Just wanted to post an update on pads. I was complaining the thick pads were giving me this weird hall-like effect. I think this was just do to my EQ of the mids. Or sometimes without EQ, I would rotate the pads to bring out the mids more. Both of these caused issues with soundstaging. I feel...

I have standard headband and never had an issue. I do have the oak and magnesium, so that does make it one of the lightest options. I have a feeling the thicker strap might be needed once you get into some of the heavier woods. Also, some of the LTD addition woods I believe require more upkeep...

This was basically my starting point. I did happen to see a bunch of them at CanJam but had no idea what I was looking at and left the ZMF room without listening to anything. Only thinking maybe I made the wrong choice getting the Expanse a few days earlier. A few months later, the Expanse was...

Yes, I’ve generally came to same conclusion. But overwhelming is how I felt when I first came across all those choices on the ZMF website. Prior to that I owned the Expanse. I kind of liked that didn’t have to think about any options. But then in the end, I didn’t prefer its sound. Even with...

Thanks. So I’ll pass. Yeah the lambskin does lose a lot of soundstage and starts to feel like singer is shouting in my ears. When first switch, it’s most similar to stock in dynamics, tightness and energy. It’s great we have all these choices, but think am happy with how Zach tuned it with stock...

You’ve got me somewhat interested in the cowhide thin. Just worried because I’m not a fan of the lambskin thin. I’ll have to search, unless someone can chime in, on how the two thins compare. I was planning on trying the cowhide thin at CanJam but I doubt in that environment and short period of...

But in end it’s about preference. I lot of thick fans had issue with the stock pads. Think they find mids too forward and there’s too much energy. For me, I was an original Grado fan, so I’m all about aggressive mids. That’s also why I love the Utopia. Gets the electric guitars right and so does...

The negatives for me is slight drop in the mids and the occasional reverb hall-like effect is too strong on some albums. Even when I adjusted the mids back up, the hall-like effect still was a deal breaker. I also feel it adds more width than depth, so can sound too wide in comparison vs the...

It’s possibly the Dave and the Hugo 2 have enough power for the Caldera, but the sound profile is not to my liking. I need more weight to my music. Thought the Ferrum stack was a much better fit for my taste than what I heard straight out of the Dave. I haven’t heard the Hugo 2 with the Caldera...

Wasn’t sure how the Hugo 2 would work with Caldera but guess it might be underpowered? Only used the first 2 filters with the Utopia since I felt that was the point of owning the Hugo 2 over the Mojo. But yes, the detail with the Utopia was insane but it wasn’t musical. It lacked weight and...

The suede pads are more forgiving on the Caldera, so might want to give those a try. I ended back at stock, like I always do. Suede can sound a little dull in comparison to stock over time.

Strange is I found the Utopia with Hugo 2 to be a bad paring. Too analytical and not enough bass. The Dave improved everything. And the Naim HE was much better with bass and weight on the Utopia as well. I still use the Naim HE with the Caldera. What the Utopia does better is the tightness and...

What’s funny is when I was trying to research the Ferrum stack I accidentally ended up over at Audio Science site. According to them, I should just get a Topping D90. I think their answer for everything is Topping. Besides Ferrum, Holo May comes up but it’s too big for my space. I’ve also...

Thanks. In my short listen I sort of felt like the Ferrum stack may have been more detailed. Now being more technically capable doesn’t always mean more enjoyable. I previously owned a Chord Dave/mscaler with Focal Utopia and currently enjoy my Naim HE and Caldera just as much, if not more. But...

So the thick pads continued to have more issues for me. On two albums in a row it was giving the hall-like effect and didn’t sound right to me. So I took a break and watched goldensound review and he’s a suede fan, so figured what the heck, let’s give the suede pads another run. I used them for...

So I ended up being thrown for a loop. Going back to stock now sounded slightly shouty. It was the first time I experienced this. So I threw the suede pads on there and the vocals sounded much better. However, I missed all that extra bass goodness of the thick. So in the end, I went back to the...

Ok, so after reading all these posts, I’ll have to give the Atrium open another good listen as well. Really like my 10 minute audition at last CanJam and did feel it sounded better than the Caldera on the Feliks Envy. But then felt the Caldera beat the Atrium on the Ferrum stack. Couldn’t say...

Ok, it only took 2 days but I’m back with the stock pads. So even with the EQ adjustment, what I ended up finding slightly off with the thick pads was this hall-like, reverb effect. Generally gives things a more spacious sound but then I tried the following: Girl in Amber - Where the Viaduct...

Got thick as my 2nd set of pads and had no expectations of what they would do. Suede was my installed set of pads. The Caldera were the first ZMF I’ve ever owned or heard. I really liked the suede but didn’t care for the thick. Got stock pads a few months later and mostly stuck with that ever...

So giving the thick pads one last try but this time with a little EQ. I can probably fine tune it more but already liking this setting since give it just a little more bite in the mids. Frequency: 2500 Hz Gain: 2.7 dB Q: 2.3 For the most part I’ve always liked the improvements the thick brings...

Yeah, I got it to go the Utopia but find it works quiet well the Caldera. My issue has less to do with price than space and convenience. I really like the small footprint and really only found Ferrum stack to be about same amount of space. I’m really happy with the sound but keep hearing how...

That’s sort of the feeling I got after the last CanJam. I’d need to listen at non meet conditions. Other option is to use Naim as a preamp into the Ferrum but is it really worth all that money for what may be a small improvement and ruin the all in one setup. My Caldera open headphones seem...

How would say the Naim HE compares to the Ferrum stack? I see you carry that as well, so may make a trip up there and do a comparison. Using Caldera open and got to give it a short listen at last SoCal CanJam and liked what I heard. Just wasn’t sure how much improvement it provides over the Naim.

This give me a lot to think about. It’s not really price that’s the hold back at this point for me. It’s space. I have living room setup and the Naim just fits and looks great in this space. And as mentioned, believe tubes are out of the question because of my cat. So only thing I’ve seen at...

Not to derail but I’m currently in San Diego and my car journey started with a 1971 VW Bug. Then had several Buses including a rare kombi that was hard top but with bed and table, VW Fastback and finally The VW Thing. And what was nice with the VW is you could tinker with it and mod it. So...