K3cT
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2007
- Posts
- 2,782
- Likes
- 418
ZMF Caldera - New Planar Magnetic from ZMF!
- Thread starter ScornDefeat
- Start date
Yes i'm surprised its so similar! Black grille, brown cloth, cocobolo wood
up late
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2013
- Posts
- 7,278
- Likes
- 3,440
yeah, i worked that out eventually. thanks anyway.
These polls would be amazing to have in both ao and ac threads. Maybe in all zmf threads. @betula can you do it? I'm a bit short in time with 2 little monsters with 3 and 6 yo. But if you can't I will try to find a moment this sunday.
For AO I believe universe cowhide, caldera, and auteur are the most praised.
For AC I believe thin caldera, caldera suede and bokeh suede.
Correct me someone if I'm mistaken
Thanks
For AO I believe universe cowhide, caldera, and auteur are the most praised.
For AC I believe thin caldera, caldera suede and bokeh suede.
Correct me someone if I'm mistaken
Thanks
Include both Verite's thread too! Will be interesting to see others favorite pads
It takes two minutes to set up a poll on this site. Perhaps someone, who is more familiar with the names of all the Verité and Atrium pad options can set it up for the other threads. Otherwise, I can do it, just need to do a little research about all the available pad options for those headphones as I don't own them.These polls would be amazing to have in both ao and ac threads. Maybe in all zmf threads. @betula can you do it? I'm a bit short in time with 2 little monsters with 3 and 6 yo. But if you can't I will try to find a moment this sunday.
For AO I believe universe cowhide, caldera, and auteur are the most praised.
For AC I believe thin caldera, caldera suede and bokeh suede.
Correct me someone if I'm mistaken
Thanks
Lucikun
100+ Head-Fier
Yes i'm surprised its so similar! Black grille, brown cloth, cocobolo wood
Just the different headband/strap material. We’re twins!
AudioDuck
Headphoneus Supremus
What a beautiful pair of headphones!Yes i'm surprised its so similar! Black grille, brown cloth, cocobolo wood
iamoneagain
Headphoneus Supremus
So based on the poll and all the positive comments I gave the thick pads another go and same results. When first try them, I actually really like the changes; more sub bass, big soundstage, and layering and separation. But then as I get to more familiar tracks like The Flaming Lips - One More Robot off Yoshimi album, things start to head south. The extra bass feels a little unbalanced and more like I’m listening to a closed headphone. I can feel the pressure but not in a good way. That track has this punchy deep bass that runs thru the track. And then the vocals are just a hint too recessed for my taste.
I’ve heard the Yoshimi album so many times, and the thick pads sound off compared to what I’m expecting. When I put the stock pads back, everything is as expected in a good way. There is just this richness the stock and the suede have that are missing with the thick. It reminds when Grado first release their bagel pad style headphones. Big soundstage and layering but the famous Grado mids were missing. I never checked out any of their later offerings to see if they were able to overcome that. I also was turned of to Grado at that point even though they still continue their original line of headphones.
So at least with ZMF, there is a stock offering which aligns with my tastes at least for the Caldera open and Atrium open. I haven’t got a long enough listen to rest of lineup. But then the additional pads and meshes give people a way to tune to their own tastes. And this is different than Grado where if you swap bagel with stock or vice versa, it doesn’t sound right. Have to buy model made for the pad you like.
And another mention on the thin pad. When first put them on, it’s not bad. Punchy, exciting, familiar sound to stock but more intimate. It’s just when you get to familiar songs that you hear the cracks when certain mid to high frequencies sound out of balance.
Ok, back to enjoy my music.
I’ve heard the Yoshimi album so many times, and the thick pads sound off compared to what I’m expecting. When I put the stock pads back, everything is as expected in a good way. There is just this richness the stock and the suede have that are missing with the thick. It reminds when Grado first release their bagel pad style headphones. Big soundstage and layering but the famous Grado mids were missing. I never checked out any of their later offerings to see if they were able to overcome that. I also was turned of to Grado at that point even though they still continue their original line of headphones.
So at least with ZMF, there is a stock offering which aligns with my tastes at least for the Caldera open and Atrium open. I haven’t got a long enough listen to rest of lineup. But then the additional pads and meshes give people a way to tune to their own tastes. And this is different than Grado where if you swap bagel with stock or vice versa, it doesn’t sound right. Have to buy model made for the pad you like.
And another mention on the thin pad. When first put them on, it’s not bad. Punchy, exciting, familiar sound to stock but more intimate. It’s just when you get to familiar songs that you hear the cracks when certain mid to high frequencies sound out of balance.
Ok, back to enjoy my music.
I doubt we will get many more votes, only two came in the last 48 hours.
I wouldn't say this is a proper representative survey about the preferences of all Caldera owners, but with 37 votes it definitely seems to reflect the choice of us forum dwellers.
I was expecting the stock and thick pads to receive pretty much equal number of votes, but it has turned out, twice as many owners actually prefer the thick pads to stocks (including me).
I have to add, that pad swapping can also be a fine-tuning tool to your system synergy, so some people might prefer different pads on different systems.
Also, high five to the only voter on the suedes. Dare to be different!
I wouldn't say this is a proper representative survey about the preferences of all Caldera owners, but with 37 votes it definitely seems to reflect the choice of us forum dwellers.
I was expecting the stock and thick pads to receive pretty much equal number of votes, but it has turned out, twice as many owners actually prefer the thick pads to stocks (including me).
I have to add, that pad swapping can also be a fine-tuning tool to your system synergy, so some people might prefer different pads on different systems.
Also, high five to the only voter on the suedes. Dare to be different!
K3cT
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2007
- Posts
- 2,782
- Likes
- 418
I doubt we will get many more votes, only two came in the last 48 hours.
I wouldn't say this is a proper representative survey about the preferences of all Caldera owners, but with 37 votes it definitely seems to reflect the choice of us forum dwellers.
I was expecting the stock and thick pads to receive pretty much equal number of votes, but it has turned out, twice as many owners actually prefer the thick pads to stocks (including me).
I have to add, that pad swapping can also be a fine-tuning tool to your system synergy, so some people might prefer different pads on different systems.
Also, high five to the only voter on the suedes. Dare to be different!
It's nice to see stock enjoyers catching up, at one point of time thick was leading with almost 80%!
That was the very beginning. These percentages actually haven't changed much after the first 20 votes.
Love this survey! such a fun way to see what people are doing... 