Atrium

Zmf Atrium open, Auteur classic, and the 6xx.

If budget is no limit I think the atrium is a good endgame pick. Auteur classics are there as well if you prefer a more neutral mid focused headphone.

ZMF Atrium open, stunning sound, stunning to look at, stunning to hold, stunning to smell ❤️❤️😄

Well I had the open version of the atrium and never had an issue with the treble. I am very treble sensitive and HDB630 also was too bright pre-eq. Probably the closed version is brighter? I am not surprised at all, as far as I know the atrium closed is not generally very well regarded

I tried the HE1000 stealth for gaming and thought it sounded a little off. If I recall correctly, the soundstage was a bit more “tall” than it was wide, which didn’t work well for games. Currently, I’m using a ZMF Atrium Open and use it for gaming on occasion. It’s been great so far and really adds a three-dimensionality to games. Other ZMFs may work as well depending on budget.

Hi Everyone! TL;DR: The ZMF Atrium Redwood Burl are works of art and sound incredible, super happy. I was on a mission to try out several headphones I've been unable to demo elsewhere and hopefully come away with an idea of what would be next for me. I've been spoiled for choice with some of the local shops here in the Twin Cities area but a few brands/higher-end options haven't been available. I reached out to ZMF to ask if they offer workshop tours and have demo units available to try. I thought I'd make a trip to Chicago and pay them a visit. While they do have kind of open-house days, they also told me they'd be at AXPONA. I'm a bit embarrassed to say I'd not heard of it prior, as I had only known of Canjam. I had previously lived in the LA area so the show was there all the time, but I had been pretty happy with my HD800S and LCD-X for a while, so I had not visited in years. I decided I'd visit AXPONA since pretty much everyone would be there and I'd be able to demo pretty much anything I'd be looking for. I made the rounds and tested several headphones out I had been considering and pretty much steered clear of the options that are $10k+ or of questionable quality/new brands. Any and everything was there to demo, but I didn't want try stuff that would linger in the back of my mind and ruin my wallet (Warwick) or disappear from existence in a few years. I tried the Audio Technica ADX3000 and ADX7000, ZMF Auteur Classics, Atrium, Tessidera, and Caldera. I also tried the Hifiman Arya Organic and Arya Unveiled despite being a Hifiman hater. I'd pretty much tried other contenders at the local shops; Meze Empyrean II and Elites, Audeze LCD5, Focal Utopia and Clear MGs, and Fostex TH1100RP. I like my HD800S, but I've since given them to my wife and I wanted kind of the "next level" for open backs and perhaps something with a bit more bass (thanks Sony) and "different" tuning. The ADX3000 and ADX7000 both had interesting tuning and I'd have loved to listen to them longer, but I didn't like any of the AT pads, the ear opening is just too small for my ears. The Hifimans I tried: The Arya Unveiled made me nervous to touch it ,and the booth had it hooked up to a laptop with literally only one Led Zeppelin song in windows media player. I didn't sit there long. The Arya Organic sounded pretty good, but I could not get them to feel secure on my head. Huge ear openings and relatively comfortable, but they kind of sloshed around on my head. Unfortunately for them, I had already visited the ZMF booth and the wood veneer and overall build quality just felt bad (I'd hazard to say not just bad by constrast, but just objectively bad). I also didn't listen to them for very long either as the track-list available at the Moon Audio booth was pretty poor and the folks working there were kind of cold / perhaps more interested in peddling cable snake oil to old folks with more money than sense. Sidebar: Shame on the audio industry and a lot of the trade show vendors for just making up lies about cables. I heard a vendor I won't name talking about $5000 speaker wire and $9000 1m long XLR cables. Onto the ZMF booth. Auteur Classics - like the HD600s but more of everything, including weight. I felt these would cause some discomfort for longer listening sessions and they didn't quite feel like "enough" of an upgrade to my ears from what I'm used to. I tried the new Tessidera and Caldera and both also felt too heavy for me despite the otherwise great ergonomics. I also think in contrast to the Atrium the timbre and the midrange of those planars just didn't hit right with me. I think they're both very technically competent with interesting tuning, but the key here is contrast. So the Atriums. Kind of funny, both my wife and I had the same general first impression, "wow". I sat with these the longest as it was clear to me these struck a lot of the right chords (pun intended). To sum them up in simplest terms, they have authority. Notes have heft/impact. The mids/upper mids are a bit forward, the bass hits hard, the treble is detailed, but not too bright. Instrument separation is good, sound stage isn't huge, but it's not overly intimate. Others have written more eloquently than me on how these sound, so I won't go on. I had a separate problem now, can I get one? The folks working the booth were great, especially Bevin, she was super helpful and very gracious. We went through the list of options they had available there and I felt like a kid in a candy store. There were so many wonderful combinations to choose from. The decision was complicated by some banter between Zeos, Bevin, and Zach. There was discussion of boneless versus bone-in chicken, chef boyardee resin stabilized LTDs, etc. I'm just standing there admiring the different wood, chassis, and grill choices. A truly surreal experience. Ultimately the Redwood Burls suited me best. Coming in at almost exactly 500 grams, they are hefty, but among the lighter options there because of their lower density. They have a really great sonic character and look stunning. The Atriums are a really special headphone that just ended up doing more right for me than everything else I've tried recently and I've been super happy listening to them the past few days. To those that made it all the way through, thanks for reading. If you have questions about why I chose these over some of the other models listed, I can answer in the comments, this post is already too long.

I kind of messed with Zeos a bit and said "what kind of chicken are we talking about here? Wings?" My preference of course is bone-in wings. That might have been the least odd thing discussed in that conversation....haha. I'm sorry to hear you didn't have a good experience with them at CanJam. I got there shortly after opening on the first day of the show, so maybe I caught them before they were worn down. That environment seems like it'd be pretty stressful for an exhibitor. Lots of needy/picky/chatty booth attendees that aren't going to buy anything, keeping track of your demo units, poor wifi cutting off your Roon server, etc. Not to mention the smells...some people there really need to bathe or do better with their hygiene.

There’s a massive difference in tonality. The LCD-X doesn’t seem to have very good timbre and the mid range is a bit recessed. They’re less energetic overall, though the bass is far tighter and extends deeper. Fun for certain soundtracks or basshead stuff, that’s about it. Most vocals sound off to me with them. In contrast, almost everything sounds great on the Atrium, especially vocals. The bass control leaves a little to be desired compared with the Audeze or my Sonys though. The mid bass does bleed a little into the mids.  The Audeze are also over 100g heavier and the adhesive pads is a minus. The leather headband also stretches quite quickly. Overall ergonomics are just worse. The ear cup screw works itself loose over time and you have to tighten it up every once in a while. 

I’ve had the emu-teaks, ft1s, Liric 2s, now have the SJY Horizon Carbon closed back and the SJY are easily my favorite. I’ve tried the dan Clark’s noire x and e3, and the ZMFs at shows (so take that for what it is worth) and like the SJY best, and that’s only using it on the Gremlin amp for now. My favorite open back are ZMF AO.

The Atrium Open rolls off in the sub-bass without EQ, but the Atrium Closed will bring that biodyna subbass slam and rumble stock.

3-5 feels right. An open back, a closed back, and an IEM perhaps. For me: - Daily driver open back (HD800S) - Warm open back for relaxing (ZMF Atrium) - IEMs - commuting and isolation in the warmer months (U4S) - Daily driver closed back, I've yet to find something for this Collecting based on driver tech doesn't work for me. I've never heard a planar I got along with, unfortunately. Even most closed-backs and sealed IEMs give me fatigue.