Відео

Suede pads are my fav too. Just picked up the Caldera Closed too, which is also great but different.

I sure enjoy my Caldera (and selling off the Focal Utopias). And such a beautiful art piece to boot.

So glad you got around to my favorite headphone!

Atrium was my favorite headphone for a while, I purchased them two years ago and they never left my head. But over the course of a couple months my ears and preference have changed drastically. I found myself a little too sensitive the elevated kids of the atrium. I got a caldera about a month ago and it’s quickly became my favorite ZMF. I love the way it presents music but still has the zmf sound, and on tubes the timbre is nothing but blissful

Caldera Vs Tungsten ?.. you shaw this question coming don't you ;)

The spatial enhancement is what peaks my interest 🤔

Hey Golden! Say you're unlucky enough to be stuck on an island but lucky enough to pick just one of the two (Caldera/Atrium) to accompany you, which one would it be? :)

The Dave Can,t power the suvare, THE DAVE CAN,T???. What a weird pair of headfphones are the Susvara,s. So the DAVE CAN,T?????

Great review, spot on. I am with you regarding the Suede pads, they are my favorites of the several i tried.

comparison of tungsten and caldera pleaseeeee

I actually find my Atrium less pleasing to listen to than my Arya SE. I'd consider Caldera instead, but really need to audition HE1000SE first.

Thanks!

Everyone considering buying this very pricey headphone should go on the measurements and discussion about it on Audio Science Review and also take note of Zach's behaviour, the owner of ZMF, in the forum. Easy to find online.

Thanks!

Of the five pairs of ZMF Headphones I own Golden, the Caldera are my favorite sounding ZMF Headphones!

"Resolving properties", this is totally invented, every headphone can resolve the entire audible frequency range, the impression that one headphone is "more resolving" than another one is just a fact of different tuning, which can be changed by EQ.

THESE ARE MY FAVORITE HEADPHONES FOR METAL!!

lol. Yes start with price we will still watch. Trying to suss out state of headphones today all over the world all over the supply chain

The Calderas on the DCS Stack was one Off my favorite listenings at the HighEnd this year, also the DCS E3 on the zähl mh1.❤

These or Tungsten?

So articulate and insightful review Cameron…as Vérité Open and Closed owner who recently acquired the Caldera your experience reflects mine as well. I love the added detail retrieval in conjunction with the sub-bass extension while not abandoning ZMF 🪄 magic…the beautification. You seem to me a most reliable source of information. I think your review of the Holoaudio May KTE was the major contributing factor in my decision to purchase it, which has been wonderful serving me as a consistently engaging source. Thank you for your work in the community!

Such a great headphone to have as a companion to the 800S.

The ZMF will be technically superior to the Susvara which has serious resonances at circa 1k, 1.5k and 5k,showing how bad the Sus is.

Just to add to Cameron's feedback on the Caldera's; the Caldera is closer to neutral sounding hp but it pairs extremely well w/ a tube amp which will give you options to add the flavor & color one might desire. I run mine on a Cayin HA-3A tube amp and a Burson Soloist GT class A. I also have a Ferrum Oor + Hypsos but the sound on that pairing is a bit dry and less engaging. The Caldera's are also not very hard to drive as I run mine on med impedance HA-3A and Low gain on the Burson. Furthermore and this is something that is often times missed Zach's design of the Caldera is a Planar driver that sounds more like a Hybrid between Dynamic & Planar driver combined; meaning you get the benefits from both in the Caldera driver which will make more sense upon listening.

What's missing in this review is a comparison to Tungsten 😞

Make sure to try the Lambskin Thick pads with these.

You've really improved your review style. Very professional, well written and presented.

Btw what do you exactly mean by the title 'a step forward'? It suggests, that the Caldera is a step forward to the right direction, which would mean, you think they are an improvement compared to the Atrium. Yet, you seem to prefer your Atrium to the Caldera. What direction would you expect from future ZMF planars then; more like the Susvara or more like the Atrium? Thanks!

The Caldera hits the perfect balance for me between technicalities and musical engagement, realism. For me they are tonally more interesting and attractive than the Susvara, but more detailed with even more precise imaging and beter sub-bass than the Atrium. Best of both worlds in one package.

Minor correction and a bit pedantic. This isn't the first zmf planar but first ground up planar from zmf since they started with t50 mods, which were planars

"You can't out-susvara a Susvara." And thank goodness. Don't you people have enough neutral-bright AF headphones? Gonna have to audition an Atrium. Thanks Goldy~

Immaculately-timed video publication, Cameron (Douglas just uploaded his belated Mod House Tungsten review, and Koji with his interview of Doctor Fang regarding the invention of his magnificent Susvara headphones).

"A ZMF that put on a suit and tie." Nice. Though, I hope they don't chase the neutral [hype]train much further.

Be good to start with the price.

“Most resolving ZMF headphone” - well, pretty easy to step over a bar that’s laying on the ground. 😂

I think he likes it

Rest assured, vast majority of users don't use MQA anyway, don't have proper equipment to decode. So, no harm done.

A good AVC (Slagle Elmaformer for example) will destroy any resistive attenuator. Get rid of that big nasty series resistance and finally hear what your upstream components and source actually sound like. An AVC trades voltage for current, output Z will be drastically lower than a pot, as you get into the meat of the attenuation. A resistive voltage divider dumps excess energy as waste heat. Fancy resistors and complex switching arrangements won't help. A buffer won't help either, the audio signal still gets veiled passing through the resistive control element. You want signal preservation. It's a gamechanger, but not cheap. The very highest quality preamps and attenuators on the planet will use an AVC for level control.

Got these earlier this week, they sound great regardless of configuration, but I definitely prefer the Universe Perf leather stock pads, but with the solid titan mesh. The stock mesh is just a bit too 'hot' in some music and gets a bit too spicy for me. Solid mesh fixed it right up for me though.

The latest iteration of the most useless item ever created in audio and its more in price than the noisy distorting Dave:ua-cam.com/video/y9nkCvGzn-8/v-deo.html

Don't buy an M Scaler for use with a Qutest? Not so. The M Scaler makes a HUGE difference to the sound and makes the Qutest an even better DAC. Probably beats the Dave.

😅😅😅😅😅 7 grand 😂😂😂😂😂

I better hear smells for that price

$4K M--Scaler running an $1800 DAC?

I wish it was an R2R DAC or at least with latest AKM flagship.

Test Arya Organic and 1000SE please

haha dead inside ! and that absurd price of those headphones is icing on top

Well Stax lambda signature has improved over the years with less and less of it's 'weak' points. For example the SR 407/507 model has same resolution like the Lambda signature with better bass and even more resolving capabilities. You can buy them for 400-700 dollars second hand and they don't need a beefy amp either. $36000 for a headphone is just nuts, those who buy this are complete morons you can reach this kind of clarity with cheap second hand Stax headphones.

Have you tested IanCanada's transportPi?