[betula]

I agree with everything you said …those are my top 4 ZMF headphones … but I guess we are all just different in our own preferences… my rankings of those are 1) Atrium open w universe pads 2) Atrium closed with auteur solid hybrid pads 3) Caldera open w co thick pads 4) Caldera closed with cc thick pads… also there’s a cost consideration of 1000 more for each of the Calderas … I don’t know I just find my self reaching for my Atriums more day after day after day … but in the end you can’t go wrong with any of them… I think we can sometimes fool ourselves into thinking the differences are greater among them than they actually are in real life listening applications … I personally know I would probably fail a blind test miserably for all 4 in real life …I would never be able to probably tell them apart if I didn’t know what was on my head with exception maybe the atrium closed (because it has the most unique bass)…. and I don’t think you’re missing too much if you have any of the above 4… even throwing the verities in as well… all great! I have never once been listening to my calderas and wished I had my atriums on for a particular song or listening to my atriums and wished I had the calderas on they all present music in a fantastic way…

Sure, they are all fantastic headphones, and preference varies depending on taste and gear. My preference is CO, CC, AO, AC and I am actually fairly confident that I could tell them apart in a blind test.

 

[erics75]

I keep flipping between Aegis or CC

IMO Aegis for sure. It's a transformative amp, it's reinvigorated all my headphones and is on par with heavyweight amps from DNA and Woo.

 

[DenverW]

Pad recommendations from you existing owners?

For my previous caldera open I preferred the lambskin thick and suedes. Mostly for comfort, as I enjoyed the sound on pretty much all of the pads. What do ya'll think?

 

[AudioDuck]

Pad recommendations from you existing owners?

For my previous caldera open I preferred the lambskin thick and suedes. Mostly for comfort, as I enjoyed the sound on pretty much all of the pads. What do ya'll think?

I bought stock, suedes, and the thick lambskin. I’ve stuck with the stock pads until now, but I’m going swap to suedes this weekend.

 

[lauthoerer]

Pad recommendations from you existing owners?

I’m just past the 90h mark and once through the tuning kit (from Suede to Thick Lamb) with liking the pad that was on a little better than the last one

Will be going backwards from here and try to settle on a favorite, then switch meshes. Oh, the fun…

 

[s2kphile]

Another review of the Closed. TL;DR Mark gave it a 3/5 stars. Based on his review, I cannot wait to hear what he has to say about the Bokeh Closed since midrange is his preference. And he has a squiglink for the Caldera posted here

 

[Clemmaster]

I give the Caldera Closed a 7/5, so it evens out!

 

[jamato8]

I have read many reviews and impressions of the CC and a 3/5 seems way off the mark. Sure, it is one person's opinion but he is supposed to be, I assume, a reviewer and while we all have preferences, even his remarks about transparency and mid range seem to be off. I put little to no value in his review.

 

[s2kphile]

I have read many reviews and impressions of the CC and a 3/5 seems way off the mark. Sure, it is one person's opinion but he is supposed to be, I assume, a reviewer and while we all have preferences, even his remarks about transparency and mid range seem to be off. I put little to no value in his review.

If you watched his review he said his source was a Macbook Pro. And he is mostly an portable audio and IEM reviewer. So does make sense why his impressions are his.

This is why source and amps are important. I believe if he had the proper power his impressions may have been more positive. Still though it shows not having the proper gear can impede a great headphone like the CC.

 

[jamato8]

If you watched his review he said his source was a Macbook Pro. And he is mostly an portable audio and IEM reviewer. So does make sense why his impressions are his.

This is why source and amps are important. I believe if he had the proper power his impressions may have been more positive. Still though it shows not having the proper gear can impede a great headphone like the CC.

Then he would not even be review headphones. I missed that part. His review and the 3/5 is extremely misleading and a waste of time.

 

[goldwerger]

If you watched his review he said his source was a Macbook Pro.

Didn’t watch it, but if that’s the case then it’s “unfortunate”, if I’m being generous.

These headphones scale wonderfully. Driven from the the WA23 they are excellent, driven by thr AIC10 they are spectacular. They can definitely be driven off way smaller and way cheaper amps, and driven very well. But I would not try to drive them from my MacBook.

One can take a race car and drive it on a dirt road, but that doesn’t make I’d the right use case, and it certainly won’t let you appreciate the car’s performance.

 

[Lyssky]

If you watched his review he said his source was a Macbook Pro. And he is mostly an portable audio and IEM reviewer. So does make sense why his impressions are his.

This is why source and amps are important. I believe if he had the proper power his impressions may have been more positive. Still though it shows not having the proper gear can impede a great headphone like the CC.

What’s the matter with him?? Why go out of his way to do this? Nonsensical to say the least.

 

[betula]

If you watched his review he said his source was a Macbook Pro. And he is mostly an portable audio and IEM reviewer. So does make sense why his impressions are his.

This is why source and amps are important. I believe if he had the proper power his impressions may have been more positive. Still though it shows not having the proper gear can impede a great headphone like the CC.

This makes the whole review obsolete.

 

[senseitedj]

If you watched his review he said his source was a Macbook Pro. And he is mostly an portable audio and IEM reviewer. So does make sense why his impressions are his.

This is why source and amps are important. I believe if he had the proper power his impressions may have been more positive. Still though it shows not having the proper gear can impede a great headphone like the CC.

I wouldn’t even bother watching the video any further upon the revelation that a MacBook Pro was used as the source.

 

[Exekuhtor]

If you watched his review he said his source was a Macbook Pro.

LOL. I mean, it's not incredibly hard to drive, but it's still a TOTL planar that needs some juice.
I normally skip to the sound section immediately nowadays, because that's what's interesting to me and i don't think reviewers will typically hold back a headphone with gear - because, well, they are reviewers and should have some experience.
I think the CC sounds fabulous, in every single aspect, bass (allthough i could have a bit more slap, but when the song calls for it, it's all there), midrange (vocals are incredible and only one step below Unveiled / Valkyria for me, which is a very high praise) and treble (overall not obtrusive, but with some airy sparkly highs, rather dark otherwise, but not too dark).
I think it's a really good allrounder, it doesn't sound (that much) like a closed-back, and it's by far the very best closed-back planar that exists (haven't heard the E3 and the other new DCA, but i don't think they come even close tbh)...
Is he completely disregarding the amp / DAC influence? A commenter posted that the stock cable is not that great and holds it back, to which he replied that he is a non cable-believer... I mean... Just listen to a TOTL headphone or IEM with a very cheap generic cable and then swap to a very good one and you should hear the difference, i don't know what to say...
Please don't tell me that he is also a non-believer when it comes to DAC's & amps, especially for somewhat hard to drive headphones. I guess for IEM's it is much of a lesser factor, but even then the difference can be quite big...