[ColSaulTigh]

based on the first 50-second intro: fast attack, fast decay - the keybord is more staccato than legato in feel. I assume the horns you refer to are those couple of blasts interspersing that keybord intro. Same comment on those!

Wrong thread. Sorry.

 

[Takarajima]

based on the first 50-second intro: fast attack, fast decay - the keybord is more staccato than legato in feel. I assume the horns you refer to are those couple of blasts interspersing that keybord intro. Same comment on those!

I almost feel the same things. The attack feels like it has some audible overshoot. Good sustains followed by moderate decays (not too fast tho). The horn (kicked in around 51s) sounded more like a synthesized instrument rather than naturally recorded acoustic horns. Anyway great bites with some commissioned richness (i.e., not coming from the original signal but infused by Caldera).

Btw I heard via Qobuz: https://open.qobuz.com/track/20750954

 

[goldwerger]

I almost feel the same things. The attack feels like it has some audible overshoot. Good sustains followed by moderate decays (not too fast tho). The horn (kicked in around 51s) sounded more like a synthesized instrument rather than naturally recorded acoustic horns. Anyway great bites with some commissioned richness (i.e., not coming from the original signal but infused by Caldera).

Btw I heard via Qobuz: https://open.qobuz.com/track/20750954

agree with you - fast attack, moderate decay is more accurate description than I provided on second listen
(that synthesize note that kids in few seconds after horns start makes that part hard to judge)
qobuz as well

 

[Monsterzero]

Supertramp - Bloody Well Right

Thanks!

School is one of my fav headphone tracks. Their production is awesome

 

[ColSaulTigh]

Thanks!

I have to wait until the end of November with the other peasants, but I appreciate the "mental preview" with a piece of music I know.

 

[ColSaulTigh]

School is one of my fav headphone tracks. Their production is awesome

"Bloody Well Right" is a very diverse track. The tightness up front, then some open studio sound. The vocals are a bit repressed, making the instruments more forefront and easier to distinguish. There's a certain "presence" in this one that a lot of the 70's sound misses.

 

[steve468]

So it sounds like, simplistically put, the Caldera is fast, warm-neutral and detailed in nature. That to me sounds like an LCD-4. Does anyone have a comparison of those two? Would it be worth owning both? Do I need yet another ZMF??

 

[Takarajima]

So it sounds like, simplistically put, the Caldera is fast, warm-neutral and detailed in nature. That to me sounds like an LCD-4. Does anyone have a comparison of those two? Would it be worth owning both? Do I need yet another ZMF??

The last time I heard LCD-4 was a couple of years ago (no side-by-side comparison), so please take my claim with a grain of salt..

The main difference from my memory include

1. Caldera is more neutral in highs than LCD4
2. LCD4 comes with more extended lows and heft
3. Caldera is a bit more delicate and delineate
4. Caldera resolves more details and nuances across entire spectrum
5. Timbral accuracy and density are more right-ish with Caldera

I do think they're not quite replacing each other. Kinda apple vs orange.

 

[heliosphann]

Do I need yet another ZMF??

 

[Saberpunch]

Hey, @zach915m sorry if you already answer this. I heard you guys showcase the Caldera with a lot of amps in Can Jam including the Cayin 3A-HA. What were people's opinions and feedback on the Caldera and Cayin 3A-HA combo?

 

[Monsterzero]

Dan McCafferty is on my Mt. Rushmore of heavy rock vocalists along with Gillan, Cornell, and Freddie. Unmistakeble, powerful, and bloody brilliant.
Blasting Nazareth tonight thru the Caldera.

RIP Dan McCafferty

 

[9bphillips]

I noticed Zach's post about the different wood the Caldera Ltd could come in. It would be really cool if we could do a fan vote to decide. It would be neat to see a small display of what the wood would be like and ppl could place their votes to decide. After all, us crazy ZMF fans would be the ones buying.

 

[jgwtriode]

The Kingswood Zach chose for the LTD is pretty damn stunning. Gorgeous pattern, love the color and the combination of very high hardness and significant porosity seems an excellent choice to me. Can't afford it in November and am probably the more likey, considering my system needs, going with Atrium Closed when it comes out! I would be happy with Kingswood if its available for that, African Blackwood is always good, Cocobolo is right in there too. I would be quite happy with any of those for the Atrium Closed LTD. It has to be LTD! Would love a Caldera, but my system requires other things and probably not ready to change out my OTL amp.

Happy listening,

jgwtriode

 

[wkesquire]

I've also never bought a stock ZMF, but I think this time one of the stock Caldera options will be my pick, partly due to aesthetic preferences, partly due to cost, and partly due to impatience (let's be real). This is bittersweet for me because I swore to my wife that my collection will not grow over 3 high-end headphones. Setting aside my Focal Bathys purchase, my headphone lineup (VC, Atrium, Auteur Classic) is currently full. So I think my Auteur Classics will have to go to make room in the lineup for the Caldera. My first taste of nice headphones was the Audeze el-8, and ever since I sold those, I've wanted another planar magnetic headphone in my lineup. I recently upgraded my tube amp to a Woo WA-5 LE on the expectation that I'd have both dynamic and planar headphones in my collection. The initial impressions of the Caldera leave little doubt that it is the planar for me. There's a lot to be said for having headphones from several different manufacturers, but ZMF has never failed me before, and I've preferred the ZMF house sound to that of any other manufacturer, so I don't see much of a reason to branch out further now.

 

[GoldenSound]

I've got a demo unit of the Caldera here at the moment and I'm honestly quite blown away.
I heard them at Canjam SoCal and was impressed, but it's always tough to get good impressions at canjam due to the timescale and noise.

Trying them here at home though...these are incredible.

The technical prowess of these and sheer resolution is amazing. Whilst I adore my Atriums for many reasons, they're not the last word in resolution. These however are absolutely totl in this area.
Combine that with some simply excellent tuning, and some vocal timbre that is among the best I've heard, and you've got a REALLY impressive pair of headphones.

Full video is coming (Atrium will be first though), but yeah....these are ****ing great


Also worth noting that my fav pads on these are the Perforated Suede.
The stock pads are very good, but there's a peak somewhere in the upper treble that is a little too much at times.
The suede pads make this a non issue without having too drastic an effect on the tuning. In fact I prefer the tuning with the Suede pads overall, the only downside being a slight reduction in stage vs stock (but still great so no biggie).

Can't wait to try these on the Bliss once that arrives!