[idairyou]

Candidates? .... Flux Lab Mentor, Mass Kobo 394, Vioelectric V281, V550 ...

Holo Audio Bliss

 

[marcus2704]

For Caldera, hard to find any ss amp that sound better than your Felix Envy tbh.

Thank you all so much for your replies!

I use the Envy in a different room with the Susvara, its used 3/4 times a week when I want to hide away and just sit there with music. The Caldera would be a daily use headphone in my office with a separate amp as I work from home four days a week.

I am leaning towards the Caldera. I think if I got the AC I would naturally gravitate towards only really listening to fun genres like rap/electronic/edm and so on. As the Caldera is perhaps suited to a wider field of genres and part of what I like to do is to explore albums from artists outside of my usual go-to genres otherwise I would listen to nothing else and miss out on a lot of good music. I think it would encourage me to do that a lot more if I had the Caldera.

 

[TheMiddleSky]

Candidates? .... Flux Lab Mentor, Mass Kobo 394, Vioelectric V281, V550 ...

Well I never heard V550 and Flux. So hard to find Flux in south east asia i think. i tried Nimbus, 394II and of course tried V281 many times. Not a chance to compete with Envy.

Holo Audio Bliss

Definitely not. Great amp for the price, but lack in clarity, micro detail/texture, layering, and imaging compared to Envy.

Of course these based on my preference with my set up and my playlist lol.

 

[marcus2704]

To add this to the mix, I also have an option on a Violectric Niimbus US5 Pro (with a Caldera).

 

[Quenya]

Definitely not. Great amp for the price, but lack in clarity, micro detail/texture, layering, and imaging compared to Envy.

I mean... One is 6999 euro while the other is 3890 euro. The Envy ought to be better.

 

[idairyou]

Definitely not. Great amp for the price, but lack in clarity, micro detail/texture, layering, and imaging compared to Envy.

Of course these based on my preference with my set up and my playlist lol.

We can agree to disagree that you're right.......or is it wrong.

 

[orrman]

Thank you all so much for your replies!

I use the Envy in a different room with the Susvara, its used 3/4 times a week when I want to hide away and just sit there with music. The Caldera would be a daily use headphone in my office with a separate amp as I work from home four days a week.

I am leaning towards the Caldera. I think if I got the AC I would naturally gravitate towards only really listening to fun genres like rap/electronic/edm and so on. As the Caldera is perhaps suited to a wider field of genres and part of what I like to do is to explore albums from artists outside of my usual go-to genres otherwise I would listen to nothing else and miss out on a lot of good music. I think it would encourage me to do that a lot more if I had the Caldera.

I know this is a ZMF thread but I would seriously consider a Abyss Diana MR if were you.

 

[Marutks]

Am I resigned to being better off to purchase a new amp were I to buy the Caldera? I would probably be looking at at Violectric solid state amp but keen to hear of any suggestions as I am going round in circles on this.

I have read that Aegis is a good amp for Caldera.

 

[robo24]

I know this is a ZMF thread but I would seriously consider a Abyss Diana MR if were you.

The issue is them wanting to use an OTL which is never going to be great with any planar like the Diana MR

 

[goldwerger]

I have read that Aegis is a good amp for Caldera.

It is. The Aegis is great with all ZMFs, planar and hi-z/dyanmics. It has a very refined presentation that delicate and expansive (in its scope of sound stage) so, where those traits are valued, this amp would be a very good match to the user.

 

[ckhirnigs113]

I have a Feliks Euforia EVO and Chord Hugo 2 and have been painfully deliberating over the purchase of a Caldera.

What I have read suggests that the EVO is not a good match for the Calera planer, I wrote to ZMF who also said its not a perfect pairing. I am not sure either that the Hugo 2 will provide the warm, weighty, punchy sound that I am looking for.

Am I resigned to being better off to purchase a new amp were I to buy the Caldera? I would probably be looking at at Violectric solid state amp but keen to hear of any suggestions as I am going round in circles on this.

My other train of thought is to get an Atrium Closed which (by all accounts) is a good pairing with the EVO. My worry here is that it may be a lot less of an 'all rounder' than the Caldera, I listen to mostly bass-driven music but I also listen to a lot of other genres and I prefer not to own two headphones.

I think the Atrium Closed would work great for you. In my experience, the AC works perfectly as an “all rounder” with the Suede Caldera pads. When you really want to feel the bass, just pop on the stock Lambskin Caldera pads, and you’re good to go!

 

[Zachik]

Candidates? .... Flux Lab Mentor, Mass Kobo 394, Vioelectric V281, V550 ...

Well Audio Milo.

 

[JackarlTwo]

It's been pretty unmotivating and disheartening to see the insane price increases of OTL amps and audio in general in the recent years. Makes me and I'm sure a lot of other people bail out of getting into tubes at all. Feliks "entry model" is over a grand now... it's a good amp and all.

 

[Marutks]

Feliks "entry model" is over a grand now... it's a good amp and all.

Hagerman Tuba or Roger amp from Tor audio? Around 500 gbp both.

Tubes are expensive. My Aegis needs KT88 GEC tubes (1000 gbp for a pair - eye watering price).

 

[Unterstuffz]

It's been pretty unmotivating and disheartening to see the insane price increases of OTL amps and audio in general in the recent years. Makes me and I'm sure a lot of other people bail out of getting into tubes at all. Feliks "entry model" is over a grand now... it's a good amp and all.

Yep! But the question is how close do you wanna get to perfection i have a Valhalla 2 from Shiit Audio (420 Euro) the Model is not new or fancy but with the right tubes (80 Euro for a Matched Pair) it sounds amazing to my ears Impactfull Slighty Warm and Clear and that is all i need to enjoy music im in no illusion of cource that an Envy or WA23 or Even an Euforia hast more Magic/Detail/Dynamics than the Valhalla 2 but the Magic is what you pay for and often times the high end amps have Expensive Tube types to roll.