Not under one grand, but Cayin HA2A is truly superb for the price. Also has lower noise floor than HA3A too.

I have one, should let me know if you want to try. It sounds like warmer/darker sound of caldera thin pad. Caldera Thin Pad and Caldera Ultra Perforated Pad are two different pad types.

My cat also confirm this one is indeed a great Amplifier

So after extensive listening time, my cat decide that for Caldera, the caldera leather pad is better than caldera suede pad. As a good servant what can I do other than follow her choice?

Two things that I agree here: - Meze Elite definitely sound more romantic, more melodious, sweeter, more "wet" vocality than Caldera - When I had chance to home demo Ferrum Wandla + Oor/Hypsos + Caldera, this pairing was too energetic/sharp on upper mid/treble too for me, Elite synergised better...

Been a while since the last time I act as "a kid in candy store" again with IEM purchase (last time was with Radon6). Alter Ego truly define how to become "master" in detail information, but with such beautiful, organic and silky smooth tuning, with engaging and punchy notes. My favourite is...

Agree with your impression. Beautiful Shedua btw!

Only beta22 3-channel, but that's already a bit while ago.

Sometimes I wish I can't differentiate DAC sound too, literally will save me a lot of money more than any switcher. ----- Personally, many DAC under $500, especially the chifi DAC that brag about measurement a lot, may sound similar to each other (still not identical though). While in realm of...

For the price Aune S17 is hard to beat. I also quite like the synergy Heddphone Two with Cayin HA-2A.

Pretty much I totally agree with this statement. The sound differences between high end DACs are huge, even in sound character. For entry level market, many chi-fi DACs definitely sound similar one to each other, and may started to create opinion like "all dac sound similar, not worth the upgrade"

wooo, can't wait for your impression vs Cayin 300B!

In term of detail and soundstage, susvara take the lead. However susvara is too soft sounding for me. All percussion instrument seems "weak, not exciting enough. Very capable headphone, but nor for me.

Not overkill, but you can always "do better" if you want to (buy music files and use proper music software like audirvana/roon) Personally, there is always a special synergy between TT2 and all version of Abyss Diana. Sublime combination!

do you get annoy from sibilance from all song or only certain song? If only from certain song, can you let us know which one is it? Elite is not dark sounding headphone, but so far it's the most butter smooth headphone for me (in TOTL realm).

Few things that i truly impressed with Alter Ego: Vocal, Coherency, Soundstage and Puncy Bass. Still curious how loud the leak though, I think should be less than Radon 6 / Turii Ti, but that's my only assumption.

Just want to add that, I'm a happy owner of Caldera Open with DSDAC Deluxe (and tube amp in between). In term of sound Caldera Closed has some similarities with Caldera Open, even more than any other closed back ZMF. If you truly like Bokeh sound signature, I think the "normal path" to upgrade...

More or less it's seal like VE EXT. Better isolation than other IEM like Fir Radon 6 or Softears Turii Ti.

Personally Crimson render Midrange texture and the last micro detail on Treble more complete than Titan. However Titan will punch more, especially in sub bass area, very solid on that area. Treble still sparkly enough, not too dark by any means. Titan is more fun, but Crimson closer to reference...

What do you think about Alter Ego vs VE-X?

This just by memory, but I think mid-sub bass roughly around Susvara/D8000 Pro in term of quantity.

You can say shooting ZMF headphones is my passion lol (too bad now we no longer have gallery feature in Profile page, I used to post them all there)

Tried Immanis at Canjam for several times (to make sure my ears don't deceive me lol). Also talked to some people there about their Immanis impression, and so far I think the impression is consistent. For me Immanis is "super" transparent, clean sounding headphone, with extremely vivid imaging...

Posting some photos:

From Canjam Singapore last week: I definitely like Cayin HA-2A more than IHA-8 for any type of Caldera (and Bokeh Open)