[ufospls2]

Ordered. Kingwood with cowhide pads and a wood case. They should complement my camphor Burl VC’s and my Bubinga Atriums.
Can’t wait…
My first pair of “new” ZMF’s!

Enjoy them! the Kingwood's sure are gorgeous

 

[ufospls2]

Initial Impressions - Preface
I'm a relatively new audiophile, when it comes to collecting audio gear. However, I've been a musician since I was young, mostly piano and violin through college, then playing around with viola more recently. I'm pretty picky about my sound. I was introduced to ZMF through many sites like Head-Fi and Reddit, and have been enjoying my Atrium since September.

I've been saving for ZMF November and the Caldera release, and instead of buying that stabilized blue Atrium I'd been drooling over, I decided to put the cost difference of the Atrium upgrade into upgrading the Caldera. Since the Caldera's release date coincided with my 40th birthday, I decided to celebrate it by pull the trigger on the Kingwood Caldera!

I won't bore everyone with the details that others have already posted ad nauseam, and someone with more experience can surely do a better job of describing the finer details in length. So I'll just be sharing some pictures and my personal impressions.

Build
Unboxing video coming soon! To put it plainly: It's everything the official videos and pictures made it look like. It's beautifully crafted, and the gloss finish is fantastic. The craftsmanship clearly shows in both the finish and sanding of the wood. I don't regret the extra costs one bit! I've been giddy all evening since FedEx dropped off the package (wife is calling me "cute") – it's just that cool!



The wooden case is basic, but tasteful and classy. I really love the etched logo on the top!

Fit
Out of the box, it has a bit more clamp than my Atrium. Not uncomfortable, but snug. I may loosen it later. My unit weighs 602g, and after 2 hours of wear, the weight doesn't seem to be any more fatiguing to me than my cherry Atrium (520g). Of course, I've been using the 612g LCD-X every day for the past bit to prepare my neck for the Kingwood!

Source
Currently listening on a SMSL D300 (really love the ROHM DAC chip) through a Schiit Jotunheim 2 via XLR balanced, XLR balanced out to Caldera via the OFC cable. I'm looking into whether I want to upgrade to an iHA-6, but that's another story for later. Music is from FLAC and DSD files through FooBar2000 or JRiver.

Mids
On first listen, I immediately noticed mids sounding very life-like. Pianos in the mid range have a more realistic timbre and decay than any other headphones I own. At times, the Caldera makes me feel like I'm in the accompanist's seat at a nice full grand! Low violin and upper cello strings have so much texture that I can almost see the wafting rosin. Violas have a tonal quality that is very hard to capture and reproduce cleanly, especially on many headphones – and I feel like I've finally found one that can bring them to life.



Doing a quick sine sweep revealed a pretty deep dip (about 5-6dB to my ears) around 1.5kHz. Jury's out whether I like this hole filled with EQ, but it's growing on me without. It can reduces some honkiness in poorly mastered tracks.

Female altos are very forward and clean; however, sopranos' fundamental frequencies start hitting the dip around 1.3-1.4kHz and feels stifled unless I add some of it back via EQ. Pianos can also hit this region, and that can come off as a bit muted. I can live with it, though, but time will tell whether I EQ it or not.

Treble
Cymbals and hats have a lot of tactility. Guitar plucks are very pronounced and detailed in a way that grabs my attention. Speed of much of the upper-treble percussion are amazing, making them sound crisp and resolving without blending too much into each other. Initial attacks of kotos and harps are so clear, that octave plucks (when a note is played one octave apart simultaneously) are so much easier to tell when in a mix, even compared to a bright planar like the Arya. Unsurprisingly, the Caldera easily outclasses my other planars like the Arya or LCD-X in this regard.



It's clear that I hear a lot more treble on the Caldera compared to Atrium. It's not too much where I'm tempted to EQ it down yet, and I'm not feeling any fatigue so far after a couple hours. Of course, I like bright (or V-shaped) headphones. I had to EQ some treble back in with my Atrium (admittedly could do a better job), which made some poorly mastered tracks really piercing. I don't have to do that with Caldera, and the same tracks are much more pleasant to listen to.

One area where the Caldera's treble shines for me is in pure DSD recordings of strings. I was floored the moment I heard Rachel Podger's La Stravaganza (by Vivaldi). The attacks of her violin's incredibly articulate spiccatos, combined with the crystal clear harpsichord was an experience unlike any other. The extra amount of treble that the Caldera has reveals plenty of texture in upper violin strings. The dynamics and speed make for some of the best baroque listening I've ever heard, bar none. It's too bad it's not as roomy as the Atrium (more on that later), but I think the Caldera's positives clearly outshine that slight weakness.

Although not my genre, I put on some metal since this thread has been mentioning them a bit lately. And oh my – that's something else. I now understand what people meant by speed and metal. I don't have the words to describe it, but it's pretty crazy, that's for sure.

Bass
I'm a total bass head: My low-shelf is +8dB on the Atrium. I added the +7dB on the Caldera, and it sure slams like a nice planar. I've read people saying Atrium has more bass, but I'm not sure I hear it that way. Bass texture is quite a bit better than LCD-X (my bass benchmark). Even when adding in a good amount of sub-bass with EQ, it's still coherent.



Other Notes
Sound stage is smaller than Atrium by a bit, but I'm noticing more height than with the Atrium. That roomy atmosphere that the Atrium gives with its organic decay is replaced with clean, tight speed. It's more of a in-your-head intimacy, yet not claustrophobically so.

Noise isolation is reduced compared to the Atrium. I'm hearing the heater fans a bit more than I typically would. I actually like it more open (like the Arya), so I can hear what the girls and the dog are up to, or when they invariably need to ask something. A quick test of pink noise measured by a SPL meter at 72dB at 2ft from the speaker. It reads as 62dB at the same distance, when the same SPL meter is inside an Atrium cup closed off with a cardboard baffle. On the Caldera, it reads as 68dB. So on this quick and dirty experiment, the Atrium had a 10dB noise attenuation, and Caldera had a mere 4dB of attenuation.

Conclusion
The Caldera is most certainly a different beast than the Atrium. While I love the roomy organic feel of the Atrium for some tracks, there's really nothing the Caldera does an inferior job at. I'm pretty happy listening to it for all genres. The insane resolution makes it such a joy to listen to, and the aside from the mids-dip, the tonality is spot-on. I can wholeheartedly recommend this beautiful, yet amazing ear and eye candy of a headphone. Zach did a tremendous job, and the team has done a wonderful job of craftsmanship to put it all together. Many thanks to all the amazing people at ZMF and their many efforts over the years to develop the excellent Caldera.

I still need to try the different earpads, but I wanted to at least get some words down first. Thanks for reading!

great impressions, thanks for sharing dude

 

[Since1991]

My Kingwood order is in. I guess I have a bit of waiting to do since all the orders ahead of me gets priority, but I'm still very excited.

 

[dfiled]

I am curious about how the Caldera sounds with the OTL Feliks amps. From last I spoke to Lukasz the Elise has OI of 62 ohms and Euforia AE 52

This has been discussed several times in the thread. A thread search for OTL should answer your question.

 

[lentoviolento]

so curious. but so expensive.
i think i will enjoy my brand new atticus for a little while before going caldera.
by the way... what are the main differences between the two? i also have meze elite and i find them being (obviously) more open and very detailed. what could caldera add to my collection? thx

 

[LoryWiv]

I am curious about how the Caldera sounds with the OTL Feliks amps. From last I spoke to Lukasz the Elise has OI of 62 ohms and Euforia AE 52

Chatted with Lukasz by email and he told me sensitivity is key for how well Euforia AE will drive planars, output impedance less so. I don't have a Caldera although very interested. Currently I am driving Audeze MM-500 w/Euforia AE which has sensitivity ~ 100db and despite low impedance of 18 Ohms, I feel it controls the driver well and sounds impeccable.

 

[karangovil]

Apologies if this has been answered already but has anyone tried the Caldera with 300B/2A3 OTC tube amps? I keep seeing in other forums that they really don’t go well with them and would instead go better with solid state amps like DSHA 3F.

@zach915m will you have the Cayin 300B amp at CanJam at your booth for a listen with the Caldera?

 

[zach915m]

Anyone try the Caldera with 300B/2A3 OTC tube amps like Studio B/Stratus/Stellaris? I keep seeing in other forums that they really don’t go well with them and would instead go better with solid state amps like DSHA 3F.

@zach915m will you have the Cayin 300B amp at CanJam at your booth for a listen with the Caldera?

It all comes down to personal preference, I know of two Caldera owners who love it with Stratus/DNA, and then yes saw those comments that it doesn't go well with them. I think what it comes down to is that the Caldera will be very revealing of your chain, and that you should examine the different components and how they pair with Caldera individually.

My favorite amps for Caldera are both tubes and solid state amps - but then again those are for my personal preferences so a lot of it comes down to that. Overall I do think impedance out between 0-32 play best with Caldera.

The Wells audio amps are worth a look too, they are built to drive planars.

 

[Monsterzero]

i think i will enjoy my brand new atticus for a little while before going caldera.
by the way... what are the main differences between the two?

The Atticus doesnt share much with the Caldera other than theyre both ZMFs.

One is open backed, the other is closed
One is planar and the other is dynamic
One is quite warm, the other is much less so
One has ADS in place, the other doesnt
One is pretty neutrally tuned, the other isnt

These two headphones are probably the most opposite of each other than any other two ZMF headphones.

 

[joshua1122]

Just to add to the tube amp pile, for kicks I tried the Bottlehead Crack + Speedball on the Caldera a bit today.

The Crack puts out 10V, so it sure has volume: I listen at 65-70dB so I usually use Atrium @ 9 o'clock, and the same volume range for Caldera was @ 10:30ish. With the BHC's OI=120Ω and Caldera at 60Ω, the 2x factor just makes it under-dampened. The lack of dampening makes it sounds like a semi-decently tuned $50 headphone, because it loses all the fine detail and resolution. A fair amount of bloom in the bass and treble, as can be expected.

I wouldn't call it awful, but it's... serviceable? I'm sure OTL's with lower OI would fare much better, but now you know about the BHC!

Edit: Switching back to the Jotunheim, I was immediately greeted by clarity, resolution, and 3x larger sound stage. Holy moly, never doing that again – BHC is nice on 300Ω, but it's a waste on the Caldera.

 

[JayDM]

Received a lovely surprise a few moments ago… didn’t even know they’d shipped yet. First impressions besides how stunning they are is that they’re surprisingly light on the head.

 

[SlothRock]

If this Kingwood is still available for the Atrium Closed then I am totally a day one buy. The wood is just magical - just as good lookin' as any stabilized set. Hope you're all loving your new Calderas

 

[wkesquire]

Caldera SUEDE

• Improved clarity (presence region bump)
• A little more airy and energetic (small upper treble lift)
• Very slight decrease in sub bass and bass impact
• Female vocals shine
• Very comfortable

Thoughts: These pads were another big surprise for me. I’ve had a love/hate relationship with ZMF suede pads in the past. These pads however aren’t your ordinary suede pads. The Caldera Suede pads are covered in a Alcantara-like material that feels very premium. The foam used is also slightly more stiff than previous ZMF suede pads. As far as how they sound, you get all the blissful benefits of the suede “sound” with very little trade-off. That’s pretty impressive. These pads will no doubt make a lot of owners happy. On top of that, they’re easily the most comfortable set out of all the pads.

This.

Methodically making my way through the pads, and much to my surprise, I have a suede ZMF pad that I totally love. I usually find my favorite ZMF pad and keep those on my headphones. I think I may be swapping pads more often on the Caldera.

@heliosphann hit the nail right on the head. The only thing I want more of from Caldera suede pad is greater bass impact, but that, I suppose, would come at the expense of greater air.

When listening to “Caught a Long Wind” by Feist, I was blown away by the clarity and level of detail in her vocals. The level of detail put into focus one of the real joys that great audio gear can provide—not just amazing sounding music but a realistic presentation that literally helps you visualize exactly what the artist must have been doing as they were performing. I swear I can tell you exactly when Feist opens and closes her mouth on this track. It’s a very well recorded song.

I’m not just hearing a disembodied voice, I’m experiencing a human singing beautifully.

I can hear it.

I can see it.

I can feel it emotionally.

Only downside is I don’t feel it quite as physically as I do with the stock pads. I find that punchiness addicting.

 

[Guipnox]

If this Kingwood is still available for the Atrium Closed then I am totally a day one buy. The wood is just magical - just as good lookin' as any stabilized set. Hope you're all loving your new Calderas

Kingwood is indeed insane!
I drool over all their pics.
Being a Brazilian, it'd be cool to have a headphone like that, with a BR rare wood.
Maybe one day.
I hope you can get AC Kingwood

 

[joshua1122]

I put together a quick unboxing video of my Kingwood Caldera. Not my best job, given I couldn't get my bigger gimbal to work, but here it is if you're interested: