[ng5921]

Here's the YouTube ad I made - they say the most important part is the first 5 seconds haha.

What do you guys think more flames?

Intense! I like it.

 

[betula]

Here's the YouTube ad I made - they say the most important part is the first 5 seconds haha.

What do you guys think more flames? I believe it accompanied by a funny zmf Tagline and link or logo.

Great! You have really been on fire recently!

 

[jamato8]

Here's the YouTube ad I made - they say the most important part is the first 5 seconds haha.

What do you guys think more flames? I believe it accompanied by a funny zmf Tagline and link or logo.

You should throw a pair in a molten lava. The melding of the two. Flames and all.

 

[ttys0]

Here's the YouTube ad I made - they say the most important part is the first 5 seconds haha.

What do you guys think more flames? I believe it accompanied by a funny zmf Tagline and link or logo.

Can't go wrong with more fire!

 

[vsg28]

Here's the YouTube ad I made - they say the most important part is the first 5 seconds haha.

What do you guys think more flames? I believe it accompanied by a funny zmf Tagline and link or logo.

See now you've made me visualize a Caldera Closed in fiery, burly redwood with red yoke rods and the red/black BBB strap. I hope you realize you will have to make this happen now

 

[AudioDuck]

See now you've made me visualize a Caldera Closed in fiery, burly redwood with red yoke rods and the red/black BBB strap. I hope you realize you will have to make this happen now

Sign me up!

 

[idairyou]

Yeah that situation is far more complicated than just "impressions based on shows." Impressions from shows are great, and I welcome them absolutely.

I do feel bad often about the modular system we created and I'm going to strive to make it easier defined in the coming year with info graphics and such. It cna be a terribly hard thing to navigate and understand when you don't own the headphone.

Maybe at the shows keep it to one set of pads and mesh? That way for show impressions everyone gets the same experience. Reading some of the impressions from the shows people were swapping pads and using pads that were not intended for the CC.

Edit: Just for new launches not for ones already released.

 

[Pablo67]

Here's the YouTube ad I made - they say the most important part is the first 5 seconds haha.

What do you guys think more flames? I believe it accompanied by a funny zmf Tagline and link or logo.

Wow!…

The Caldera Closed…it glows.
Like lava..it flows

Or

“ZMF is Red Hot”

Digging the optics here.

 

[erics75]

Here's the YouTube ad I made - they say the most important part is the first 5 seconds haha.

What do you guys think more flames? I believe it accompanied by a funny zmf Tagline and link or logo.

Beavis approves...

 

[erics75]

Caldera Closed impressions from Resolve based on the High End show demo: "This was easily one of the better experiences of the show for me so far, and they also had it running from one of the Feliks Envy tube amps. It’s not at all neutral, but it did a warm and relaxed, lush kind of sound signature very well. So quite relaxed in the ear gain but not in a way that detracted from its overall sense of resolution and incisiveness. I think my only critique would be that the mids were occasionally a bit too ‘gooey’, but then again it’s unclear if that’s just a characteristic imparted by the tube amp. But I can definitely see people liking this one."

I know resolve is well regarded but I just cannot triangulate anything he's saying here to what I'm hearing. If he was talking about the AC maybe, but not the CC. i've not heard the Envy so maybe that's contributing to the impressions, but just seems a bit off.

 

[goldwerger]

Here's the YouTube ad I made - they say the most important part is the first 5 seconds haha.

What do you guys think more flames? I believe it accompanied by a funny zmf Tagline and link or logo.

 

[erics75]

Today is going to be a fun day, I brought my beloved AC in with the CC for a little battle royal.... I've been itching to face these two off since the CC's arrival. The CC is still burning in so i'm not going to make any definitive judgements yet, but I am curious how they stack up now as is. I'll revisit this after the CC is fully burned in.

I got sidetracked with obsessing over Aegis tube options and never gave my thoughts after the day ended.

First, the AC and CC are excellent compliments to each other, IMO. When you want warm, smooth, darker, romantic/euphonic tuning, the AC is a home run. On the other side the CC excels at speed, precision, technicalities, and clarity. An excellent one/two punch for when you want to peer deep into the music or just let is swallow you up as a whole.

Yeah yeah that's been said enough times, right? Nothing new there, though worth repeating.

First, the AC is definitely in the same league as the CC. Different tuning absolutely. It's strengths are very different than the CC. Listening to it after a few days on the Calderas exclusively, it was like coming home to a warm loving hug. That seductive warmth and bloom just felt good to me, felt right. But man did it sound downright slow and smokey in comparison. You don't buy the AC over the CC for resolution. You buy it for it's musical and euphonic macro presentation. And from top to bottom it nails it, assuming your preferences lie in the darkness like mine.

So if you like warm you'll hate the CC, right? I won't speak for everyone but that's a big hel no for me. I love the thing! I'm still learning it and the CO, but I know I really love what the Calderas are doing. It's brighter, faster, less euphonic, thinner, and more aggressive. But it works, despite me generally hating that type of sound signature. For reference I don't like the Utopia, Susavara, etc. Too bright, and in a way that aggravates my tinnitus to no end. The CC is putting out some similar high frequency levels, but it's not fatiguing. I've spent a good amount of hours on both the CC and CO and i've yet to have my ears start ringing. For reference the first gen Utopia had them ringing in 30 minutes. Ringing bad. So despite my love of darkness, I'm enjoying the CC easily as much as the AC. It's such a different experience. With the CC i'm listening more analytically while still finding the experience highly engaging and musical.

Here's the thing though, the AC just rocks me harder from a macro perspective. So my one concern is once I get over the resolution, will I really yearn for the CC like I do the AC/Atticus/Bokeh? Time will tell, though so far my instincts tell me I will. I've never heard such a resolving AND musical combination before.

A bit of some random thoughts I wrote down while listening throughout the day:

First listen to the AC felt like coming home, so good, so right.

AC sounds hazy after all those hours with the CC.

Despite the haziness, it's still extremely resolving. More than enough for me.

(AC) THAT BASS! love the resonance and slow decay.

CC and Jazz is scary good. I'm hearing little nuances I've never heard before. Cross checked the same tracks on the AC and yep, they're there, but buried deep in the mix, not easily identified.

The CC is making me seek out violin solos, the rendition is mesmerizing. On AC sounds dull.

The CC's soundstage is so laser precise. Precision is what always comes to mind with the CC.

Metal works better for me on the AC. Iron Maiden - Live After Death never sounded better on the AC. On CC a bit harsh and overly vivid. AC gives goosebumps.

Female vocals are so seductive on the AC, yet I prefer the added nuance of the CC.

Old school thrash is really aggressive on the CC. Too aggressive. Bokeh does this best IMO.

60s/70's classic rock is sounding more engaging on the CC! Never thought anything would dethrone the AC here. Panama.....PANAMA-AH

Double bass blasts on the CC never seem to blur/blend. AC no slouch, but CC just never loses composure.

No winners/losers here, just preference.

 

[goldwerger]

I *think* that they are just tuned a bit differently as some areas of CC are more forward in the mids and some areas are more laid back, but this all depends on some slight factors like what volume one listens to and HRTF.

The largest difference is definitely damping, as the closed headphones just need more of it. As you can see in the graph below even with more damping - the CC still have some treble areas in the 8K plus area that are higher.

The largest factor I think is that open headphones need so much less damping, which causes the impulse response and therefore the "transient attack" or as many of us call it the dynamic range of the first impulse to be greater.

The Caldera Open is supreme in this area and one of the things that makes it sound like such a dynamic/planar hybrid between it self and other headphones.

And while the Caldera Closed is "less" in the dynamic impulse department, I do wonder if any other planar closed backs can match the Caldera Closed's great impulse response. Which as you guys know from my CC video and ramblings on some "other sites' that I value impulse type measurements that show transient info highly.

The planar closed back realm is a niche for sure, and by far the most challenging tuning job I've had to work on. I am super proud of where it ended up and while I do agree it can't match the impulse of similar flagship opens like Caldera Open etc in that dept, it's is still VERY high in this regard and I think when compared to other planar closed backs would tell the real story. And I also think is a important reason why many people have a hard time understanding areas beyond frequency response when it comes to perception because there haven't been major studies conducted like Harman, but it doesn't negate the science around what an impulse response is and how we hear it.

TLDR:/ Treble and mesh is one factor but impulse respinse in a closed back planar can further explain attack and decay differences between open and closed headphones.

Edit to include graph, closed VS open:

I'm finding the CC is doing something interesting in how it is handling transients that I find very enjoyable: they have a good transient reponse that offers a well defined attack, coupled with a variant of the now familiar damping system that presents that satisfying decay on the other end. This, to me, feels organic and lush. It's a feel not commonly associated with planar headphones.

In contrast, I have another great closed planar headaphones that I love, the Kennerton Rognir (early bass version, with ECL-03FM pads). The comparison is interesting and can be helpful for people in understanding how I perceit the CC. The Rognir offer a quick response but they also have a very quick decay. That makes them sound fast and incisive; while the CC sound more textured and weighty.

I think that for most people in this thread who love ZMF headphones, the CC strikes that balance of peroformance coupled with warmth. At least it does for me. I appreciate the technical abilities of the CC, while the lignering trailiing edges make the music tug at the strings of my soul.

I also suspect that gentle sense of damping and reverb (as well as, perhaps, what I perceive as recessed upper mids creating a separation between the lower mids and lower treble) is what creating a wonderful perception and sense of space - which is something that I'm really enjoying with the CC.

 

[betula]

I'm finding the CC is doing something interesting in how it is handling transients that I find very enjoyable: they have a good transient reponse that offers a well defined attack, coupled with a variant of the now familiar damping system that presents that satisfying decay on the other end. This, to me, feels organic and lush. It's a feel not commonly associated with planar headphones.

In contrast, I have another great closed planar headaphones that I love, the Kennerton Rognir (early bass version, with ECL-03FM pads). The comparison is interesting and can be helpful for people in understanding how I perceit the CC. The Rognir offer a quick response but they also have a very quick decay. That makes them sound fast and incisive; while the CC sound more textured and weighty.

I think that for most people in this thread who love ZMF headphones, the CC strikes that balance of peroformance coupled with warmth. At least it does for me. I appreciate the technical abilities of the CC, while the lignering trailiing edges make the music tug at the strings of my soul.

I also suspect that gentle sense of damping and reverb (as well as, perhaps, what I perceive as recessed upper mids creating a separation between the lower mids and lower treble) is what creating a wonderful perception and sense of space - which is something that I'm really enjoying with the CC.

To me even the Rögnir gave some 'boxed in' sensation which I don't get with the CC.

 

[goldwerger]

To me even the Rögnir gave some 'boxed in' sensation which I don't get with the CC.

the CC has a bigger and more natural soundstage (or, unusually natural compared to most closed back)