[shafat777]

If anyone wants to be wowed by their Caldera even more, I strongly suggest applying the mantle mesh and then slap on a pair of caldera suedes and peacefully journey to music heaven. After a recent bout with scammer/scam listings in the classified section, i was really bummed out with headfi and headphones in general. However, zmf somehow knew i was in a bad mood (LOL) and promptly shipped the mantle mesh for my beloved caldera and now I m back loving music and headphones again.

I will discuss more about my impression with the mesh and suede pads. I would like to know if anyone else has tried this specific combination.

Cheers and happy listening y'all.

 

[betula]

Back to the Caldera after a week of audio break. Still in love.

What an absolute masterpiece Zach has created! It is not even 'just' a phenomenal headphone, but a piece of art really. Art in its appearance (especially some of those limited/one off pieces) and art in its sound too. Extremely organic, lifelike, yet clean, clear, quick, detailed and resolving. The best marriage of the pros of dynamic drivers and planar transducers: wizardry. Done in such way that captures the soul and retains what music is about, as opposed to some precision machines also called headphones.

I truly think, the Caldera is one of the best headphones available today, and the best for my taste. I can't wait for my unique wood order to arrive (the wood is a secret for now). Luckily, I have an oak version to enjoy until then.

Separation and lifelikeness are two incredible treats of the Caldera. Also, bass is particularly hard to reproduce well. Bass has to extend, has to be clean, clear, yet weighty, punchy and authoritative. Even at flagship level many headphones score 7/10, 8/10 on bass in my book: good, but often lacking that last level of impact/separation/weight/clarity. Not the Caldera. The ZMF flagship scores 10/10 on bass for me. All of the mentioned qualities are spot on. Perhaps the best, but definitely top three ever bass performance in a headphone (beside 1266 and D8000). Just listen to those sub notes on this track. Lovely.

 

[Leto Dal]

Back to the Caldera after a week of audio break. Still in love.

What an absolute masterpiece Zach has created! It is not even 'just' a phenomenal headphone, but a piece of art really. Art in its appearance (especially some of those limited/one off pieces) and art in its sound too. Extremely organic, lifelike, yet clean, clear, quick, detailed and resolving. The best marriage of the pros of dynamic drivers and planar transducers: wizardry. Done in such way that captures the soul and retains what music is about, as opposed to some precision machines also called headphones.

I truly think, the Caldera is one of the best headphones available today, and the best for my taste. I can't wait for my unique wood order to arrive (the wood is a secret for now). Luckily, I have an oak version to enjoy until then.

Separation and lifelikeness are two incredible treats of the Caldera. Also, bass is particularly hard to reproduce well. Bass has to extend, has to be clean, clear, yet weighty, punchy and authoritative. Even at flagship level many headphones score 7/10, 8/10 on bass in my book: good, but often lacking that last level of impact/separation/weight/clarity. Not the Caldera. The ZMF flagship scores 10/10 on bass for me. All of the mentioned qualities are spot on. Perhaps the best, but definitely top three ever bass performance in a headphone (beside 1266 and D8000). Just listen to those sub notes on this track. Lovely.

While I sure share the appreciation for Caldera, as my go to universal headphone for everydays use, that just can do eveything so pretty damn well, it feels bit light on bass after expiriencing Atrium Closed, if you are into deep subbass, weight and visceral impact you definitly might want to try AC

 

[betula]

While I sure share the appreciation for Caldera, as my go to universal headphone for everydays use, that just can do eveything so pretty damn well, it feels bit light on bass after expiriencing Atrium Closed, if you are into deep subbass, weight and visceral impact you definitly might want to try AC

I did try all ZMFs and for me the Caldera stands out with its precision, clarity and technicalities while retains pretty much all the magic of the Atrium/Verité tuning. While I do like bass and sub-bass presence, there are other, equally important aspects of sound. To me the Caldera is the clear winner in the ZMF universe, but I understand why someone would go for the Atrium instead.
(AC has more bass quantity in stock form, but quality is better on Caldera.)

 

[Leto Dal]

I did try all ZMFs and for me the Caldera stands out with its precision, clarity and technicalities while retains pretty much all the magic of the Atrium/Verité tuning. While I do like bass and sub-bass presence, there are other, equally important aspects of sound. To me the Caldera is the clear winner in the ZMF universe, but I understand why someone would go for the Atrium instead.
(AC has more bass quantity in stock form, but quality is better on Caldera.)

Wouldnt say that bass quality is better on Caldera, I feel like the dynamic driver bass is usually more textured and realistic, maybe due to the driver speed. Caldera has maybe more focused bass, but its still very well controlled on AC. I dont prefer one headphone over another, Caldera certainly is more technical capable headphone which I love for many things, but imho all 3 ZMF flagships have their own strenghts. There are genres and recordings where I take a VO over my Caldera anytime and vice versa.

 

[betula]

Wouldnt say that bass quality is better on Caldera, I feel like the dynamic driver bass is usually more textured and realistic, maybe due to the driver speed. Caldera has maybe more focused bass, but its still very well controlled on AC. I dont prefer one headphone over another, Caldera certainly is more technical capable headphone which I love for many things, but imho all 3 ZMF flagships have their own strenghts. There are genres and recordings where I take a VO over my Caldera anytime and vice versa.

Matter of personal preference in the end which is absolutely fine. We are talking about some of the most fantastic flavours of music representation after all.

 

[Leto Dal]

yeah exactly, gotta catch em all lol

 

[dan.gheorghe]

I had the opportunity of properly testing the ZMF Caldera. I love the headphones and you can read more https://headmania.org/2023/09/27/calderas-symphony-where-craftsmanship-meets-sonic-excellence/.

 

[Leto Dal]

I had the opportunity of properly testing the ZMF Caldera. I love the headphones and you can read more https://headmania.org/2023/09/27/calderas-symphony-where-craftsmanship-meets-sonic-excellence/.

beautiful review, thanks for the good read.

 

[iamoneagain]

I posted my impressions in the main CanJan thread but figured I could recap here.

I spend a few hours yesterday at CanJam with the goal really to see how the Caldera compares to a few other ZMF headphones and to see if anything completely blew away my Naim Atom Uniti HE pairing. To cut to the chase, nothing tempted me and I’m completely happy my current combo.

The Susvara was bass light out of most systems and only truly shined on this powerful new Headamp. I didn’t get to try with my own tracks or compared directly to the Caldera. The Stax 9000 sounded great but can’t do direct comparison. The Abyss 1266 sounded great this time. Nice open, airy sound with amazing bass punch and presence. Still hated the fit. Got to try the Susvara, original Utopia, Meze Elite and Caldera out of the dcs Lina. Caldera came in first, then Utopia, then Meze Elite, and Susvara distant last. Was surprised I liked the Utopia more than the Elite. The Susvara was bass light on this setup.

So while some of these other headphones sounded great I didn’t think any were better or worth getting a whole new setup to play them. But what about the other ZMF headphones? I only got to compare to Atrium open and close and the Verite closed. Kind of surprised but I didn’t care for the closed models at least in comparison to the open. Caldera and the Atrium open tied on the dcs Lina stack but that was generally too polite and bass light for both. The Atrium jumped ahead and sounded amazing on the Feliks Envy. Probably my favorite listen of the day. The Caldera sound better on the Feliks than dcs but was no match for the Atrium. But things reversed on the Ferrum Oor stack. This was my favorite pairing for the Caldera. Warm, weight, punchy and detailed. Hard to say if I enjoyed it more than the Atrium/Feliks pairing but I’m biased, so let’s just say I did. I didn’t try the Holo stack. That setup is much bigger than I expected and I don’t have the space even if could afford it.

I got to try the Caldera on a few other setups like the new bread box jds? amp in the ZMF room. It sounded nice but not my favorite. I tried out of the Chord Dave (which I used to own) and didn’t care for it. Bass light without enough weight and punch. No issues out of the Headamp gx mk2 but also nothing stood out. I ended up finding the Ferrum booth and getting in about another 20 minutes. Just perfect pairing with the Caldera for my tastes. Now I didn’t get to compare directly to my Naim HE, but when I got home to listen, it reminded most of the Ferrum Orr, warm, punchy, detailed, and just musical. Didn’t feel like anything was missing. Maybe side by side, differences would stand out.

 

[fuhnoo]

I posted my impressions in the main CanJan thread but figured I could recap here.

I spend a few hours yesterday at CanJam with the goal really to see how the Caldera compares to a few other ZMF headphones and to see if anything completely blew away my Naim Atom Uniti HE pairing. To cut to the chase, nothing tempted me and I’m completely happy my current combo.

The Susvara was bass light out of most systems and only truly shined on this powerful new Headamp. I didn’t get to try with my own tracks or compared directly to the Caldera. The Stax 9000 sounded great but can’t do direct comparison. The Abyss 1266 sounded great this time. Nice open, airy sound with amazing bass punch and presence. Still hated the fit. Got to try the Susvara, original Utopia, Meze Elite and Caldera out of the dcs Lina. Caldera came in first, then Utopia, then Meze Elite, and Susvara distant last. Was surprised I liked the Utopia more than the Elite. The Susvara was bass light on this setup.

So while some of these other headphones sounded great I didn’t think any were better or worth getting a whole new setup to play them. But what about the other ZMF headphones? I only got to compare to Atrium open and close and the Verite closed. Kind of surprised but I didn’t care for the closed models at least in comparison to the open. Caldera and the Atrium open tied on the dcs Lina stack but that was generally too polite and bass light for both. The Atrium jumped ahead and sounded amazing on the Feliks Envy. Probably my favorite listen of the day. The Caldera sound better on the Feliks than dcs but was no match for the Atrium. But things reversed on the Ferrum Oor stack. This was my favorite pairing for the Caldera. Warm, weight, punchy and detailed. Hard to say if I enjoyed it more than the Atrium/Feliks pairing but I’m biased, so let’s just say I did. I didn’t try the Holo stack. That setup is much bigger than I expected and I don’t have the space even if could afford it.

I got to try the Caldera on a few other setups like the new bread box jds? amp in the ZMF room. It sounded nice but not my favorite. I tried out of the Chord Dave (which I used to own) and didn’t care for it. Bass light without enough weight and punch. No issues out of the Headamp gx mk2 but also nothing stood out. I ended up finding the Ferrum booth and getting in about another 20 minutes. Just perfect pairing with the Caldera for my tastes. Now I didn’t get to compare directly to my Naim HE, but when I got home to listen, it reminded most of the Ferrum Orr, warm, punchy, detailed, and just musical. Didn’t feel like anything was missing. Maybe side by side, differences would stand out.

I think I might have chatted with you about this very thing in the dCS showroom. Really glad you're completely satisfied with your setup at home! After listening to a bunch of headphones and sources yesterday, I found that I am also happiest with my setup at home.

 

[OnlySoMany]

I posted my impressions in the main CanJan thread but figured I could recap here.

I spend a few hours yesterday at CanJam with the goal really to see how the Caldera compares to a few other ZMF headphones and to see if anything completely blew away my Naim Atom Uniti HE pairing. To cut to the chase, nothing tempted me and I’m completely happy my current combo.

The Susvara was bass light out of most systems and only truly shined on this powerful new Headamp. I didn’t get to try with my own tracks or compared directly to the Caldera. The Stax 9000 sounded great but can’t do direct comparison. The Abyss 1266 sounded great this time. Nice open, airy sound with amazing bass punch and presence. Still hated the fit. Got to try the Susvara, original Utopia, Meze Elite and Caldera out of the dcs Lina. Caldera came in first, then Utopia, then Meze Elite, and Susvara distant last. Was surprised I liked the Utopia more than the Elite. The Susvara was bass light on this setup.

So while some of these other headphones sounded great I didn’t think any were better or worth getting a whole new setup to play them. But what about the other ZMF headphones? I only got to compare to Atrium open and close and the Verite closed. Kind of surprised but I didn’t care for the closed models at least in comparison to the open. Caldera and the Atrium open tied on the dcs Lina stack but that was generally too polite and bass light for both. The Atrium jumped ahead and sounded amazing on the Feliks Envy. Probably my favorite listen of the day. The Caldera sound better on the Feliks than dcs but was no match for the Atrium. But things reversed on the Ferrum Oor stack. This was my favorite pairing for the Caldera. Warm, weight, punchy and detailed. Hard to say if I enjoyed it more than the Atrium/Feliks pairing but I’m biased, so let’s just say I did. I didn’t try the Holo stack. That setup is much bigger than I expected and I don’t have the space even if could afford it.

I got to try the Caldera on a few other setups like the new bread box jds? amp in the ZMF room. It sounded nice but not my favorite. I tried out of the Chord Dave (which I used to own) and didn’t care for it. Bass light without enough weight and punch. No issues out of the Headamp gx mk2 but also nothing stood out. I ended up finding the Ferrum booth and getting in about another 20 minutes. Just perfect pairing with the Caldera for my tastes. Now I didn’t get to compare directly to my Naim HE, but when I got home to listen, it reminded most of the Ferrum Orr, warm, punchy, detailed, and just musical. Didn’t feel like anything was missing. Maybe side by side, differences would stand out.

Chord Dave with any ZMF by itself is a bit over detailed and weak. You really need to use an external TOTL headphone amp with Dave. You will be blown away by the sound. I'm so excited to receive my Viva and compare to the WA33.

 

[iamoneagain]

Chord Dave with any ZMF by itself is a bit over detailed and weak. You really need to use an external TOTL headphone amp with Dave. You will be blown away by the sound. I'm so excited to receive my Viva and compare to the WA33.

Yeah I kind of assumed the Chord Dave wouldn’t be powerful enough but wanted to confirm. The reason I got the Chord Dave in the first place was because I liked that it was a dac/headphone amp combo. So adding another headphone amp was never my plan. But I did end up adding the mscaler and a battery pack for that. And finally when thinking of getting $1200 Wave cables, I had enough and downgraded first to the Focal Arche and then to the Naim HE. And now based on all my testing yesterday, I’ve confirmed the Naim HE is a great pairing for my taste with the Caldera.

There was a lot I didn’t try, so who knows. But once I made it the main showroom, I got a little overwhelmed and hadn’t eaten. And after lunch, I’d rather just get back and listen to what I got then spending more hours testing. So possibly that Holo stack would have blown me away but as said, that setup has no place in my space. I just have an end table next to my couch and that suits me fine.

 

[TheMiddleSky]

I posted my impressions in the main CanJan thread but figured I could recap here.

I spend a few hours yesterday at CanJam with the goal really to see how the Caldera compares to a few other ZMF headphones and to see if anything completely blew away my Naim Atom Uniti HE pairing. To cut to the chase, nothing tempted me and I’m completely happy my current combo.

The Susvara was bass light out of most systems and only truly shined on this powerful new Headamp. I didn’t get to try with my own tracks or compared directly to the Caldera. The Stax 9000 sounded great but can’t do direct comparison. The Abyss 1266 sounded great this time. Nice open, airy sound with amazing bass punch and presence. Still hated the fit. Got to try the Susvara, original Utopia, Meze Elite and Caldera out of the dcs Lina. Caldera came in first, then Utopia, then Meze Elite, and Susvara distant last. Was surprised I liked the Utopia more than the Elite. The Susvara was bass light on this setup.

So while some of these other headphones sounded great I didn’t think any were better or worth getting a whole new setup to play them. But what about the other ZMF headphones? I only got to compare to Atrium open and close and the Verite closed. Kind of surprised but I didn’t care for the closed models at least in comparison to the open. Caldera and the Atrium open tied on the dcs Lina stack but that was generally too polite and bass light for both. The Atrium jumped ahead and sounded amazing on the Feliks Envy. Probably my favorite listen of the day. The Caldera sound better on the Feliks than dcs but was no match for the Atrium. But things reversed on the Ferrum Oor stack. This was my favorite pairing for the Caldera. Warm, weight, punchy and detailed. Hard to say if I enjoyed it more than the Atrium/Feliks pairing but I’m biased, so let’s just say I did. I didn’t try the Holo stack. That setup is much bigger than I expected and I don’t have the space even if could afford it.

I got to try the Caldera on a few other setups like the new bread box jds? amp in the ZMF room. It sounded nice but not my favorite. I tried out of the Chord Dave (which I used to own) and didn’t care for it. Bass light without enough weight and punch. No issues out of the Headamp gx mk2 but also nothing stood out. I ended up finding the Ferrum booth and getting in about another 20 minutes. Just perfect pairing with the Caldera for my tastes. Now I didn’t get to compare directly to my Naim HE, but when I got home to listen, it reminded most of the Ferrum Orr, warm, punchy, detailed, and just musical. Didn’t feel like anything was missing. Maybe side by side, differences would stand out.

if you like how Ferrum pair with Caldera, you should try Silver Fox as well. For me Cen grand have weighty notes of Ferrum, but add more resolution, transparency and a significant soundstage upgrade.

I will spare time this week to try Caldera with Envy. It should be matched my preference well. I love how Envy synergise really well with Verite, and I think I never heard any amps do better for Verite (till now).

 

[Leto Dal]

Very curious to read A/B between Bliss and Envy with ZMF headphones if anyone happen to have both or got an option to compare somewhere.