Since I live locally, I was able to pick this Redheart Caldera up.
It actually looks more gorgeous in real life. Having already borrowed a Caldera a while ago, I already knew it hit all my preferences, so it was just a matter of waiting for a wood that I would fall in love with. I was after something bold, and with this redheart, I couldn’t ask for more.
Absolutely tremendous and terrific photos as well. Very very happy for you. What a great headphone and pure art as well. To me, ZMF makes headphones with the same sophisticated artistic approach as meze. Pure quality.
Ok, actually out of the box but I couldn’t wait! Why oh why did I have to attend CanJam? At least I got it used for quite a bit less than new. Hard to believe this thing can sound even better with different tubes. My Abyss TC is finally happy too!
Battle of the Lampizator. Big difference between the two. The Atlantic is more transparent and the gen 3 is more relaxed and warm. The gen 3 & 4’s can be had at about $1,500 which is such a great pick.
The Atlantic is my favorite dac so far but the gen 3 really works well with recordings of lesser quality.
I’ll probably keep both as I can use the gen 3 with any overly bright songs and my Tekton speakers could use a chill pill as well.
The amber replaced the level 3 gen 4 I think.
The older lampizator DAC’s generations were supposed to be about manufacturing process rather than sound, but I haven’t heard enough to be able to confirm that.
Even the older Lampizator DAC’s weren’t overly tubey. The newer ones tend have tended to move more neutral with each release, even the modern R2R ones, though you can skew them towards a warmer midrange with the right tube selection. And the modern DSD based ones are really about the dynamics, timbre and staging rather than midrange warmth.