Same. Caldera works splendidly with DNA Stellaris (2A3 SET), but I still think it needs a proper solid state amp for certain music. Finally landed on Bliss, looking forward to hearing the result in several weeks.
ZMF Caldera - New Planar Magnetic from ZMF!
- Thread starter ScornDefeat
- Start date
Wow. That is the most insane sounds-spinning-around-in-the-air I have ever heard. Is that a new technology that can be applied to various songs or does it have to be recorded like that. I assume the latter. I could listen to an album of that applied to different sounds.
Eh... I'm sure that'd be amazing, but if I'm going a couple steps higher than what I've got right now, I think the May or Pasithea or something similar is what I'm leaning towards. I do like my Qutest though and would agree, its resolving nature with the WA-23 is awesome. Hugo2/Woo WA8 is a great match too.Go all out with a DAVE and M-scaler
I don’t think you can go wrong with either but I still wary if it will jive well with the WA23. That’s because Pasithea is not a macro monster due to being NOS but will definitely bring a lot of its micro strengths to the tubes
Yeah, I do worry a bit about that. I've heard the Holo May and liked it a lot, but from what I've heard the Pasithea is damn close, but maybe a little less in some categories. I find that I actually enjoy a little less. Sometimes that can mean more musical and therefore more enjoyable. Kinda like Caldera - is it Susvara level resolution? No, but damn close and more enjoyable overall.
Sonnet Morpheus is what I ended up with given ZMF sells them. Personally I don't think the Pasithea is any great leap to justify the price. A/B ing the Morpheus with the TT2 when I first got it I felt it had every bit the detail and soundstage while having more body and a little more warmth, and not having the shoutiness I get form Chord devices at high volume. And of course the TT2 was a clear step up from the Hugo2/Qutest. It's been end game for me and I feel like anything much better would be in the $5k and up range for not as much of a jump as I get with just better tubes in my amp.
Curious, what you mean by "macro monster", and what NOS has to do with it?
I don’t have Caldera but Bliss with Sonnet DAC and Atrium is as good as it can get. I feel with Caldera it only gets better.
I had some friends over today who know I've gone down this headphone rabbit hole, but haven't heard any of my ZMFs before now - or really any audiophile headphones - they're all pretty squarely in the gamer headset and ANC earbuds group.
We didn't really have enough time to demo more than a few songs each and I wasn't sure how they'd react, but I wasn't really expecting any of them to say much more than 'wow, yeah these sound great!' and that be it. With the first two that was more or less the case - though one mentioned how impressive it was on the Caldera how he could pick out and follow instruments in the mix. But when the cost question came up (for the Bokeh, because he asked which was cheapest) the response was; 'wow..yeah I can't justify that...', which is totally fair, I wasn't expecting any of them to suddenly decide they wanted to drop potentially thousands on headphones after this.
My third friend to try them, however, was absolutely blown away by the Caldera to the point he started asking about the entire setup and thinking out loud how he could get a boom mic for calls so he wouldn't have to switch back and forth with his earbuds. He tried out the Classic and Bokeh and thought they were great as well but was clearly totally smitten with the Caldera. When he asked the price and I told him he winced but said 'Man...I get it though, the wood, the feel of them, they're comfortable and they sound incredible...I've got some thinking to do...'. So we'll see what happens - I'll have to try and organize for him to come and spend some proper time with them.
As a side note, I recently acquired a Cayin HA-3A and have been really enjoying it with the Caldera (well...with everything). Looking forward to getting to know it better in time and then jumping down that NOS rabbit hole next.
We didn't really have enough time to demo more than a few songs each and I wasn't sure how they'd react, but I wasn't really expecting any of them to say much more than 'wow, yeah these sound great!' and that be it. With the first two that was more or less the case - though one mentioned how impressive it was on the Caldera how he could pick out and follow instruments in the mix. But when the cost question came up (for the Bokeh, because he asked which was cheapest) the response was; 'wow..yeah I can't justify that...', which is totally fair, I wasn't expecting any of them to suddenly decide they wanted to drop potentially thousands on headphones after this.
My third friend to try them, however, was absolutely blown away by the Caldera to the point he started asking about the entire setup and thinking out loud how he could get a boom mic for calls so he wouldn't have to switch back and forth with his earbuds. He tried out the Classic and Bokeh and thought they were great as well but was clearly totally smitten with the Caldera. When he asked the price and I told him he winced but said 'Man...I get it though, the wood, the feel of them, they're comfortable and they sound incredible...I've got some thinking to do...'. So we'll see what happens - I'll have to try and organize for him to come and spend some proper time with them.
As a side note, I recently acquired a Cayin HA-3A and have been really enjoying it with the Caldera (well...with everything). Looking forward to getting to know it better in time and then jumping down that NOS rabbit hole next.
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2016
- Posts
- 1,591
- Likes
- 3,651
I had some friends over today who know I've gone down this headphone rabbit hole, but haven't heard any of my ZMFs before now - or really any audiophile headphones - they're all pretty squarely in the gamer headset and ANC earbuds group.
We didn't really have enough time to demo more than a few songs each and I wasn't sure how they'd react, but I wasn't really expecting any of them to say much more than 'wow, yeah these sound great!' and that be it. With the first two that was more or less the case - though one mentioned how impressive it was on the Caldera how he could pick out and follow instruments in the mix. But when the cost question came up (for the Bokeh, because he asked which was cheapest) the response was; 'wow..yeah I can't justify that...', which is totally fair, I wasn't expecting any of them to suddenly decide they wanted to drop potentially thousands on headphones after this.
My third friend to try them, however, was absolutely blown away by the Caldera to the point he started asking about the entire setup and thinking out loud how he could get a boom mic for calls so he wouldn't have to switch back and forth with his earbuds. He tried out the Classic and Bokeh and thought they were great as well but was clearly totally smitten with the Caldera. When he asked the price and I told him he winced but said 'Man...I get it though, the wood, the feel of them, they're comfortable and they sound incredible...I've got some thinking to do...'. So we'll see what happens - I'll have to try and organize for him to come and spend some proper time with them.
As a side note, I recently acquired a Cayin HA-3A and have been really enjoying it with the Caldera (well...with everything). Looking forward to getting to know it better in time and then jumping down that NOS rabbit hole next.
Yeah, I don’t have the 3A, but I do have it’s brother (6A) and I enjoy it with the Calderas (and much more). A very fun, flexible amp.
idairyou
500+ Head-Fier
I have the big brother to the 6A (300B-MKII) and it is also enjoyable, but I still like it more on the Bliss.
Well done, spread the gospel, convert all those non-audiophiles! If our wallet hurts, let other's wallets hurt too!I had some friends over today who know I've gone down this headphone rabbit hole, but haven't heard any of my ZMFs before now - or really any audiophile headphones - they're all pretty squarely in the gamer headset and ANC earbuds group.
We didn't really have enough time to demo more than a few songs each and I wasn't sure how they'd react, but I wasn't really expecting any of them to say much more than 'wow, yeah these sound great!' and that be it. With the first two that was more or less the case - though one mentioned how impressive it was on the Caldera how he could pick out and follow instruments in the mix. But when the cost question came up (for the Bokeh, because he asked which was cheapest) the response was; 'wow..yeah I can't justify that...', which is totally fair, I wasn't expecting any of them to suddenly decide they wanted to drop potentially thousands on headphones after this.
My third friend to try them, however, was absolutely blown away by the Caldera to the point he started asking about the entire setup and thinking out loud how he could get a boom mic for calls so he wouldn't have to switch back and forth with his earbuds. He tried out the Classic and Bokeh and thought they were great as well but was clearly totally smitten with the Caldera. When he asked the price and I told him he winced but said 'Man...I get it though, the wood, the feel of them, they're comfortable and they sound incredible...I've got some thinking to do...'. So we'll see what happens - I'll have to try and organize for him to come and spend some proper time with them.
As a side note, I recently acquired a Cayin HA-3A and have been really enjoying it with the Caldera (well...with everything). Looking forward to getting to know it better in time and then jumping down that NOS rabbit hole next.
The 3A is great with the Caldera, I think it is a fantastic choice for the price. With stock tubes the bass weight and sub extension could be better, but that is relatively easily improved with the correct NOS tubes. This was my only complaint when I compared the 3A in its stock form to similarly priced SS amps like the GSX-Mini. That SS bass was tighter and snappier, but on the 3A everything sounded a lot more natural, much more spacious and '3D' even with stock tubes. With the right NOS set bass improves too and while it is not as snappy as some SS bass, it is quick and punchy enough that it doesn't feel like I am sacrificing anything for that more lifelike and 3D spacious tube sound. Of course, if you double or triple your budget, there are excellent SS options out there, like the May KTE/Bliss combo, or a Dave connected to some of the amazing $3K-$4k amplifiers that often come up in this thread, but under $2K with the correct NOS tubes I haven't heard anything that I liked better than my 3A with the Caldera. In fact, I personally prefer this sound compared to some other great SS amps like the Ferrum or HPA4 for example. The Holo stack is a different story.
I've moved from a Cayin HA-6A with $$$ NOS tubes to an all Ferrum stack (Oor, Wandla, Hypsos) as I could never quite dial in the sound even with tube rolling. Plus it's half the desktop real estate when stacked. All the punch and slam from the SS Oor and a rich, DSD sound with a massive stage from the HQP filters on the Wandla.
Users who are viewing this thread
