[Bootycall922]

I tested the susvara in a dual monoblock speaker amplifier AHB2 by benchmark.
The sound on susvara is very refined. As some mentioned airy. But not only airy, the sound seems to come out of nowhere, like instead of a headphones you had a helmet.
Regardless of presentation, I find the susvara lacking on bass response. Even on monster amplifiers. The vocals are nice and the timber natural. I thought to myself, it's a pretty good headphones, but I don't like to eq, and susvara need a bass shelf yes or yes. Sometimes even thought was too relaxed sounding headphones.
The caldera on the other hand, is energetic, bigger soundstage and overall better positioning, treable is sparkle and not less airy than susvara, just different flavour.
What caldera does very differently is the bass, which is superb. It also sounds more rounded across the entire spectrum. Cohesive, natural, but at the same time energetic and wide.
Both are comfortable enough, but caldera wins in this department by a little margin.
The looks.. oh boy, caldera all the way.
And the amplification... Well it's true the caldera scales very good with good amps, but you don't need 2 monoblocks to run. In fact is one of the easiest to drive headphones I have tried and now I posses (my treasure) hehe.
The susvara will eat you twice your wallet between the headphones themselves and amplification. And perhaps you end up like my friend, who went susvara all the way (the guy with the two AHB2) and after auditioning my calderas in a much weaker chain. The first thing he did was a poker face followed by a facepalm.
He's still owning the susvara, but everyday he ask me how the sound is evolving on my calderas. As he tried them with not much more than 10h of burning. And Caldera is becoming better and better every day of usage.
Not to praise caldera or zmf blindly, but in my opinion. This whole write up, should serve you well.
Hope it helps. If you have any further questions, pm.
Btw guys, it's true there is a search option. But sometimes we need a fresh input. And when you have been searching for hours/days, information starts become fuzzy in your head.
Let's be nice there is nothing wrong to ask. At least for me.

You just convinced me to keep my Caldera xD

 

[Leto Dal]

There is not much on the current market that offers the technicalities, the allrounder tonal balance, naturalness and the driveability of Caldera. The real upgrades are around 20k + with all in one e-stat rigs like Aperio and even than you will miss out on some stuff Caldera offers.

 

[betula]

Anybody have thoughts on the caldera vs susvara?

Susvara for me was always a 'near perfect' sounding headphone. It does everything very well, really hard to find serious faults in it. More neutral than Caldera, a bit lighter and airier, like most other planars. It is true, that while Susvara can sound pretty good out of some popular amps (Ferrum and akin) to me they truly came alive on the Egoista 845 and Trafomatic Primavera 'hardcore' tube amps. There the Susvara had big and satisfying bass, elsewhere they were very, very good, but not really 'impressive'.
So yes, chain is crucial with the Susvara, and you probably have to spend a lot more than the 6K asking price of the headphones to reach truly satisfying results. The Caldera for 4K can be run to more than satisfactory levels for less than 4K, so there is that. Let's also forget for a minute the much superior build quality, uniqueness and look of the ZMF planar and focus solely on sound, assuming both headphones are driven to their full potential. (Lot more difficult and lot more expensive to get there with Sus.)

As I said, to me the Susvara just sounds right, pretty much all the time. Everything is nicely balanced, not too much, not too little: right amount of clarity, great resolution, nuances, nothing is missing, nothing is added (no colouration). On most good SS amps this well-measured near-perfection can start to sound a little boring after a while, but on the big tube amps I mentioned above the Sus really came to life. That said, I personally find the Caldera not much far behind when it comes to ultimate resolution and technical capabilities; definitely in the same TOTL league. Perhaps the Sus occasionally can come across as more effortless, but I find the Caldera more entertaining, more unique, more fun. Sure, not as neutral and not as balanced as the Sus, but more engaging more easily. The ZMF somehow sounds a little more alive and organic, with more bass energy and slam in a beautifully layered space.
While the Susvara could be your (Chinese) Rolls-Royce, Caldera would be the most refined American muscle car, perhaps a Ford GT.

 

[trollbearpig]

I think the chain requirements for the Susvara are a bit overblown, I have a Topping 90 stack and the Susvaras sound absolutely perfect to me and come out ahead of the Calderas. I still need to hear the Susvara on 'big boy' amps though to really see if the scale hype is real, but this is really just to make a point that you don't necessarily need an expensive chain to make these comparable or even preferable to Calderas.

just sounds right, pretty much all the time. Everything is nicely balanced, not too much, not too little: right amount of clarity, great resolution, nuances, nothing is missing, nothing is added (no colouration).

I have to echo this so much, everytime I put on the Susvara, the absolute balance just blows me away, every sonic molecule feels like it's in the right spot. The other takeaway for me is the presentation is much better. For example when I listen to someone like Billie Eilish, I would expect her vocals to feel center stage and very intimate and really carry the emotion of the track, or Billy Strings who is a Blue Grass musician and when you listen to his tracks you should come away thinking, man that guy is really fast at guitar picking. So these elements end up a bit further back and just kind of become another element in the song on the Calderas. That isn't to say the detail isn't there, and I'm not sure I would say they are recessed, I think maybe just a presentation issue of them feeling further back. So the Susvara brings all of that back and really makes key pieces in the music center stage as it should be carrying the emotion of the track so well it can nearly bring tears to my eyes.

The other big difference is how engaging and punchy the Calderas are. For many this is a positive, but for me I prefer the airiness and balance of the Susvara, just feels like easy listening that allows me to wear for longer periods of time.

 

[Lyssky]

Caldera would be the most refined American muscle car, perhaps a Ford GT.

This.

 

[steve468]

I've gotten in a set of the thick pads, and wow, what a change. I was not expecting this much difference. On other ZMF open cans, I find the pads don't have as big an effect as on the closed ones. But that opinion changes now.

I was one of the people that consider the Caldera to be fairly bright overall, at least for my taste. And mids were a bit distant for my taste. Other than that, I love 'em. But the thick pads have fixed both these minor complaints, and then some. Cymbals sound a little less scratchy without losing detail. I feel the mids are somehow a bit closer - I think maybe the extra bass gives them more heft and impact?

And, the BASS. I've not heard every headphone, but certainly the Caldera is up there in terms of detailed bass. The stock pads have one of the tightest, most textured bass presentations I've heard. And with the thick pads I get more of it! There's just a hint more resonance to the bass (which I find a bit more realistic), but it's still so textured and detailed. And more present overall.

They're are also much more comfy for my ears!

I know there's already a lot of great info on the different Caldera pads from much smarter and cooler people than me. But as someone who's heard a lot of ZMFs and a lot of pads, I am still surprised about the positive changes the thick pads make for me.

 

[Pharmaboy]

I've gotten in a set of the thick pads, and wow, what a change. I was not expecting this much difference. On other ZMF open cans, I find the pads don't have as big an effect as on the closed ones. But that opinion changes now.

I was one of the people that consider the Caldera to be fairly bright overall, at least for my taste. And mids were a bit distant for my taste. Other than that, I love 'em. But the thick pads have fixed both these minor complaints, and then some. Cymbals sound a little less scratchy without loosing detail. I feel the mids are somehow a bit closer - I think maybe the extra bass gives them more heft and impact?

And, the BASS. I've not heard every headphone, but certainly the Caldera is up there in terms of detailed bass. The stock pads have one of the tightest, most textured bass presentations I've heard. And with the thick pads I get more of it! There's just a hint more resonance to the bass (which I find a bit more realistic), but it's still so textured and detailed. And more present overall.

They're are also much more comfy for my ears!

I know there's already a lot of great info on the different Caldera pads from much smarter and cooler people than me. But as someone who's heard a lot of ZMFs and a lot of pads, I am still surprised about the positive changes the thick pads make for me.

+100 to this. The sound of the Caldera with stock pads is impressive as hell, but the thicks made that sound next-level & just about ideal for me.

I, too, was struck by the significant sonic differences all 4 ZMF pads I tried on the Caldera (stocks; cowhide thins; suedes; and thicks) made in its sound. But it's important to note that none of these pads push the sound too far in one direction or other to be faithful to the capabilities of the Caldera's drivers and earcups. They all sound good in their own way.

Besides the Caldera delivering true TOTL planar sound (IMHO), these ZMF pads designed for the headphone give a master class in productive (not destructive) sound-shaping via pad rolling.

 

[betula]

I've gotten in a set of the thick pads, and wow, what a change. I was not expecting this much difference. On other ZMF open cans, I find the pads don't have as big an effect as on the closed ones. But that opinion changes now.

I was one of the people that consider the Caldera to be fairly bright overall, at least for my taste. And mids were a bit distant for my taste. Other than that, I love 'em. But the thick pads have fixed both these minor complaints, and then some. Cymbals sound a little less scratchy without loosing detail. I feel the mids are somehow a bit closer - I think maybe the extra bass gives them more heft and impact?

And, the BASS. I've not heard every headphone, but certainly the Caldera is up there in terms of detailed bass. The stock pads have one of the tightest, most textured bass presentations I've heard. And with the thick pads I get more of it! There's just a hint more resonance to the bass (which I find a bit more realistic), but it's still so textured and detailed. And more present overall.

They're are also much more comfy for my ears!

I know there's already a lot of great info on the different Caldera pads from much smarter and cooler people than me. But as someone who's heard a lot of ZMFs and a lot of pads, I am still surprised about the positive changes the thick pads make for me.

Agreed. I hardly ever take my thick pads off the Caldera.

 

[Honeypot]

I am also into the thick pads. And not turning back (at least for now).

At the beginning the caldera sounded a little bit spicy in a particular frecuency (some hi hats, cymbals) were a bit troublesome to my ears.

That's why I went to thick pads almost in 2-3 days. Even so, I was noticing too much energy in there. However with time, I have noticed the headphones have started settling down. And what before was spicy it's now getting spot on. I guess the burning factor is real. This also happened with the much cheaper beyerdynamic 1990pro's I used to mix.

IMHO the thick pads also provides more air and separation on the tracks. Making it perfect to my liking.

Perhaps with some more burning I go back to the default pads to check how it goes.

I am also looking forward to test the Forza audioworks hybrid HPC I had use for two years with the LCD-X. These are well burnt and may provide different nuances.

For now I am set with grand Silver palladium cable which are also in burning period.

It's nice to have different things to try that make slight differences.

 

[Nimzerz]

I am also into the thick pads. And not turning back (at least for now).

At the beginning the caldera sounded a little bit spicy in a particular frecuency (some hi hats, cymbals) were a bit troublesome to my ears.

That's why I went to thick pads almost in 2-3 days. Even so, I was noticing too much energy in there. However with time, I have noticed the headphones have started settling down. And what before was spicy it's now getting spot on. I guess the burning factor is real. This also happened with the much cheaper beyerdynamic 1990pro's I used to mix.

IMHO the thick pads also provides more air and separation on the tracks. Making it perfect to my liking.

Perhaps with some more burning I go back to the default pads to check how it goes.

I am also looking forward to test the Forza audioworks hybrid HPC I had use for two years with the LCD-X. These are well burnt and may provide different nuances.

For now I am set with grand Silver palladium cable which are also in burning period.

It's nice to have different things to try that make slight differences.

I would be particularly interested to hear your thoughts on the Forza vs your other cable and how you find it to pair with the Caldera.

 

[Honeypot]

I would be particularly interested to hear your thoughts on the Forza vs your other cable and how you find it to pair with the Caldera.

Give me a few days. This weekend I've got the kids and not much time for critical/active listening.
But is something I am looking forward to do. Next week will take some time with them and play some reference tracks and note down my thoughts.
I'll keep you posted

 

[JerseyD]

I am also into the thick pads. And not turning back (at least for now).

At the beginning the caldera sounded a little bit spicy in a particular frecuency (some hi hats, cymbals) were a bit troublesome to my ears.

That's why I went to thick pads almost in 2-3 days. Even so, I was noticing too much energy in there. However with time, I have noticed the headphones have started settling down. And what before was spicy it's now getting spot on. I guess the burning factor is real. This also happened with the much cheaper beyerdynamic 1990pro's I used to mix.

IMHO the thick pads also provides more air and separation on the tracks. Making it perfect to my liking.

Perhaps with some more burning I go back to the default pads to check how it goes.

I am also looking forward to test the Forza audioworks hybrid HPC I had use for two years with the LCD-X. These are well burnt and may provide different nuances.

For now I am set with grand Silver palladium cable which are also in burning period.

It's nice to have different things to try that make slight differences.

Seems you should probably at least try an all copper cable to tame the spicy highs. Your Grand Silver and Noir Hybrid both have zippy silver. Something to consider

 

[Honeypot]

Seems you should probably at least try an all copper cable to tame the spicy highs. Your Grand Silver and Noir Hybrid both have zippy silver. Something to consider

Indeed, I have also a pure copper from cable corpse which I should also compare. But it's gonna take some time

 

[Pharmaboy]

Seems you should probably at least try an all copper cable to tame the spicy highs. Your Grand Silver and Noir Hybrid both have zippy silver. Something to consider

I have one silver cable, and early ZMF silver, and I use that strictly with the Aeolus. It's a good match.

My other 4 cables are all big copper. The biggest/heaviest (a custom Norne OCC cable) is on the Caldera. Copper + Caldera is a very good combination IMO.

 

[dbull12]

I wish this thread was more active: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/zmf-headphone-cable-poll-what-do-you-use.951783/

Would be interested to read more comparisons of some of the popular mid-priced cables that people use with ZMFs (like FAW Noir Hybrid, Norne Drausk / Vygarde, ZMF 2K Copper / Verite Silver / Grand Palladium, various Arctic Cables, etc)

Specifically, how does the softness and flexibility of the higher end ZMF cables compare to the Noir Hybrid? I'm happy with my Noir Hybrid except that it's pretty heavy and the chunky splitter has a tendency to get caught on my desk