[Alenotta]

I know I'm a bit late to the game, but I finally had a second to write up my review of the Bokeh:

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/zmfheadphones-bokeh.27012/



I'm coming from the ZMF background of having owned a VC, AC and Caldera. The Bokeh is fabulous. It has been sharing desk space with the TOTL gang.

 

[DenverW]

Hi everyone,

Quick question for the Bokeh owners who have experience with Focal headphones:

• Are the Bokeh as much in your face than the Focal’s?

I've owned the Clear (twice!) and the Elex. While great headphones they both demand attention, or as you say, have an 'in your face' presentation. The Bokeh is not as aggressive in that way, while retaining excellent impact and clarity.

I was not able to use the Clears while working, they were too distracting. The Bokeh are fine.

 

[JackarlTwo]

I'm strongly considering the Bokeh for a closed back ZMF, mostly for the price/ performance. I've been pretty determined on getting VC because I loved the seductive, almost laid-back sound from it. I'm not a huge fan of bright/ peaky treble and had no problems with VC in this regard. Is the Bokeh darker and more full bodied than the VC? If so they might be right up my alley. From what I've read so far it also seems to have a meatier mid-bass.

 

[jsmiller58]

Me tooooo woooo

No joy here… ordered 12/10….

 

[Alenotta]

I'm strongly considering the Bokeh for a closed back ZMF, mostly for the price/ performance. I've been pretty determined on getting VC because I loved the seductive, almost laid-back sound from it. I'm not a huge fan of bright/ peaky treble and had no problems with VC in this regard. Is the Bokeh darker and more full bodied than the VC? If so they might be right up my alley. From what I've read so far it also seems to have a meatier mid-bass.

Yes for sure. I had the VC and I really enjoyed it, but the upper mids sometimes got this spot I'm sensitive to. The Bokeh has a much warmer midrange and higher quantity of mid bass. This is from memory though since I switched out my VC for the AC last year. I wrote a bit about the difference between the Bokeh and AC in my review if you have heard that one. I love the AC as well. If you're treble sensitive like me you may also like the Dekoni LCD velour pad on the AC. I picked one up for the Caldera based on a DMS video and actually ended up liking it on the AC more. It narrows the soundstage though. The Bokeh is warm with a very unique sound.

 

[kumar402]

Yes for sure. I had the VC and I really enjoyed it, but the upper mids sometimes got this spot I'm sensitive to. The Bokeh has a much warmer midrange and higher quantity of mid bass. This is from memory though since I switched out my VC for the AC last year. I wrote a bit about the difference between the Bokeh and AC in my review if you have heard that one. I love the AC as well. If you're treble sensitive like me you may also like the Dekoni LCD velour pad on the AC. I picked one up for the Caldera based on a DMS video and actually ended up liking it on the AC more. It narrows the soundstage though. The Bokeh is warm with a very unique sound.

Agree VC requires careful pairing and doesn’t sound great out of all amp and DAC like Atrium Open. Out of 3 amp I have, VC pairs so well with ECP DSHA3F with Nickel transformer and not so well with my OTL like ZDS…Bokeh may be easier to work with in comparison.

 

[YungOmbat]

Official thread for the upcoming ZMF BOKEH, a high sensitivity, closed back LCP driver headphone.

I will post more details as they are finalized, but here is what you can expect:

• New chassis design
• Oval shaped wood cups (Limba stock wood)
• 80ohm Liquid Crystal Polymer drivers
• 103dB/1mW sensitivity
• 1/8" Cable inputs
• Caldera Stock Pads (Solid inside/outside w/perforated face)
• Available Dec 8th
• Price $1100 (Discounted at launch)

Here is a great interview with Zach from @MRHiFiReviews and The Source AV. They not only talk about the Bokeh, but also the upcoming JDS collab amp, Arcadia TBD name.

very curios to try these

 

[Wes S]

This song sounds the best I have ever heard it, with the Bokeh. I feel like this song really showcases what this headphone can do.

Happy Listening!

 

[NewEve]

Bokeh ordered from my local retailer

 

[Wes S]

I know I'm a bit late to the game, but I finally had a second to write up my review of the Bokeh:

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/zmfheadphones-bokeh.27012/



I'm coming from the ZMF background of having owned a VC, AC and Caldera. The Bokeh is fabulous. It has been sharing desk space with the TOTL gang.

Damn man! That is an absolutely fantastic review, with crazy cool photos. Very well done, and the best review I have ever seen. Very fitting for such a special headphone!

Long live the Bokeh!

 

[DaJustin]

Thank you for sharing!

I actually had a really decent sub-bass experience with these last night when plugged into my ZMF Pendant with my Bifrost II and HQPlayer upscaling to 192khz. It was noticeably more intense. Not sure if I had chosen new tracks, was using HQPlayer, or if the cans are showing their true nature after spending some time listening.

A decent amount of physicality and rumble with modern rap. Great time.

Now I am curious about the Atrium's. Would be fun to listen to them. I still really love my Aeolus for more intense orchestral music with the same setup last night. It was just so beautiful and easy on the ears even during complex orchestral arrangements.

I started dabbling with upscaling and realized my DAC doesn't support DSD. (I'm pretty curious bout DSD even if its only a little bit better). I unfortunately do not have any true DSD tracks to test out and I notice the selection is not crazy.

Do you guys prefer DSD? How would you describe it?

 

[dbull12]

I actually had a really decent sub-bass experience with these last night when plugged into my ZMF Pendant with my Bifrost II and HQPlayer upscaling to 192khz. It was noticeably more intense. Not sure if I had chosen new tracks, was using HQPlayer, or if the cans are showing their true nature after spending some time listening.

A decent amount of physicality and rumble with modern rap. Great time.

Now I am curious about the Atrium's. Would be fun to listen to them. I still really love my Aeolus for more intense orchestral music with the same setup last night. It was just so beautiful and easy on the ears even during complex orchestral arrangements.

I started dabbling with upscaling and realized my DAC doesn't support DSD. (I'm pretty curious bout DSD even if its only a little bit better). I unfortunately do not have any true DSD tracks to test out and I notice the selection is not crazy.

Do you guys prefer DSD? How would you describe it?

Over on the Holo Cyan 2 thread (https://www.head-fi.org/threads/holo-audio-cyan-2-dac.970886/) there was recently a lot of discussion about upsampling and PCM vs DSD. @GoldenSound explained that he prefers PCM on R2R DACs, so I guess it's not necessarily always the case that DSD is preferred

 

[GoldenSound]

Over on the Holo Cyan 2 thread (https://www.head-fi.org/threads/holo-audio-cyan-2-dac.970886/) there was recently a lot of discussion about upsampling and PCM vs DSD. @GoldenSound explained that he prefers PCM on R2R DACs, so I guess it's not necessarily always the case that DSD is preferred

Yeah neither DSD nor PCM are inherently better than the other. They're fundamentally different and have different tradeoffs in how they work and how they need to be reproduced by the hardware/DAC.

The answer to 'which is better' in the real world is entirely dependent on how your DAC handles each one.
R2R DACs can convert PCM natively, without any modulation to lower bit depths. And so I often find that they sound better with PCM. (Some R2R DACs like the Cyan 2 also have a 2nd DAC internally which is dedicated for DSD, and so it's worth trying both to see which you prefer, it's effectively two DACs in one box. Others like Rockna convert to PCM internally and always use the R2R Ladder so you're definitely better off just feeding them PCM).

Delta Sigma DACs cannot convert PCM natively, and must modulate to a lower bit depth. Typically their converters are actually 5-7bit, and so in some cases you may find that feeding PCM and using the internal modulator to 5 bit may be best, other times you may find that using a high performance 1-bit modulator from HQP will sound better. Though this is again dependent on whether the DAC actually converts DSD natively or whether it resamples/converts it internally such as ESS chips do.

My general experience has been that the following options were best:

Holo - PCM (but DSD is close and it'll be up to personal preference)
Rockna - PCM
Denafrips - PCM
ESS - PCM
AKM - DSD
Burr-Brown - DSD
T+A - DSD (They use Burr-Brown for PCM but a dedicated 1-bit converter for DSD which was subjectively and objectively better)
Cirrus - DSD

Either way though I'm a pretty big proponent for using some form of high quality upsampling rather than relying on the one in your DAC. It can be a pretty surprising improvement. More so on NOS DACs since they can take more advantage of everything HQP/PGGB can do but still the case on DS DACs too just to a bit lesser of an extent.

 

[DaJustin]

Over on the Holo Cyan 2 thread (https://www.head-fi.org/threads/holo-audio-cyan-2-dac.970886/) there was recently a lot of discussion about upsampling and PCM vs DSD. @GoldenSound explained that he prefers PCM on R2R DACs, so I guess it's not necessarily always the case that DSD is preferred

I've never owned an R2R DAC. I'll have to give it a go and formulate my own opinion. I'll make sure it supports DSD too so I can go back and forth. I'll head over there

 

[PopZeus]

Yeah, my general understanding is that PCM is more native to R-2R, and DSD is more native to 1-bit or D-S, so the file format should undergo as little conversion as possible before decoding for better audio quality. But always test the tracks with the DAC in mind for the best sound. Like with ESS chips, the results may not map to conventional wisdom. Or what Golden Sound said, basically. Most of my library is PCM, but the DSD files have sound great through a 1-bit or chip DAC.