I was given an opportunity to purchase a new open back headphone from Kaldas, the makers of the Conquest RR1 electrostatic headphone. I had purchased the RR1 a few years ago and it was my gateway to Electrostatic headphones. So when they reached out about a new open back dynamic driver headphone I was very interested.
The CAL.1H is a dynamic driver headphone that is fairly easy to drive, any dap should work fine, that holds pretty close to the Harman target. It has a very open sound stage without any real harshness at all. Smooth would be a good discription. Frequency graphs can be found on their website. altiat.comGraphs direct link is altiat.com/pages/alcantara-vs-velour-for-the-cal-1h.
These are really well built headphones. Available is several colors that I think sets them apart from many mid-fi headphones. I found they play really well with modern genres such as pop, EDM, or hip hop. I prefer a little more treble energy for classic rock and such, but they do offer two different pad options so that may help based on preference. I went with the alcantara pads which are very comfortable. A variety of choices are available for the cables. The cables are a little stiff, but at the price point of $399 I think they are in line with others in this range.
I went with the Orange color way and the pictures really don't do them justice. The finish is a matte that avoids smudges and fingerprints. The head strap is a simple leather that actually works rather well. They aren't the lightest headphone but not Audeze heavy either. I have no problem wearing them for hours. The adjustment mechanism is also simple but effective. Should hold up for a long time.
Sound wise these have a very pleasant tuning that leans towards the warm side of things. The graphs show the follow the Harman target pretty well, although I think they could use a little more treble extension. But again in its price range I would say it is competitive with the Audeze LCD1 and the Bowers and Wilkens P7 I had on hand to compare. I was also surprised that they did scale rather well with better amplification. Usually headphones at this level don't change much with better sources. In a way it reminded me of the HD650 in its ability to scale.
In short, if your looking for something a little different, that plays well with modern music, you should give the CAL.1H a try. Their website has a lot more information so give it a look. I think it does for dynamic drivers what the RR1 did for electrostatic drivers, a high value gateway to audiophile sound.
The CAL.1H is a dynamic driver headphone that is fairly easy to drive, any dap should work fine, that holds pretty close to the Harman target. It has a very open sound stage without any real harshness at all. Smooth would be a good discription. Frequency graphs can be found on their website. altiat.comGraphs direct link is altiat.com/pages/alcantara-vs-velour-for-the-cal-1h.
These are really well built headphones. Available is several colors that I think sets them apart from many mid-fi headphones. I found they play really well with modern genres such as pop, EDM, or hip hop. I prefer a little more treble energy for classic rock and such, but they do offer two different pad options so that may help based on preference. I went with the alcantara pads which are very comfortable. A variety of choices are available for the cables. The cables are a little stiff, but at the price point of $399 I think they are in line with others in this range.
I went with the Orange color way and the pictures really don't do them justice. The finish is a matte that avoids smudges and fingerprints. The head strap is a simple leather that actually works rather well. They aren't the lightest headphone but not Audeze heavy either. I have no problem wearing them for hours. The adjustment mechanism is also simple but effective. Should hold up for a long time.
Sound wise these have a very pleasant tuning that leans towards the warm side of things. The graphs show the follow the Harman target pretty well, although I think they could use a little more treble extension. But again in its price range I would say it is competitive with the Audeze LCD1 and the Bowers and Wilkens P7 I had on hand to compare. I was also surprised that they did scale rather well with better amplification. Usually headphones at this level don't change much with better sources. In a way it reminded me of the HD650 in its ability to scale.
In short, if your looking for something a little different, that plays well with modern music, you should give the CAL.1H a try. Their website has a lot more information so give it a look. I think it does for dynamic drivers what the RR1 did for electrostatic drivers, a high value gateway to audiophile sound.
