You sweet summer child...

They'd moved on to MGs by the time Clears were on my radar, or I might have gone with them as well.

You're pretty much in a minority of one, but audio is subjective like that. As long as you're happy, it's all good.

I mean... $200 vs. $700. I don't know why you'd expect equal technical capability. That's like trying to compare your Anandas head to head with a Focal Utopia or ZMF Verite. Roughly the same price ratio. The Anandas aren't on the same planet, but it doesn't make them crap.

And I think you're alone in calling the 6XX a trap. They do certain things incredibly well, and far better than anything in their price range for probably the better part of a decade. Bass is not one of those things, but if you're chasing natural timbre and mids the 6XX is very solid.

And whether you prefer the soundstage to be wide or narrow is as much personal preference as anything. Many people really like the "inside your head" sensation of the 6XX.

The Auteur is probably the closest thing to a direct upgrade from the HD6XX/HD650, but it's hard to say the price bump justifies the quality increase unless dropping that amount of fun-money isn't a huge deal to you. I went with the Verite because it was both an upgrade in almost all respects, and different. But truth be told, I have barely used the 6XX since the Verite arrived.

My HD6XX, with the Magni-Modi, are still hooked up to the old PC one desk over from my new one. I stuck with the 6XX for I think three years largely because I could not figure out what would be a clear upgrade. I did not want to lose the natural timbre and richness of the HD6XX sound, and basically everything felt like a sidegrade rather than an upgrade for way more money. Better (and sometimes much better) in some respects, but often worse in respects I did not think it would be worthwhile to compromise.

And then there was ZMF. And my wallet was sad.

See: half of the later Dune novels. Minus the "barely disguised" part.

I, too, started with this setup. It's great. It'll keep you happy for years.

Then you'll feel an itch on the end of your right pinky...

My turn to preach (and make your wallet sad).

I read your impressions and likes/dislikes post. From what I understood, you wanted natural timbre, good resolution, precision in soundstage, neutral or recessed mids, and no sibilance. The Auteur will do all of that, less the slam and bass presence (that's just not what the headphone is going for). While the Auteur is an EXCELLENT headphone, I don't think it's the best one in ZMF's lineup for your preferences.

When you get a chance, if you can find one at an event or HiFi store to try, you should try the Verite. Its beryllium-coated bio cellulose drivers slam like planars, but sing like dynamics. Everything is audible and discernible, yet nothing oppresses the ears. They are magnificent.

The only "downside" is that they achieve this comfortably listenable sound signature by "sucking out" the mids. It takes maybe fifteen minutes or half an hour to adjust to the effect, during which time it feels like you're working to listen for the mids you can hear are there, mixed in with everything else. But that's the key: they're still there. They're just not shouting over everything else. Once your ears adjust, the mids settle into place and you'll hear and enjoy them just fine.

And if you want more mids than the Verite offers and are willing to sacrifice some precision and slam to get it, look at the Atrium.

One of us! One of us! One of us!

It's a very well-sorted set of headphones. I ended up replacing my pads with the ZMF perforated leather pads a year ago when I'd crushed the stock pads down to roughly the consistency of cardboard. The ZMF pads sound really good as well. Different than the stock velour pads, but good.

Personally, I find EQ an interesting toy, but to my ear, when EQ'ing a headphone that was already good, it causes more oddities and distortions than it helps. I screwed with all kinds of curves for my HD6XX (it was the main reason I bought the ADI-2), but the artifacts and imperfections that resulted eventually returned me to the stock sound.

I tried messing with the VOs as well, both via the RME and Roon's rather awesome DSP interface. Either way, I could make it sound different in a whole lot of ways, and I could make it sound better for a few minutes' listening. However, I could never make it better, and again, I'm back at stock.

Turns out, Zach knows what the fuck he's doing with headphone tuning. Who'da thunk?

And EQ'ing my Sony WH-MX2 headphones was an exercise in futility. There isn't a force in the universe that can make those shitcans sound good. It's a lucky thing they don't need to sound good to do their job.