Introduction

The ZMF brand has grown steadily from its relatively humble beginnings as a Fostex T50RP modding entity to one that has several full-time employees, a machine shop, and some of the best headphones and amplifiers in the world under its product portfolio. ZMF is arguably most known for its dynamic driver headphones, which is funny given how the two times that we have covered the brand have both been for its new planar magnetic flagships—the open-back Caldera and the closed-back Caldera Closed. At $3500, and going higher than that for limited editions and one-off unique releases, the Caldera duo are flagships that are priced accordingly. Between these and the co-flagship Atrium line, ZMF has no doubt realised the desire for a more affordable set. Add to that the separate set of requests to have a ZMF pair of headphones which are easier to drive and could perhaps be transportable too, and now we see why BOKEH was developed.


With the F in ZMF standing for films, it's not surprising to see a photography/videography term used for the BOKEH's name. For those unaware, bokeh (from the Japanese word Boke) means blur, and refers to the subjective way the out-of-focus background is rendered in photos and videos. With the ZMF BOKEH, the goal was to put out a more affordable and easier to drive set of headphones that you can place around the ears and lose yourself in the music, thus leaving the external surroundings in the blurry background not affecting your listening session. The BOKEH is a closed-back set thus, although ZMF is working on a BOKEH Open too. The model currently uses natural black limba wood with catchy variations in pigmentation in addition to coloring from spalting, bores etc.—don't worry about these terms as much as just knowing the BOKEH will have unique ear cups that will be darker or lighter depending on preference. There are also stabilized wood BOKEH releases coming out in August and, outside the wood hardness and density, they should all sound similar with the same set of pads and meshes installed. I have a launch edition BOKEH demo loaner here for review courtesy ZMF, which uses claret-stained black limba in its new oval-shaped ear cups as we will see in more detail over the course of this article that begins with a look at the product specifications in the table below.

Specifications