Moving this over to the ZMF thread, but sure! This was the stabilized set that spoke to me and I haven’t seen another one I’ve liked as much since:
I don’t expect it’ll be to everyone’s taste, but something about the color pairing and the asymmetry really does it for me.
Ah very nice looking, the asymmetry is very interesting almost like two different wood styles in one headphone.
Good call moving it over here we were definitely getting a bit off topic 
I remember liking the look of that pair a lot. Good taste.
Is anybody in the know or up to date on Atrium and Caldera closed back versions?
Nope. There was a bunch of “by end of year” things from zmf that haven’t materialized yet. I just think things are very delayed.
Confirmed is to offer the Atrium as a closed version.
I haven’t heard anything about the Kaldera myself, but apparently yes.
If so, it will be for 2023 at the earliest.
The next thing on the horizon will probably be the Zmf/Decware amplifier before we go back to headphones.
I got the impression Zach had kind of moved on from Decware as a joint venture given Decware’s own production backlog… ?
Steve isnt building it himself. There will be a 3rd party building it as he didnt want it to affect the decware backlog and those who have been waiting.
Have you heard otherwise?
As far as I know, only 10 units have been built so far.
I can’t say whether they will be released, but I think they will be sold out quickly.
What Souldriver says is also true. Decware has subcontracted it out.
Where exactly it is being built remains a secret.
Maybe there are still hurdles to overcome before the sales launch will be official.
And also a reason why it is delayed.
I asked Zach once and he said November 22.
That’s probably not going to happen.
As for the Atrium headphones, he has already confirmed several times that they will come as a closed version, and I think he is already working on them.
With the Caldera, he will certainly wait until summer 23 for feedback and so on.
Since it is only now officially being sold.
In the meantime, I also see a flattened curve as far as the Auteur Classic is concerned.
It’s become quite quiet around there.
ZMF have brilliant marketing and hype generation techniques. Their product launch playbook is really good but as with anything, the hype dies out eventually. One of the reasons the used prices usually fall as they do imo is those are headphones that “leave” the diehard pack and are for the curious outsiders. Zach then has mid cycle releases that cater his following and make sure to regenerate some of the buzz, November sales, limited woods etc
Unless you see a very specific pair that has the wood and grain you have to own, I think patience is the best strategy when buying ZMF.
btw there’s no way he’s not working already on a Caldera closed if he plans to release one soon. This is not something you turn around in a few months so I’m sure there are prototypes already. Might never be released but that’s a different situation.
I got a heads up, as @Deleeh said, there are ~10 of the OTLs made and they should be available to purchase “soon”.
And very nice long sleeve shirts.
I ordered a Caldera Kingwood. And still waiting on my VC from ZMF November to ship, but hoping for this week since Zach said on Head-Fi that he’d be shipping out batches of them this week.
share you caldera impressions when you get it please, I just read the headfonics review and they love it as well
Looking forward to your impressions and comparison to your other planars.
Looks amazing,and have fun with it.
What for amp do you use with it?
I am using a pair of Schiit Tyrs for my headphones, with volume controlled by a Freya, and I have a Zynsonix speaker amp to headphone adapter box to convert from speaker wire to 4 pin xlr. I have a LTA preamp on order to replace the Freya
Nice. My amp of choice with my Caldera is a Van Alstine 60 watt into 8 ohm speaker amp. They don’t post the gain, but I’ve found low gain solid state speaker amps such as this to pair well with planars.
Oh nice, I haven’t heard of that brand but I like hearing about other people using speaker amps with headphones. The Tyrs border on being too powerful for most headphones as you hear a bit of noise floor on some easier to drive headphones (Atrium and VC). But the Zynsonix adapter box has a 0db and -12db output so I can always use the -12db output if I’m hearing the noise floor.
