[warrenpchi]

Okay y'all...

First, I don't believe that @zach915m declared the Caldera to be ZMF's new flagship anywhere, not even a "co-flagship," whereas he definitely said that of the Atrium when it was released. Secondly, even if he did say that the Caldera was the new flagship - which, again, he did not say - I would absolutely not concur with that. Though they share lineage, and descend from the same house, they are very different headphones.

In order for somebody to consider the Caldera a flagship, would require discarding every single quality (including sound signature and personal enjoyment) to base a product's stature solely on its purchase price. And while I can respect everybody's right to judge a product based on price, I simply do not agree that price trumps all.

As I continue to compare the Atrium and Caldera, I am finding both similarities and differences, and I'll be honest here - I can't pick my favorite amongst them right now. There are things I like more about the Atrium, and the same goes with the Caldera... six of one, half-dozen of the other, so to speak.

BTW, the most expensive ship in active service in the United States Navy is the USS Gerald R. Ford. However, it is not the navy's flagship. That informal title, by tradition, goes to an older ship which is more primitive in terms of technology, and coincidentally constructed of wood. Just some tangential food for thought.

This is so true. Honestly, and @warrenpchi knows this as I still feel guilty for the rush; I got all the final parts I needed to complete the headphones for CanJam last tuesday, pulled an all-nighter into weds, and overnighted him the headphones so he could finish the CanJam video.

That was pretty exciting!

 

[kumar402]

@zach915m not sure if you have answered it but is there a reason for someone who owns Verite or Atrium to move to new Planar. What do you feel are it’s biggest strength? Also will it run out of something like ECP DSHA3F? or needs a beefier amp

 

[Disco3]

Okay y'all...

First, I don't believe that @zach915m declared the Caldera to be ZMF's new flagship anywhere, not even a "co-flagship," whereas he definitely said that of the Atrium when it was released. Secondly, even if he did say that the Caldera was the new flagship - which, again, he did not say - I would absolutely not concur with that. Though they share lineage, and descend from the same house, they are very different headphones.

In order for somebody to consider the Caldera a flagship, would require discarding every single quality (including sound signature and personal enjoyment) to base a product's stature solely on its purchase price. And while I can respect everybody's right to judge a product based on price, I simply do not agree that price trumps all.

As I continue to compare the Atrium and Caldera, I am finding both similarities and differences, and I'll be honest here - I can't pick my favorite amongst them right now. There are things I like more about the Atrium, and the same goes with the Caldera... six of one, half-dozen of the other, so to speak.

BTW, the most expensive ship in active service in the United States Navy is the USS Gerald R. Ford. However, it is not the navy's flagship. That informal title, by tradition, goes to an older ship which is more primitive in terms of technology, and coincidentally constructed of wood. Just some tangential food for thought.



That was pretty exciting!

How would you say the mid range compares between the two? Is one noticably more "mid forward" than the other?

 

[zach915m]

@zach915m not sure if you have answered it but is there a reason for someone who owns Verite or Atrium to move to new Planar. What do you feel are it’s biggest strength? Also will it run out of something like ECP DSHA3F? or needs a beefier amp

I mean - reason to move to it would be mostly if you like a more planar like presentation, or prefer a headphone based more on technicalities. The Caldera is without a doubt more resolving than the Atrium, BUT the Atrium has a staging unlike any other headphone I know of. The massive size of a planar spreads airflow out differently, so there's innate differences and decay that the Atrium can do that a planar could never do. So there's a lot of timbre differences not to mention the differences in gear to drive them. If you built an OTL system around our dynamics, than you likely won't want to drop everything to get the Caldera, nor should you, which is a great point that @warrenpchi chi made. If you LOVE planars and think you'd like a ZMF flavor of them, check them out for sure, and keep an eye out for how people compare them to new and old planars that already exist.

I made a very intentional decision to make sure these are not alike any planar on the market, as the last thing I want to do is make a redundant piece of work. And honestly I think that's the Caldera's biggest strength, is that it's not like anything else, which is also what I think is cool about Atrium and Verite and why I made them.

Amping will be easy - they aren't terrible to drive, use an amp obv and all that.

 

[paradoxper]

Lets see if this can compete with susvara and tc ! I been waiting for a ZMF flagship planar for a long time!

Highly doubtful. It's nice to see ZMF bite back at the Mad Dog after many years.

 

[warrenpchi]

How would you say the mid range compares between the two? Is one noticably more "mid forward" than the other?

The Caldera is more mid-forward than the Atrium to my ears, particularly in the upper mids. If you're familiar with the way an LCD-X (2021) handles upper mid-range presentation, it's got some of that going on.

 

[zach915m]

OK got these done finally. Obv. FR doesn't tell everything, but here's some graphs, all taken with our AP set-up and Bruel and Kajer HATS in our self build anechoic chamber, these are the stock pads only. We have ones that are more linear, and slightly warmer.

Frequency Response DF:


FR Uncompensated:


FR VS Atrium (dotted) DF:

THD - this probably isn't comparable to Jude's rig because his anechoic chamber is quite a bit better than ours. My measurements esp in the bass jump between .1 to .3 depending on surrounding noise.

 

[Death_Block]

Lol at the amount of people viewing this thread.

 

[smodtactical]

Okay y'all...

First, I don't believe that @zach915m declared the Caldera to be ZMF's new flagship anywhere, not even a "co-flagship," whereas he definitely said that of the Atrium when it was released. Secondly, even if he did say that the Caldera was the new flagship - which, again, he did not say - I would absolutely not concur with that. Though they share lineage, and descend from the same house, they are very different headphones.

In order for somebody to consider the Caldera a flagship, would require discarding every single quality (including sound signature and personal enjoyment) to base a product's stature solely on its purchase price. And while I can respect everybody's right to judge a product based on price, I simply do not agree that price trumps all.

As I continue to compare the Atrium and Caldera, I am finding both similarities and differences, and I'll be honest here - I can't pick my favorite amongst them right now. There are things I like more about the Atrium, and the same goes with the Caldera... six of one, half-dozen of the other, so to speak.

BTW, the most expensive ship in active service in the United States Navy is the USS Gerald R. Ford. However, it is not the navy's flagship. That informal title, by tradition, goes to an older ship which is more primitive in terms of technology, and coincidentally constructed of wood. Just some tangential food for thought.



That was pretty exciting!

Can you talk more about your sound impressions between the two? Thanks!

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

Super excited to try these out at CanJam!

 

[smodtactical]

Can we move this thread to summit-fi forum ? Not sure why people start threads here for headphones that cost $3500 ?

 

[warrenpchi]

Can you talk more about your sound impressions between the two? Thanks!

I definitely will soon. At the moment though, we're still neck-deep in CanJam SoCal prep, so I haven't had as much time with these as I would have liked... at least, not to the point where I'd feel comfortable saying something that might lead somebody to make a purchasing-type decision (which I take quite seriously).

 

[Feischmaker]

Will the Caldera get lifetime driver warranty just like the other ZMF Dynamic Driver?

 

[Benno1988]

I will try to start leaking some info on the closed backs soon as I can. I have some work to do on Atrium Closed now that the planar is wrapped up. The cup is designed, and I tried to get "weird" with it to set it apart somewhat, there's some interesting angles on it that are fun.

RAAL has entered the chat. "Weird angles you say"?

 

[zach915m]

Will the Caldera get lifetime driver warranty just like the other the ZMF Dynamic Driver?

Yep for sure!