Campfire Audio Supermoon IEM Review and Measurements

Discussion in 'IEMs and Portable Gear' started by purr1n, Jan 4, 2023.

  1. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Let's start with measurements first. BTW, I really love the timbre** of the Supermoon. More later...

    IMG_0020.jpg

    Campfire Audio Supermoon
    Frequency Response
    upload_2023-1-4_9-6-25.png

    Compared to Gaudio Nair* (GRY)
    upload_2023-1-4_9-8-12.png
    * By wide consensus, the most perceptive neutral IEM on the planet with S-tier rating on tonality.

    **Will not be seen in FR. My guess is it will be seen in distortion patterns (to be posted later).
     
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  2. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    I guessed when hearing these that they would have very low distortion. Let’s see :)

    edit:
    There's a lot I could say about these that I won't due to being an MOT. But I think it would be a more accurate reflection of their perceptual sound to lower their FR line in relation to the Nair. they don't sound treble happy to me they way this makes them look. To me, they had lower bass emphasis and recessed mids compared to neutral. I set the volume for the vocal range though, and when I did this with the Supermoon everything else was too loud. I'd damage my ears if I owned them. But when evaluating them, I don't hear them as V shaped as much as vocal recessed. Which is not the same.
     
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  3. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    How's treble definition on these relative to something like the CA Solaris (original)? BAs aren't the end-all be-all IMO but there's something fun about how lithe they are, and it's easy to appreciate with a relatively big dynamic driver filling in the bottom end and keeping things from going too sterile.

    Also slightly pain in the butt request but is it possible to simulate a slightly lossy seal on these with your coupler? Kinda curious how burst response would change across the spectrum on those.
     
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  4. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I feel the Supermoon are quite special in that they have decent delineation without the BA dryness. I think if you like the BA articulation, then it's best to stick with that. One of the Supermoon's best qualities is its fluid and liquid presentation, something I would say is hear only on the good orthos and pretty much non existent in most of today's low end and even many high end orthos. Obviously, the coherence from lows to highs is superior to Solaris which is a DD hybrid. Timbre, overtones, naturalness of the Supermoon - just fantastic. Three very good things here.

    Not anywhere as bright as the measured FR would indicate (measurements only tell us so much). Yes, more vocal recessed. Will play with Loki EQ to see what I end up with. One bothersome thing is a ssss / tizz. It's spotlit, so not so evident on some music, but very much so on others (i.e. quite evident in Miley Cyrus / Dua Lipa's Prisoner and The Weeknd / Ariana Grande's Save Your Tears, but not all all CC Clarke's Not Playing*). The saving grace is the fluid presentation, a best of good ortho characteristics, which happens to in place here. This takes the edge off. The peakage could be depending upon ear canal of individuals. I believe @shotgunshane had difficulty with the peak.

    *So sue me with my shitty taste in pop music.

    It's more type of distortion - I would surmise second order dominant. It's not as clean and pristine as Ara, which is what I would consider the low distortion winner (but with BA third order characteristics). Some analysis here on BA drivers (which I also posted to Reddit, which made me decide to not post much to Reddit again) : https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/why-balanced-armature-drivers-suck.11485/
     
    Last edited: Jan 4, 2023
  5. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    Reddit immediately poops on anyone who tries to go against consensus-- that's what you get when you give people a perfect democracy alongside relative anonymity and freedom from consequence. There's not a complete dearth of information on there though, and it's cool that you contributed an original thought to maybe a few on there.

    I have limited long-term experience with multi-armature IEMs (mostly just meet and store demos, sometimes extended) but one thing that seems to stand out with BA designs is how well they can dissect really busy passages, like it's easier to notice and follow along with individual elements in a bustling segment versus single-diaphragm designs (that I've tried).

    Presuming competent upstreams for both, how would the Supermoon fare there vs higher end stuff like the IER-Z1R or similar? I'm thinking something along the lines of the climax here:

    (Your taste in pop music is at least more palatable than my taste in whatever genre that is :p)
     
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  6. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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  7. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    Clarifying because I realise that I was wall-of-texting again. I also disliked the Z1R voicing, couldn't wear them for more than a couple minutes, it was painful.

    Meant to ask specifically how able an apparently well-executed planar IEM design fares against BA (especially multiple armatures) for being able to present very busy passages since it feels like that's one of their strengths.
     
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  8. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I think it is going to depend upon tuning and goals. The Supermoon is rich and lush sounding (I would surmise this is intentional) while maintain lively transients and energy. Even with the lower-mid depression and without NOS DACage, the Supermoon sounds rich and creamy. This doesn't necessarily mean it's bad at busy passages. It's certainly better than the Drop x FDX1 (a DD IEM which was an SBAF favorite) for sure. However, the all-BA Ara is just cleaner and presents busy passages more clearly.

    I haven't heard the Audeze ortho IEMs, so maybe they are tuned to sound less rich and more cleanly. I'm sure the potential is there. The problem is that very few IEM manufacturers know what good sound is, and even if they can tune to frequency response, there are several impediments: (1) over reliance on frequency response thinking it's the end all be all; (2) compounded by Dr. Olive's crapastic research on shitty sounding IEM targets; (3) obsession with the latest driver tech without paying attention to coherence from lows to highs; (4) Waifu and other branding crap.

    Anyway on the first two points, here are my Loki EQ settings for use with Supermoon. I did not use measurements to arrive at them. I took the right brain approach and just tuned to as close to perceptual neutral as possible using my ears*. The EQ is rather a light touch. And trust me, the measured FR isn't all that perfect. Frequency response is important, but it only tells us so much.

    upload_2023-1-4_23-19-55.png

    *Anyone who uses measurements for EQ to arrive at the "perfect" frequency response is a moron. Tonal correctness, perceptive neutral, is a matter of several attributes, frequency response is but one of them. There are no good measurements that correlate strongly for many other attributes of sound.

    The results aren't perfect, there are some things that cannot be corrected with a 4-band graphic EQ. It's probably a tuned darker for most music because of the treble peaks and personal taste.
     
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    Last edited: Jan 4, 2023
  9. PacoTaco

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    The lack of normal BA dryness is why I like the Helios. Granted, it's literally the only BA IEM I like. Or, well, IEM in general. I need to try this and a single-DD IEM.

    Audeze IEMs are weird. They're incredibly clean and airy for an IEM (they are open back,) but audeze literally relies on EQ to fix the actual FR problems. They do it with the Modius/Penrose/Maxwell as well. They have potential because they're so low distortion and open, but I wouldn't buy one again unless I'm paying only a couple hundred bucks. Having to be recommended an EQ profile from a company to get the most out of something is weird.
     
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  10. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    The Euclid is closed back, and does not require EQ. It sounds literally like an iem version of the LCD-X.
     
  11. PacoTaco

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    Stop it, I can only get so erect.
     
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  12. Grattle

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    Black is an odd color choice for something that's supposed to be a "Super Moon".

    More hard hitting analysis and deep insights later...
     
  13. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    Did you see the white one he made for his holiday sale? It looked God awful... These look really nice in black ;)
     
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  14. M3NTAL

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    There were also purple customs for the multi-verse or whatever the last promotion was.
     
  15. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    (sorry for the blurry cell phone picture but it gives you an idea, they're very slick even as universal customs)

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2023
  16. ohmaigulay

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    6D6D93BC-34BF-4960-8D0D-43A73CADDE7A.jpeg 863293F8-583B-4ADC-A9ED-283FC9E89450.jpeg Impressions from the loaner:

    Used with the Shanling UP4 and comply foam tips during work. My primary IEM, Vega 2020 and Dorado 2020, are bassier and on the “fun” tuning end.

    Plus: I’d like to echo Marv’s comment on the naturalness of the sound. I enjoyed guitars on the Supermoon, the way the notes would come off the strings especially off bass guitars. I prefer IEMS with more bass as well and the Supermoon had plenty. Vega and Dorado hit harder but those are boosted and the Supermoon had a more appropriate amount. There was also a better sense of headspace and clarity with the Supermoon.

    Minus: Not necessarily a deal breaker but I preferred the more forward treble on the DD Vega and hybrid Dorado. On some tracks like Lykke Li’s Never Gonna Love Again I didn’t get the sense of dreaminess the way speakers and the Vega and Dorado do. I guess in some tracks the Supermoons weren’t as exciting as then others could be.

    Final thoughts: Supermoon was an enjoyable IEM with a very coherent detailed sound.

    Thank you @rhythmdevils , @ChaChaRealSmooth , and @shotgunshane for facilitating the loaner.

    Thank you Campfire Audio for the loaner and hope there’s a traditional bodied Supermoon driver IEM in the works.
     
  17. paranoidroid

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    Some quick thoughts on the Supermoon loaner. I've been running the TANGZU Wu Zetian IEM (about $150), which most likely uses the same drivers as the Timeless and other cheap ChiFi planar IEMs. The Wu Zetian IEM really impressed me not just for value per dollar but for general sound quality as well. It gave me that liquid organic ortho presentation in a decently tuned shell.

    I think the Supermoon would have blown me away if I haven't tried out this cheap planar IEM first. The Supermoon sounds so similar in many ways in terms of timbre and technicalities that I wouldn't be surprised if they're using either the same driver or drivers from the same manufacturer. The main difference I noticed is more sub-bass response in the Supermoon which gives it a more rich and fuller-bodied sound and more lively energy in mid-treble with the Wu Zetian. This gives the appearance of more detail in the Wu Zetian. When I listen to the Supermoon I miss that lively energy and detail. When I listen to the Wu Zetian I miss the sub-bass and richness. It really sounds like the same driver just tuned differently in a different shell. Soundstage is similar on both. Timbre wise there is more of that ortho 'plucky' timbre with the Wu Zetian but that's a minor difference.

    Overall the Supermoon is tuned more to my liking. Additionally, the build quality and presentation is leaps ahead of my $150 Wu Zetian. I'd say for folks who don't own a planar IEM yet, for only 1/10th the cost of the Supermoon trying out these cheaper planars is an excellent way to go while waiting out to see how the higher-end planar IEMs develop.
     
  18. Vansen

    Vansen Gear Master (retiring)

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    These showed up as part of the loaner program today and I've listened to two songs on with it on my WM1A so far. I can't beat up on these, but they are not for me. If I'm being honest, I'd rather listen to my Timeless 7hz from a Fiio UTWS5 than the Supermoon from my WM1A. The technicalities are there, but I can't get past the FR so far. These are very bass heavy for my tastes, which I usually expect from Campfire. The next thing I noticed is that these have a ton air. Too much air on my WM1A. The rest of the FR seems to vary a bit, too. It feel like like the lower mids are recessed and male vocals are recessed. If I had seen Marv's FR before signing up for this loaner, I probably would have passed on the loaner. The FR posted is really close to what I am experiencing. I'm warming up the Balancing Act out of curiosity to see how they sound on it.
     
  19. jexby

    jexby Posole Prince

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    IMO for Supermoon: moar power = moar neutrality
     
  20. Vansen

    Vansen Gear Master (retiring)

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    All notes from listening on:
    • Roon over pi2aes w/ linear PSU, OG Schiit Bifrost MB w/ OPA1656, Eddie Current Balancing Act w/ National Union 307a and 1945 RCA smoke glass 6SN7GT
    • Sony WM1A on firmware 1.20
    Moving the Supermoon over to the Balancing Act from the WM1A dramatically improved the sound of these IEMs. The FR still isn’t to my preference, but I understand these headphones and their market now. This is a good sounding IEM if the house sound of Campfire Audio is your thing.

    On the BA:
    • Supermoon FR on the extremes are far closer to neutral on the BA than the the WM1A, but still sounds like the FR that Marv posted. The bass is still exaggerated, but is tamed a little. My complaints of excessive air completely go away on the BA.
    • This IEM should not be driven with a WM1A in my opinion.
    • There’s a slight range in the treble that’s a bit hot.
    • On 21 Savage’s i am > i was, 21 Savage’s voice took a back seat and had a slightly plastic timbre on his vocals past the fundamentals.The rest of the timbre is spot on. (Give me a bass heavy IEM and I'll mostly gravitate to hip-hop and rap.)
    • With the exception of the plasticky male vocal timbre, the Supermoon beats the Timeless 7hz on all other technicalities that I have noticed so far by a good margin.
    In the time I’ve owned my Timeless 7hz, I’ve never plugged it into my BA until today. I really wish the FR of the Supermoon was closer to the 7hz. The 7hz shines on the BA, but makes me wish it had the same level of detail (and other technical aspects) as the Supermoon.

    EDIT: I fixed my timbre issue on male vocal with some tip rolling. Timbre is awesome now. The rest of my impressions are the same.
     
    Last edited: Mar 7, 2023

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