Campfire Audio Andromeda Review: Holy Cow, This is a Dream, Awesomesauce!

I haven't heard those two but I can assure you the andromedas are not bass light. They are bass appropriate. When called on, they can slam really hard and really deep. But they won't muddy things up with sloppiness.

The bass drum in this for example is shudderingly deep.

 

Hi Guys,

I read in few different threads that Andromeda had some cosmetic issues whereby the paint was peeling off or fading. I'm just little concerned and was wondering if this is something to do with people not caring or handling their Andromeda's properly or is it more like a defect?

Also heard the new batch had some job done to minimise fading!

 

My pair has a few small pinpoint-sized areas where the paint has chipped. When I mentioned it to CA, they said they would consider repairing it but that they would have to see it first. I don't think it's from abuse or serious damage - just from regular wear and tear.

 

Wabi sabi actually sounds kinda cool. I can live with that.

 

How long have you had them?

 

A couple weeks, but I bought them from an SBAF user that got them in May (fortunately price reflects the chipped paint).

 

May isn't that long ago, plus it seems like there have been some qc issues. Hopefully they fix it for you.

 

My thoughts exactly May is not so long.....for a premium item I would consider these to be manufactured with the highest quality and that's the last thing you want to worry is paint chipping due to regular use... I'm an OCD kinder guy so it bothers me a lot. Hopefully new batch is better!

 

No paint might actually look better than the green paint .

 

thanks for the feedback... it seems like under normal use and care it should be perfect.

 

I agree, it doesn't bother me much. I have to look closely to notice it at all.

 

Andromeda notes

• Measured the series resistance of the stock litz cable to be about 0.7ohms, swapped out for an aftermarket cable of 0.2ohms for initial assessment driven by a UHA760 (online specs say output impedance <0.5ohms).
  
• Tried sony hybrid, spinfit, spiral dot, ortofon... and reaffirmed my fondness for ortofon tips. The silicone ortofon uses is unlike anything else, supremely soft and supple but the flange itself has enough rigidity for nice seal, the surface is a little grippy like the spiral dot but smoother. sony hybrid and spinfit are similar to each other, but the spinfit stem is longer, extending past the rim of the flange, useful for IEMs with stubby nozzles such as the Oriolus. spiral dot is squattest with widest bore, almost identical to the stock silicone tips but the flange is a bit more rounded. Side note, ortofon L is roughly the same size as M for other brands.
• The shape of the earpieces give a near perfect fit for my ears, very satisfying for a universal.
  
• Hot damn this is bassy, the above setup (as low impedance as possible) doesn't work, at all.
  
• With lows pushed forward, it was a good time to focus attention there. I keep a MDR-EX1000 around as a reference for "neutral" bass though I hardly ever listen to it as it has untenable treble texture issues to my ears. The Andromeda lacks that sense of clean impact/natural decay and air around separate beats, as with all BA-only IEMs I've heard, but the distinction is much more subtle in this particular case.
  
• Plugged directly into the headphone out of the 5.5g diymod (IIRC 5ohms OI) and the bass is significantly reduced, now a bit too light for me. A touch lighter than the MDR-EX1000 though not at all nearing ER-4 levels.
  
• Swapped the stock litz cable back in and connected to the UHA760 again, bass is still a bit heavy-handed.
  
• My preference is for bass below 150Hz to be slightly boosted (which the MDR-EX1000 is not BTW) to compensate for a perceived lack of extension of flat measuring IEMs. Swapping out the stock cable for the Linum BaX (1.5ohms) gets there. Wonderful balance of sub-, mid-, and upper-bass. For the purist who go for 0ohm OI electronics, I'd highly recommend the Linum BaX not only for the sonic changes it imparts but also for being a tremendously ergonomic cable. Or perhaps the Linum Music for more "neutral" bass.
  
• Midrange and treble is very nice and coherent with no noticeable dips or peaks. Being the Staxhead that I am though, I'd prefer more upper mid presence, from 2 to 4kHz.
  
• A sweep reveals a smooth broad hump from 6.5 to 8.5kHz, probably explaining the excellent sibilance free clarity and definition I'm hearing. I've heard a similar kind of treble tuning before in the Unique Melody Mason but the Andromeda completes the package with the rest of its FR. With ill-tuned shallow fit IEMs, I usually experience a narrow peak around 7~7.5kHz due to ear canal resonance that's slightly higher in volume than this hump here which causes sibilance issues. I suppose CA was able to smooth this out with the tubeless resonator.
  
• Assuming bass and treble response isn't entirely off, midrange balance usually determines whether I hear something as warm or analytical. The Andromeda is to me essentially neutral with a very slight warm tilt. Overall a very enjoyable IEM. If CA is able to pull this off with a hybrid in the future, that'd be an IEM I'd want to hear.

Spoiler: More relevant pics

From left to right, stock, sony hybrid, spinfit, spiral dot, ortofon

 

Further, I'd say Marv's measurements 6kHz up is somewhat accurate in terms of the peak volume of the hump. There certainly is NOT a peak though, the log scale is bad at showing this.

 

Probably shouldn't even bother posting after such a comprehensive post by Yaluen, but I joined the Andromeda team last night, purchasing one of the two Andromeda's that arrived in a Sydney store nearby, sound unheard.

Being by far my most the most expensive IEMs I own, I have some brief early thoughts on them compared to my HD800.

Out of my Onkyo DP-X1 I was surprised that, while certainly leaning towards bright, they don't rip apart some of the recordings I expected to find unbearable (based on experiences with the HD800). The first Beasts of Bourbon album (The Axeman's Jazz) and the Cure's Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me are both pretty tough going on the HD800 but sounded sublime on the Andromeda. Some other fairly low-fi Australian rock also sounded no worse than it should, whereas other headphones this detailed could make it sound worse than it should. On the other hand my RCA EUR copy of David Bowie's Low sounded surprisingly lifeless while not sounding offensive in any way.

The detail and clarity is incredible. Listening to a nice recording of a Shostakovich String Quartet No. 8 I was surprised how the details and realism could stand up to my full sized headphones, and usually my full-sized headphones have Gungnir Multibit and Valhalla 2 / Mjolnir 1 in front of them rather than a comparatively lowly DP-X1.

At work now and am very excited to get home for some more listening.

Also, the shallow fit for me makes this the most comfortable IEM I have tried, and still isolates surprisingly well.

 

A quick separate question, will Andromeda accept standard MMCX third party cables? Their instruction booklet mentions there is something special about their MMCX cable.

 

I saw that bit in the manual as well. Didn't notice anything different when I was swapping cables around. Looking at them now, my eyes aren't seeing any differences between the connectors on the stock litz cable and the ones on the two aftermarket cables I have. I'd assume any MMCX cable should attach without issue.

 

Your thoughts pretty much mirror my own. Basically, where my HD800s become bothersome (at higher volumes) in the treble department, the Andromedas manage to pull it off with flying colours, no matter how loud I go. I’ll say this again: the treble quality of the Andromeda is unmatched—perhaps not perfect, but I’ve yet to hear better top-end performance from another ear/headphone.

As for Bowie’s Low, my experience (with 3 different versions of the album) is that almost any ear/headphone will make this album sound fairly “lifeless”…unless it happens to be a treble-tipped phone, that is — the sort of music in this particular album lends itself to it not being very lively—perhaps a result of this being Mr Bowie’s first ’non-cocaine’ release in 3-4 years has something to do with it (not funny, I know, and yet…); Low has got a very kroutrock-like vibe so that ’doesn’t’ help either. I suggest, if you do appreciate Bowie’s music, you try Station to Station (Bowie’s best track ever, IMO) or the whole of Scary Monsters (the album)—an absolute must, along with Hunky Dory, in anyone’s music collection. I think you’ll get plenty of life out of the Andros there.

 

I've noticed the ZX2-Andreomeda combo seem to make bad recordings sound better too. I listen to some old jazz - like Django from the 30s - and while you're aware of the flaws in the recording, the ZX2-A squeeze the last bit of musicality out of the recording as well.

Maybe its because of the remarkable treble that exposes but doesn't make painful static noise in old recordings.