Erzetich Mania V2024 Dynamic HiFi Headphones – Natural Innovation In Music Light
Erzetich Mania V2024 is a $1249 USD / 1199 EURO pair of over-the-ear high-end dynamic headphones with a large size, but good comfort. Today we will review the Mania, explore how they pair with a collection of sources, and also compare them with other similarly priced headphones, including Crosszone CZ-10 Enhanced (995 USD), MIRPH-1 (799 USD), HIFIMAN Arya Organic (1299 USD), and Audeze MM-500 (1699 USD).
Introduction
Erzetich Mania is the third iteration of the Mania which was originally launched in 2018, a staple in the series of high-end nature-inspired headphones. It is even more tank-ish than the Thalia we have reviewed in the past from the company, yet it has one of the most beautiful sonic presentations I have laid my ears upon, so a magnifique unique boutique headphone to explore. As an Amazon Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases, and using the purchase links in my reviews helps me maintain this website and Youtube Channel. Huge thanks to Erzetich for providing the sample for this review, in exchange for my honest opinion.
PROs – Rich, Detailed and musical sound with a mid-centric tuning but with a lush and full bass. High-end default cable with a beautiful braiding, and an actually good wearing comfort, a wide and deep soundstage, and excellent instrument separation. Very strong dynamics and a punchy, colorful sound. Resolution is off the charts, and the sonic performance is actually superb.
Cons – It fits my head at the largest side, but a custom, larger headband can be created if the fit is too tight.
Product Link
Official Website – https://www.erzetich-audio.com/products-mania/
Build Quality / Aesthetics
Starting with the rather unique design, Mania is made with sound at the heart, so the internal geometry of the ear cup is designed for maximum harmony with the titanium-coated driver for the most uniform, warm and detailed sound. The new V2024 variant we are reviewing is a significant upgrade from V2021, and the material of the earcups has been changed from Wood to Resin to increase the inner geometry detail and complexity, further leading to an improved sound quality and more robust control.
The impedance of the Mania is 80 OHMs, which is fairly high when you compare them with 32 OHM headphones, but they cannot be considered high impedance, like 300 OHM headphones are. The driver at the heart of the Mania is a dynamic driver with titanium coating, and the earcups are semi-open, with a total weight of 450 grams.
The cables of the Mania are based on the mini-XLR connector and they are detachable, with multiple options available on the market, and they are compatible using adapters with all the good ones I reviewed to date, including Eletech Inferno, one of my favorite high-end cables. The headband is made of carbon fiber, and it is very sturdy, while the cups are made of resin and milled aluminum. Erzetich offers a 2-Year Warranty for the Mania, and those are headphones made in Europe, requiring 12 hours of burn-in to make sure you’re getting a good sound, and each part of the headphones is user serviceable, so you can fix them even if they go out of warranty.
The design of the Mania has been centered around the intensity of mood, the name Mania or Manea symbolizing the Goddess of the Dead in Roman and Etruscan mythology, with the Greek myth of understanding wild spirits personifying insanity. Language settled on the mania as a term to define an intensely elevated mood. The design of Erzetich Headphones in general is Human Centered, and the company evaluates the headphones against the human ear, testing them with actual music that is currently enjoyed by the designer, to pair comfort and sonic experience accurately.
There are no human or animal materials used in the build of the Mania, and we have a leatherette material for the earpads, and the tiara belt of the headband is created from a rubber-like material.
Subjective Usage / Comfort
Despite the rather large size, Mania is not the heaviest headphone that we have reviewed, and there are many headphones that are a bit heavier than 450 grams, a good example being Audeze MM-500, which has a weight of 495 grams. This being said, Mania is surely not lightweight, but it has a very good weight distribution across its headband, with the earpads having a thick and dense sponge inside, and enough space for my ears.
The clamping force is natural, and there is a tiny bit of hotspot forming at the top of my head, but it is usually not noticeable during long periods of wear. I have been able to use the Mania with a couple of aftermarket cables, including Eletech Inferno, Lavricables Master Silver and ddHiFi BC150B thanks to a pair of adapters provided by Lavricables which can convert a 3.5mm output to a mini XLR output.
Mania does not offer a strong passive noise isolation, but it is a bit stronger than if the headphones were fully open-back, and they leak much less than Dan Clark Expanse, HIFIMAN He1000SE or Mirph-1. This is because the earcups will give quite a bit of attenuation for the sound that goes outside, so you can blast music much louder with the Mania than with all the other headphones and still not be annoying for the ones around you. This also means that Mania is not really sensitive to the room acoustics and you’re free to enjoy them even on-the-go.
Mania is somewhat hard to drive, and requires quite a bit of driving power to be driven well and to get loud. Currently, we do not have any Erzetich Headphone Amplifier, but with the setup I am using for most reviews, I am typically giving Mania as much power as I give to T+A Solitaire P-SE, and a bit less than Dan Clark Expanse. Hopefully we will get to review and explore Erzetich’s own amplifiers in the near future to see how Mania pairs with them.
Sound Quality
Pairings – To test the Erzetich Mania, I have paired them with a collection of sources, including Singxer SA-1 V2 driven by a SMSL DO200 PRO, Dethonray Listening M1 powered by a Keces P14 Linear Power Supply, iBasso D16 + iBasso PB5, HIFIMAN EF400, Sparkos Gemini and Feliks Euforia Evo driven by Musician Pegasus II R2R DAC. Mania is generally not sensitive to the source quality and tuning, they sound excellent with most sources and will have a dynamic, punchy sound with most sources, and also not change the tuning / signature much with different sources, thanks to the higher impedance. They are also not sensitive to source noise, and I found the Mania to be really easy to pair and use, being fully drivable using a portable music player like iBasso DX180, Hiby R6 PRO II, Astell&Kern ACRO CA1000T, and even Shanling M1S.
Overall Signature – Erzetich Mania is a dynamic, punchy sounding headphone with a fairly mid-cenric voicing for the lead vocals, but which can create a wide soundstage behind the lead instrument and voices, as the distance between the ears and the drivers also allows for a large space for the sound to render. Mania has a natural tonality, once you put them on, they sound as music should sound like, with no particular coloration, and everything feels right where it should be, but emotional, engaging and rich, lush and slightly dark. Treble extension is excellent, and reaches 20 kHz with ease, while the bass extension can reach 20 Hz with heavy music, but Mania has a transparent approach allowing brighter and airy songs to play as such, and deeper, heavier music to sound deep and heavy. Even from the first moment hearing them. Mania will impress with the high resolution and highly resolving sound they have, as they reveal details sharply and with ease.
Bass – Mania has a natural and well-extended but neutral in amount low-end. They will handle EDM and heavy music well, but the tuning is mostly made for acoustic instruments, as Mania renders distortion-free instruments better. The trick here is that the driver is highly resolving and will reveal quite a bit of texture in the bass, having a fast impulse response, so bass in dubstep will have micro textures rendered, and you typically want the bass to be one large, slow-moving mass, Mania is thus a much better headphone for styles where a fast and highly resolving signature is desirable. With songs like BPM15Q – Rad Rad, the bass can be felt all throughout the stage, it takes a central spot in the sound, along the sweet voices and the crispy and well-defined synths.
Midrange – Having the central spot in the sound of the Mania, voices, instruments, and musical information is clearly a bit more forward than the rest of the sound, and Mania evokes real feelings of euphoria and mania, brings female voices forward, in a lush and emotional presentation, but also gives male voices depth and strength. Mania can really evoke information, emotion and clarity in the midrange, they make lyrics really easy to discern and understand, while rendering every little information, reverberation and micro detail, including fine nuances in all musical styles. For example, Mania evokes the vocal strength and power in Rap music, but also can show clear and crisp guitar riffs are in metal music, whilst rendering a detailed, but smooth and fatigue-free texture for synths in aggressive EDM and Dubstep songs. It is literally perfect for musicality and once you start listening to it, you feel like you cannot stop, every single bit of information and every part is rendered perfectly, including sweet and bratty female voices like those found in J-Rock and J-Pop. Full of life, Mania is ideal for enjoying every musical style if you like to hear the voices a bit louder than the rest of the instruments and other frequencies. The overall presentation emphasizes both male and female voices equally, the biggest advantage of the Mania is how well they handle sounding natural while sounding vivid and colorful. There is no particular coloration of the presentation that I can call out, except for how the midrange is moved forward and a central part of each song.
Treble – To complement the sweet and detailed sound, Mania extends the treble up to 18 kHz, but has a soft roll-off effect in the quantity of the treble, the higher you go, so it avoids sounding metallic and harsh, instead sounding smooth, lush, full and relaxed. Despite having a somewhat forward midrange, thanks to the way it handles the texture and how it renders textures, Mania is always relaxed, laid-back and free of listening fatigue. This is a big reason I can enjoy them for so many hours in a row every time I press play, and I find Mania to be inducing some kind of listening Mania in those ears, they sound so perfectly full, natural and vocally enticing that I keep hitting song after song, enjoying the sweetness and delicacy they have with each piece.
Dynamics / PRaT / Textures – The dynamic control of the Mania is outstanding, they can sound significantly more boundless than most mid centric headphones, having a far more dynamic range and a more dynamic, punchier sound than Sivga Peacock, which is a direct competitor with a mid centric sound. The texture presentation of the Mania is smooth, rich and lush, with a crisp, but free of harshness texture across all instruments and synths I tried playing through them. This includes the hardest EDM Bass-Heavy styles, rock and even technical death metal and grindcore, everything that’s pushed into the Mania just comes out the other way as a mix of happiness, detail and clarity unbound by any kind of harshness. The texture character is hard-waxy, not splashy nor necessarily wet, having a hard and touching impact, just rounded nicely at the corners. Overall, Mania is optimized really well for the signature it has, it can render even 5-6 layers of voices playing and singing at the same time with ease, without any kind of spread.
Loudness Saturation Gradient – Mania handles both high and low volumes with ease, they sound superb regardless of how loud you enjoy your music, and most importantly, they stay consistent and crisp, the sound never loses resolution and detail, instead being clean and distortion free, even if you cross the mighty 120 dB threshold. Most amplifiers will have a low control up there, but a Dethonray Listening M1 can keep its cool and highlight just how capable the driver of the Mania is, how well it handles producing high SPL with no audible THD or distortion. Although I don’t speak about this too much, Mania has zero self noise too, which is great for quiet listening, and most headphones have a slightly higher noise when handling them, from the cable, and headband / ear cups, while Mania has next to zero, but this cuts twofold, and even very loud, they don’t start to rattle.
Soundstage – The staging of the Mania is a key element to admire in their sound, and although they can bring vocals right there intimately with you, they can also render a huge soundstage all across the sonic field, pushing background instruments, bass and cymbal crashes far in the background, creating a rich and complex stage with the feeling of a live concert, or being intoxicated and in love at the same time sound to them. The size of the soundstage is boundless, and the more instrumental a track is, the wider it sounds. Voices start playing and will always play intimate with the listener, they are close, central and clear, never compressed, just really saturated, full and colorful. Combined with the far-reaching instrumental, Mania can truly render any style in a unique, but pleasing style that’s natural and lush. The instrument separation is insanely good, and despite the mid centric sound, Mania presents each instrument in its own space, separate layer and gives it a body and presence for you to enjoy. The imaging is thus superb.
Comparisons
Erzetich Mania V2024 vs Mirph-1 (1199 USD vs 799 USD)
Build – Morph-1 will leak more and isolate less from the outside noise, but it is lighter and has a looser sponge in the earpads, while Mania has a thicker, more dense sponge in the ear pads, with a heavier weight, more clamping force, and feels more secure on my head. The build quality of both headphones is great, but Mirph-1 is also somewhat more sensitive about the source used, liking bright and brilliant sounding sources, while Mania is fairly impervious about the source used to drive them. Mania is excellent for usage with other people in the same room. Miprh-1 uses a standard 3.5mm connector at the headphone side, although the mini-XLR connector used by Mania is also fairly standard.
Sound – Sonically, Miprh-1 is a relaxed, smooth and warm sounding headphone, and Mania is not that very different when you write about it, but having to compare them side-by-side, Mania has a higher dynamic, more punch, and a cleaner, punchier sound, with more depth and better bass extension, more bass quantity, and much brighter treble with more focus on emotion and upper midrange / treble expression. Mania is better at handling female voices, and can create a lush, rich and smooth sound, while Miprh-1 is a very relaxed, laid-back and lean sounding headphone. The soundstage of the Miprh-1 is more intimate, works really well with Jazz, while Mania can project the lead voice / lead instrument closer to you, and project the background layers farther away in the distance, creating a stronger feeling of space and instrument separation.
Erzetich Mania V2024 vs HIFIMAN Arya Organic (1199 USD vs 1299 USD)
Build – Arya Organic is a larger headphone vertically, but does not expand so much out of your head in the lateral, and uses a more standard 3.5mm connector at the headphone side, and Arya Organic can accommodate larger heads better, having more space in the headband as well as more space in the earcups for larger ears, Mania being designed more for someone with smaller ears and my head is the maximum that they can accommodate. Arya Organic leaks almost everything you’re listening to, while Mania leaks very little in comparison, and Mania also offers more passive noise isolation, while Arya Organic offers also none. Arya Organic has a lower impedance, they are still incredibly hard to drive, but also sensitive to the source sound and quality, while Mania is both a bit easier to drive and not very sensitive to the source quality, being easier to match with most sources, including portables.
Sound – If you ever heard Arya Organic, it is a sweet in the middle, but fairly bright and sharp sounding headphone, with a rich mid, but a more neutral bass quantity and a strong extension both ways, but not a strong quantity down low. Mania has a fuller bass, a darker sounding midrange in the lower midrange, with a more grave and serious tone, but an equally emotional tone in the upper midrange, where the sweet female voices typically play. The treble of the Arya Organic is much sharper and a bit harsher, while Mania has a smoother, richer, fuller sounding treble with much less fatiguing element to it. Mania is a darker sounding headphone in general, the resolution and detail between them is slightly higher on the Mania, especially in the midrange where it has a stronger instrument separation, but the soundstage produced by Arya Organic is a bit wider and a bit more holographic, while Mania produces a deeper sound that is a bit more focused.
Erzetich Mania V2024 vs Audeze MM-500 (1199 USD vs 1699 USD)
Build – MM-500 is one of the headphones that is quite a bit heavier than Mania, and MM-500 is also much tighter on my head, to the point where I do not recommend the MM-500 to anyone who feels they might have an issue with the comfort. Mania is a bit harder to drive, isolates about as much from the outside noise, and leaks about as much as MM-500, and the mini XLR connectors used by Mania are the same as the mini XLR connectors used by Audeze in their high-end headphones, including MM-500. Overall, Mania is more comfortable, but they are both not very sensitive to the source tone and quality.
Sound – MM-500 costs quite a bit more, and it is made for studio, offering a flatter, more linear sound which can reveal a bit more detail, but Mania is a more emotional sounding headphone that’s more dramatic and more impressive with a higher amount of impact and depth, a slightly more sparkly and brilliant upper midrange and treble, while MM-500 is the epitome of perfect neutrality and linearity. This can also make the MM-500 sound really dry and fast, while Mania is much richer and smoother, lusher sounding, creating a more audibly pleasing sound. I could master and mix using the Mania, but it is more enjoyable to listen to, while MM-500 is a surgical magnifying glass basically made for music work.
Erzetich Mania V2024 vs Crosszone CZ-10 Enhanced (1199 USD vs 995 USD)
Build – CZ-10 Enhanced has a much stronger passive noise isolation and can give users a lower leakage, while Mania leaks a bit more and isolates a bit less than CZ-10 Enhanced. Both are fairly easy to drive, but CZ-10 Enhanced is super sensitive to the source tonality and quality, and you can’t really match CX-10 enhanced easily with any source, while Mania will happily play along with most headphone amplifiers and DAC/AMPs, including portable music players. The comfort of CZ-10 Enhanced can be a bit better, it has smaller earcups, but a softer padding for the headband, and it feels lighter on my head, with less clamping force. The cables of Mania are far more universal, than the 4-Pole 3.5mm cables of the CZ-10 Enhanced.
Sound – Sonically, CZ-10, when paired properly with a good source, will sound thick, lush and bassy with a basshead level of impact and depth, and excellent resolution, but Mania will sound brighter, more open, more natural in the midrange and more crisp, with a deeper soundstage, a higher degree of instrument separation and better definition in general. CZ-10 Enhanced is a fun bassy headphone that can be really wide and distant sounding / satisfying, while Mania is a more correct sounding headphone in the midrange, with a higher separation and more dynamic sound, more accurate female voice rendering.
Value and Conclusion
Erzetich makes those headphones by hand, bringing real innovation to the world, and creating new sound, new fitting styles, and tankish headphones that will survive the next world war in one piece, the value is very strong, and most Erzetich headphones also have a high resale value in case you plan on upgrading down the line. If you’re looking for high-value headphones, Erzetich Mania is especially worthy of your attention and brings to the table something unique and that sounds really good.
Before the end of the day, I want to award the Mania 2024 the Audiophile-Heaven Hall Of Fame award, it is excellent in every way I can call it out sonically, having such a good performance I was not expecting to like it this much. The only drawback is that at its maximum size, it barely fits my medium head, so not for someone with a bigger one, otherwise being surprisingly comfortable despite the size.
At the end of the day, if you’re looking for a headphone that can push the background layers far behind, but keep the lead voices intimate and clean, well-defined and smooth, lush and warm, with a full and lush sound, and also a solid, reliable construction, Erzetich Mania 2024 is an excellent choice with a uniquely sturdy and large design, but an uncharacteristically good sound for the price range.
Product Link
Official Website – https://www.erzetich-audio.com/products-mania/
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Full Playlist used for this review
We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature. I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5
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