The Caldera has been reviewed often and in detail since its launch, so consider this my "update" on the Caldera, focusing on the sound of the new Mantle mesh; the sound of various ZMF earpads for this headphone; and a comparison of the Caldera with another open-back planar, the Final D8000. Background: My first planar headphone (my first serious headphone, period) was the ZMF Ori. The Ori suited my tastes perfectly and introduced me to great planar bass. When open-back headphones became a priority, I assumed it wouldn't be difficult to find an...

"And now for something completely different"* *apologies to Monty Python INTRODUCTION In recent years ZMF Headphones launched 6 dynamic driver headphones. The closed-back Eikon and open-back Auteur shared a new biocellulose driver that quickly won praise for incisive neutrality plus the musicality and organic sound ZMF is known for. Now a new ZMF dynamic has arrived: the Atrium. It contains a biocellulose driver plus a new wooden earcup configuration. The Atrium also contains something that actually is "completely different": a new damping system...

Over the past year or so, I heard 3 iterations of extensive HD650 mods from Jupiter Audio Research (the "JAR-650," aka "J-Mod"). A month ago I received the finalized J-Mod that is the subject of this review, plus a stock HD650 for comparison. I'm late getting to the Sennheiser HD650 party. It's easy to see why so many love this headphone. Had I not heard the J-Mod, I could happily live with the stock headphone. It's voiced perfectly for my tastes and scales up readily with better sources. And as my review of the J-Mod will show, it has considerable...

Background: I've been impressed by the inexpensive Marantz MPH-2 ($39.99)—especially its bassy, non-fatiguing sound. The MPH-2 is one of 5-6 "clones" (re-licenses) of the original ISK MDH9000 design. I've owned 3 pairs of them (kept one MPH-2, gave the other plus a LyxPro HAS-30 as gifts). As long as they use the same quality pleather earpads found on the Marantz & LyxPro, the clones sound identical. Recently I became impressed by the intricate, imaginative mods posted on Head-Fi by @Slater. He also likes the MDH9000 clones—so I asked if he'd do a...

INTRODUCTION: A couple months ago I happened to see these headphones on Amazon.co.uk. There were many more reviews on Amazon.co.uk than Amazon US: most were very positive, with few coming from product give-away. I also viewed 3-4 YouTube videos about these 'phones. The common theme seemed to be young listeners using them at work, with mobile devices, or in some cases in home studies, and being rather shocked at how good they sounded. Most reviewers weren't sophisticated audio types or headphone fanciers, yet many spoke about sound quality, as if...