auteurs and most of the ZMF line is tone and timbre focused. I personally think it shines on timbre in particular.

I would describe the Auteur as a neutral signature with a touch of forwardness on the treble. There is zero fatigue though. The bass goes low and texture. It has very good slam and fun.

It is definitely a great all-rounder, that in my opinion, surpasses the Senn 6-line a decent amount.

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was wondering if someone could confirm if this is a magnesium chassis auteur

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This is the one

This is the one headphone I wanted ever since I started this hobby. Four years in and they’re finally mine.

The ZMF Auteur in Ambrosia Maple

In 2019, I was lucky enough to live within an hour of the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. I went with the intention of going to the Hifi Guides room and hopefully spend some time listening to cans before committing to anything. When my wife and I finally found the room, I met Zach and Bevin (they were chatting with Z) and found out they had a booth set up! We ended up spending about an hour listening to the entire ZMF line and I was finally able to put a sound to the breathtaking design. I instantly fell in love with the Auteur (and the Vérité open). It took me a year to finally commit to purchasing (I first went with Arya as my end game but wanted a comparably priced dynamic to compliment them).

Warm, spacious, and detailed.

Amazingly easy to listen to. I love warm sound signatures. The Auteur definitely delivers. I’ve been running these off of a Darkvoice (tube swapped) fed by an RME ADI-2 fs. The low end is present with a fine sub bass extension that doesn’t feel forced. Gooey mids. Treble that makes you notice details you might have missed, while really emphasizing female vocals without being “shouty” or harsh.

Great soundstage and imaging. Not quite up to par with the Arya (the Arya has slightly better forward presence) but feel as though to compare the two isn’t fair as they are both amazing in their own right and I can’t justifiably compare a dynamic to a planar IMO.

The Auteur is wide, but doesn’t sound stretched or artificial.

I won’t speak to the build but I can confirm what others have said a thousand times: these are some of the most beautifully crafted and quality feeling headphones I’ve ever held. WAY lighter than I thought they’d be and very comfortable for long periods.

I can’t speak highly enough about these cans.

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@gmoeller18 Happy for you. They are on my someday list too.

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AGHHHGHAGGHHG, it’s posts like this that make me really excited for my auteur in wenge that I ordered recently. I had this on my list for a long time, and only recently I decided the time had come. I’m happy to hear you enjoy them as much as you do, and from what you and many others have said about it I can only look forward to hearing them for myself. Take care of those beauties, and enjoy the music!

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Some random disjointed thoughts on the Auteur since I’ve had a week to listen to them


If I sell my Auteur, it will probably be for funds to purchase a standard Focal Clear and any remaining funds would be saved for future upgrades. I definitely regret selling them.

The Auteur is making it more difficult on me as they are growing on me. I’m well over 200 hours of burn in and they haven’t changed much from the 100 hour burn in mark. I think 100 is more than sufficient for the Auteur.

The treble has settled down enough to not annoy me, but there is a peak somewhere in the upper mids that I don’t like. It isn’t fatiguing or anything, I just don’t like that peak. It is what is causing some of the shoutiness. Tubes seem to help the aggressiveness of that peak a lot.

Besides the wider soundstage (compared to other ZMF’s), the other thing I have noticed about the Auteur that I do like is they have really good depth. Layering is so-so, but the depth is fantastic and the vertical imaging may be better than the standard left center right imaging.

Resonance on stringed instruments is phenomenal, which is something that sets it apart from the Aeolus and something it may do better than the clear (probably due to the damping, wood, and semi open nature of the Auteur). Extremely realistic sounding.

If that shoutiness wasn’t there, I’d be in love with them. That is what is causing my ho hum attitude towards them.

The way I see things is if you prefer the HD600 you’ll prefer the Auteur, if you prefer the HD650 you’ll probably prefer the Aeolus. It isn’t a certainty, but the probability is higher IMO.

Also I have only used the Auteur Perforated Leather pads. I’ve tested on my Soekris dac1321 > Violectric HPA V200, Schiit Bifrost 2 > Bottlehead Crack Speedball, Schiit Bifrost 2 > Monoprice Liquid Platinum (Capacitor Modded), and my Schiit Modius > Schiit Asgard 3. All FLAC through foobar2000 ranging from 16/44 to 24/192.

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A bit late with the reply, but I think that’s the standard chassis. The magnesium chassis is a lighter color.

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happy 4 u dude! that’s great! life is about setting goals and you reached one of your audio goals!

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So after some more time listening to the Auteur, I have decided to keep them. The combination of physical burn-in and “brain burn-in” has worked wonders. They are still a bit more neutral than my typical sound signature preferences
but that is actually what I was looking for since all of the other headphones I currently own are warm or slightly U shaped. I personally believe the Auteur excel with Jazz, Soul, R&B, Classic Rock and Progressive Rock the most. Metal can be a bit too aggressive on them.

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The Wenge LTD got took down, I wonder if they have a new LTD for the auteur coming up


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That could be the stock of that wood exhausted. They still have the regular Auteur and unless something comes up it might be November until a new wood is added.

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My Ambrosia Maple Auteur came in today.

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Beautiful.

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Wow, beautiful! Love the pattern

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We could always use more ZMF porn here

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Approaching the 150hr mark and to me the Auteur is
:ok_hand:

Love it on both of my tube amps. The SW51+ having lo and hi Z gives the Auteur different sound signatures that is a good change of pace. And the BHC gives it even more when the mood calls for it.

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