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

I’would like to share my experiences with andrômeda. Although in lesser degree, I was hearing a continuous hiss plunging it to my Sony 1z. The hiss got worse using an adaptor to the 4.4mm output.
Today I received a Sony Kimber 4.4mm cable, and to my complete surprise, the hiss desapeared. Please note that I’m not a cable believer and just bought the cable to use the 4.4mm port. I really don’t know what’s going on. So I started to do some tests.Changing to the original cable, and using the shure 846 cable, with or without the adaptor, made the hiss audible again. My wife heard the hiss apear and desapear changing the cables.
Is it possible that this cable is cutting some higher frequencies? I thought this was impossible... I’m no engineer and my knowledge in physics are very poor.... but here I am, and the facts demand some explanation... cheers

 

Is the Kimber the only balanced cable? Seems like the others are single ended cables.

 

Yes. All the others were SE, tested in the SE output or in the balanced output with adaptor.

 

The balanced Kimber cable is the only case where the Sony is driving the Andromeda in balanced mode. With SE cable and adapter, the left/right common wires are tied together and effectively converts the balanced output into SE.

A more logical conclusion is that it is balanced vs SE connection that affects the hiss (rather than the cable itself). The way to test this is listen to the Kimber in SE mode (with a 4.4mm to SE adapter).

 

Well...shit. I got the Andros and the ZX2 in at the same time. After spending a good week with them so far, I have to say...I've wasted years trying to find a good Closed back. Then I finally get around to buying a pair of Andromedas and realized that these are better than the Closed backs I heard, and some flagship openbacks. At least for my tastes.

I'll have do a review for them at some point. I'm quite happy with them, with the exception of the dip in quality when using a UE Bufferjack with various things (phone, Nintendo Switch.)

 

It is a stunner. I am smitten

 

Ugh I miss the ZX2 ><..........that phat sound.....the only problem I have with it is the hiss...and as you say if you use a buffer jack or anything in between, it loses some magic ><.

 

Silly question, is ZX2 just a DAP or can it do streaming? Anything cheaper that also streams since I use Google Music, or maybe Tidal.

 

zx2 is android based...though its jelly bean....it can stream tidal, but I'm not sure about how stable google music is.

 

Spotify and tidal work very well on it. The only issue with Google music/play is that you can't use the side buttons yo pause or skip songs. Not sure why, as it works with the other apps.

 

That's probably a good thing if you keep it in your pocket. My S5 will randomly stop playing and it's annoying AF.

 

it works with Spotify but sometimes it doesn't anymore , in that case I need to clear cache of the app and it works again.
ZX2 behavior is sometimes weird but I do like it for many reasons and now you can get it for "cheap" on 2nd market

 

I got my Symbio tips and I'm finally starting to see the magic in the Andromeda. Fit/seal is so critical.

As a side note, the Symbios run big. I've seen this mentioned before, but thought I'd reiterate. Unfortunately I'm probably in between sizes for them.

 

Agreed on the Symbio W for Andros. The smallest size is slightly snug for my narrow earholes, but the quality of the seal + the wide bore of the tip is as good as it gets for me.

Lack of decent isolation from the Spinfits is a real detriment to the sound, and coming from the smaller Shure olives for other IEMs I couldn't find a pair of the included Comply tips that fit my ear comfortably, so I'm quite thankful for the orange stuff.

 

@Sylafari Going from the iPhone X via adapter to the ZX2 or ZX300 will be a huge upgrade. @Hooncake can testify to that as well. You're not nearly close to maxing out the potential of the Andros.

 

lol.
andros out of iPhone X via the dongle sounded like ass and made me return the andros.
also using iFi impedance match thing cuts down some air or something.

it sounds really good out of zx2(not sure about the numbering but I think this ones the gunner have).

 

They need inbetween sizes like Spiral Dots. Small is too small for me, Med is just a touch too big (see my trick in the Noble X thread if you want to try reducing the size a little bit).

I used the Symbios for a while, but realized I was losing a lot of bass (both volume and impact). The isolation and secure fit is great, but I've gone back to Spinfits.

 

Observational data now proves otherwise. hehe

 

I think silicone exterior with the Andromeda is beyond good. It's honestly shockingly good how unrestrained but smooth it is. The subbass truly comes alive. Will be trying symbios soon, because the stock silicone just sound so good to me. Silicone isn't normally my preference with IEMs, but I just love how good they sound

 

I'll have to try this again...I've been using Andros SE with the iematch for a long time now, and find the High setting OK but Ultra changes too much. I run it SE from the balanced jack though on GO2A and of course SE from DAC1541.