[Leto Dal]

Just got in... I don't have a food scale handy but I'm very surprised at how light they are.

Got mine Readheart yesterday, Roon says 18h listened since then haha, have fun, there is a lot to discover.

 

[G8torbyte]

Just got in... I don't have a food scale handy but I'm very surprised at how light they are.

Wow, nice grain pattern on that Redheart. Looks like swirls of red hot lava!

 

[heyguyslol]

Wow, nice grain pattern on that Redheart. Looks like swirls of red hot lava!

 

[XVampireX]

Will the new owners share with us their first impressions?

It seems like there might be an unrelated delay with what is happening over here... hope there isn't

 

[TheMiddleSky]

Just landed back to Jakarta after attended Canjam Singapore. Time to "detox" my ears with Caldera + Oblivion.

p.s: DCS Lina Stacks really superb to pair with Caldera!

 

[Leto Dal]

Will make a large write up later down the road when I spent couple of months with the headphones, right now I’m still rolling tubes, pads, plan to try the mantle mesh and trying stuff with different amplifiers.

My chain is PC with Roon and Qubuz, Holo May Level 2 with Holo Bliss.

What I can say right now is, there is a lot to this headphone. Coming from Verite Open, while the tuning is similar, there is far better seperation, a lot more texture, micro resolution and bass slam. While Verite picks up a lot of detail, this detail is there on Caldera just as well but with so much more fine texture and micro nuance to it, like the physical body of the instruments, very audible plucking of the strings, impact of the drumsticks on the surface of the drum, texture of electric guitar during aggressive riffs, wetness in the vocals, you get the idea. Additonally the bass and the overall impact is much more visceral and the separation is far better. While I see myself to keep using Verite for jazz, bluegrass and some vocal stuff, as well as just for some casual listening while I am working, I prefer Caldera for rock, metal, prog and more complex electronic music by far. Big band jazz recordings or just recordings where a lot of stuff happens are to me more interesting with Caldera too. What Caldera lacks compared to Verite is the holographic staging (you are still surrounded by the music, just not as much as with Verite) and I miss that little bit of vocal sweetness on tubes I have with Verite Open, maybe it’s about the right tube pairing and I have to keep exploring the options.

I found the stock pads slightly too bright, the thin cowhide are warmer and slammier, the stage is slightly smaller though. While I prefer cowhide thin pads right now, they are far less comfortable than the stock pads and any of the pads I tried with Verite Open, usually I can wear them for 3-4 hours till I need a break, this is probably the only big negative I can think of right now. Ordered thick pads from Zach this week looking forward to try them next.

All in all, I am very impressed. I thought the VO will be difficult to top and I might dislike planar sound (I had Meze Elite and Empys around and they really didn’t come close to the smoothness and sweet musicality of Verite Open for me) but Caldera sounds very natural and lively to me with all the advantages of a planar driver.

Amplifier and dac matter. Caldera scales very well. I tried Caldera with Cayin IDAC6 MK2, it sounded less natural with it with far less detail than with my Holo May. It was already a jump in sound quality from Cayin dac to Holo May with Verite Open, with Caldera it’s a giant leap.

As for the amp, compared to Holo Bliss, Cayin HA-3A with stock tubes has far less slam, less resolution and is just not as fun. I found okaish combination of tubes for now, but it’s still behind the engaging and detailed sound of solid-state Bliss amp.

The Caldera might be the one, I am having a blast with this headphone, if you are waiting for it right now, you are in for a treat

 

[DAPpower]

@Leto Dal

Great writeup! Yes I feel the same way, the Verite Open is definitely also a keeper and it provides its own visceral presentation that I'm sure many would enjoy. The Caldera is great for many musical styles but it is SUBLIME for EDM or any related subgenre.
I'm so glad I have the luxury of owning both the Caldera and the VO, almost like the best of both worlds with these unicorns.

 

[Pharmaboy]

Not sure how cheap you need, but given "cheap and good" is a balancing act, I recommend Forza. They're basedin Poland and ship custom cables real fast (1-2 weeks). I also like long cables (usually 7-8'). The best comfort/price/performance sweet spot for them is the Claire Hybrid HPC cable (will be about $200-300 depending on length). The Noire line is one level up, not muchmore expensive, but thicker braiding and bit heavier. Also good but I like the Claire.

That said, if budget is flexible, ZMF's silver cable is fantastic for the Caldera. That's what I use for it. But you do pay a premium for the quality of build.

Sonically, it's super nuanced. But you get a wonderfully built cable for a wonderuflly built headphone.

+1 on Forza cables. I own 2 of the HCP Noir MK2 cables (2.0M & 2.5M) and love not only the sound, but also the feel and ease of using them. These are cables that look thick and heavy: thick, yes; heavy, no.

 

[Pharmaboy]

Great cover, thx for sharing. Funny you posted this as I fired up my tube amp today, strapped on my VC's and ran thru their Very Best of Fleetwood Mac album. Good times...

Here's another terrific FM cover, "Never Going Back Again," by a related band, Pomplamoose. Technically the vocalist is from Pomplamoose; drummer & bassist are from Scary Pockets; and the keyboard player and guitarist are from Sheriffs of Schroedingham:

 

[heyguyslol]

If anyone is interested to know roughly how much volume power is needed to drive the Caldera's. I've been able to determine that they are right on par w/ the HD660S on SS amps. While online power calculators are great, I opted to use a decibel meter, and my ears to come to this conclusion.

The SS Amps I tested w/ BAL inputs, volume matched @ -78dB Spring 3 & Qutest were:
Burson GT (Med Gain)
Ferrum Oor + Hypsos (Med Gain)
JDSLabs Ell+ BAL version (Low Gain)

However, tubes is another story and imo is at minimum going to vary from tube amp to tube amp, so I can't really help too much there.

My Cayin HA-3A BAL inputs w/ 4.4 output med gain @ 10 o'clock was plenty of power to drive the Caldera's but did require more juice than the 660S which was about 9 o'clock.

Not an exact science but should give a rough idea on what to expect in order to drive the Caldera's on SS amps. I hope this can be helpful.

EDIT: I'm not one for first impressions as I do prefer to marinate a bit and get past the honeymoon phase to give a more fair and accurate report. However, I will say this I won't be needing the Mantle Mesh but I can see how some ppl might as on some tracks can get just every so slightly pokey but did not cause me any fatigue. I will also say the Caldera's exceeded my expectations both in build and sound quality. Zach imo is a HiFi GOD.

EDIT: (3-28-23) Tested Caldera straight into my Samsung Galaxy S10 5G and sure enough it can drive them np. Can push to about -80dB at about 80% volume.

 

[G8torbyte]

How about some cool blues rock live down in a old volcano's caldera?



Been on a bluesy rock kick lately and enjoying the music from these guys from Iceland, KALEO.

 

[AntonRisto]

Will make a large write up later down the road when I spent couple of months with the headphones, right now I’m still rolling tubes, pads, plan to try the mantle mesh and trying stuff with different amplifiers.

My chain is PC with Roon and Qubuz, Holo May Level 2 with Holo Bliss.

What I can say right now is, there is a lot to this headphone. Coming from Verite Open, while the tuning is similar, there is far better seperation, a lot more texture, micro resolution and bass slam. While Verite picks up a lot of detail, this detail is there on Caldera just as well but with so much more fine texture and micro nuance to it, like the physical body of the instruments, very audible plucking of the strings, impact of the drumsticks on the surface of the drum, texture of electric guitar during aggressive riffs, wetness in the vocals, you get the idea. Additonally the bass and the overall impact is much more visceral and the separation is far better. While I see myself to keep using Verite for jazz, bluegrass and some vocal stuff, as well as just for some casual listening while I am working, I prefer Caldera for rock, metal, prog and more complex electronic music by far. Big band jazz recordings or just recordings where a lot of stuff happens are to me more interesting with Caldera too. What Caldera lacks compared to Verite is the holographic staging (you are still surrounded by the music, just not as much as with Verite) and I miss that little bit of vocal sweetness on tubes I have with Verite Open, maybe it’s about the right tube pairing and I have to keep exploring the options.

I found the stock pads slightly too bright, the thin cowhide are warmer and slammier, the stage is slightly smaller though. While I prefer cowhide thin pads right now, they are far less comfortable than the stock pads and any of the pads I tried with Verite Open, usually I can wear them for 3-4 hours till I need a break, this is probably the only big negative I can think of right now. Ordered thick pads from Zach this week looking forward to try them next.

All in all, I am very impressed. I thought the VO will be difficult to top and I might dislike planar sound (I had Meze Elite and Empys around and they really didn’t come close to the smoothness and sweet musicality of Verite Open for me) but Caldera sounds very natural and lively to me with all the advantages of a planar driver.

Amplifier and dac matter. Caldera scales very well. I tried Caldera with Cayin IDAC6 MK2, it sounded less natural with it with far less detail than with my Holo May. It was already a jump in sound quality from Cayin dac to Holo May with Verite Open, with Caldera it’s a giant leap.

As for the amp, compared to Holo Bliss, Cayin HA-3A with stock tubes has far less slam, less resolution and is just not as fun. I found okaish combination of tubes for now, but it’s still behind the engaging and detailed sound of solid-state Bliss amp.

The Caldera might be the one, I am having a blast with this headphone, if you are waiting for it right now, you are in for a treat

I definitely recommend you to order the Mantle Mesh too! Because of the treble the Cowhide and Suede pads were my favorite pads at first, but after installing the Mantle Mesh I prefer the Stock pads right now. The bass and instrument separation are the best for me and I don't have issues with the treble anymore.

 

[DAPpower]

So my quick impressions with the V222 without much amp-burn in, presentation is spacious in width and goes quite deep in depth. With stock pads, there is NO MORE bite from the treble. The V222 doesn't seem to slow the Caldera down at all, infact the Caldera retains it's speed. Dynamics are powerful and full sounding.

So far the pairing is exactly as I expected, the Caldera is still energetic as ever while never sounding sibilant as it did with the Topping Stack, this might be the happy medium I have been searching for!


At first listen, the staging felt a bit congested but after a 2 hour burn in, the clarity started showing up again and there is more air in the mids/upper mids. Time will only tell how the V222 will sound with 100 hours of run time.

 

[Monsterzero]

So my quick impressions with the V222 without much amp-burn in, presentation is spacious in width and goes quite deep in depth. With stock pads, there is NO MORE bite from the treble. The V222 doesn't seem to slow the Caldera down at all, infact the Caldera retains it's speed. Dynamics are powerful and full sounding.

So far the pairing is exactly as I expected, the Caldera is still energetic as ever while never sounding sibilant as it did with the Topping Stack, this might be the happy medium I have been searching for!


At first listen, the staging felt a bit congested but after a 2 hour burn in, the clarity started showing up again and there is more air in the mids/upper mids. Time will only tell how the V222 will sound with 100 hours of run time.

Get the v222 up over 75 hours and it will sound much better. My v550 pro continues to improve after 150 hours, but the changes now are much less dramatic than they were 75 hours ago.

 

[XVampireX]

So, good chances that tomorrow I'll get it, it arrived in Israel and out of customs, should be delivered tomorrow to my dealer, though it's some 100km away, instead of sending it my way, I'll probably just go there to pick it up Unfortunately though Samsung doesn't like Headphone Jacks, and I don't have a DAP to listen to it on the way

Oh well