Verum Audio Verum 2 Headphone Review

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

Would love to see some data on that matter.

Here im still using my old LCD-2 from 2015, and lately Im used them with huge bass boost like 7db and with absurd loudness level without any problem. - I know its an anecdotal evidence.

 

[dark132]

How do they damage? Delamination of the traces from mylar?

In humid environments, circuit corrosion, degraded unit performance, and diaphragm deformation may occur. The most common issue is weakened sound from one side, resulting in unbalanced audio. Therefore, they are often placed in a drying cabinet. Electrostatic headphones require a drier environment than planar magnetic headphones

 

[LuckyNat]

@LuckyNat learn to read and stop making majutic conclusions in other people behalf. Each and every driver type has it's advantages and disadvantages and none is ideal. So you use them at what they do best and avoid what they can't. There is no driver in the world that can follow ISO 226 2012 you can get there and I explained how.

There is a clear language barrier between us - neither of us to blame there IMO ! For example, I can't find a definition of 'majutic' , so my reading skills do not help to understand what you've written there ..

Language barriers simply require more patience..

Please explain further what you are saying .

As far as I relate to ISO 226 2023, Fletcher-Munson or loudness curves .. they are not something a headphone, speaker or any transducer has to "follow" . "Follow" in this context doesn't make sense ..

ISO 226 2023 can only be "followed" by an equalisation device that states it provides loudness compensation according to that standard.

So, are you instead talking about a headphone's output being non-linear with regard to frequency response vs output level and therefore how well it respond to ISO 226 2023 being applied to the input signal ?

If so, it might be better to talk about that in terms of distortion / spl as Amir provides a graph indicating the non-linearity .. and this headphone, along with the Moondrop Para 2 exhibit "astonishing" (to use Amir's word) linearity / lack of distortion.

There's no need to generalise or theorise if it is being directly measured in the review.

If that's not what you're talking about, it's ok, we can leave it there .. it's not too important in the grand scheme of things

 

[LuckyNat]

Compared to its weight, the headband on the HDxxx series is too tight. It took me six months of wearing the HD600 before it finally felt comfortable. The weight and sound quality of planar magnetic headphones are directly proportional—there's no such thing as a lighter planar magnetic headphone with better sound quality. To achieve superior sound, you must inevitably sacrifice portability. This is a physical limitation.

Cool. If performance is directly proportional to weight, then if I add 1 kg of brass to a pair, the sound quality will increase !

Wow, just imagine how much I can increase sound quality by .. I'll have to have them sit on stands and just put my head inside them, but they'll be so heavy/sound so good ! LoL

Obviously this is not what you mean .. but it is what you said.

If you use old style ferrous magnets to achieve the same strength magnetic field as a modern, strong neodynium magnets .. what happens to the weight of the headphones? It goes down.

It doesn't take much investigation into the use of different materials in a planar headphone design to demonstrate that there is not a directly proportional relationship between mass and sound quality. (Better to say "mass" and not "weight" unless one wants to imply strength of gravity is a factor too).

Using a thinner film often results in higher sound quality .. and is a very tiny bit lighter.

What you stated *could* be true, only if the development of planar driver technology had hit it's limits and the human race never invented any more new materials . But we're absolutely not there yet in 2025/26 .. and likely not *that* much is being innovated in reality.

 

[ZolaIII]

@LuckyNat to follow up infra sound corrections from ISO 389-7 in ISO 226 2023 even regarding headphones but more to subwoofer's and to expected in room response speakers not Harman headphone which by the way is simple shaving filter adjusted to mid 70 SPL mimic of it to (small group) controled average. Regarding language maieutics. ISO 226 2023 is still a goal regarding headphone implementation and you won't get there regarding sub's alone. Not that it does matter all that much anyway when we can't even push a loudness normalisation (EBU R128) implementation which would solve input level.

 

[Igor_S]

I can't say anything about life span of planars in general but I can tell something about those particular planars.
First of all I want to say that Amir's unit was manufactured ~ 10 month ago and has been received ~ 8 month ago. Results you see on the first page. It's not a complain, that's a proof to some degree of what I'll write further:

1. Climate in region doesn't affect planar-magnetic at all ( Esl speaker - of course) cause humidity from your ears is much much bigger then in tropics of Amazonia.
2. V2 has silver trace (yes, I don't use plural - only one very wide and short trace) and isn't affected by any sort of corrosion.
3. Contacts and trace are on the outer side. Sweat from your ears don't touch conductive traces.

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

I can't say anything about life span of planars in general but I can tell something about those particular planars.
First of all I want to say that Amir's unit was manufactured ~ 10 month ago and has been received ~ 8 month ago. Results you see on the first page. It's not a complain, that's a proof to some degree of what I'll write further:

1. Climate in region doesn't affect planar-magnetic at all ( Esl speaker - of course) cause humidity from your ears is much much bigger then in tropics of Amazonia.
2. V2 has silver trace (yes, I don't use plural - only one very wide and short trace) and isn't affected by any sort of corrosion.
3. Contacts and trace are on the outer side. Sweat from your ears don't touch conductive traces.

I assume measurements that we see were done with ported pads right? Hence bass shelf.

ps. If so resonant frequency of the driver has to be extremely low. Interesting I don't know if I ever saw such a low one.

 

[Igor_S]

I assume measurements that we see were done with ported pads right? Hence bass shelf.

ps. If so resonant frequency of the driver has to be extremely low. Interesting I don't know if I ever saw such a low one.

Exactly. You're absolutely right.

 

[Soria Moria]

there's no such thing as a lighter planar magnetic headphone with better sound quality. To achieve superior sound, you must inevitably sacrifice portability. This is a physical limitation.

Ironically all the heavy Audeze LCD headphones are bad or just not good while the lighter Audezes are the better ones

 

[dark132]

Ironically all the heavy Audeze LCD headphones are bad or just not good while the lighter Audezes are the better ones

I have a friend who really likes the LCD3, but I feel its sound is a bit too dark for me because I like jazz and violin.

 

[The French]

Just my 2 subjective cents.
I've ordered a pair of these in January 2022.
Actually bought a second pair, second hand, few months later, as I really though I'll never received the pair ordered (in Ukrain), right before the war.

I've never been so pleased with a pair of headphones (I've had many sorts of planars, and non planar).

I use one pair for my PC,
The other with my Smyth Realiser.

 

[Igor_S]

@The French Thanks! Despite obstacles I always do my best to manufacture and send headphones. War and missile aren't excuses
But I think you're talking about Verum 1. Now it's second generation released and reviewed.

 

[jmdesignz2]

This is a review, listening tests, EQ and detailed measurements of Verum Audio Verum 2 planar magnetic open back headphones. It was drop shipped by the company and costs US $425.
View attachment 498729
As you see, this is a "high bling" headphone when it comes to design with so much intricate details. It is a bit much for me but I imagine others are into it.

There are different versions of this kit. Mine has a set of thinner pads. Stock ones are quite a bit deeper and that is what I used for the review. The large cups make the headphone comfortable to wear and easy to measure. Two sets of cables are provided as well: a 3.5mm and an XLR.

Measurements you are about to see are on GRAS 45CA, controlled by Audio Precision APx555 audio analyzer. Measurements of headphones is text fixture specific so don't focus too narrowly on the details.

Verum 2 Heapdhone Measurements
As usual, we start with our headphone frequency response measurement and compare it to our target (referenced to 94 dBSPL @ 425 Hz):
View attachment 498730
While tracking is not perfect (to our target), there is an uptick in bass which did not exist in version 1. There is a bit of excess energy from 600 Hz to 2 kHz. There is possibly too much high treble energy as well. We will have to adjudicate these with equalization and listening tests. Some EQ is very likely to be needed regardless:
View attachment 498731

The next measurement, distortion took my breath away:
View attachment 498732
Just incredible! Even 114 dBSPL doesn't cause this headphone to even notice let alone blink! In the company kickstarter campaign, the designer showed my distortion measurements of Verum 2 indicating a target for improvement. I say mission accomplished!

Absolute distortion is not a reliable metric for headphones but even it shows very nice performance:
View attachment 498733

The angled cups combined with large distance to artificial ears in the measurement fixture shows a lot of group delay, indicating likely reflections:
View attachment 498734
The data here is not prescriptive so we will have to listen.

Sensitivity is better than average:
View attachment 498735

Impedance however, is very low, meaning you need current, not voltage to drive it to loud levels:
View attachment 498736

Translation: just about any source should generate very usable loudness. But for maximum playback levels, you should get a good headphone amplifier. My Topping DX5II "normal" listening level is around -25 dB using unbalanced output. For very loud listening, I went as low at -9 dB.

Verum 2 Headphone Listening Tests and Equalization
As is typical of headphones not matching our target, especially in bass, the out of box impression was that of rather flat sounding. So I pulled out the EQ tools and fairly quickly developed a set of filters:
View attachment 498737
This, combined with super spatial qualities of this headphone generate startling fidelity the likes of which I have forgotten! Track after track sounded just stunning. Instruments and vocals all separated around and behind my head with detail to die for in reference tracks. So much so that I am listening to the Verum 2 right after I took the review picture.

Surprisingly, turning off the EQ did not make a dramatic difference. The sound simply gets less exciting and a bit brighter. It is totally listenable without EQ.

Conclusions
The Verum 2 breaks new ground in how low its distortion is -- likely the best I have ever measured. This makes it a perfect canvas to paint your favorite EQ on top of it. Stock tuning is good enough but EQ takes it to the next level, or should I say very high level. Price is quite reasonable as well. Nice fit and finish puts the cherry on top. Hopefully version 3 eliminates the need for EQ, giving us one perfect headphone!

I am going to recommend the Verum Audio Verum 2 without EQ. With EQ, it delivers incredibly performance that puts a smile on your face, track after track.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

"So I pulled out the EQ tools and fairly quickly developed a set of filters"

Is there a link to full details of this process? I also have the DX5II and would like to use more PEQ for my headphone output

 

[The French]

@The French Thanks! Despite obstacles I always do my best to manufacture and send headphones. War and missile aren't excuses
But I think you're talking about Verum 1. Now it's second generation released and reviewed.

My bad, I knew mines were a V2. But you're right, of course you are, mine are Verum One Mk2.

And that's not good news for my wallet.
I'm gonna have to look at that new version more deeply

 

[SoySalsaPicante]

My bad, I knew mines were a V2. But you're right, of course you are, mine are Verum One Mk2.

And that's not good news for my wallet.
I'm gonna have to look at that new version more deeply

 

[Somafunk]

The other with my Smyth Realiser.

Ooooh , I’ve read quite a bit about the smyth realiser……lucky man indeed.

 

[SoySalsaPicante]

In case anyone is in a market that does not have access to Verum, or for any other reason would prefer not to purchase Verum 2, the Moondrop Para II, per Amir's other test/review, exhibits excellent low distortion performance as well, and in terms of tonality is not significantly different, with both cans requiring similar amounts of EQ to hit Harman 2018 preference. It is similarly priced as well:

 

[torgeirs]

silver trace (yes, I don't use plural - only one very wide and short trace) and isn't affected by any sort of corrosion.

My silver goes black all the time. How to make silver non corrosive?

 

[NDRQ]

Looks good though it is a bit messy in the highs.
Still i cannot decide on ordering, because there were pretty shady things around the guy who makes this, so who knows what happens if you need support or having warranty problems.

 

[Igor_S]

My silver goes black all the time. How to make silver non corrosive?

Silver doesn't corrode. You see patina. To prevent patina I use rhodium plating on my silver traces. You can ask Amir, I'm sure that after almost 1 year membrane looks like a mirror.