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

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

  1. Ash1412

    Ash1412 Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    667
    Trophy Points:
    93
    It's the lack of bass transmitting through the whole body (or from headphones to IEMs, through the head). Or at least thats why the Harman Curve has a bass boost for headphones and even more for IEMs to try and compensate from what I can recall. But at a point, cranking up the bass in frequency response just means you're pressuring your eardrums more within your ear canal, a tiny space not really meant for bass, causing more fatigue. Hope this new Andro's only a light bass boost or even better: lower distortion and better extended bass at the same level.
     
  2. Cellist88

    Cellist88 Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Nov 11, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,607
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    NJ
    Hoping its the balance that solaris was supposed to be without the hybrid disconnect of the bass from the rest of the spectrum. Its not a DD design but I would rather prefer a even timbre throughout then a DD constrained to sounding more ba-like. I thought I was out of the game but this definitely has me interested......crossover less and the nozzle design looks different
     
  3. Vtory

    Vtory Audiophile™

    Pyrate MZR
    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2016
    Likes Received:
    10,831
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    East Coast
    [​IMG]

    Jude's measurement is up. Surely gold seems more V-ish than the original.
     
  4. GoodEnoughGear

    GoodEnoughGear Evil Dr. Shultz‎

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 25, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,070
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Cape Town, South Africa
    V-shaped Andro. Curious to see if bass is better controlled.
     
  5. Zed Bopp

    Zed Bopp Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jan 15, 2016
    Likes Received:
    537
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Finland
    Home Page:
    For me (esp through iPhone 6s' hp out) Andro lacked body and, yes, bass. I don't consider myself a basshead (I quite enjoy HD600 levels too), but out-and-about in traffic it seemed too thin. At home through ADI-2 DAC's iem out it was better, but not enough.

    That lowered treble would have also been a plus in my case. Interesting to see if this one has more mass in the lower freqs.
     
  6. shotgunshane

    shotgunshane Floridian Falcon

    Staff Member Pyrate Flathead IEMW
    Joined:
    Sep 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    6,304
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Clear, clear water
    iPhone 6S has high output impedance (around 6 ohms according to Ken Rockwell’s blog), so yeah Andromeda is going to sound lean and bright on that source.

    Making it more V shaped in signature should have been motivation for a different name. To me, this just waters down/confuses the Andromeda legacy.
     
  7. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 30, 2015
    Likes Received:
    5,773
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    small island claimed by China
    Just feels like trying to cash in on the Andro brand. Totally different driver architecture + very different frequency response = completely different IEM (IMHO).
     
  8. Biodegraded

    Biodegraded Friend

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    May 28, 2017
    Likes Received:
    7,983
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Vancouver BC
    Look on the bright side - the Head-Fi hype-cycle will likely result in a flood of used OG Andromedas hitting the market as their owners rush to acquire the new 'improved' model.
     
  9. gepardcv

    gepardcv Almost "Made"

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Nov 20, 2015
    Likes Received:
    408
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Location:
    Terra, Sol System
    Did you apply any EQ? I posted ADI-2 settings for the Andromeda (either on this thread or the ADI-2 one) which IMO help considerably.
     
  10. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    Apr 1, 2018
    Likes Received:
    10,517
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Palms Of The Coasts, FL
    When I gotten the email I was like yay cool product. Then I saw more bass and I'm like: I have my Solaris at home. I don't miss bass too much on my Andros. Maybe I should do the Polaris v2 if I want V-Type sound, it's only $499.
     
  11. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 30, 2015
    Likes Received:
    5,773
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    small island claimed by China
  12. Zed Bopp

    Zed Bopp Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jan 15, 2016
    Likes Received:
    537
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Finland
    Home Page:
    I didn't really, just some slight bass & treble tuning. It was a somewhat enjoyable experience that way, but tethered to an at-home amp is not what I bought Andros for. It would have been cool to try your EQs though.

    I'm very happy with Ety ER2XR right now with their crazy isolation, warm sig with loads of body and timbre. And they cost close to nothing in comparison.
     
  13. M3NTAL

    M3NTAL Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,697
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Arizona
    Are there any other multi-ba IEM's without crossover? I think this should be the thing we are talking about. No DSP and no X-Over with 7 drivers seems pretty impressive.
     
  14. k4rstar

    k4rstar Britney fan club president

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2016
    Likes Received:
    6,941
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    the words 'balanced armature' and 'woofer' should not be used in the same sentence
     
  15. M3NTAL

    M3NTAL Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,697
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Arizona
    While I think that is funny - I believe it is incorrect. A woofer is a loudspeaker that reproduces low frequencies

    Loudspeaker: "A loudspeaker is an electroacoustic transducer; a device which converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound."

    A balanced armature fits the definition. I believe there are posts here on SBAF with giant fans that are used as "woofers" or plenty of other weird things like plasma tweeters etc. etc.
     
  16. Crinacle

    Crinacle Friend

    Staff Member Pyrate IEMW MZR
    Joined:
    Dec 12, 2016
    Likes Received:
    812
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    SG
    Home Page:
    KZ
     
  17. M3NTAL

    M3NTAL Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,697
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Arizona
    Are you referring to the ZS5? I was talking about a completely BA design.
     
  18. FlySweep

    FlySweep Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,412
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Portland, OR
    Canal Works has a 4BA IEM that's 'crossover-less' (the CW-L05QD2, I think). I've long been interested in it.. and other IEMs using a full range setup. Probably why I still rock the Aurisonics ASG-1Plus after all these years (a non-fucked up hybrid, no less!).
     
  19. M3NTAL

    M3NTAL Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,697
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Arizona
    Interesting! Reading the information on the CW-L05QD2 - it looks like it uses 4 full-range BA's. I believe the short lived Jerry Harvey JH-3A DSP/Amp unit sort another idea in crossover-less (in the monitor) design
     
  20. Bill-P

    Bill-P Level 42 Mad Wizard

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2015
    Likes Received:
    4,801
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    That Andromeda Gold graph is another classic example of Jude not knowing what to do with the graph, I think.

    Here's how I see that graph: (please excuse the wobbly mouse tracing)

    [​IMG]

    Matching at 2KHz should be more appropriate for IEMs unless someone tells me that all the FR graphs showing the 2KHz bump as being "correct" are all lies.

    And then that looks to me like it's an Andro with less upper and middle mids, and slightly more extended highs rather than something that is more V-shape. Honestly, I think @KenBall plays it more "safe" than some folks give him credit for.

    It's 8-ohm nominal impedance vs 16-ohm FFS, so volume matching would probably make it sound like that IMHO.

    My take: it's basically an Andro with less lower mids. Whatever that means for some folks.
     

Share This Page