[Pharmaboy]

An interesting pad-rolling anecdote w/my Caldera. Recently, for reasons I can barely explain, I got interested in a pair of Dekoni suedes designed for LCD-2/3/4 headphones. Someone on another board praised their sound with the Caldera. They weren't super expensive, though not cheap ($59), so I said WTH and bought them.

• The part I can barely explain is why I would bother doing this w/my Caldera when I'm so happy with the sound from the ZMF lambskin thick pads...
• I've had plenty of truly awful results w/pad rolling (mostly in my first couple years in the hobby, before I knew better)
• Apparently I still don't know better. Chalk it up to a moment of audio delirium

So the Dekoni's arrive. They're really beautiful pads, very well made, feel like a million bucks in the hand. So I take off the thicks and, with much effort, put the Dekonis on the Caldera. Why the effort? Because the leather back flap that circles the back of each Dekoni pad is 2-3X wider than the back flap of the lambskin thicks. Thus quite a lot of backflap material didn't fit in the earcup slots, and each Dekoni pad was only loosely anchored to the earcup and moved around too readily.

So I put on the Caldera w/these pads, which feel great against the skin--but they're really tall, at least 1/2" taller on the angled side than the lambskin thicks. The entire fit of the headphone was seriously off as a result: more clamping pressure than I'm used to, plus I needed to drop the earcup sliders to avoid having the pads sit too high.

I won't describe the sound in detail. Suffice to say it was nowhere near as destructive to the baseline sound of the Caldera as I half expected, and thus qualified as a pleasant surprise. It really was OK. But I didn't like the sound enough to keep the pads on.

Here's the point of all this: yesterday I swapped the pads back to lambskin thicks and did some listening on the V281 (which is a killer SS amp for the Caldera). I can't describe how relieved I felt hearing that familiar, wonderful thick pads + Caldera sound. It sounded unbelievably good (as always); it felt like coming home. The Caldera is such a great headphone.

 

[AcousticMatt]

Little better pictures this time. My stabilized Caldera named Gordian. After owning these for about a month and a half, they're still my favorite! I think part of why I like these headphones so much is for the same qualities that the Holo May has been described: realism in timbre and sense of space. Been using the thick pads for a while and like them a lot. They strike the perfect balance of space and timbre for me.

 

[ng5921]

Little better pictures this time. My stabilized Caldera named Gordian. After owning these for about a month and a half, they're still my favorite! I think part of why I like these headphones so much is for the same qualities that the Holo May has been described: realism in timbre and sense of space. Been using the thick pads for a while and like them a lot. They strike the perfect balance of space and timbre for me.

Those look awesome! Love the gold grille.

 

[ArkNerevar]

I have a question for fellow owners of the Caldera that use it with the Cayin HA-300, also the Feliks Envy & Woo WA5, same thing in this case.

What impedance setting do you use?

 

[robo24]

I have a question for fellow owners of the Caldera that use it with the Cayin HA-300, also the Feliks Envy & Woo WA5, same thing in this case.

What impedance setting do you use?

For Envy they're calling it a gain setting instead of impedance and they recommend highest for all planars. I usually use that but sometimes middle. Can be track to track as far as vocals seeming more forward or not on either setting.

 

[shafat777]

 

[idairyou]

I have a question for fellow owners of the Caldera that use it with the Cayin HA-300, also the Feliks Envy & Woo WA5, same thing in this case.

What impedance setting do you use?

When I do pair the Caldera with the HA-300 I use low impedance, but if I forget to switch and have it on medium, I've found that unless I really listen for the subtle difference I don't really notice.

 

[TheMiddleSky]

I have a question for fellow owners of the Caldera that use it with the Cayin HA-300, also the Feliks Envy & Woo WA5, same thing in this case.

What impedance setting do you use?

Medium gain on Envy is the sweetest spot (both in term of sound and to control the volume knob). Low gain sound rather "weak", and high gain a bit too energetic in my book.

 

[ng5921]

Gorgeous headphones and Salire!

 

[jlbrach]

Medium gain on Envy is the sweetest spot (both in term of sound and to control the volume knob). Low gain sound rather "weak", and high gain a bit too energetic in my book.

for everything but susvara I have found

 

[Pharmaboy]

I often listen to the caldera on the TC-tube amp, the Icon Audio HP8, which has impedance settings. The terse but informative manual describes them in the excerpt below.

Like others here, I experience these settings (L, M, and H) primarily as gain settings. Since I listen only to the Caldera or Final D8000 planars (both have impedance of 60 ohms) or ZMF high impedance (300 ohm) dynamics, I keep it set at M all the time; that seems to work best.

"Headphone Impedance​

The right hand knob marked L M and H refer to the matching impedance of your headphones and are banded as follows:​

Low 8-40 Ohms (nominally 16)​

Med 30-300 (nominally 100)​

High 250-1000 (nominally 600)​

​

Where there is overlap choose whichever sound you prefer."​

 

[ColSaulTigh]

I have a question for fellow owners of the Caldera that use it with the Cayin HA-300, also the Feliks Envy & Woo WA5, same thing in this case.

What impedance setting do you use?

Woo Audio WA5-LE + Caldera = Low Impedance, High Level, High Power.

 

[AcousticMatt]

for everything but susvara I have found

+1. I use middle gain for everything except Susvara - always use that.

 

[Honeypot]

Hi guys and thank you both for your answers.

I've been offered a Vio v550 from June 2021 and I've posted in the Vio thread.

Could take a look and let me know what you think?

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/vio...-and-the-successor-to-the-v281.947586/page-68

Thank you very much <3

 

[idairyou]

Hi guys and thank you both for your answers.

I've been offered a Vio v550 from June 2021 and I've posted in the Vio thread.

Could take a look and let me know what you think?

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/vio...-and-the-successor-to-the-v281.947586/page-68

Thank you very much <3

It's got some nicks, some spots that look like can be cleaned up with some alcohol and a fiber cloth.

Can you take a look at this and try it out and make sure it works?

If not has he sold anything in the classifieds, audiogon, or EBay, so you can make sure he has a good reputation as a seller? If not, I would be worried about getting scammed.