Today we are reviewing planar full-size open headphones with an unusual design and interesting sound from the Ukrainian manufacturer Verum Audio. This is the debut model of the brand, costing $350. We’ll take a closer look at the headphones, tell you about our experience with them, and compare them to full-size headphones from other manufacturers.
Pluses:
sound (detail, work with ambient, saturation, volume, melody), ergonomics and convenience of design, leather ear cushions with high-quality filling, headband design, low resistance
Minuses:
problems with sound on percussion instruments and aggressive music genres, lack of packaging, simple bundled cable, screw-on headband attachment system
Content
Packaging and equipment
The headphones are shipped unpackaged, meaning that they arrive in a cardboard box with bubble wrap inside, and the cable is packaged in a regular ziplock. The manufacturer explains this by the need to fit into the weight limits when selling goods abroad. At the initial stage, this can be forgiven for a domestic brand.
The set consists only of a 3.5 mm by 2×3.5 mm cable. The copper wire is of good quality for this price segment – it has no microphone effect, does not get tangled, and is covered with a durable protective layer of soft rubber.
At first, it’s not clear why it’s L-shaped on the side that connects to the headphones, but after connecting it, it becomes obvious that this is the most convenient way to connect, given the shape of the cups.
Design and ergonomics Verum Audio Verum 1
The Verum 1s look like a more brutal version of the average isodynamic headphone, with large ear cups, black ear cushions, and a double headband made of metal and leather, as well as milled metal grilles.
The headband is combined, that is, using both genuine and artificial leather, which is primarily a practical solution – a leather headband wears out much faster than leatherette, and it is not rational to save on so much leather (this is a statement not only from the manufacturer but also from all modern brands).
Visually, the model is very similar to Audeze LCD-2, but ergonomically, Verum 1 is even a little more comfortable. Ukrainian isodynes do not put so much weight on the neck, and their weight is distributed more successfully, due to which the headphones do not move inertially as much when turning the head as Audeze.
By the way, there are 3 design options to choose from: Bubinga, Carbon and Zebrano. The difference is purely visual – it’s the same headphone model, just with different textures on the cases.
Verum 1 ear cushions are made of genuine lambskin leather and memory foam latex, which is, without exaggeration, luxurious for this price segment. The ear cushions are tactilely pleasant, comfortable, fit perfectly, and hold well.
Technical characteristics Verum Audio Verum 1
| Type | Full-size headphones |
| Construction | Open |
| Emitter | Isodynamic 82 mm |
| Sensitivity | 116 dB |
| Impedance | 8 ohms |
| Weight | 470 grams |
Frequency response graph:
Technologies and features
Isodynamic radiators
A planar magnetic (or isodynamic) driver consists of a relatively large membrane that contains an embedded wire pattern. This membrane is suspended between two sets of permanent, oppositely aligned magnets. The current flowing through the wires embedded in the membrane creates a magnetic field that reacts with the field of the permanent magnets, causing the membrane to move, which creates sound.
In practice, the sound of isodynamic headphones differs significantly from classic dynamic models and is characterized by increased detail, better ambient performance, and a lighter, more spacious sound. However, planar headphones don’t always manage to reproduce the full range of low and ultra-high frequencies, and they are also more expensive to produce, which is the reason why speakers continue to dominate the market.
Plastic as a housing – for larger emitters
There are two main reasons for using plastic as a material for headphone cases instead of wood, besides saving on production: plastic is resistant to environmental influences and mechanical impact. Verum Audio explains this with a rather simple example: the popular Audeze LCD-2 and LCD-3 headphones use wood as a material for the cups. However, in order for such a case to keep its shape and not break from the slightest impact, the wall thickness should be much larger than the thickness of a case of the same size made of plastic.
Also, less obviously, is the possibility of increasing the size of the emitter. That is, with the same size of the headphone cups, a much smaller emitter will fit in the wood cups than in the same plastic cups.
In addition, wood can cause unwanted resonances, which makes the work much more difficult.
Fully manual assembly
Each pair of headphones produced by Verum Audio is assembled, customized, and tested manually in Ukraine. According to the manufacturer, the assembly itself takes a few hours, but there are processes that can take weeks.
Sound Verum Audio Verum 1
Verum Audio Verum 1 sound incredible, but only on some genres of music. Personally, I did not expect anything outstanding from them, but my opinion changed dramatically after the first test tracks. Their sound can be characterized as full, rich, and melodic: the model works perfectly with ambient and emphasizes minor elements of compositions, due to which they are interesting to listen to, noticing new accents in familiar recordings.
The highs are soft and detailed, without too many ultra-highs. The midrange is highly intelligible and well separated – you can easily split the track into tracks and separate instruments. The bass component is rich and informative, with excellent texture and volume.
The most interesting and exciting sound is guaranteed when listening to artists focused on instrumental, non-aggressive sound and the use of ambient, as well as orchestral compositions and vocal parts. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Cage the Elephant, The Strokes, The Black Keys, Gotye, Gorillaz, Shoe, Tember Blanch, John Powell, Hans Zimmer, Christopher Tin and similar artists bring out the best in these headphones.
However, Verum 1 has a significant disadvantage that reveals their budget isodynamics: on tracks with a large number of cymbals, aggressive brass, or clapping sounds, such as those of The Heavy, there are unpleasant high-frequency spikes that cut the ear and make the sound indistinguishable. Also, the headphones can’t handle metal (a genre of music), which is logical because you’ll hardly find a metal band that doesn’t use aggressive cymbal drums in their songs.
Otherwise, Verum Audio Verum 1 is as versatile as possible and sounds interesting on rock compositions, jazz, symphony orchestra, rap and electronic music.The main testing was carried out using Audirvana Studio, as well as Apple Music and Spotify streaming services on the DAC Chord Mojo 2, DAC Chord Hugo 2, DAP Astell&Kern KANN MAX and DAP FiiO R7.
Verum 1 are undemanding to the source and work well with all types of devices. We also used an Apple iPhone 13 during testing – the headphones are easy enough to roll out to work even with a smartphone (which is rare for isodynamics) and when paired with an iPhone, they produce even decent sound. Still, it is better to use more powerful sources, such as audio players or external DACs.
Price and competitors
The cost of headphones Verum Audio Verum 1 is 13 475 UAH.
The closest competitors are Fostex T-60RP for 12 540 UAH and HiFiman Sundara for 17 100 UAH. Both models are quite controversial and sound much simpler than the Verum 1, but they are the closest in terms of price.
The next most expensive are FiiO FT5 for 20 790 UAH (a review of which you can also read at the link). If Fostex and HiFiman clearly lose to Verum Audio, then FiiO is already a more difficult competitor: they sound just as interesting, but they also work well with aggressive and saturated music, unlike Verum; and FiiO has excellent assembly and significantly better case components (except for leather ear cushions with silicone filling, Verum outperforms all competitors here).
If you start from the price alone, regardless of the type of emitter: you can also consider open Grado SR 325x for 12 350 UAH, Meze 99 Classics for 13 200 UAH and FiiO FT3 32 Ohm for 14 145 UAH. However, these models significantly lose to Verum Audio in terms of detail, saturation, and volume.
Also, if you are approaching 20 thousand UAH, you should consider the new Sennheiser model: Sennheiser HD 490 PRO for 17 159 UAH. The materials and comfort of the Sennheiser are not at the highest level, but in general they sounds better than Verum Audio. HD 490 PRO loses to Verum 1 in terms of sound scale, but they easily reproduce any music genre and have the same detail and more honest sound.
We would like to express our gratitude to Verum Audio for providing Verum 1 headphones for review.