I would be more concerned about whatever they hit than the 1266 themselves.
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How do you like the Auteur on your G111 amp?
I no longer own a G111. But I like it a lot on all of my amps. But it does sound best on my Quicksilver Headphone Amp.
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Got my Auteur in Wenge around 2-3 weeks ago. Had to make an account to rave about them a little bit (excuse my lack of images, I am under new user restrictions)!
A little bit about me. I am a full-time Graduate Student under an RA (So make very little money). With the pandemic, music became a much larger part of my workflow. I had originally used a Sennheiser Hd 58x and Schiit Fulla 2, which I had for a few years. The long and short of it is that I was looking for a direct upgrade. I got the Auteur because I wanted to not have to purchase another upgrade any time soon. Presently I am running the Auteur single ended out of an Asgard 3, fed by a Motu M4.
Everytime I sit down to work I am floored by how amazing these are. I often get distracted as the music jusr feels so real. I just want to sit back and relax. So in some ways I have to listen to less music to get my work done, lol.
One question I had was about pad swaps. I got the Eikon Suede as a secondary pad option. The sound changes a lot in a way that I canāt really describe. Like the soundstage gets smaller, but the presentation feels more diffuse. So I have to turn up the volume to get the levels of the vocals to match. I initially didnāt like them compared to the Auteur Lambskin pads, but I spent a few days with them and they are quite enjoyable! I just wish I knew exactly what was going on so I could explain it. Does anyone have measurements they could share?
Anyway, theyāre awesome and Iāma keep them 'till I die. 
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According to the ZMF site, the Eikon pads are warmer than the default Auteur pads. More lush and fuzzy, maybe losing some detail retrieval, but gaining someā¦ pleasantness in the treble or mids maybe? I donāt know, just guessing based upon the diagram.
How is the comfort of the Auteur? The weight? Coming from the 58x, a light Sennheiser, do you notice the headphones on your head overly much? If you wear glasses, does it both you at all to wear glasses while wearing the Auteur?
With the Auteur vs. the 58x, also, would you say you routinely notice new things in the music you are listening to, or is it moreso just a refinement across the board of the sound?
Like you, Iām considering buying top tier or class so as not to be left guessing about it and make several purchases in rising increment of quality/price before then. Saves me time and money, I figure. Also like you, I use headphones while I work basically throughout the day.
Enjoy! Glad youāre happy.
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But at the same time, Suede is somehow supposed to be more neutral than Lambskin. I donāt wear glasses, so thatās not an issue. Weight is a tad more than I am used to, but itās not at all a problem if you wear them for a few hours. I wouldnāt do 8+ hours straight though. If youāre like me, and work in 2-3 hour chunks with 5 minute stretch breaks every 30-45 minutes then you should have no issue.
If you have a VR headset, do NOT use these with them. They donāt clamp enough to stay on your head if you whip it around that fast. I use the sennheiserās for that.
Detail is definitely way up! It feels like I can hear everything. Like nothing at all is lost. This also means that most of my music library sounds like a dumpster fire. Most of the music I own is shared with my family, and I took that iTunes library and uploaded it to Google Play (R.I.P). Re-downloading this library caused a lot of the files to undergo additional compression, so I can hear the generational artifacting. Not fun.
But on the music I have acquired since, they are absolutely stellar! Canāt find even a single complaint.
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What would you say is the better headphone for electronic - whether expansive, atmospheric and ambient electronic music, or more trebly synthy electronic music - the Auteur or the Aeolus?
Hmmmm.I own both and that is a good question as it depends on what you are driving them withā¦ For the majority I prefer the Auteur but occasionally for specific music it is the Aeolus. Tubed I say Auteur for sure ā¦ SS COULD be the Aeolus but once again not alwaysā¦ Sorry as this probably does not help at all.
Iāve been meaning to write a first impressions for the auteur since I got them five days ago but I find it hard to write down my thoughts of a headphone without listening to them at the same time but I find that I canāt get my thoughts down without the headphone pulling me back into just listening to the music. That being said I can give some very basic impressions for now as iāve got around 30 hours of listening done on them so far. Iāll also be comparing them a bit to the Focal Elex as that was my best headphone before the auteur.
Comfort-
The first thing I feel needs mentioning is that for me personally the co-pilot pad is a requirement, I tried listening before putting it on for about 2 min before I felt a pretty bad hot spot forming on the top of my head but after putting the co-pilot pad on I was able to wear them for about 10 hours before having to take them off.
The ear pads arenāt as thick as I thought they would be but are very comfortable and I never found them to get uncomfortable during any amount of time I spent listening to the headphone.
Part of this might also have to do with how well they clamp, Which is a tiny bit tighter but exactly what you would want for a heavier headphone.
Build-
For build all I can say is if you havenāt seen or held a zmf in person, However nice you imagine the wood to be from images its significantly nicer in person, These are the most luxurious thing iāve seen or touched in person and iāve had the lucky opportunity to drive a Porsche 911 before.
I was also extremely lucky with my set and got some amazing spalting across both sides and a beautiful knot on the left cup.
Sound-
This is the one I canāt really be that in-depth about right now but eventually I might be able to go more into detail In a month or two.
The overall characteristic to these headphones for me is silky. It has this feeling of smoothness to all the details and vocals that isnāt really like any other headphone iāve had before this one while simultaneously being more detailed than the elex was. Itās not like it doesnāt have texture to it either, It just feels to an extent like there is an extra layer of sound being added in.
The low end is also the tightest and deepest Iāve heard on any headphone but is only as strong as the recording makes it, It never feels as if itās coloring the base or intruding on the mix.
The highs are crisp and sparkly but also get some of that soft and silky character I mentioned before without sounding unnatural.
The mids I canāt really fully explain but once again have that silky feeling and to me almost sound a tiny bit recessed but not really in a bad way, I feel this gives them a woody characteristic and contributes to the width of the sound stage.
Some of the other characteristics to this headphone is that they sound quite a bit bigger than the elex and have a larger soundstage to elex as well. That being said the shape of sounds in the headphones arenāt quite as realistic as the elex but also thatās something focal headphones are known for and only people who have owned or heard focalās can really understand.
The headphone also isnāt quite as clear as the elex and I almost want to say not as tonally life like either but the auteurs excel in a different kind of way for a life like sound, Itās hard to explain but the elex has more of a clean sound almost like the instruments are outside without losing any of there tonality from a lack of reflections, The auteur on the other hand feels like your listening to the music without any recording properties in a basement or a pub, It has a soul too it almost like your hearing the music before it even reaches the studio.
Sorry for the slight ramble but my overall conclusion so far for these headphones is that they are absolutely worth the price. Despite this being my most expensive purchase in audio itās the first time Iāve had zero buyerās remorse which I even had some way back when I bought my 6XXās.
For some reference Iām using them with the original JDS EL stack and my favorite bands consist of King Crimson, Portishead and massive attack, I also listened to a lot of classic rock throughout my time with them so far.
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Can anyone give some advice on what secondary pads I should get? Iām pretty sure I donāt want anything brighter over the default. I typically donāt like anything bright or V-shaped.
But ideally I donāt want any loss of clarity/detail either like was suggested with the Eikon pads.
I canāt personally give a recommendation since I went with the suede Eikon pads as a second but if you donāt get the advice your looking for on this form Iād recommend emailing ZMF. There super nice and Iām sure they would help you find the right pad for your listening preferences.
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Oh my god theyāre so beautiful, whatās the wood and finish etc???
So beautiful
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Itās just the stock maple but with a mahogany stain.
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Itās so beautiful, thank you, Iāve been wondering what wood to get the Auetur in. I think this would be it. Love the brass
Thoughts after the first few days:
- For context Iāve never heard ZMFs before, or anything really TOTL or higher end than Audeze 2Csā¦
- Itās really obvious that Zach is a musician, or frequents live shows, they have a ābeing at a good sounding venueā quality. Not sure if is the resonance playing with the wood, or the driver itself, but they have this kind of airiness or space about them without loosing detail or feeling ālostā.
- They have tremendous bass, itās not like ācampfire cascade bass cannon bone shaking rumbleā as much as it is incredibly punchy and very well controlled. They reach down into sub-bass, and without losing the lower midsā¦nice
- Vocals are wild. I bought these because I wanted something kind of mid-focused and Focals (Clear/Elex) give me a crazy hotspot after 20 minutes. At very first listen I thought āoh no, these donāt have the vocal punch or super forward upper mids of the focalās, iāve made a horrible mistakeā, but now I prefer these. Itās not as crazy forward as the Elex, but the ārenderingā, or āpresentationā ends up being more appealing. Itās relatively forward sounding, they obviously step out from the lower mids, but they just have clarity to itā¦ āeuphonyā I guess is the ZMF word.
- Exceedingly comfortable. I donāt mind big, or heavy cans if the pads and headband are comfy, but I will tolerate 0 hot spots or āpinchā above my ears on the sides of my head. These check every box, and I have no issues with all day (8+hr) use.
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Love to see the first impressions. I canāt wait to own my Auteurs one day.
Speaking on the comfort Definitely seek out a suede co-pilot pad and your favourite variant of suede ear pads that combo is like a pillow on your head. Great for winter months. If you like comfort its like a warm blanket on a cold night so comfy.
If you wanna see what that combo looks like:
^OP^
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