Verum 1
Planar Magnetic Headphones
Intro Specifications Performance
Compared Usage Recommendations
Verum 1 Headphones. (6Ω open-back planar magnetic, 16.6 oz./470g without cord, $350 direct from Verum Audio). bigger.
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Introduction
Compared Usage Recommendations
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The Verum 1 planar magnetic headphones are my favorite for enjoying music because they sound fantastic (better than any conventional dynamic headphone) and because they sound this great simply plugged into any iPhone, iPad, iPod or Apple Lighting Adapter. Their low 6¼ Ω purely resistive measured impedance gives them loads of sensitivity, even for quiet classical music, plugged straight into any iOS device.
While I love my electrostatic headphones, I never love having to be stuck next to a wall socket to power their special amplifiers and having to have a load of equipment just to play music. I'm a music lover, not a tweak, so the easier it is to get to my music, the better. For instance, these are the easiest headphones ever to identify LEFT and RIGHT by feel in the dark: just be sure the connectors face forwards. I hate having to find a flashlight to feel around for this on my other headphones.
While of course these sound great with my Benchmark DAC1 HDR DAC and headphone amp, they sound just as good plugged into my iOS device whose Music app makes it the easiest to find and play all of my library.
These open headphones sound so good that they are one of the very few headphones to which I look forward to enjoying even when I'm not using them. While I enjoy the sound of my electrostatics, no one enjoys having to plug in and turn them on as if you're getting wired-up to a hospital bed. With these Verum, I plug and play and I'm loving my music within seconds, no outboard gear required.
New
Verum's first product. Verum is Latin for "truth."
First European planar magnetic headphone.
Good
Exquisitely fluid, clean, clear and open sound.
Tight, articulate and bottomless thick-as-a-brick bass. I've never heard better bass anywhere.
Unusually open soundstage.
Hand-made in Europe. The inventor himself may have made your pair!
Comfortable for hours and hours of enjoyment.
Don't do this in public, but they do a decent job of staying on my head if I want to walk around.
¼" adapter included.
Very soft, light, non-microphonic and supple cable included.
Verum, like all great audio companies, is run by its founder and builds everything domestically. They don't ship production off to China like junk brands.
Crazy-low factory-direct price. There are no middlemen collecting 40% margins at every level of distribution. Brands you've heard of have master distributors and then dealers, all pocketing much of your hard-earned money.
Bad
While you're saving money buying factory-direct, this also means your service comes factory direct — from Ukraine. You can't get these from Amazon and have to send them back to their maker if there's a problem.
Missing
No case included.
These are serious headphones; there are no microphones or remote controls or Bluetooth or other fluff.
Specifications
Compared Usage Recommendations
Type
Planar magnetic with 82mm diameter, 8 µm mylar membranes.
Operating Principal
The audio signal is passed through a serpentine (twisty) array of conductors printed on a membrane which lies in a strong planar (flat) magnetic field.
The magnetic field comes from two arrays of long, thin powerful magnets placed on either side of the membrane.
Impedance
Rated 12 Ω.
Measured 6 Ω resistive DC ~ 20kHz:
Verum 1 Impedance magnitude (Ω), and phase angle versus frequency, measured at plug of included cord. (R&S UPL; +90º is capacitive, -90º is inductive.)
The drivers are matched for voltage sensitivity so the impedance may vary by 10% between drivers. This is deliberate; they are matched by sensitivity, not impedance.
This impedance curve is the flattest I've measured, flatter than the Audeze. This means that these look like a simple resistor to your amplifier, which makes them very easy to drive.
Sensitivity
Rated 96 dB under unspecified conditions.
Cord
Verum 1 supplied cable. bigger.
The supplied cloth cable is very soft and supple. It has no microphonics; you won't hear noise as you handle it.
3.5mm plug with ¼″ screw-on adapter included.
2.5mm earpiece plugs.
The cord uses very thin and supple copper conductors, so the cable's effective series resistance measures about 900 mΩ per channel. That suggests about 28 AWG.
Quality
Hand-made in Ukraine, often by the hand of its inventor.
Materials
Cord: Cloth with metal plugs.
Frame: Springy sheet metal.
Knobs: Titanium.
Earpieces: Plastic with a great woodlike finish.
Gold-look outer grills: Titanium with thin black felt dust liners.
Earpads and headband: "Protein leather."
Weight
20.720 oz. (587.3g) without cord, actual measured weight of my sample shown here.
Rated 16.6 oz. (470g) for production versions.
Included
Headphones.
3.5mm to dual 2.5mm cord.
¼″ screw-on adapter.
Introduced
February 2019.
Price, USA
$350 direct from Verum Audio, February 2019.
Performance
Compared Usage Recommendations
Ergonomics Sensitivity Isolation Leakage
Overall
These are the best-sounding headphones I've heard short of my electrostatics, regardless of price. Everyone has their preferences, but I always found the Audeze too distant and reserved. These Verum have the same extraordinary bass and liquid midrange as the Audeze, with much better presence and clarity while staying smooth. It's been a few years since I've heard the Audeze and they are always innovating, but from what I remember of them I prefer these Verum.
Even though some of my electrostatics may have technically better sound, I prefer the sound of these Verum even more than my reference STAX SR-009 because the bass sounds so much better on these. The STAX are too dry and accurate; the bass lacks weight on the STAX. The bass lays the fundamental foundation on which the rest of the music lies, so I'd rather listen to these Verum.
These Verum 1 are enrapturing. I put them on and never want to take them off.
Sound
The Verum 1 are smooth and detailed. Everything sounds exactly as it ought to. The sound is neutral, neither too warm (as I found the Audeze) nor too bright (as I find most Sennheisers).
The sound is smooth and mellow, deep and solid, and most importantly, also very clear and unmuffled. These aren't like lesser headphones that have to muffle their sound to seem smooth; the Verum are both smooth and detailed.
There are no resonances or energy storage to hide anything. Every sound remains distinct and separate from every other sound just as it does on electrostatics. Nothing gets muddied together as it does on sub-$300 dynamic headphones. If you're enjoying a 250-voice choir, you'll hear all 250 voices individually.
Just like electrostatics, the sound changes if you bring your hands closer to the earpieces. The audio membranes are so thin and transparent that sound can bounce off your hand and then interfere with the sound from the driver. This is excellent; it means the membrane has little to no sound or influence of its own; what you hear is just pure sound unmutilated by the thick diaphragms used in conventional headphones.
The bass is the best I've ever heard, and voices and everything else are smooth and liquid.
The Verum have a fluid lower and middle midrange, with clear and open upper midrange and treble.
Soundstage
Most headphones have the same soundstage, while these have a surprisingly wide and open soundstage. Bravo!
Bass
Bass response is flawless, just like the Audeze.
Bass is bottomless and thick as a brick and at the same time articulate and detailed, fluid, fast and tight. It's exactly what bass is supposed to be.
With test signals, response is strong down to 14 cycles, and solid down to 12.5 cycles, all with no distortion and no rattling. This is extraordinary. Very few if any headphones can reproduce a 12.5 cycle signal flawlessly without doubling, straining or having audible distortion. Bravo!
32 foot organ pedals sound easy and flawless, just like they do live. There is nothing missing or strained, just the natural subsonics missing from most other sound reproducers.
Of course there are no resonances to muddy up the sound. Everything is solid and tight to below the limits of music and human audibility.
Ergonomics
These are extremely comfortable. The around-the-ear pads go around my ears without touching them. They have an inside diameter of about 58mm; if you have elephant ears they probably won't fit.
The frame and adjustments make it easy for a perfect fit.
These are comfy even when lying down.
I wouldn't make a point of this, but they stay on surprisingly well if you walk around home with them on.
It's easy to tell left and right by feel: just point the connectors forward.
Sensitivity
With iOS
These are the same as most other mobile headphones. I usually set the level about half to 3/4 up for most music and movies. Even with quiet classical movements I have plenty of level, even with iOS SOUND CHECK turned OFF.
With dedicated headphone amplifiers
Obviously there is plenty of sensitivity for use with good dedicated amplifiers. This is never a problem with any legitimate (not made-in-China) headphone amplifier.
Beware anything made in China, the sloppy brands that offshore their gear there too often don't have the drive capability that an iPhone does for driving very low impedances like these 6Ω headphones.
With headphone jacks on other gear
While there is plenty of sensitivity for use with good dedicated amplifiers, most classic stereo receivers and preamplifiers derive their headphone outputs with series resistors and those don't work well with these 6Ω headphones. While sensitivity isn't the problem, maximum drive level is.
See Usage.
Isolation
These are open headphones with no isolation other than a little at high frequencies. You'll hear everything around you.
Leakage
There is a lot of leakage, as with all open headphones. People near you will hear your music; these are for use in private.
Compared
Compared Usage Recommendations
Versus the beyerdynamic DT 1350
The conventional DT 1350 have about the same voltage sensitivity.
The open-back Verum 1 sound more open than the closed-back DT 1350, with a surprisingly wider sound stage.
The DT 1350, my dynamic reference for tight, deep and accurate bass, surprisingly sounds tubby compared to the Verum 1. The Verum is tighter and deeper than what was my reference.
The Verum 1 are a little brighter, while the 1350 might have slightly smoother upper midrange and treble albeit more recessed.
The Verum 1 are clearer and more detailed.
The DT 1350 fold and have a great case included for travel while the Verum 1 are big and clunky and include no case.
Usage
Compared Usage Recommendations
Cord & Cords
The 2.5mm connectors are labeled "L" and "R."
You might be able to get a dB more sensitivity if you substituted a stiffer cord with heavier wire, but I wouldn't bother with that.
Break-in
I don't believe in break-in. These sound great right out of the box; I didn't break them in.
I have no idea if the manufacturer does any break in.
Left and Right
Just point the connectors forward, no need to read anything.
Dedicated Headphone Amplifiers
When you factor in convenience, your iPhone, iPad, iPod or Apple Lighting Adapter is the best source. While the Benchmark DAC1 HDR might sound a tiny bit better at the loudest levels, it's not enough of a difference to make it worth the effort — for me.
The only thing that might sound different with a good dedicated amplifier versus an iOS device is that the highs might sound a little congested at the loudest levels on an iOS device, but still not enough so for me to want to bother with sitting at my desk to use my Benchmark DAC1 HDR.
If you're going to use these with a dedicated headphone amplifier, you need a man's amplifier with a near-zero output impedance that's happy driving 6Ω loads, not some wimpy thing dragged in from China off the Internet.
Conventional Power Amplifiers
Speaker power amplifiers and stereo receiver speaker outputs work great because they love driving 6Ω resistive loads, however they may have too much noise and can easily blow these out by overpowering them if you do something stupid. You'll have to build your own adapter to connect headphones to the speaker outputs.
One low-cost solution is a used Crown D-75 professional class AB monitor power amplifier because it has a headphone ("MONITOR") jack which is directly connected to the speaker outputs. It has an ultralow 15 mΩ output source impedance and front-panel level controls, making it a great stand-alone amp to drive these headphones. I tried mine and it sounds great - but not better than my iPhone and Apple Lighting Adapter except maybe at foolishly loud levels.
Beware of most stereo receivers and preamplifiers which use typically 200Ω series resistors connected to their speaker or preamp outputs to create their headphone outputs. These will sound OK at soft levels, but will easily clip at moderate levels with these 6Ω headphones. Even those that use separate circuits for the headphone outputs like the Apt Holman Preamplifier rarely have the ability to drive 6Ω loads well — something again which iOS devices usually do much better.
Gear with NE5532 ICs driving the headphone outputs won't like the low impedance of these headphones, with or without series resistors. They'll have plenty of sensitivity, but will distort very easily.
External Magnetism
There is a lot of magnetism around these from all the magnets inside. I measure almost 4 milliTeslas around the back of the drivers.
Keep these away from hard drives, credit cards, mechanical watches and magnetic tapes.
Recommendations
Compared Usage Recommendations
Obviously I love these.
Get a set for yourself, enjoy and tell me how you like them.
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