[Kevintj604]

I enjoy these with my Kann Max also but I’ve never tried the suedes. Time to pull those out of the drawer I guess!

The Kann Max is a lovely pairing with the Suedes. I vastly prefer the Suedes on that and the CMA Fifteen but on the HA-3A the Auteur Hybrid Solids are my go to pad choice.

 

[AudioDuck]

Yeah the auteur solid hybrids are good for reducing the ACs brightness. Also sound great overall.

Still haven't recieved my redwood burl ACs yet. @AudioDuck Enjoy my Olivewood ACs for me while I wait. I will live through you.

Thanks friend- I love them! I have yet to try the Auteur Solid Hybrids on them (I’m using the Caldera Suedes, which I really like), but I may have to give the Auteur Hybrids a try soon!

 

[ckhirnigs113]

I wonder many AC owners have stuck with the Lambskin Caldera Thin pads? I assume there’s a silent majority of people that stick with the stock pads that come on the headphones. I suspect the most vocal owners are going to be the ones that find an alternative pad they really like.

I am really enjoying the stock pads so far, though at times I wonder if the bass may be a little bit too much for me. I think it may end up making more sense to keep these bass-heavy to better contrast my more-composed Meze Elite with Angled Alcantara pads.

 

[unfitstew]

I wonder many AC owners have stuck with the Caldera Lambskin Thin pads? I assume there’s a silent majority of people that stick with the stock pads that come on the headphones. I suspect the most vocal owners are going to be the ones that find an alternative pad they really like.

I am really enjoying the stock pads so far, though at times I wonder if the bass may be a little bit too much for me. I think it may end up making more sense to keep these bass-heavy to better contrast my more-composed Meze Elite with Angled pads.

Most of my time with my Olivewood ACs were using the stock pads. It has a fun sound to it.
Most ZMFs in my experience sound really good with the stock pads. Changing the pads is just adjusting specific things to preference to me.

 

[heliosphann]

I wonder many AC owners have stuck with the Caldera Lambskin Thin pads? I assume there’s a silent majority of people that stick with the stock pads that come on the headphones. I suspect the most vocal owners are going to be the ones that find an alternative pad they really like.

I am really enjoying the stock pads so far, though at times I wonder if the bass may be a little bit too much for me. I think it may end up making more sense to keep these bass-heavy to better contrast my more-composed Meze Elite with Angled pads.

The AC was one headphone that I really had to force myself to swap off the stock pads. With few viable pad alternatives, I kind of knew that the AC didn't have a lot of wiggle room with it's tuning. It will be interesting if the Caldera Closed is similar to the AC in that regard.

 

[MatW]

I wonder many AC owners have stuck with the Caldera Lambskin Thin pads? I assume there’s a silent majority of people that stick with the stock pads that come on the headphones. I suspect the most vocal owners are going to be the ones that find an alternative pad they really like.

I am really enjoying the stock pads so far, though at times I wonder if the bass may be a little bit too much for me. I think it may end up making more sense to keep these bass-heavy to better contrast my more-composed Meze Elite with Angled pads.

The AC was too bass heavy for me with the stock lambskin pads. I was very relieved when the swap to the suede Caldera pads reigned in the bass. I haven’t tried anything else yet. I don’t have any other suede pads. I have several lambskin solid pads, but I suspect those would increase the bass again. I also have the universe hybrid. I have an auteur hybrid as well but I put that on my Susvara and it’s not super easy to remove and get back on.

 

[zach915m]

The only thing I noted about the treble was that it becomes incredibly smooth after they've been run in. Pad rolling for me is about tweakin isolation and bass intensity.

The titan mesh for closed headphones will be available on the DIY page and will work on Atrium Closed well if anyone desires it. It'll be the same mesh from BOKEH.

I wonder many AC owners have stuck with the Caldera Lambskin Thin pads? I assume there’s a silent majority of people that stick with the stock pads that come on the headphones. I suspect the most vocal owners are going to be the ones that find an alternative pad they really like.

I am really enjoying the stock pads so far, though at times I wonder if the bass may be a little bit too much for me. I think it may end up making more sense to keep these bass-heavy to better contrast my more-composed Meze Elite with Angled pads.

We will have some BOKEH pads available for the Atrium Closed soon too, I want to do more testing with them but I think the suede and hybrid will work best. The protein I will measure and listen to as well but I expect to be insanely bassy.

The AC was one headphone that I really had to force myself to swap off the stock pads. With few viable pad alternatives, I kind of knew that the AC didn't have a lot of wiggle room with it's tuning. It will be interesting if the Caldera Closed is similar to the AC in that regard.

Caldera Closed will likely be similar? Testing out a lot of pads for it and working on that last 10% of tuning.

I have an auteur hybrid as well but I put that on my Susvara and it’s not super easy to remove and get back on.

We will have ZMF Hifiman pads for Susvara, Arya/HE1000/XS/Sundara open soonish.

 

[Pashmeister]

I wonder many AC owners have stuck with the Caldera Lambskin Thin pads? I assume there’s a silent majority of people that stick with the stock pads that come on the headphones. I suspect the most vocal owners are going to be the ones that find an alternative pad they really like.

I am really enjoying the stock pads so far, though at times I wonder if the bass may be a little bit too much for me. I think it may end up making more sense to keep these bass-heavy to better contrast my more-composed Meze Elite with Angled pads.

I am using stock. I prefer the stock pads and it sounds so nice and full. It was love at first hearing with the stock for me. It is bassier, but it does bass so well that I enjoy it so much.

 

[sp33ls]

So far my preferences are:

AC: stock
AO: stock
VC: Universe (lamb)
VO: Be2 (lamb)

I wonder what this says about my preferences as a whole.

It’d be fun to run a survey across ZMF users and build a predictive model to rank pads based on their preferences. That way one could have higher confidence in pad selection before purchasing. Could even go as far as building a ZMF headphones recommendation engine given enough data.
(yeah, I know this isn’t a novel idea…)

Speaking of, I need to list a bunch of hardly used pads in the classifieds…

 

[AudioDuck]

It’d be fun to run a survey across ZMF users and build a predictive model to rank pads based on their preferences. That way one could have higher confidence in pad selection before purchasing. Could even go as far as building a ZMF headphones recommendation engine given enough data.

Thank you for the clear recommendations!

Also, I agree with you that it would be cool to run that survey and see. The data set would be relatively small, of course, but even so it could be really useful to new ZMF fans here on Head-Fi.

And I sense you have research/data as part of their professional background…

(yeah, I know this isn’t a novel idea…)

Gotta disagree there!

Actually, I thought it was quite novel and interesting point.

 

[Toonartist]

I wonder many AC owners have stuck with the Caldera Lambskin Thin pads? I assume there’s a silent majority of people that stick with the stock pads that come on the headphones. I suspect the most vocal owners are going to be the ones that find an alternative pad they really like.

I am really enjoying the stock pads so far, though at times I wonder if the bass may be a little bit too much for me. I think it may end up making more sense to keep these bass-heavy to better contrast my more-composed Meze Elite with Angled pads.

I'll give them a spin again. I was doing a similar thing with the Auteur Suede Solids. I didn't mind the dip in stage size etc as I can easily switch to the Elites when that's important but I just enjoyed the tonal balance of the Auteur Suede Solids. That said, I have the Caldera Suedes fitted at the moment.

 

[ctaxxxx]

I need to revisit the Bokeh vs Caldera suede pads, you're the 2nd person today saying that. I didn't spend enough time with them as my initial impression was they're too similar to bother. But I obviously missed something big.

Just tried these. I think they do offer a good inbetween from stock Lambskin and Suedes, but I still preferred the Caldera Suedes over the Bokeh Suedes. The Bokeh pads sounded more closed in and less "magical" (?) to me. Not bad at all, but more of a preference.

Also, pad swapping on the AC was much easier than the Bokeh!

 

[Toonartist]

I’d imagine all pads are relevant depending on the chain. I like the Auteur Solids with the Aegis with EL38 RCA red base 5691… but nit with the Mojo2. There I prefer the Caldera Suedes. This is the same with the Auris Nirvana.

What it tells me is if i have all the options i can fine tune the sound to match the amp / tubes or even headphone cable.

 

[ckhirnigs113]

Just listened to Legend - Best of Bob Marley on the AC, and it was a match made in heaven. The bass was perfect for that style of music.

I’ve probably got about 50 hours on the drivers at this point, and if anything, I feel like the bass is a bit more controlled and less overbearing. The overall sound is very smooth and nuanced. I haven’t even touched my Meze Elite for a week, so it will be interesting to switch back to those. I wonder if they’ll sound bass-light at this point after getting used to the AC.

As a side note, I have been using my Cayin iHA-6 with the AC for burn-in since it doesn’t get as hot as my MJ3 or tube amp. Out of laziness, I have sometimes neglected to even turn on the MJ3 when I sit down to listen and just use the iHA-6 out of convenience. The AC sounds great on this amp as well. If you’re looking for a nice solid state amp that can be had for under $350 used, this is a no brainer.

 

[Toonartist]

Just listened to Legend - Best of Bob Marley on the AC, and it was a match made in heaven. The bass was perfect for that style of music.

I’ve probably got about 50 hours on the drivers at this point, and if anything, I feel like the bass is a bit more controlled and less overbearing. The overall sound is very smooth and nuanced. I haven’t even touched my Meze Elite for a week, so it will be interesting to switch back to those. I wonder if they’ll sound bass-light at this point after getting used to the AC.

I can normally move between them now without much thought. It’s become easier yo recognise which album suits what.

But also, sometimes it’s a mood thing… sometimes its massive soundstage… sometimes it’s kicking bass.

I love them both and move between them with ease now