what headphones do you own thread - i own dt150's :)
- Thread starter garyfl
- Start date
Caporegime
- Joined
- 20 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 77,350
- Location
- Wish i was in a Ramen Shop Counter
That's the thing, no reviews....but you can always buy and pay later option...it sounds like one of those midnight oil production from the same line but not sold under the same brand.
Last edited:
An itch I'm struggling not to scratch, I'm a sucker for black with copper or gold accents and a sucker for dark wood and black, both together irresistible.
But from all the comments I've seen I don't think the sound tuning of them is for me so I'm not in a rush to spend £700 on them.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 20 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 77,350
- Location
- Wish i was in a Ramen Shop Counter
They do look pretty, but the next upgrade over the i5 I think has to be the ZMF Bokeh. Going to see what black friday sales brings.
Ah OK. I assumed it was a clone.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 20 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 77,350
- Location
- Wish i was in a Ramen Shop Counter
If these are made in China, it's something that happens, or anywhere in the world where people are greedy I suppose. Kinda under the noses of the IP owner, outside their allocated production time, the factory would make the same thing and sell them as knock offs. It's usually cheaper electronics though. Because of this, QC is almost always not good because they don't have all the time to do that. Or may be even these are B-grade that didn't pass QC for ZMF and the factory just are selling these to recoup some money back.
It is VERY pot luck, from it being iffy in quality, don't have all the accessories of the original, and outright scam.
Otherwise, I can't explain how these looks the same, they would require the tooling and moulds to copy it like that and it would cost too much money. Or just use the existing tooling and moulds outside the production hours and make a bunch of knock offs.
If it’s a scam then you might end up with headphones but totally different ones.
Last edited:
Soldato
- Joined
- 27 Jul 2005
- Posts
- 13,301
- Location
- The Orion Spur
ZMF Bokeh is very nice, good price for what is as well.
Yeah it's not going to be worth side stepping unless they have a feature that is important to you, I don't think it sounds like there is, and the overall sound signature of the i5 is actually very good, the imaging is good, the soundstage is good, it's just not as resolving at the upper mids and upper end as mentioned, though in isolation it sounds very good just as other reviews have mentioned and I agree with some that said they don't sound like a regular planar headphone.
It may well be a good thing for a another reason, and probably the same reason I found, once you put them on the head or handle something more comfortable or with different build quality, the rabbit hole gets deeper lol. I think right now with the HE1000se I have hit a peak, I've auditioned the Susvara, wasn't a fan of the comfort, auditioned the HD800S, wasn't a fan of the build quality (HE1000se feels tougher), and have the LCD-5 for however long and whilst these do feel better built than the HE1000se (thicker frame, smaller footprint so the density in a smaller package is always going to feel more robust), the Hifiman just wins on overall comfort and weight whilst on the head.
At least those are the mainstream comparisons anyway, I have no idea how the custom cans like ZMF Bokeh etc feel, though following on from a previous comment, never really aligned with the styling of them I guess so interest was always low. Maybe one day, they are not cheap!
I felt the same with the HD650, tried other dynamics for years and still went back to HD650, never tried planar as at the time people would complain about brightness/harshness and the massive egg shapes styling never appealed to me, at least looking at them through a screen anyway.You were up burning the midnight oil on that one.
From afar (i.e. through a browser window) those i5's look like they are in the same class next to the HE1000se's. I'm sure the latter are nicer to the touch and are noticeably better build quality, but again the i5's just look nice. At some point I'm going to have to try a planar, although I have my suspicions I'm a fan of dynamic drivers, but I'll never be sure until I try one I suppose. That said I'm still not over my HD 6x0 addiction so it'll have to wait.
Does the AMP make much difference to these?
When the i5's hit retail it is possible they come down in price. I noted when the Fosi K7 launched to retailers in April it was £189.99. It's quickly come down to £169.99. And there is a lot of competition in the headphone space.
I own CC an apology. They emailed me this morning and have sent me more stickers for free. So CC are awesome, can vouch for them!
i5 does looks the part alongside more expensive headphones, I think the photos demonstrate that for sure, the feel of the frame is nice and perfectly fine, but the metal bits feel like the headband metal and yolks like on the Ananda headphones, flat pressed/bent metal with straight cut edges instead of being thick and rounded off like on the Arya and above. I guess you could say it stands up to visual scrutiny, but look a bit closer and you can tell where some costs have been saved, like the marketing says the metal grilles are CNC machined aluminium, which is correct, but run the grilles through with your fingers and you can feel the straight cuts on the edges as they have not had a smoothing pass done like on other headphones with metal grilles. You'd never know from just looking though and it's subtle but it is noticeable if you're looking for it.
They're 28 ohm with 98dB (edit, official specs page isn't up it seems to double check) sensitivity, so not really hard to drive or get loud, I think any amp will do them justice, though as they are not your typical planar sound, I wonder how the DX5 II drives them, @Raymond Lin should be able to confirm this.
The other thing is you can tune the sound in a couple of ways, removing the white bung in the diaphragm, and removing the bass sealing ring to tone down the bass but uplift some of the upper range, I have only briefly explore one part of that though before I realised I'd heard enough to get a gist for their performance.
If I still had the Ananda Nano and was looking for a genuine upgrade, then I think the i5 would definitely be it and it would be a minimal extra cost upgrade too. From the Arya Stealth though? Not so much based on my experience anyway. Different amps and chains and ears will of course produce different results.
I also think at the £340 odd paid to back the project for this bundle is pretty excellent value, though it was said elsewhere that the final retail price is going to be closer to the 550 mark so be interesting to see what happens there and what is included for that price. The kickstarter project's base level package did not include a 4.4mm cable iirc, so you'd need to price up accordingly if that's the case.
Last edited:
Yea, Takstar spring to mind from years ago with their early headphones. I know they branched out. That said I'm not sure I'd could stomach over £400 on that risk. That's nearly two HD 600s!
Yea, the dynamic vs. planar pops up on head-fi every so often. I think I'd probably be happy with either and appreciate them for their strengths.
£476 buy it now price with no warranty and a cable downgrade is a little optimistic, the retail price isn't even known yet. The Arya Stealth was cheaper a couple of days ago and I'd expect the price to drop back down.I will sell the i5 on, but I will be keeping that awesome upgrade cableWill chuck the Tripowin cable in with the i5 instead.
The headband ruins the look for me, looks cheap and I don't like the colour.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 20 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 77,350
- Location
- Wish i was in a Ramen Shop Counter
You can change the headband, there only is a hex or Allen screw holding it in place.
Yeah that is the same with Arya headbands and above, easy to replace the suspension band. The design of the metal clamp band at the top though dictates how pressure is distributed by the suspension strap, the Hifiman metal band shape evenly applies pressure around all of my head whereas the i5 band applies most of the pressure in the middle, though it's not uncomfortable, but is noticeable. If the strap material was almost cardboard like the Ananda nano then this could have been a problem, but because it is suede and softens a bit with body heat, ends up being fine.
No posts from yesterday? mrks' mailman must be taking a much needed break, or we all found our E N D G A M E. Shhh quiet, the universe and Audiophile gods might hear.
At least till I caved and orderd some Truthear Pure, which I'll use on the go with my Mojo2. Might grab the poly addon unit for the Mojo at some point as well.
At least till I caved and orderd some Truthear Pure, which I'll use on the go with my Mojo2. Might grab the poly addon unit for the Mojo at some point as well.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 20 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 77,350
- Location
- Wish i was in a Ramen Shop Counter
I have been researching XMF Bokeh Close....Standard wood, limited, resin, tuning kit, B-stock in November, no black friday sales though and no discount codes, and most importantly, their headband size since there is no return for them!
But throughout it all I am in a non-stop Gracie Abrams marathon listening session....i5, EW300 and on my home stereo.
Last edited:
Ah yeah those ones, which do the stabilised wood and resin ones. I don't know what to think of them though.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 20 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 77,350
- Location
- Wish i was in a Ramen Shop Counter
I actually prefer the look of the stock ones.
BOKEH Closed
[BOH-kay] [BOW-kuh] is ZMF's closed, semi-portable, easy-to-drive, 80-ohm closed-back headphone. It incorporates trickle-down acoustic technology and the form factor from the rest of the ZMF line. NOTE: The Bokeh Closed comes with the Clamshell case INCLUDED as of Jan 1st 2025. No need to buy...
shop.zmfheadphones.com
Over most of these...
I don't think it adds to any sonic qualities....the entire guitar (musical instrument world) is all about different wood having different sonic qualities and PRS is famous for their drying process. But in a headphone where the wood and resin is behind the speaker/driver...I don't believe it would make any audible difference. Not for £350 difference.
Last edited:
Caporegime
- Joined
- 20 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 77,350
- Location
- Wish i was in a Ramen Shop Counter
So I have been looking at chart/graph of the Bokeh Closed (I know it is not be all and end all), and I just want you guy's thoughts.
I have the other 2 headphones on this graph to compare and I like the XS and HD600. I would have the i5 added but I can't find a reviewer on SL with these all together. I find currently the i5 to be my favourite tuning right now.
So looking at this, specifically around the 3khz area, is this dip a problem? My jam are female vocals and whilst I like bass, I like it in terms of adding warmth and not thump. Thumping bass is a negative for me.
My main concern is this dip in the 3khz area that is lacking compared to the others that I own and I wonder whether I should go for the Bokeh Open instead. But then again, part of the reason of the Bokeh Close is try something different than having all headphones playing in the same ballpark.
I am not too knowledgeable in terms of what kind of music this 3khz represents so would welcome any feedback.
Thanks
Actually...ignore that, found a reviewer with all the headphones that I have but its the i5 before the bass ring installed so can ignore the dip in the sub bass.
It seems its very close to the i5 in the 3khz range although the 10-12khz plummets, not sure how that would sound like.
Hmmm decisions.
I have the other 2 headphones on this graph to compare and I like the XS and HD600. I would have the i5 added but I can't find a reviewer on SL with these all together. I find currently the i5 to be my favourite tuning right now.
So looking at this, specifically around the 3khz area, is this dip a problem? My jam are female vocals and whilst I like bass, I like it in terms of adding warmth and not thump. Thumping bass is a negative for me.
My main concern is this dip in the 3khz area that is lacking compared to the others that I own and I wonder whether I should go for the Bokeh Open instead. But then again, part of the reason of the Bokeh Close is try something different than having all headphones playing in the same ballpark.
I am not too knowledgeable in terms of what kind of music this 3khz represents so would welcome any feedback.
Thanks
Actually...ignore that, found a reviewer with all the headphones that I have but its the i5 before the bass ring installed so can ignore the dip in the sub bass.
It seems its very close to the i5 in the 3khz range although the 10-12khz plummets, not sure how that would sound like.
Hmmm decisions.
Soldato
- Joined
- 27 Jul 2005
- Posts
- 13,301
- Location
- The Orion Spur
You should first try to establish what your preference target is, a good start is whether you have a preference towards the 'typical' Harman target curve, the Fosi FR just looks mental! but that being said I know from experience that when you see on the FR doesn't always correlate well to what you actually hear.
This chart will give you a basic idea of what the different frequencies are doing in music/instruments,
Also what do you prefer in terms of sound presentation, bass, soundstage, imaging, timbre etc? of the headphones you currently have what if you could only choose one of them?, that will tell you a lot, the Bokeh is a musically seductive sounding headphone, warm 'fun' sounding headphone with emphasis on the bass, this will sound very different to any of your other headphones, that could be a good or a bad thing, the good thing is it will allow you to experience a different sound signature and gives you a larger palette, the negative outside of SQ is they are quite heavy.
This chart will give you a basic idea of what the different frequencies are doing in music/instruments,
Also what do you prefer in terms of sound presentation, bass, soundstage, imaging, timbre etc? of the headphones you currently have what if you could only choose one of them?, that will tell you a lot, the Bokeh is a musically seductive sounding headphone, warm 'fun' sounding headphone with emphasis on the bass, this will sound very different to any of your other headphones, that could be a good or a bad thing, the good thing is it will allow you to experience a different sound signature and gives you a larger palette, the negative outside of SQ is they are quite heavy.
Refurbished my HD600s - was a touch nerve-racking:
New headband, pads and foam insert. Pads didn't really need replacing but thought I might as well as I had to get the inserts from Sennheiser (now Sonova for consumer audio) so as to not affect the sound quality. (EDIT: These are the re-re-revised 2021 pads - there is still a little change to the sub bass with them though - apparently with a bit of compression from wearing it pretty much goes back to what it was).
New headband, pads and foam insert. Pads didn't really need replacing but thought I might as well as I had to get the inserts from Sennheiser (now Sonova for consumer audio) so as to not affect the sound quality. (EDIT: These are the re-re-revised 2021 pads - there is still a little change to the sub bass with them though - apparently with a bit of compression from wearing it pretty much goes back to what it was).
Last edited: