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

Discussion in 'IEMs and Portable Gear' started by purr1n, May 13, 2016.

  1. aufmerksam

    aufmerksam Friend

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    Go on... do think it is because of the efficiency/hiss issues? Are you using iematch or something similar in either configuration? I am really enjoying the andro SE straight of phone, and also out of gov2+; I haven't built/bought a balanced cable yet, and wouldn't mind putting that off for a bit...
     
  2. Grahad2

    Grahad2 Red eyes from too much anime

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    I assume the GOv2 sounds more like the Pulse than the GOv1? Using the GO 450 + Andro/MG6pro at work, certainly has a noticeably weird tone to it with the Andro.
     
  3. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

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    Hiss is lower from the SE out on the GOV2, to the point where I don't need the iematch. The Vega really feeds off the additional power of balanced outputs, the Andromeda doesn't need it.
     
  4. burhanr

    burhanr New

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    I just gave the Andromeda a listen. It is *really* good. So good it makes me want to have a credit card debt.
    But alas, I came to my senses and reminded myself that I just spent some amount of money for my current desktop setup not 2 months ago.

    Oh well, till another time.
     
  5. jowls

    jowls Never shitposts (please) - Friend

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    Or you could just sell your desktop setup. If you can tolerate IEMs, Andromeda could easily be 'it' until speakers, IMHO.
     
  6. jowls

    jowls Never shitposts (please) - Friend

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    @burhanr, to qualify;

    In my experience you would have to expend a lot of money, effort, time, disappointment, frustration and profanity to get most headphones to sound as good as Andromeda does out of the box.

    Although, there is something to be said for experiencing the process of expending all of these things and finally getting it kind of right. It's like Han Solo coaxing enough power out of that POS Corellian freighter to make the jump to light speed.

    At the end of the day you would still just be listening to headphones though...
     
  7. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    At light speed. With a Wookiee.
     
  8. Grahad2

    Grahad2 Red eyes from too much anime

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    Going to have to spend some time to find a source to get the Andromedas sounding as you want it too, if we're going down the tweaking angle.

    Well can't have it all I guess.
     
  9. burhanr

    burhanr New

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    Thank you for the advice, @jowls.

    I was contemplating exactly this for a while as well, even before I tried it with the avalanche of praise coming from absolutely everywhere. But the Andromeda still does have the limitation of the IEM that it's less comfortable long time vs a big over-ear headphone. Having said that, the Andromeda is very comfortable, but I only have ever tried on 5 pairs before this, no CIEM, so not sure how accurate my statement is.

    As for the speakers, I am also saving up to get them once I moved to a slightly bigger place sometime this year. Budget range from the LSR305 to Focal Alpha 50, my Jot can be used as Pre-amp.
     
  10. Warrior

    Warrior RIP 2021

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    I don't have the Andros, but I have the Vegas and a lot of other IEMs, some rather large ones. I find most of them to be very comfortable, to say the least. A good portion of the time I find them more comfortable than headphones. Headphones are more cumbersome and my ears often sweat while wearing them. Just for the latter part, I prefer iems.
     
  11. lac29

    lac29 Acquaintance

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    I have both Andros and LSR305 as well as HD600 (given to my brother) and HD800 ... paired with Gungnir/Mjolnir (1st gen) stack. My last IEMs over $100 were Shure SE530 many years back (overall a disappointing experience).

    The Andros are very much good enough imo for you to sell off some other gear. I am very much considering selling off my HD800 and Schiit stack. Andros are surprisingly comfortable even though they are pretty big and hefty. I have worn them for several hours ... around 4-6 hour range with no difficulty and very little listening fatigue. LSR305 are amazing and I got mine a few months ago. They are first speakers and I'm blown away at how good they are (I even paid a full $250 for the pair). The same type of amazement I had for Andros since I have been disappointed with IEMs for the longest time and was also disappointed with CA Novas ... so I had skepticism for Andros. So in terms of value and saving money to invest elsewhere, I think selling off my full-size headphones and amp/dac is a smart choice as long as that money is smartly invested elsewhere.
     
  12. totoyuen

    totoyuen New

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    Any comparison between Andromeda and Oriolus v2?
     
  13. mrweirdude

    mrweirdude Asshole lowballer - acquaintance

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    Hello fellow CA IEM lovers, any recs for decent, cheap 2.5mm balanced to 3.5mm balanced adapters? I don't mind DIY but would prefer pre-made ones if they are cheap enough and nicely made, thanks.
     
  14. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

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  15. Arcadium

    Arcadium New

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    Just received my B-Stock Andros today and holy shit, I love the way they sound. I need to listen a bit more, but clarity and detail from the Andros is amazing. These are my first BA IEMs too. Missing the slam and decay from DDs, but wow, these are amazingly fast and punchy. Easily my most favourite IEM I've heard.

    I also can't seem to hear the hissing that everyone is talking about. Using the Mojo with +2 clicks from silent on the volume.

    Only unfortunate thing is that there seems to be solder in the larger bore on the left IEM. I'll upload pictures later because Imgur and other image hosts are down right now, but it certainly doesn't look normal, and doesn't seem to affect the sound.

    Edit: Image below. Bad quality but you can see it.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Feb 28, 2017
  16. Pyotr

    Pyotr Acquaintance

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    Yeah, mine has a bit of that in the largest bore of the right earpiece as well. Can't hear a difference at all channel imbalance wise.

    But congrats man. Now it's time to get a Sony zx2... people aren't lying when they say this device makes the Andros sing. It's absolutely nuts what the zx2 does with Andromeda. Its so tonally natural and accurate with crazy technicaities. I came from using an iPhone and a GOV2+, and the resolution of space and microdetail is phenomenal. I only regret not getting the zx2 sooner!
     
  17. lac29

    lac29 Acquaintance

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    That ZX2 price though ... that's crazy stuff.
     
  18. PoochZag

    PoochZag The Shadow knows - Friend

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    Is it? They've come way down on the used market since the new Sony DAPs released. I had my choice of several last month in the $580-$625 range
     
  19. lac29

    lac29 Acquaintance

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    The DAP market is so strange to me since smartphones have kinda make them a lot less attractive to buy at least from my early perspective as someone who used to own the Cowon and Zen Stone type of mp3 players. Who owns or buys iPods anymore? Remember when iPods were hotter than any phone made by any manufacturer? Then you get into the really high end DAPs which might have been a craze many years back but even "regular" DAPs like the iPod are now replaced with smartphones. It's just a strange shift that kinda is normal nowadays when we look back at smartphone development but I bet people would have predicted the iPod would have a much longer "life" than it has had. And now I'm kinda going off on a tangent.
     
  20. PoochZag

    PoochZag The Shadow knows - Friend

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    I don't disagree the DAP market is kinda weird for several reasons. But if you want an all in one pocketable option for high end IEMs, DAPs are mainly what you're stuck with. Further limit yourself to Android for streaming or other features, and you're only choosing between a few models that also sound good, and the ZX2 is one. I only pointed it out because this is a thread about an $1,100 IEM, so a DAP many love with them for half that may not be considered (relatively) crazy
     

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