Replacement Ear Pads and Meshes

While the different wood options for the ear cups can have a slight impact on the sound signature of the ZMF Caldera Closed, I think it's safe to say that most people will be choosing the available options based primarily on aesthetic preferences. Where you get more customization options over the tuning of the Caldera Closed is with ZMF's DIY parts. Indeed, there will be an optional tuning kit available for these headphones which includes additional ear pads and a tuning mesh that is different from the one which comes pre-installed. You can also purchase these parts individually, but the net result is a plethora of permutations and combinations that can make it confusing for someone to understand how the Caldera Closed sounds based on reviews. As such, I opted to provide a more detailed description on the previous page with the default ear pads—the Caldera Stock, Top Perforation, Hybrid—which I am choosing to refer to as "Caldera Hybrid, Top Perf." for convenience. That said, you get to choose which pads are installed on the headphones and there will be another set of ear pads included for free in the box, which you also get to choose from a drop-down list. The end result is a total of four different recommended Caldera pads for the ZMF Caldera Closed and two different tuning meshes, at least as of the date I write this review.


The second set of ear pads in the box with my review unit were the Caldera Thick pads that also go for a top perforation and are all premium lambskin leather in composition, thus having an official name of "Caldera Thick, Top Perf, Lambskin" which I've cut down in the graph as seen above. In fact, you will notice the top perforation is going to be a constant on all the recommended Caldera pads here given the pads with top + side perforation or even just side perforation resulted in a more diffused, less impactful sound that takes away from the goals of the Caldera Closed. These Caldera Thick pads are just slightly thicker than the stock pads in case you have used the equivalent Caldera Thick pads recommended for the Caldera open-back set that are noticeably taller than the stock pads there. The primary change is the suede inner lining being swapped to leather and a larger chamber inside, and the net result is a slightly more diffused sound. The bass shelf reduces by 1-2 dB max, and we get more upper mids + lower treble too. This tilts the tonality towards the higher frequencies, so if your music library is like mine with more acoustic jazz and orchestral music than this could work like a charm. On the other hand, those who prioritize EDM, rock, heavy metal etc may want to stick to the stock hybrid pads. For what it's worth, I didn't notice any change in the bass impact and dynamic range with these pads compared to the stock ones, and thus I ended up preferring these pads for most of my listening time with the Caldera Closed.


The next set of pads are currently called BOKEH pads, given ZMF originally recommended them for the ZMF BOKEH closed-back dynamic driver headphones, but all the BOKEH pads will soon be renamed to Caldera pads to avoid further confusion. These pads are slightly thinner than the stock pads, have the top perforation as expected, and use protein leather throughout. I noticed also that it was slightly harder to stretch these pads compared to the other two so far as a result of the firmer material. The protein leather pads result in the bass shelf in particular being overly emphasized and the upper mids being cut down, thus tilting the tonality towards the lower frequencies in contrast to the Caldera Thick pads above. I thought it makes the Caldera Closed too bassy and the lower mids overly muddy, but my partner absolutely adored the bass with this combination—the mid-bass was tight and even punchier for their library comprising a lot of pop and electronic music. In the words of a certain film enthusiast, "these protein pads are for adrenaline junkies". Guess I should just be thankful I am not in need of that bass adrenaline!


The final set of recommended Caldera Closed pads are also handy for those among us who live a vegan lifestyle, and please note that the Caldera Closed will have an optional suede headband to accompany these all-suede ear pads. These were the same thickness as the stock pads, top perforated, and no lambskin leather anywhere to be seen. The Caldera Suede, Top Perf. pads are so soft and comfortable that it will be a pleasure to use during the hot summer days. It made for a slightly more V-shaped sound compared to the stock pads, at least if you were to go purely by the measurements. In practice, I found the bass dynamics to be slightly blunted and the ear gain even more pronounced—could be because there is a noticeable drop in the lower treble too by comparison. I can see these pads being a decent option for someone wanting slightly more bass and that ethereal feeling from the likes of the Meze Empyrean/Elite, or maybe just a smoother treble overall at the risk of losing some of the bass "bite". If you have a lot of music that takes advantage of a wider and taller soundstage, for example, these pads could be the best pairing for the Caldera Closed too.


Now we get to the tuning meshes, of which there are at least two ready and possibly a third in the making. In contrast to the Caldera, the newer Caldera Closed comes with a tuning mesh already installed out of the box. This one, identified by its red exterior, is a fairly restrictive mesh compared to the optional black mesh which is clearly more open. I also tried out the Caldera Closed without any mesh installed, thus allowing three permutations with every other variable held the same. Indeed, the easiest way to visualize the effect of the tuning mesh is the higher the mesh restriction, the more damped upper mids seem to get. I noticed the Caldera Closed without any mesh also had slightly more bass and arguably hit harder too, but vocals came off nasal and the upper mids were shoutier than I'd like. The black, lighter mesh is a good balance between the no mesh and the red, heavier mesh if you found the Caldera Closed to be more intimate sounding. But it may end up having a similar effect as the suede pads in recessing the mids a bit more than the stock mesh does, so that can counter the gain in the upper mids for vocals in particular, and certain brass instrument fundamental tones to an extent. I ended up going back to the red mesh and the Caldera Lambskin Thick, Top Perf. pads ultimately. For what it's worth, ZMF seems to have tested a third mesh which is even more restrictive than the red one—I am not sure this is ideal for the Caldera Closed based on the ZMF measurements page, but it's impossible to say without listening to it first. Removing the mesh is simple given it has a sticky surface on the contact side, so you simply peel it off. The mesh has holes to help align it with the screws on the inside of the ear cups, but I recommend only swapping out once or twice at most before deciding on what works best for you and sticking with it—literally.

Comparisons

I was in two minds about whether to even do this comparison, but so many people seem interested in it because the Caldera Closed and Caldera are named as much. They also share the same driver, albeit the closed-back version of the ZMF Atrium damping system is slightly different from the open-back version. But in practice I don't know why anyone looking for the Caldera, or Caldera Closed, would be interested in the other. An open-back set will inherently sound wider and has fewer tuning challenges in it. The Caldera Closed inherently is more isolating and better used where you need this, say if you were sharing a room/office with others. Perhaps you are also a bass fiend where the Caldera Closed offers the possibility to appease your requirements. On the other hand, the Caldera is more detailed than the Caldera Closed! To be honest, the sound signature is different enough to where the Caldera Closed ultimately is best treated as a complementary set that shares some DNA with the Caldera but is not a competitor to it. I will give ZMF props for managing to have the Caldera Closed be easy on the ears though, this is not easy to achieve with a closed-back set.


Now we get to more apples-to-apples comparisons with other closed-back headphones. The ZMF Caldera Closed finds itself in a price range between most flagships that cost more and others that cost a good deal less. There are also far fewer premium closed-back headphones compared to open-back offerings and I have even fewer of them on hand for comparison. Case in point, I can't compare the ZMF Caldera Closed to ZMF's own Atrium Closed and/or Verite Closed dynamic driver headphones. What I do have here are the Dan Clark Audio STEALTH ($4000, planar magnetic), the HIFIMAN HE-R10 Planar version ($5500, planar magnetic), and the Focal Stellia ($3000, dynamic), which happen to be the current closed-back flagships from those three brands. The STEALTH is significantly newer than the other two, which are admittedly quite dated now and can be found for significantly lower on the used market too. In fact, the HE-R10 I have here is the older version with the cheaper (in both senses of the word) headband assembly, so I didn't even bother taking a comparison photo here since it could confuse people. The Stellia has pure beryllium drivers with a similar mid-bass emphasis and a tonality that seems to match the Harman target to a degree but ends up being a one-trick pony with exceptional bass impact and dynamism and misses out on tonal balance elsewhere. I couldn't see any place where the Caldera Closed is not a better sounding set for the vast majority of music genres, except perhaps country music with male-dominated vocals. The Stellia looks and feels premium, as with the Caldera Closed, but there have been multiple reported incidents about the headband snapping in two. I've not had any such issues so far, but I do find it less comfortable than the Caldera Closed and it requires more maintenance to keep up its appearances too. The HE-R10 Planar is.. well, let's just say I would not even pay $1000 for it, and this too is with the caveat of necessitating lots of time to EQ the tuning because HIFIMAN still hasn't figured out how to properly tune closed-back headphones. The newer, less expensive Audivina is even worse so I really don't see any point in including HIFIMAN in such comparisons hereafter unless they legitimately improve.

The Dan Clark Audio STEALTH costs more than the Caldera Closed and has its own share of patented technology inside. In particular, it uses an acoustic metamaterial tuning system that is 3D printed and customized to the drivers and ear cups to put out a tonality that matches the Harman target almost perfectly. However, here too I need to remind you that the Harman target is overly smoothened and anything past, say 4-5 kHz is best taken with a grain of salt anyway. The STEALTH to me sounds very accurate and natural, it goes for a less colored sound signature that works well for a large variety of music genres. I'd even take the STEALTH over the Caldera Closed for general media consumption such as podcasts and movies, although I prefer the bass impact the Caldera Closed puts out with Dolby Atmos audio as well as PC games with good audio tracks. The STEALTH is built very well and I also think the average user will find it more comfortable than the Caldera Closed depending on which chassis/wood/pads you go with. But that's the thing with the ZMF offering—you are encouraged to play around with the Caldera Closed and its various components too. The tuning system involving pads and meshes allow you to customize the Caldera Closed to better suit your specific music library, as opposed to being an all-rounder which isn't necessarily a specialist. The Caldera Closed also looks better in my opinion, and this is before we get to the special versions with different colors and wood types. The Caldera Closed is also significantly easier to drive than the STEALTH, so in that way one could argue it is the Caldera Closed that is actually more viable as a portable unit despite the STEALTH folding into a smaller form factor. Lastly, it's much easier to get different cables for the Caldera Closed compared to the STEALTH, so those who like to have custom cables made to match their headphones will find more options for the ZMF option.


I figured there will be interest also to know how the Caldera Closed stacks up to the less expensive options from other brands. In this case, we have two flagships (as in they are the most expensive closed-back offering from said brand) from Meze Audio and Audeze, and it would be hard to ignore the Dan Clark Audio E3. The Meze LIRIC 2nd Generation released a couple of months ago and builds upon the original LIRIC which was fancy looking and feeling but wasn't the best listening experience, especially for the money. The newer LIRIC shares the $2000 asking price and goes for a similar approach as the Caldera Closed in trying to attenuate the higher frequencies, but doesn't manage to do it as well to where it is still fatiguing and throws off the entire tonal balance. I also thought the bass was boomy and bleeds into the lower mids, even compared to the Caldera Closed, and achieving a comfortable, secure fit is easier on the ZMF offering by far. The LIRIC 2nd Gen looks cool with its new Macassar Ebony ear cups, albeit it is a layer of wood on top of plastic, and it does have very nice sub-bass impact for EDM lovers. The Caldera Closed is a clear improvement over the LIRIC though, especially in dynamic range, detail retrieval, layering, and even soundstage to where it definitely merits a higher asking price. The Audeze LCD-XC in its latest iteration is an interesting set since it costs just over a third the cost of the Caldera Closed and, provided you are open to EQ, can be just as impactful as the Caldera Closed. The issue is it weighs so much more that most people simply can't use it for longer than 30 min, if that much. It's also more user-friendly to use pads and meshes that the company talks about rather than EQ, and the vast majority of people simply don't like to EQ in the first place for various reasons. I do think this is a sleeper though so, if you are okay with the two big caveats mentioned, then please do consider the LCD-XC.

The biggest competition to the ZMF Caldera Closed is going to be the Dan Clark Audio E3. It costs $2000 and shares a lot of the innovative tech the more expensive STEALTH does, including a custom AMTS insert, in addition to using the same headband and ear cup form factor that adds to the comfort factor. The E3 doesn't look as cool as the STEALTH does, and certainly not like the Caldera Closed, but this is a subjective thing. Another thing to note is the AMTS in the E3 results in a variable sound presentation depending on how your ears are placed in the pads, with the best sounding option not being the most comfortable always if your ears are going to touch the ear pads as a result. I've also seen some people mention the self-suspending headband on the E3 and STEALTH have slowly resulted in the ear cups dropping with gravity, but I have not had that happen to me. The bigger issue in my books is where the E3 has higher frequency emphasis which can be annoying over time, if not immediately. See what I mean about the low-pass filter in the Caldera Closed being clever? If anything, I'd have like ZMF to be slightly more aggressive on this front to suit others who have been tired of the highs in most closed-back planar magnetic headphones. The Caldera Closed is also more punchy in the bass and has more dynamic range too, it also manages to sound more natural in the mid-bass to where I'd argue it has one of the best timbres for drums especially. The E3 is significantly less expensive though, and is easier to carry around even if you have to put the cable with its less common connectors elsewhere. I'd say the E3 will be the safer bet for the money given its more clinical approach to sound, whereas the Caldera Closed will be a set you need to demo and spend time with to know whether this, with any of the tuning permutations, will do better for you. Do note that the E3 is harder to drive than the Caldera Closed, so you may need to spend more on the amplifier if you go that route compared to the Caldera Closed.