ZMF Headphones - Caldera

ZMF Caldera. Beautiful, comfortable, amazing sound.

Probably the Caldera is closed in the office. I actually prefer it to the Caldera open that I have at home lol Probably bc I’m less distracted in the office, and can properly concentrate on the subtle qualities of a headphone. At home. I tend to mostly use the HD800S for general use and gaming (flight sims, and some BF6). Because it’s light, it works well with my head tracking gear. For music, coming out of a class-A solid state (Cayin IHA-8), I find them to be kinda sterile and boring tbh. For music,  tend to reach for the Caldera open and the Atrium the most. My Solitaire P should be my most technically accomplished headphone in my collection. But TBH I’m not a fan of their tuning. Thinking of selling it (I got mine second hand, for around 20k rmb), and getting a He1000 unveiled. Or maybe a Susvara Unveiled, if I find one for 30k rmb. Which would hopefully stop me from buying any more headphones lol

I've held off on a post talking about my experience with the Calderas (the opens) for too long now. I have a lot to say for folks to fully understand why they're my favorite headphone, not just in the summit space. They're irreplaceable.

From everything I have owned and heard, I would elect three headphones as my overall best and favorites: the DCA E3, the ZMF Caldera Open, and the Audeze LCD-4z. The E3s excel with raw precision and separation, the Calderas with spatial flexibility, tonal transparency, and macro dynamism, and the 4zs with bringing a bit of every trait together into one package. All of these need EQ to sound their best, the E3s the least and the 4zs the most, but even a profile relatively close to neutral reveals each to be amazing in their own ways. For anything below $1000 used, my picks go to the 2021 LCD-2 (and X), Moondrop Cosmo, and Sennheiser HD 800 (also all with EQ).

Not if OP thinks this highly of the Caldera. I'm very much the opposite and the Expanse and Stealth are some of my absolute favorites while the Calderas (both open and closed) were underwhelming for me. Love my VCs and AOs though. Edit: The E3s were also very good.

Modhouse Tungsten DS or ZMF Caldera HD650 on a high end OTL

I really liked the following for metal. Beyerdynamic DT1990, Audeze LCD-X and Zmf Caldera

On top of punchiness, the Caldera also has a better sub-bass extension. You can actually hear and discern sub-bass tones better than on the Focals (which sounded a bit one note-y down low) I also love the mid-range on the Caldera. They just sound super lush/smooth (with the thick pads). The Focals in comparison sounded a bit 'cold', but still decent. That said, I've yet to hear either of the Utopias, so I wouldn't be so quick to place one above the other. If anything, I keep hearing how similar they can sound off of different amps/dacs. The Caldera works great for all electronic genres, if you're into that.

susvara can get engaging on an incredible/expensive source chain. i think i had the most fun listen with the caldera open. and i'll like to try the utopia again on a better amp when i had my listen with it at CAF. is that the original utopia or the nutopia?

For the love of all that's good and holy, avoid those bell-shaped headphone stands at all costs, especially where planars are concerned. They look nice, but they can denigrate both your pads, and drivers. >To me, headphone is more like personal preference than money game(e.g. more expensive gear = better sound) This is spot on. Perfect example, I vehemently dislike the 800S and strongly prefer the HD 490s. Same with the Utopia; I prefer the Radiance and the Stellia. Prefer the LCD-X and LCD-2 to the LCD-5. Meze 109 Pros over the Elites, the Liric II's over the Empyrean IIs. The Bokeh Closed and Atrium over the Caldera. The list goes on. Most brands are obsessed with focusing on technical performance as they push toward summit-fi, prioritizing upper mid and treble clarity and detail, soundstage, etc. I need low frequency energy in my headphones; not just extension, but emphasis. I've learned, the hard way, that, with a couple of exceptions, anything from that 3.5-5k region is not going to be tuned to my preferences.

Almost all of my headphone purchases were blind buys based on reviews from YouTube and comments / posts people left here on Reddit and Head-fi. I think the only expectations being the Diana MR and E3, which I was able to demo at Audio 46 in NYC on a trip and the Caldera which another Redditor let me listen to. Seeing everyone else’s comments with a similar blind purchase after reading or watching reviews had me wondering, is there another hobby that has this level of spending purely based off reviews with very little in person demoing?