I don’t know which pads came with your Caldera. But here’s my experience, if it helps:
I ordered mine with stock pads; Caldera suedes; cowhide/thins; and lambskin thick pads
I also ordered mine with the alternate mesh, the mantle mesh, already installed (it’s not stock–most Caldera’s have the stock mesh installed). This mesh covers the drivers and influences the sound. The mantle mesh began being offered because some users (like me) appreciate a little less presence and emphasis in the upper midrange, and the mantle mesh accomplishes this, independent of whichever set of pads you use
I listened to all 4 pads, but spent the most time with the stock pads and the lambskin thicks
The last pad set I tried was the lambskin thicks. That did it–perfect sound. I’ve never taken them off.
Among the many good things the lambskin thick pads do is put ~1/4" more distance between my ears and the driver. This has a very beneficial effect, both physically and sonically (at least for me). The whole vibe of the headphone changes somewhat: the sound gets more chill, relaxed, spacy. The already amazing soundstaging gets a little deeper and wider. And the already amazing bass gets a touch more amazing. The Caldera has a true high resolution, but using these pads emphasizes its musical, ear-friendly nature in a way that pleases me.
One way to change the fit of the Caldera is to bend the think steel headband. This sound scary but is actually relatively easy. The ZMF video below discusses headband bending/adjustment starting at 2’16".
IMHO, one of the greatest assets of the Caldera is how readily one can fine-tune its impressive sound via choice of mesh, choice of earpads, and adjustments to make it fit better. And that doesn’t even touch on the other ways we all adapt headphone sound: clever choice of cabling (I use strictly OCC copper, the thickest/most substantial I can find); choice of DAC; and choice of amplifier.
Very helpful, thanks. I’m borrowing a fellow audiophile’s thick pads to try out, but I think part of it might be a combination of both to get a sonic and physical fit. The VO’s vocals have a certain fullness/richness that, currently, seems to be a bit underwhelming on the Caldera, so I’m hoping this can be improved. Agree that there seems to be a more palpable bass and slightly more details, but with all the hype I was hoping for a /larger/ technical step up from the VOs and so far it seems more similar than dissimilar.
Also waiting for my Norne cable which I’m hoping will also move everything up…
I own both the silkwood VO and Caldera. The VO always was, and remains (by a small margin) my favorite headphone. But these are very different TOTL headphones.
The Caldera is a planar, while the VO has a dynamic driver. That alone is a big difference. I’ve always found that planars, as a class, sound rather different than dynamics. Planars typically do certain things–pressurized bass, dynamics, black backgrounds, notes arising from silence and quickly disappearing–better than dynamics. And dynamic often do certain things–subtle rendition of tone & timbre, bounce of the bass (hard to describe/easy to hear), and soundstaging–better than planars. Finally, high impedance dynamics like the VO tend to sound very good on OTL tube amps, which this is less predictable and true for planars.
This dichotomy hold true here, but with a couple twists. First, the Caldera has the Atrium Damping System (ADS) and thus soundstages more dramatically and effectively than any other planar I’ve heard (I have 3 now; sold 6 others; heard many at shows). The VO combines great speed with the best rendition of timbre of any dynamic I’ve heard, and I find its soundstaging borderline sensational.
They’re different.
Final point: if you haven’t burned in your Caldera at least 100 hrs, you should. Burn-in tends to alter and improve the sound of headphones.
I too am a huge fan of thick plush pads - one cannot discount the value of comfort even in the pursuit of ever-better sound. Personally, I’ve found the stock Caldera pads reasonably comfy, though you could try the thick lambskins - supposedly increases soundstage and warmth and reduces treble slightly. I haven’t tried them as I’m quite happy with the bass/treble balance with stock. That said, I know what you mean about Caldera vs VO comfort - my VO with the universe lambskin pads goes beyond what I would call “comfort” into “cozy” territory. I haven’t tried the universe pads on Caldera, but given the differences I’ve found switching from Caldera stock to thin to cowhide I’m finding that Caldera is VERY carefully balanced and I’m guessing moving to a totally unrelated pad will throw things off… but I’ll certainly give it a shot now that you’ve mentioned it.
Also, fyi there are lots of posts in the Caldera thread on head-fi about various pads, including people who have found success with unrelated and even third-party pads. Good luck finding audio AND comfort nirvana!
The planars I’m keeping are the ZMF Caldera; the ZMF Ori; and the Final D8000 with the Pro’s “G” pads and a custom tensioned underband.
The Ori was my 1st big-time headphone, purchased new ~6 yrs ago (didn’t even know what a planar is). Below are planars I purchased (all gently used) in the hope of getting an open back planar I loved as much as the Ori:
I don’t have a Caldera, but I do have VO and AO and love them both! They are definitely different from one another, and the VO was my first “totl” headphone.
The VO took me the longest to get dialed in so that I think it sounds fantastic. It is very picky about which amps it really shines with.
I had a Burson Soloist GT which is a great amp except for the fan, and sounds really good with most of my headphones (AO, Utopia 2020, and Rosson RAD-0). But VO never shined with the Burson.
I found it sounded really good with a Schiit Valhalla 2 I used to have, and it’s truly fantastic with the DSHA -3FN from Nitsch. It also needed the BE-2 perf lambskin pads (to my ear).
Also, the Rosson RAD-0 is a planar that I think many ZMF fans would like. It has a similar tuning to the Atrium in some ways, and it slams even harder in the bass with a more resolving top end fwiw. If you ever get a chance to listen to one it is very nice!
What amp do you find that you like with the RAD-0? Your selection of amps is more esoteric than mine. I find that headphone to be relatively forgiving, and like it with both the Lyr3 (tube or LSSST) and the Fii0 ESS K9 Pro (DAC with a smoother version of THX amp). It even works well with the L&P W4 DAC/AMP with no additional power.
It’s funny, I think the RAD-0 sounds more like what you’d expect a ZMF planar to sound like than a Caldera does. The Caldera is actually my favorite headphone, but the RAD-0 (which I also love) does seem to have more of the ZMF house sound.
It is really quite forgiving generally, you are right!
I liked mine with the Lyr 3 quite a bit when I had one, and the Burson Soloist GT was really next level with the Rosson. It cranked up the clarity, resolution, and sound stage, while keeping all the great qualities we enjoy! Also, while the Burson is what I would call “reference” tuning with a very slight warmth, the bass punched even harder than on the Lyr 3. It also sounds really great with the DSHA-3FN from Nitsch. It’s because the RAD-0 is pretty efficient for a planar (though it is fairly current hungry).
The Rosson absolutely will “scale” up with the good stuff!
When I saw Lachlan at Passion for Sound doing a review of either the Atrium Open or the RAD-0 (I don’t recall which now) he had a plot of the FR of each headphone, and they were remarkably similar! He made point of mentioning it.
Obviously they are completely different headphones in many ways, but they have a similar tonality and timbre. They are 2 of my faves!
As I live with my Decware, the esoteric amp tier seems more and more appealing. The Decware is on another level per the combination of technical performance, absurdly good bass power and definition, and minimal-fatigue smoothness. I think this all results from harvesting beeswax for the capacitors by forest nymphs at midnight under a full moon. This certainly requires Illinois forest nymphs, and it cannot be done by elves or winged fairies. This amp transformed my opinion of the OG Clear, as now full-bodied or even bassy without a hint of sharpness, versus bright and edgy on many amps.
I wish I had a better set of planars, as I have only the seriously limited original DCA AEON Flow Closed after my HiFiMan died (@Pharmaboy above). Moving up in planars was part of my plan in buying the planar-friendly Decware.
The Lyr 3 achieves its smoothness through a brutal cropping of the edges and any sound that could become a sharp point. It’s akin to watching a wide screen movie on an old 4:3 CRT TV, or watching a skinny cell phone video on a regular TV. @pennstac would appreciate an upgrade (that’s meant to tempt you).
After demoing some ZMF stuff…I really need to try before buying. I wasn’t enjoying the warm coloring at all…at all… I gravitate toward neutrality and clarity in drivers.
But, was he empathetic and kind about it? My wife saw me watching one of his videos and said “He’s so gentle. Really gentle. Extremely gentle.”
No doubt, but he’s gotten a lot more pointed and vocal about flaws in equipment over time. He was remarkably blunt (but kind and gentle ) in his criticisms of several headphones from Abyss (neither of which I’ve heard).
I’ll take his gentleness any day over the bloviating of some reviewers. Lachlan doesn’t have his head up his ass, which is a significant leg up compared to several I can think of but won’t mention!
Thanks to you, @PaisleyUnderground and @robson for trying to tempt me with ever more expensive equipment. Not ready to take that bait. In part, because I don’t have a $2K+ tube amp (or any non-hybrid tube amp) yet, and I could upgrade e-stat amp, and then be ready for something else. Plus, it may be a race between ear devolution due to age and willingness to pull the trigger.
I think deep down you want to be the guy who raves about extremely bright Klipsch setups as needed to compensate for devolution. Everyone who tries to duplicate his setups suspects the issue – but never ever him. Honestly, about a third of the rooms at an audio show are like that. Way too loud, way too bright.
Come on and join in, the water is warm. Free rubber duckies too.
This is a solid analogy. I would add that Valhalla 2 achieves a similar end but instead of truncating the peaks it applies a “feathered frame” effect so it just seems like everything fits better
Right, and you need four (one under each foot) to achieve the best performance from a tube amp. They work great to reduce standing waves and spurious vibrations that come up through the floor and through your furniture.
Also, while the Burson is what I would call “reference” tuning with a very slight warmth, the bass punched even harder than on the Lyr 3. It also sounds really great with the DSHA-3FN from Nitsch. It’s because the RAD-0 is pretty efficient for a planar (though it is fairly current hungry).
Ouch, that’s brutal.
) in his criticisms of several headphones from Abyss (neither of which I’ve heard).