[Mista Lova Lova]

I do have both the Utopia OG and Caldera. Recently I've been distracted by many other things in life so haven't found time to A/B them yet. Here's some rough comparison of them + LCD5 just for a quick reference.

Soundstage: Caldera > LCD5 > Utopia. Caldera's soundstage is comfortably bigger than the other 2 and probably comparable to Susvara (I don't have them anymore).

Details/Separation: LCD5 is slightly but surely ahead of the other 2. Detail wise I think the Caldera and Utopia are very close. Utopia has a brighter presentation (although I never think it's too bright) which helps the perception of detail retrieval. In terms of separation, I think the larger soundstage is helping the Caldera, as in that the Utopia has a much smaller canvas and limited room to dissect.

Dynamics: They are all great! Caldera has the most "bass slam", LCD5 is very intense and engaging in the mids, but overall I still think the Utopia is still the most dynamic of the 3.

Tonality:
- Caldera is the warmest. The bass response on the Caldera is absolutely delicious without being overblown. The mids to me doesn't quite have the Atrium magic, but is still full and emotional. Also this along with Atrium are the 2 least "dark" ZMFs I've heard. It's still warm but it's also pretty transparent.

- LCD5 has pretty strong emphasis on the mids and could feel "studio like" at times, mostly due to its superb technicalities. It's clean, sharp and numbingly fast. Listening to albums like Discovery or Mezzanine with them is pure joy.

- Utopia has been my "daily driver" for a long time and it has become the "just right" reference for a while. The small, intimate soundstage combined with amazing dynamics and great details really is a magical blend. It's definitely brighter (but with less sibilance to me) than the Caldera with lighter bass. I'll say both are within my comfort zone for enjoying contemporary music.

Is Caldera, in your opinion, a good complement to the Utopia or are they too similar to own both? I'm considering upgrading my HE1000se to either the Susvara or the Caldera. It seems that you used to have the Susvara - did you not like it enough to keep it?

 

[goldwerger]

Is Caldera, in your opinion, a good complement to the Utopia or are they too similar to own both? I'm considering upgrading my HE1000se to either the Susvara or the Caldera. It seems that you used to have the Susvara - did you not like it enough to keep it?

Hi there, I saw your post in the Susvara thread as well.. I don’t own the Utopia but I’ve heard it, and have the Susvara and Caldera. I’d say all 3 are very different than each other. In relative terms to each fiber, the Utopia is more analytical sounding, a touch leaner, more intimate; the Caldera has more weight to the notes (due to better damping imho) and a wider soundstage. I personally prefer the Caldera because its timbre is more natural to my ears. The Utopia timbre to me has a bit of a metallic hint (something I find in all Focal headphones).

 

[iamoneagain]

Is Caldera, in your opinion, a good complement to the Utopia or are they too similar to own both? I'm considering upgrading my HE1000se to either the Susvara or the Caldera. It seems that you used to have the Susvara - did you not like it enough to keep it?

For me, I haven’t heard any songs where I wish I still had the Utopia for that song. That kept happening when I had the Expanse. It’s not to say in a direct comparison the Utopia wouldn’t sound better on certain songs. It’s just if I still had the Utopia, I’m not sure when I’d be reaching for it other than maybe classical.

It’s been years but I can still remember certain songs sounding their best with the L3000 even over the Caldera but not enough to hunt down a pair again. Those also had other flaws.

And just to go into a little more detail. The reason I loved the Utopia was its bass impact, speed, resolution, precise soundstage, and mids using Danacable. The Caldera meets all those requirements but it’s slightly different. It’s warmer overall, has more weight to the music, slightly larger soundstage and more air. Not as tight sounding but it still has amazing punch, speed, resolution and rich mids. So at a gut level, it does everything I loved about the Utopia while still having a slightly different presentation. Think the improved soundstage is what stands out the most. Also the pride in owning such a beautiful headphone. Anyone who sees them is amazed.

 

[xmr0613]

Is Caldera, in your opinion, a good complement to the Utopia or are they too similar to own both? I'm considering upgrading my HE1000se to either the Susvara or the Caldera. It seems that you used to have the Susvara - did you not like it enough to keep it?

Susvara needs a lot more power to drive and requires different treatment than everything else, while all the other headphones I have are all in the same ballpark in terms of amp power requirement.

Also the Susvara I had seemed to be a slightly defected one and sounds wonkier than the others, so I won’t comment too much on the sound here.

All 3 headphones are different. Susvara has a more similar tonality to the Utopia in my opinion(relatively balanced to slightly bright, not much bass emphasis), but Susvara is a lot more estat-like with a much bigger soundstage. Caldera is immediately warmer with more bass slam than the other 2, while it’s similar in dynamic/“punchiness” to the Utopia and is definitely the more dynamic-driver like planar. Which one compliment the Utopia more? I can’t say for sure but I’d personally go for Caldera since the difference in frequency response is more important to me.

If you are considering a Susvara you need to also think about amp paring, in my past experience “just a powerful amp with large output power and low distortion” don’t always perform well.

 

[adrianm]

Yes, I have read your feedback, but unfortunately I don’t have any more feedback from other users. What I’m worried about now is that DAVE can’t output caldera well, and there are no merchants here to try it out.by the way i like your cat

FWIW 6 months before I got rid of the Dave (had it for 2.5 years) I added the Oor amp and...even with super efficient headphones like Elite and Utopia there is a big performance gap between it's integrated amp and a good dedicated one. Dave thread claimed transparency loss are just fairy tales

 

[dleblanc343]

Salire is back up on the site: https://shop.zmfheadphones.com/collections/stock-headphones/products/salire

We have the most of the white Oak (pic coming soon), Walnut and Tiger Maple. There's only a couple of the other variants.

If Salire ever comes out in the Coffee Oak, sign me up

 

[iamoneagain]

If Salire ever comes out in the Coffee Oak, sign me up

I posted my pic already but the Tiger Maple goes quite well the Coffee Oak. The dark cups contrast the Maple while the Aged Copper has a similar look.

 

[Pharmaboy]

If Salire ever comes out in the Coffee Oak, sign me up

Bingo. Coffee oak is just gorgeous IMO...

 

[Leto Dal]

I got a chance to get Caldera recently, which I will receive somtime in February, I am not entirely sure if my Feliks Euforia Evo will drive them well. I got the amp mainly for my Verite, but really hope I can drive Calderas with it too without need to get a solidstate for my desktop setup. Anyone ran Caldera with it? I read a lot of praise of how well that amp drives plannars like Meze Empyreans and Elite, but rarely see anything about Caldera. Any input on it is highly appreciated

 

[kwilkins]

Received my Caldera and am breaking them in now. What genres do you feel the Caldera match the best with?

 

[Mista Lova Lova]

@goldwerger @iamoneagain @xmr0613 - thank you very much for your comments.

I think where I am at just now is I consider my Utopia to be much more natural/real/full-bodied than my HEKse, but I still frequently enjoy the crazy speed, separation and airiness of the HEKse. Even though at other times I find it too "robotic"-sounding. And with my recent gear upgrades I think that I'm what I'm hearing is the Utopia pulling ahead and the HEKse still sounding better than before, but the closer the Utopia gets to really convincing, life-like sound, the more HEKse's shortcomings become apparent. Almost like when I had the Arya and the Clear and whilst I loved the Arya's presentation, its shortcoming were unbeareable in the long run ("hazy" resolution, plasticky treble etc.").

I wouldn't risk selling the Utopia to get the Caldera because I think I'd miss the close-to-perfectly balanced and cohesive sound of the Utopia. Utopia has its limitations but what it does it does really convincingly. On the other hand, if I sold the HEKse to try the Caldera, then I think I might miss having a headphone that is clearly different from the Utopia and whilst not as natural-sounding, at least mesmerising in terms of its technicalities.

Which sort of brings me back to thinking that either the most logical upgrade path for me is the Susvara with a view to finding the right amp in the future, or perhaps sticking to the HEKse if the Susvara's more "correct" tonality would result in me missing the HEKse's airiness... I guess I'll need to go to one of the CacJams and hear those cans for myself

 

[Monsterzero]

Received my Caldera and am breaking them in now. What genres do you feel the Caldera match the best with?

I like most genres with the Caldera, but certain genres can really show off what the Caldera can do, like faster metal. One track( not metal) I was listening to the other night really made me pay attention...oldie, moldy and fantastic.

 

[goldwerger]

@goldwerger @iamoneagain @xmr0613 - thank you very much for your comments.

I think where I am at just now is I consider my Utopia to be much more natural/real/full-bodied than my HEKse, but I still frequently enjoy the crazy speed, separation and airiness of the HEKse. Even though at other times I find it too "robotic"-sounding. And with my recent gear upgrades I think that I'm what I'm hearing is the Utopia pulling ahead and the HEKse still sounding better than before, but the closer the Utopia gets to really convincing, life-like sound, the more HEKse's shortcomings become apparent. Almost like when I had the Arya and the Clear and whilst I loved the Arya's presentation, its shortcoming were unbeareable in the long run ("hazy" resolution, plasticky treble etc.").

I wouldn't risk selling the Utopia to get the Caldera because I think I'd miss the close-to-perfectly balanced and cohesive sound of the Utopia. Utopia has its limitations but what it does it does really convincingly. On the other hand, if I sold the HEKse to try the Caldera, then I think I might miss having a headphone that is clearly different from the Utopia and whilst not as natural-sounding, at least mesmerising in terms of its technicalities.

Which sort of brings me back to thinking that either the most logical upgrade path for me is the Susvara with a view to finding the right amp in the future, or perhaps sticking to the HEKse if the Susvara's more "correct" tonality would result in me missing the HEKse's airiness... I guess I'll need to go to one of the CacJams and hear those cans for myself

I think you are thinking about this correctly.

The Susvara will definitely correct the HEKSE shortcomings and is more tonally balanced (retaining all the benefits you like and more). But... you will need to invest in very serious amping to get the most out of it - ton of info on the Susvara thread, see there.

The Caldera (which, while personally, I prefer to the other options above) isn't a straight upgrade path as much as it is a completely new experience. If I were you, I'd either consider at one point in the future (if/when funds allow) adding them to your colleciton. Or, alternately (and best option) go to a CanJam (or a dealer) and try them out in person. No substitute to first-hand impressions, your ears and all. You might fall in love, how knows..

 

[Mista Lova Lova]

I think you are thinking about this correctly.

The Susvara will definitely correct the HEKSE shortcomings and is more tonally balanced (retaining all the benefits you like and more). But... you will need to invest in very serious amping to get the most out of it - ton of info on the Susvara thread, see there.

The Caldera (which, while personally, I prefer to the other options above) isn't a straight upgrade path as much as it is a completely new experience. If I were you, I'd either consider at one point in the future (if/when funds allow) adding them to your colleciton. Or, alternately (and best option) go to a CanJam (or a dealer) and try them out in person. No substitute to first-hand impressions, your ears and all. You might fall in love, how knows..

Hehe, I might be tempted. There's been so many good reviews of trusted people out there of the Caldera that this might be the next step for me. Susvara could either ruin my finances or drive me crazy, potentially being unable to find a synergy that works for me (or both). Plus, I'm kind of unwilling to pay that much money for a product that looks the way it looks (Sus) whilst even looking at the pics one can tell that ZMF headphones look like their asking price.

Hey, the journey continues, after HEKse's technicalities I'll probably be leaning towards a headphone with a great tonality and engagement factor and the Caldera might tick all those boxes. As long as it's not "boomy" in the lows and muted in the highs... I'll need to do some research on which pads would be best for me. I'm a fan of a balanced tonality, without artificially bumping certain frequencies at the cost putting an "invisible blanket" over others.

 

[Monsterzero]

As long as it's not "boomy" in the lows and muted in the highs..

The Caldera is neither of those things. Best treble of any ZMF I've heard IMO, and a tangible, thick, beefy sound with no BOOM. Very fast and tight bass