tmarshl

My Verite Closed needed about 200 hours of break-in to sound their best (as recommended on the ZMF website). They are wonderful. I am listening now. The description of “cozy” really fits these headphones. I own both the Focal Utopias and the ZMF Verite Closed. The Utopias are the “best” headphones of the two, but the Verite Closed are my “favorites”. Go figure.

Thanks. I have had audiophile speaker systems for many years. Due to downsizing in retirement, I had to get rid of my MBL Radialstrahler speakers, and I was afraid I would never recapture that experience. But the Raal SR1a "earfield monitors" have proven me wrong. I don't miss having speakers at all!

View Classified Audeze LCDi4 in ear monitors Excellent condition Original owner, smoke-free, pet-free environment Original packaging and leather carry case. Accessories and eartips included. Three cables supplied: 3.5mm single ended, cipher/lightning and 2.5mm balanced. Free Shipping to CONUS. Seller tmarshl Date 08/16/20 Price 1,200.00 USD Category Headphones

Have owned the Raal Requisite SR1a's since they first came out. My first love were the AKG K1000s, driven by the First Watt F1 amplifier; then the Stax SR009s, driven by the Blue Hawaii Special Edition amplifier; then the Focal Utopia, Focal Stellia and ZMF Verite Closed, driven by the Pass HPA-1. All great headphones and amps. But I have to agree with Chris and Ian Dunmore on this. This is without a doubt the very best headphone experience I have ever had - by a MILE. Currently listening to Riding With the King (Eric Clapton and BB King), and I can't stop - LOL. I really should be doing work, but I am hooked. I love live performances, and this is so close I can feel in my heart, pure joy. My SR1a's are fed by a Roon Nucleus > dCS Bartok > SPL s800 amplifier > SR1a Interface Box. Clapton streamed from Tidal MQA (Qobuz also) through Roon.

Dear Rajiv, Thank you for a detailed and objective review. This review is refreshing, considering so many "fanboy" reviews that are published. I have owned the Bartok since it first became available, and I consider it to be a perfect piece of gear for me. I feed it with a Roon Nucleus via Ethernet. I discover and listen to a lot of music via Tidal Masters and Qobuz. I have been re-listening to my entire music collection on the Bartok, and have been amazed at what I have been missing (I upgraded from the Chord Dave). The organic realism of the sound from the Bartok into my Focal Utopia headphones (also with Transparent Ultra balanced cable) and Raal Requisite SR1a "earfield speakers", without warning will jolt me out of my listening reverie with sound so authentic that I could swear I am in the same room with the musicians.

Agreed. I am one of those who never forked out the money to "re-purchase" my entire library in high-resolution formats. I did buy a dozen 24/192 PCM albums and a similar amount of DSD albums. One of the reasons that I didn't download more is that some of the purveyors of hi-res downloads did not provide the provenance of their offerings, and in some cases I was delivered substandard results from a poor master or just a conversion from PCM to DSD. I am not paying $25 per album for that kind of product. So when Tidal streaming came along, I found the SQ to be acceptable, but the interface not. But Roon / Tidal with Masters checks all of the boxes for me: great interface and reasonable SQ. The biggest advantage is in music discovery: I am able to find the music that I really like, so that I can make a price / performance judgement on whether it is worth buying as a DSD download, or whether Tidal / Masters is good enough. Another advantage is that I don't feel compelled to purchase complete albums any more, just the tracks that I like. My experience so far has been to really enjoy Roon / Tidal / Master streaming to the point that I have not purchased a hi-res download since Tidal / Masters became available. I will continue to discover new music and will continue to make the judgement each time on whether I want to purchase a hi-resolution version through download. The nice thing is that with Roon, it seamlessly integrates the downloaded tracks with streaming tracks. I don't think that I am that unique

Yes, Roon has an excellent music discovery capability, and integrates Tidal and your local files. It is my understanding that Amarra Sq+ does not work with Roon. So the question is whether you are satisfied with the sound quality of playback by Roon versus Amarra Sq+. IMHO the sound quality of Amarra for Tidal is slightly better than Roon, but the user interface is terrible in comparison. So, either Roon Labs improves their sound quality to equal to that of Amarra, or Amarra cuts a deal with Roon (like they did with Tidal) to integrate Amarra as an alternative sound engine for Roon.

I was one of the lucky ones. I was there in 1961 at the Village Vanguard when they recoded this series. It was one of the most moving experiences of my life. Now, when I listen to these tracks again, it brings it all back. Thanks for sharing your love of Bill Evans.