ZMF Headphone Cables

I went with the Blackwoods. The Teaks sounded kind of ethereal to me which i was immediately drawn to, but went with the Blackwoods having such a deep grounded sound. They continue to impress, and respond/scale well to various changes in the system. Yes, agreed on Zach's voicing abilities! Yeah, didn't listen to Zach's cables at that show, as I was so focused on picking out phones :) I've used his basic cable with I think a pangea headphone extension. Then tried a pure silver cable from eBay - which I liked for it's speed and linearity top to bottom. The pure silver is prone to fatigue failure over time if it bends, so have to fix that one. Went back to the basic ZMF with Cardas extension - which sounds a tad grainier yet more filled out.

Oh, well the wife--nobody mentioned her! [image] Is she a goer? Nudge-nudge, wink-wink; know what I mean? Know what I mean?!

Zach isn't nice due to an absence of "meanness," it's a care and passion that permeates interpersonal interactions, his customer service, and a certain kind of empathy in trying to understand what his customers want. I would argue that a passion and care for customers and products tends to yield results. On a similar note, his headphone business mostly exists just because people wanted it to. ZMF = Zach Merlbach Films... he wanted to be an auteur of video, but he had some prior experience as a luthier and he applied that knowledge to a side project, modifying some Fostex T50RP, and gave some to friends who heard his mods and encouraged him to make more. Buying commercial T50RP's and reselling modded versions, his margins were CRAP, and yet the demand had him working full-time. Fortunately, with higher demand and respect, he also made connections that enabled him to scale up and make his own designs at scale. So, he's a nice man (and his wife! They were making them out of their home until just a few years ago!) who has really applied himself to the journey, and improved his knowledge and skill over time. "I," at least, can respect him for that.