[JackarlTwo]

Got a chance to mess around with a Red Burl AC the other day...

ZMF doesn't mess around with their craftmanship. I'd get anxious just picking them up.

 

[ckhirnigs113]

ZMF doesn't mess around with their craftmanship. I'd get anxious just picking them up.

Those are beautiful!

 

[senseitedj]

Question specifically related to the soundstage of AC suede vs. caldera thin pads.

Do you find that the caldera thin pads reduce the size of the stage but increase the reverb when compared to the Suedes?

To my ears, the suedes I feel create a generally larger stage but reduced reverb effect. on the other hand, The caldera thin seems to give a subtle reverb effect similar to what you would hear in a band performing in a moderately sized auditorium.

 

[hanumanbob]

Question specifically related to the soundstage of AC suede vs. caldera thin pads.

Do you find that the caldera thin pads reduce the size of the stage but increase the reverb when compared to the Suedes?

To my ears, the suedes I feel create a generally larger stage but reduced reverb effect. on the other hand, The caldera thin seems to give a subtle reverb effect similar to what you would hear in a band performing in a moderately sized auditorium.

The soundstage is not the biggest difference with swapping the pads. The changes in frequency response is a much bigger thing.

 

[senseitedj]

The soundstage is not the biggest difference with swapping the pads. The changes in frequency response is a much bigger thing.

yes of course, without a doubt, but I wanted to know everyone's impressions specifically of the soundstage.

 

[Huntersknoll]

Question specifically related to the soundstage of AC suede vs. caldera thin pads.

Do you find that the caldera thin pads reduce the size of the stage but increase the reverb when compared to the Suedes?

To my ears, the suedes I feel create a generally larger stage but reduced reverb effect. on the other hand, The caldera thin seems to give a subtle reverb effect similar to what you would hear in a band performing in a moderately sized auditorium.

Yup! I agree with you on that one.

 

[goldwerger]

Question specifically related to the soundstage of AC suede vs. caldera thin pads.

Do you find that the caldera thin pads reduce the size of the stage but increase the reverb when compared to the Suedes?

To my ears, the suedes I feel create a generally larger stage but reduced reverb effect. on the other hand, The caldera thin seems to give a subtle reverb effect similar to what you would hear in a band performing in a moderately sized auditorium.

for me,

Definitely larger soundstage on the Caldera suede pads

Your impression on reverb makes sense. For me, I experience it more as less bloom in bass and cleaner transition to the mids. I found the lower bass with Cakdera thin pads slightly overwhelmed higher bass/lower mid frequencies, and the suede for me is perfect here

I don’t find a different in reverb (assuming this means decay) otherwise, I’m getting that same effect from the damping system across higher frequencies

This would extremely dependent on individual HRTF

 

[zach915m]

Question specifically related to the soundstage of AC suede vs. caldera thin pads.

Do you find that the caldera thin pads reduce the size of the stage but increase the reverb when compared to the Suedes?

To my ears, the suedes I feel create a generally larger stage but reduced reverb effect. on the other hand, The caldera thin seems to give a subtle reverb effect similar to what you would hear in a band performing in a moderately sized auditorium.

Suede - regardless of the format will always attenuate and flatten the transients a little on the impulse response that we perceive. So any suede pad will be a little more even keeled and damped sounding, and vice versa for leather, it'll have more immediacy, but also more decay.

 

[PaisleyUnderground]

My journey with the Atrium Closed began when it was first released, when I was lucky enough to borrow both an olive and a cherry headphone, to see if I could tell the difference. This was actually the first time I've noticed a big difference between different woods in the same model, and for my preferences at least, I fell in love with the olive, paired with suede pads. That's not to say that I didn't sometimes switch over to the lambskin, to suit my mood, or perhaps as a better pairing with whatever amp I was using. But olive + suede was a good baseline for my daily listening.

I wanted to buy my own pair, and despite being seduced by all those beautiful burls that recently came out, I fell head over heels with this beautiful stabilized wood. As soon as I saw this, I needed to have it in my life. For those of you who already know whether your preferences lie with hard wood (e.g. olive) or soft wood (e.g. cherry), I'll say that stabilized sounds like a hard wood, with a little less decay than the cherry, resulting in a slightly tighter bass IMO.

I have way too many headphones, but the Atrium Closed is part of my main rotation, alongside my Caldera and Focal Utopia 2022. It's a perfect complement to both of them.

My wife saw me taking photos of these outside and told me this was the most beautiful wood she's ever seen. @zach915m She said that if you ever need money, she would commission you to make some planters for her back yard.

 

[Renexx]

Noob question here :

Caldera suede perforated pads are the recommended secondary AC pads?

 

[goldwerger]

Noob question here :

Caldera suede perforated pads are the recommended secondary AC pads?

Yes

Caldera lamb thin & Caldera suede are the two alternatives most commonly recommended (and folks here are roughly evenly split in their preference, so getting both is a great idea)

 

[Toonartist]

Are either of the Caldera thin (lambskin leather) or Caldera Suede pads good for when you need good isolation or is there another pad that's better for that role?

 

[goldwerger]

Are either of the Caldera thin (lambskin leather) or Caldera Suede pads good for when you need good isolation or is there another pad that's better for that role?

My very subjective experience has been that all ZMF headphones, including Caldera, isolate really well — like semi-open headphones (which, when you look at the cups, they kind of are).

Edit: this is in answer to the AC not Caldera, so yea, the closed AC DEFINITELY are isolating

I measure this by how much of my wife’s TV comes through and, more important, how much of my music she hears.. with this scientific measurement, the AC perform very well (both Caldera pads)

 

[Toonartist]

Good… I’ll keep to these two then when I pop my order in

 

[heliosphann]

Noob question here :

Caldera suede perforated pads are the recommended secondary AC pads?

Solid Auteur Suede and Solid Eikon Suede Pads are also very good, however they make the AC sound much more like a traditional closed back.