Are they in yet? The anticipation is hurting me, I canāt imagine how bad itās been for you.
Not yet. Last update Zach is expecting them to ship early next week. Any time now; theyāll be ready when theyāre ready.
The silver lining is that Susvaras are keeping me from suffering too badly. 
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Finally got a shipping notice today! Theoretically they will be here Friday, but given my track record with FedEx, Iām not holding my breath for all to go smoothly. My Pendant delivery ended up held up at my local distribution center for 4 days before the truck they were on was finally unloaded, and then my driver failed to deliver it, so I had to chase it down myself. If everything doesnāt go perfectly smoothly Iāll likely have to wait until after the holiday weekend.
Still, this is the final countdown.
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So near yet so farā¦LOL. Itās good you bought more GREAT stuff to hold you over till arrival! I hope you enjoy the heck out of them too!
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Thatās guaranteed. The full measure of this wait will finally come to light when I get to post the great reveal, lol.
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Whatās your wood called?
My left cup is James Westfall and my right one is Dr. Kenneth Noisewater.
Seriously, though, this is stabilized maple. Stabilized woods are thoroughly dried and then injected with epoxies or other āstabilizingā agents that can give them exotic colors. Combined with burl woods and other interesting grain patterns they can make for incredibly unique and exotic headphones.
Zach has publicly discussed the arrival of stabilized wood in recent live streams as well as some older threads on Head-Fi, but theyāre finally arriving. Keep an eye out for official announcements. If I hear anything Iāll definitely pass it on here.
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Canāt say itās for me (the stabilization process) but I can certainly appreciate the additional craftsmanship and consistency that you can get out of the end result (from a density standpoint) and the outcome is truly unique. The stand is no slouch either.
Can you hear the voice of god with them?
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Pretty much, yes. Tonight has been another absolute treat of a listening experience.
I had previously heard V open briefly at CANJAM, but never V Closed. Expectations were already high, of course, but Iām pretty much blown away. Seriouslyāanyoneāare there any other closed headphones that can compete with these?
Iād heard they have an open stage, but theyāre a very convincing out-of-head experience. Like, if I didnāt put these on my own head Iād have a hard time believing theyāre closed, except, oh yeah, I canāt hear anything but the music so thereās some serious isolation happening.
The signature ZMF warmth is there, and a richness to the mids thatās intoxicating. Iām not sure how much of that (and the amazing 3D staging) is coming from my Pendant, but I havenāt felt any need or desire to change a single thing to find out.
Meanwhile, they have absolutely razor sharp detail, but without a hint of aggression. Yet, they did a fine job of rendering Korn and maintaining their intensity while separating and enunciating all the various busy elements of the track I sampled. Unlike the Eikons, which Iāve always felt were a specialist heapdhone that elevate vocals and acoustic tracks to a new level, VCs seem to be deftly handling whatever I throw at them.
Itās going on irresponsibly late oāclock, but I keep finding just one more track to add to the queue. Iām going to have to wrap this up and try to go to bed, feeling like a kid at Christmas who gets to open the same present again tomorrow.
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they look wicked with the bocote salire, what pads are you using with those?
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Well, I was pretty sure theyāre the standard Verite padsāwhatever came preinstalled. Thereās an extra set of pads in the wood box that Iām pretty sure are the Universe. And the other pads I was expecting are all wrapped and labeled ā¦ including one that says āVerite,ā which means the ones on the headphones are a bit of a mystery unless I accidentally got a second set of Verite pads.
So I may have to ask, lol. Iām not too worried about the pads just yet since Iāve heard plenty of reports that significant amounts of burnin are needed, so Iām going to stick with the defaults for a spell then try rolling pads down the road.
Nice, I think the default pads are the auteur lambskin pads. I opted for auteur hybrid and eikon suede along with the defauly. Hopefully Iām not missing out too much without the universals. Just canāt justify having 4 set of pads I guessā¦ Now is the painful 5 to 10 weeks of wait for meā¦
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The Verite C usually ships with Auteur Lambskin pads installed, and an extra set of Universe.
If I remember rightly, plus what you order.
The Auteur Are angled.
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Damn those are pretty, finally some real competition to the Russian made Kennertonsā¦ GO 'Murica! @Zachary_Mehrbach 
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Thank you, yesāthatās exactly right. Says so on the VC LTD page, whatās included. I should have checked there first, lol. Instead I was combing through old emails to recall which pads I had ordered and then attempting process of elimination vs pictures on the ZMF pads page to figure out what was left. And what was left was the one pad I hadnāt explicitly asked for, lol:
https://www.zmfheadphones.com/pads-and-cables
āIs this oval centered? How ovally is it? If I hold it sideways, howās the angle?ā Lol.
That Auteur and Verite pads look identical at a glance; the ear cavity dimensions only vary by a couple mm (Auteur being 3mm taller and 1mm narrower). The crucial difference is rake angle, with the Verite pad being flatter overall.
Anyway, mystery solved and I can stop scratching my head about why I thought I had 2 sets of Verite pads!
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Iāve seen pictures of labels on the inside of the edge that goes in the slot on some ZMF pads.
None of mine have them, so I donāt know if they were a small run with them, or my orders were filled from stock without them.
What amp are you guys pairing them with. My current amps are the 887s and darkvoice 336se. Thinking of spending sub 1k on it, and feels like a better tube amp is called for, any thoughts?
You could get something around the 1k mark used to drive them well, but imo something around the 2k mark for an amp and 1k ish for the dac might be a nice performance sweet spot
I run mine off a Lampizator Amber 3 into a DNA Stratus, but while I love how that sounds, you really donāt need to spend that.
They sound pretty phenomenal from a Bifrost 2 into a ZMF Pendant, which is closer to the price point @M0N mentioned.
Bifrost2 into a Haggerman Tuba (if you replace the stock tubes) also sound pretty damn good if the Pendant is too much of a stretch.
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