[iamoneagain]

I always found the og Utopia too bright in the treble and too lean in the bass, but it is good to have so many options. At CanJam I heard it from the Lina stack and even that couldn't change my impressions.

That’s where the Naim HE somehow does a better job than other solid state amps. It was designed with the Utopia so think it has a warmer and weightier sound than a lot of other solid states. The Utopia was too thin on the Hugo 2 and even on the Chord Dave it was borderline and only with HF filter on. But even on same setup the Caldera is warmer, has more sub bass and seems to hit just as hard. I remember the Utopia just being a little more precise, tighter sound all around. I’d probably say I like the Caldera more and definitely prefer the looks.

 

[TheMiddleSky]

Yesterday was a red letter day. In addition to an amazing pair of Atrium Closed, I also got my Stabilized Calderas. These were definitely worth the wait. The photos don't do them justice.

Soo beautiful! Is that 18k White gold grill?

Let’s give them a second chance.

Oh shoot hahaha, you brought it home! How's the Balancing Act + Elrog perform with Caldera?

I sold my caldera last year and now I’m kind of missing it. Lcd 5 even with eq seems like something is missing. My issue with caldera was the laid back upper mids and I was wondering how these respond to eq if anyone does that?

A little suggestion: Try Caldera Ultra Perforated Pad.

 

[K3cT]

My question is when would use the Utopia over the Caldera. Even though I know they sounded slightly different, they gave me the same enjoyment on same type of music. I haven’t come across a song on the Caldera I didn’t like and thought I wish I still had the Utopia for that. But I’m sure having both on hand might change that.

For classical or instrumental I would prefer the Utopia over Caldera because of its more analytical approach and neutraler, more resolving mid and treble. Percussive instruments sound more natural in the Utopia.

Oh shoot hahaha, you brought it home! How's the Balancing Act + Elrog perform with Caldera?

I like it a lot! ECBA seems to take off some edge from the slightly spicy midrange and makes the Caldera fully textured from top to bottom. Bass is not as thunderous as the CGSF but I think very few amps can compete in that area.

 

[betula]

That’s where the Naim HE somehow does a better job than other solid state amps. It was designed with the Utopia so think it has a warmer and weightier sound than a lot of other solid states. The Utopia was too thin on the Hugo 2 and even on the Chord Dave it was borderline and only with HF filter on. But even on same setup the Caldera is warmer, has more sub bass and seems to hit just as hard. I remember the Utopia just being a little more precise, tighter sound all around. I’d probably say I like the Caldera more and definitely prefer the looks.

I heard the Naim HE with the 109Pro which also has a bit of a sparkly treble. The Naim sounded nice, slightly warm but well-balanced. The Naim's sound profile was a bit too polite for my taste, but I imagine it can be a good match with Focal headphones as they worked on that specific synergy.

 

[AnyDave]

Soo beautiful! Is that 18k White gold grill?



Oh shoot hahaha, you brought it home! How's the Balancing Act + Elrog perform with Caldera?



A little suggestion: Try Caldera Ultra Perforated Pad.

It’s actually gunmetal. The lighting makes it look a little more silver than it is.

 

[Raidersfan8118]

Soo beautiful! Is that 18k White gold grill?



Oh shoot hahaha, you brought it home! How's the Balancing Act + Elrog perform with Caldera?



A little suggestion: Try Caldera Ultra Perforated Pad.

I was actually curious what that would do to the sound. I have that pad for my atriums.

 

[shwnwllms]

Finally getting a chance to listen to my Caldera on the Agartha 2021 (Elrog ER 300B). Incredible pairing, completely blown away. I think I have settled on the 16 ohm tap (for now anyway )

or is it the 32 ohm tap? I really can't decide. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[TheMiddleSky]

I like it a lot! ECBA seems to take off some edge from the slightly spicy midrange and makes the Caldera fully textured from top to bottom. Bass is not as thunderous as the CGSF but I think very few amps can compete in that area.

Back then I tested Elrog ER and MO with Caldera too, and MO really "uplifted" Caldera nicely in resolution and soundstage, while still being smooth and full body.

 

[SunRa Fan]

I started out with the RNHP amp and since I'm off today, curiosity has gotten the better of me and I dug it out of storage to see if it can push the Calderas. Output on the RNHP maxes at 300mW so expectations are low even though the Caldera is easier to drive than other planars. Well....yes. The RNHP can drive the Calderas and way better than I expected too.

 

[ycatsmot]

I sold my caldera last year and now I’m kind of missing it. Lcd 5 even with eq seems like something is missing. My issue with caldera was the laid back upper mids and I was wondering how these respond to eq if anyone does that?

*EDIT* Long story short, to directly answer the question... Yes, in my experience with the Caldera I'd say that it responds to Eq very well, and I firmly believe that using an Eq will definitely improve your experience if you are open to using it.

I am a big proponent of Eq'ing, as I said in my post about differences in our hearing from person to person. I find that my Calderas sound a lot better to my ear (pun intended) with Eq applied. I have been told that my hearing (tested last month and a year ago) has declined in my 53 years, certainly no thanks to some years in the Army and also some years in cars with loud stereos and many nights in clubs and a few shows right in front of big stacks of speakers. I also fully admit to probably being less experienced than most here with high-end headphones and the related gear, but I've been into listening to music on various (increasingly better quality) stereo gear since the 80's.

My hearing seems to steadily drop from 500 to 2k, and plummeting from there, and I also see a big dip on the left from 2k to 4k. So, knowing that the top-end will always need some help, I find a big improvement with my Caldera's Eq'd with an upward slope and a bump around 4k. I always want a bump in the bass, so I do that too, about +5db. I'm using a simple PC app (FxSound) to Eq at work where I typically use my Calderas, and Wavelet on my Android phone which I sometimes use as a source. When I do expand my system I will definitely be adding a hardware equalizer. If I switch off the Eq and hear the Calderas in their natural state, I definitely feel like I'm getting a worse experience, so nobody can convince me that it's wrong to use it. If I'm giving up a tiny percentage in technical quality, I'm totally OK with the huge percentage increase in my enjoyment.

Here's a screenshot of the curve, you can see that I actually drop the upper-bass/lower-mids before starting the climb to the highs. Using this app I also cut the bass back in the normal Eq and add it back in their little Bass Boost DSP thing, leaving the other gimmicky things alone. I arrived at this curve after using the Peace EQ app on my laptop to "test" my ears on a different pair of headphones and use the corrections that it provided me. It worked so well that I just approximated those settings in the other apps and find that it sounds great on the Calderas too. At some point I'll run that Peace Eq hearing test on the Calderas to get a more precise adjustment, but I don't believe that it's rocket science, it's the modern version of turning the old bass & treble knobs until you're happy with the sound.

 

[betula]

I started out with the RNHP amp and since I'm off today, curiosity has gotten the better of me and I dug it out of storage to see if it can push the Calderas. Output on the RNHP maxes at 300mW so expectations are low even though the Caldera is easier to drive than other planars. Well....yes. The RNHP can drive the Calderas and way better than I expected too.

Beautiful pair!

Does anyone know what burl wood version would be the lightest?

Edit:
I checked the wood variants by weight. The numbers mean kg/m3.

Redwood - 520
Walnut - 610
Oak - 700
Camphor - 970
Mallee - 1050
Bimble Box - 1075

My question to someone more knowledgeable: are these numbers more or less correct? Does it mean the redwood and Walnut Caldera might actually be a little lighter than the stock oak versions? And the rest significantly heavier, close to 600g?
Thanks!

 

[iamoneagain]

So yesterday I finally got to try my Caldera on a few setups and also heard my first dynamic ZMF, the discontinued Eikon. I was very impressed by the Eikon. It had a very similar ZMF house sound compared to the Caldera and didn’t feel closed in. I really liked it. The Caldera has more resolution, texture, open, airier sound but it wasn’t as dramatic as I would have thought. I could easily live with the Eikon. So that make wonder how all the other ZMF sounds

Now as far as the Caldera playing across a few setups, I got to tried on the Aegis tube amp, the Schiit Mjolnir 3, and my Naim HE. It sounded great on all three but think shines better on solid state. The tube amp gave it an ethereal sound that was a little less dynamic. The Schitt was very clean, black background, precise and yet still musical. Really liked this combo. When I plugged back into my Naim HE I was slightly disappointed at first because it has less air and highs are not as sparkling but then after a minute I enjoying what the Naim HE does best, low end texture and weight. It’s a denser sound but quite an enjoyable one. I can see people being happy with either setup as long as know what to expect. But overall the Caldera kept its house sound and the changes were not that big. After a minute or two of adjustment, you’re back to enjoying the Caldera on any of these setups.

 

[WillieB]

So yesterday I finally got to try my Caldera on a few setups and also heard my first dynamic ZMF, the discontinued Eikon. I was very impressed by the Eikon. It had a very similar ZMF house sound compared to the Caldera and didn’t feel closed in. I really liked it. The Caldera has more resolution, texture, open, airier sound but it wasn’t as dramatic as I would have thought. I could easily live with the Eikon. So that make wonder how all the other ZMF sounds

Welcome to the rabbit hole. It's nice down here. So which ZMF Dynamic will you be ordering first?

 

[robo24]

So yesterday I finally got to try my Caldera on a few setups and also heard my first dynamic ZMF, the discontinued Eikon. I was very impressed by the Eikon. It had a very similar ZMF house sound compared to the Caldera and didn’t feel closed in. I really liked it. The Caldera has more resolution, texture, open, airier sound but it wasn’t as dramatic as I would have thought. I could easily live with the Eikon. So that make wonder how all the other ZMF sounds

Now as far as the Caldera playing across a few setups, I got to tried on the Aegis tube amp, the Schiit Mjolnir 3, and my Naim HE. It sounded great on all three but think shines better on solid state. The tube amp gave it an ethereal sound that was a little less dynamic. The Schitt was very clean, black background, precise and yet still musical. Really liked this combo. When I plugged back into my Naim HE I was slightly disappointed at first because it has less air and highs are not as sparkling but then after a minute I enjoying what the Naim HE does best, low end texture and weight. It’s a denser sound but quite an enjoyable one. I can see people being happy with either setup as long as know what to expect. But overall the Caldera kept its house sound and the changes were not that big. After a minute or two of adjustment, you’re back to enjoying the Caldera on any of these setups.

You really should drive up to CanJam in SoCal next month. Great way to spend lots of time with all the current ZMF models on many different amps.

 

[iamoneagain]

Welcome to the rabbit hole. It's nice down here. So which ZMF Dynamic will you be ordering first?

So I only keep one home headphone, so that would only be if I liked one better than the Caldera. I won’t be keeping both.

You really should drive up to CanJam in SoCal next month. Great way to spend lots of time with all the current ZMF models on many different amps.

I went last year but barely knew about ZMF. I walked into the room and saw a lot of beautiful headphones and was a little overwhelmed. It was too crowded and had a few people cut in line, so I walked out. If I do drive up this time, I’ll hit the ZMF first thing. However, I only keep one home headphone and really don’t plan on getting rid of the Caldera. Also tight on funds at the moment.