[Renexx]

Marblecake walnut Caldera, what a natural beauty!
Visually they are much darker in person than on the picture. The wood lights up nicely in sunlight and the figures/grain really pop. Great contrast with the steel grills also.

I'm really amazed about the resolution and the adaptive staging capabilities. Especially pad rolling changes the staging alot. Also how open the headphone is compared to my dynamics.

Pad rolling is fun also:

Cowhide pads relax and warm up the tonality. Staging is intimate. Very easy listening with these.

Stock pads are the most resolving, a little bright with wrong choice of tubes and punchy low-end.

Thick pads are my favourite so far. Treble and mids are brought down a bit. Staging becomes 3D similar to the VO, that's very addicting. This is like a hyper detailed VO, but not overly laid back.

For wood impact I don't hear resonances with 1200janka. Low-end is also not thin like a hard wood VO. It's a good balance of smoothness and fast transients.

For amplification a powerful solid-state might drive the Caldera to its full potential. The Cayin HA-3A is a good match also. I like low impedance most for a punchy low-end so far. Mid impedance takes away a little low-end punch but doesn't change tonality and decay like with a dynamic.

Overall this a highly resolving flagship headphone. ZMF house sound is beautifully integrated in the planar driver. It's a great contrast to my more euphonic ZMF dynamics.
Everything is just a first impression and the headphone is not burned in yet.

Thank you @zach915m for this wonderful headphone and opportunity to grab a canjam set. It's a masterpiece to complete my collection.

 

[DenverW]

I’m reading a pretty decent consensus of everyone loving stock pads, most people loving suede pads, and then we are all over the place with thin, thick, cowhide…

Personally I really liked the cowhide thins, but I do enjoy seeing so many different preferences both pro and con. There is one thing these headphones are not, and that’s boring.

 

[Alenotta]

Overall this a highly resolving flagship headphone. ZMF house sound is beautifully integrated in the planar driver. It's a great contrast to my more euphonic ZMF dynamics.
Everything is just a first impression and the headphone is not burned in yet.

I agree. I think the Caldera still has some euphonic quality that is really hard to describe without testing them.

I’m reading a pretty decent consensus of everyone loving stock pads, most people loving suede pads, and then we are all over the place with thin, thick, cowhide…

So, stock have been my favorite pads, but this week I've been exclusively on thick and I actually really like them. One thing I was considering is that over time the cushion in the pads probably softens and compresses...so the thick pads may level out similar to new stock pads. I could be totally wrong about the type of foam in there. Regardless, I'm enjoying the thick pads currently. I feel like maybe I need to do some impressions once I've broken the pads in a little like a baseball glove.

 

[DAPpower]

I agree. I think the Caldera still has some euphonic quality that is really hard to describe without testing them.


So, stock have been my favorite pads, but this week I've been exclusively on thick and I actually really like them. One thing I was considering is that over time the cushion in the pads probably softens and compresses...so the thick pads may level out similar to new stock pads. I could be totally wrong about the type of foam in there. Regardless, I'm enjoying the thick pads currently. I feel like maybe I need to do some impressions once I've broken the pads in a little like a baseball glove.

There may be better pad matches in the future, that enough is exciting to think about.

 

[goldwerger]

over time the cushion in the pads probably softens

You just gave me a brilliant idea for another audiophile product. Wait for it.. wait.. ready…?!?

A pad softening machine!!!
TM “The Goldwerger Machine”

(or offered as a service, like cable burn in)

It’s outrageous. Egregious. Preposterous.

And we all need it, now!

 

[ColSaulTigh]

Don’t get me started. There is less time from the end of WWII to Star Wars than from star wars to now…

There were still Wooly Mammoths roaming the Earth when the Great Pyramid of Giza was built.

I love little tidbits of trivia like this!

 

[jonathan c]

You just gave me a brilliant idea for another audiophile product. Wait for it.. wait.. ready…?!?

A pad softening machine!!!
TM “The Goldwerger Machine”

…. schematic for prttype ….

 

[Alenotta]

…. schematic for prttype ….

I like your plan, but maybe just throw them in a rock tumbler with some of these "Panic Pete"guys to simulate ears. Then charge audiophile prices for your conditioning. You'll need a new term for it that you can trademark. Then you'll need an obtuse measurement and vague performance claims to back it up. Maybe a testimonial in quotation marks about how you were skeptical, but now you're blown away and it changed everything you thought you knew about ear pads. Unfortunately these tactics tend to work on me.

 

[ColSaulTigh]

…. schematic for prttype ….

@goldwerger explaining how it works to Head-Fi...

 

[goldwerger]

…. schematic for prttype ….

I like your plan, but maybe just throw them in a rock tumbler with some of these "Panic Pete"guys to simulate ears. Then charge audiophile prices for your conditioning. You'll need a new term for it that you can trademark. Then you'll need an obtuse measurement and vague performance claims to back it up. Maybe a testimonial in quotation marks about how you were skeptical, but now you're blown away and it changed everything you thought you knew about ear pads. Unfortunately these tactics tend to work on me.

@goldwerger explaining how it works to Head-Fi...

I'm way ahead of you guys... recorded a layman's explanation of the machine here:

 

[ColSaulTigh]

I'm way ahead of you guys... recorded a layman's explanation of the machine here:

You win!

Love the whole "Turbo Encabulator" series!

 

[Pharmaboy]

I also had very similar feeling and felt these were great complimentary headphones. Unfortunately I don't have either right now, so I'm a sad panda...


You're just weird Darren.

No Caldera?

No Susvera?

Sad panda?

WT-eff?

 

[Pharmaboy]

Marblecake walnut Caldera, what a natural beauty!
Visually they are much darker in person than on the picture. The wood lights up nicely in sunlight and the figures/grain really pop. Great contrast with the steel grills also.

I'm really amazed about the resolution and the adaptive staging capabilities. Especially pad rolling changes the staging alot. Also how open the headphone is compared to my dynamics.

Pad rolling is fun also:

Cowhide pads relax and warm up the tonality. Staging is intimate. Very easy listening with these.

Stock pads are the most resolving, a little bright with wrong choice of tubes and punchy low-end.

Thick pads are my favourite so far. Treble and mids are brought down a bit. Staging becomes 3D similar to the VO, that's very addicting. This is like a hyper detailed VO, but not overly laid back.

For wood impact I don't hear resonances with 1200janka. Low-end is also not thin like a hard wood VO. It's a good balance of smoothness and fast transients.

For amplification a powerful solid-state might drive the Caldera to its full potential. The Cayin HA-3A is a good match also. I like low impedance most for a punchy low-end so far. Mid impedance takes away a little low-end punch but doesn't change tonality and decay like with a dynamic.

Overall this a highly resolving flagship headphone. ZMF house sound is beautifully integrated in the planar driver. It's a great contrast to my more euphonic ZMF dynamics.
Everything is just a first impression and the headphone is not burned in yet.

Thank you @zach915m for this wonderful headphone and opportunity to grab a canjam set. It's a masterpiece to complete my collection.

BEAUTIFUL CALDERA!! (the Atrium is a knockout, too)

 

[FunctionalDoc]

This whole album is fantastic, but this track really showcases the low end performance of the Caldera. The depth and detail of the lower register is just crazy.

https://tidal.com/browse/track/175949562

Great low end test for bass tracks. Listening to it now with CMA15 with VC open on the Zachs copper cable will love try this track on the Caldera at the Chicago Can Jam this year.

 

[Zachik]

A pad softening machine!!!
TM “The Goldwerger Machine”

IKEA already beat you to it buddy