After more than a decade, ZMF has finally released their own custom planar magnetic headphones. What they have demonstrated shows just how much they have learned since modifying Fostex T50RPs.
den-fi.com
"ZMF Headphones as they are currently are likely best known for their wooden dynamic headphones. It would be easy to forget ZMF started as a planar magnetic headphone company. In 2011, ZMF’s first models were modified Fostex T50RPs. As the years progressed, they rehoused the drivers in their own wooden cups and later even modified the drivers for their Blackwood and Ori models. A custom planar magnetic driver seemed to be a natural progression, so the pivot to dynamic drivers may have come to a surprise to ZMF fans in the mid 2010s. However, with the Caldera, ZMF has finally delivered the headphone that people have been awaiting for years. "
Good audio should be accessible to everyone. While it’s very nice that I’m fortunate enough to be in the position to use the kind of gear that I never thought I would be able to have growing up, I recognize that more often than not, I’m yelling
CanJam comes but a few times a year, presenting so many audio enthusiasts with the opportunity to try new gear, meet people from all walks of life, and most importantly to have fun!
den-fi.com
"One of the big releases of CanJam SoCal this year was the Expanse, a new open-back planar magnetic headphone from Dan Clark Audio (DCA). I want to disclose I have owned a handful of previous Dan Clark headphone releases, ranging from the original Aeon closed to the more recent Ether 2. The Expanse to me sounds like it has FR lineage to the Ether Flow Open 1.1, but with less claustrophobia going on in the mids. Compared to the headphones and gear options available throughout the show next to the Expanse, I felt the DCA lacked any kind of wow factor. "