Campfire Audio Solaris - raising the bar?

Discussion in 'IEMs and Portable Gear' started by mscott58, Oct 10, 2018.

  1. smithj

    smithj Acquaintance

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    The quality of the review is kind of irrelevant to the point I'm making. Its the digging up of reviews to use as a bludgeon, much in the same way Jude used his $20,000 measurement rig in his Sony MDR-Z1R review as an attempt to defend Sony from Inner Fidelity and SBAF. The production of other opinions (or measurements in Jude's case) in these situations are not really done in good faith, they're done with the intent to discredit through an appeal to authority.

    I think its fair game to dogpile if someone has provided a really poorly reasoned opinion. I don't think Crinacle's differing opinions were poorly reasoned to justify this internet-wide pearl clutching that make finding Solaris impressions impossible right now. That's the only point I'm making, I'm not really trying to call anyone out or making any judgement about properly reasoned reviews.
     
    Last edited: Dec 13, 2018
  2. jowls

    jowls Never shitposts (please) - Friend

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    I heard these again today. Still super impressed, even out of a lowly iphone and M0. The DD is deployed perfectly; with restraint.

    I was armed with my stalwart Spiral Dots and Ortofons, but enjoyed them most using those Symbio tips with their buttplug material removed. Spiral Dots seem to provide a less secure fit with Solaris and Ortofons were spotlighting something in the treble. Symbios sound very similar to the JVCs and are super comfortable.
     
  3. Pe8er

    Pe8er New

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    I had a chance to compare Solaris against Kaiser Encore, Xelento and SE-846. Jotted down my impressions over here. Hope it's useful and/or amusing! Long story short: Solaris is staying with me.
     
  4. Baten

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    I really don't understand all the superlatives for Solaris. Have you heard/tried Andromeda, too?
     
  5. Pe8er

    Pe8er New

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    Unfortunately I didn't. Have you heard Solaris? How does it compare to Andromeda in your opinion?
     
  6. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I wouldn't say this is true. The Solaris is still my #1 IEM. I gave the Andromedas to my son, who was using the Massdrop Plus before, which in his words was like an Andro-lite.

    I did leave hints:

    It was always on the top of the mind, but I couldn't quite express it in my earlier post since I had just woken up: the Solaris remind me of the Audeze LCD2C, but not so laid back. Just something to be aware of for those who use the Andromeda, don't like the Audeze sound, and are considering moving to the Solaris.
    Well, looking back at this, it's not a hint. It's pretty direct. The problem is that people just want to believe and buy-it-now, so they will look for information that is consistent with what their heart wants to do at the very moment*. No one ever sees the "hints" that I lay out and ask me more about them. I'd actually love it if people did.

    There is one quality, the "this is the best-integrated most coherent DD / BA hybrid* I have ever heard." that I won't back down from. If anyone strongly disagrees, I'd venture to call them an idiot.

    * Follow your heart is the most idiotic advice anyone can ever give you. The problem is that the heart always changes, and oftentimes does so at a whim. I avoid being friends with and keep my distance from people who follow their heart. More often than not, they end up in a world of hurt and seek co-dependence with others. No really, I don't want to be friends with single people in the middle of custody battles who buy brand new Porsche 911s and then let me know that they are down to $5k in the bank with no upcoming sources of income.
     
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2018
  7. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    This is utter bullshit.

    Whenever I am in musician mode, playing an instrument, the last things I give a shit about are microdynamics or plankton or tonal balance or transients or whatever. 100% attention is toward mastering the basics, hitting the right notes at the right time, and if playing with other people, being tight with each other, and then beyond that, extracting what I can, putting into motion what I want to do artistically without exceeding my capabilities, and slowly pushing those capabilities. It's like Ku Fung, which if you watch Marco Polo on Netflix, really does mean supreme ability through practice, like what the blind master said, whether it be martial arts, cooking, painting, being a servant, masturbating, etc.

    Maybe I am sensitive to pitch in the bass because I played bass for a few years, therefore I hate Sabre and PCM1704 based DACs because they suck at this, but I don't see other "trained" audiophiles not being able to hear this. I'd argue that I even might have hearing damage from sustained high SPL exposure, which typically manifests between 4-6kHz since sharp 5kHz peaks or broad dips around 4-6kHz don't seem to bother me as much as others.

    But anyone who actually states that they are a musician and implies that because of this, their opinions carry more weight, is an ass. The opinions of people who have a lot of experience with good gear or shit gear alike have much more weight than mere musicians. It's pretty obvious to me who to trust, the people with good audiophile Kung-Fu and the posers. Being able to communicate and relate what is almost un-relatable is also part of good audiophile Kung-Fu. "I am a musician and my A-GD is really good" is not a good example of audiophile Kung-Fu.

    Why are we still talking about Crinacle? I thought the KSE1500, UE18+ (rated top tier S / S-) were total turds and a few others, while being technically proficient or possessing some excellent qualities, had serious show-stopper issues. Does this matter? Who cares? Crinacle even advises you that it's a short list and to not give two shits and listen for yourself. Whether it's for or against or in the context of, I know that I HATE IT when people invoke my name so much. What's important is WHAT DO YOU THINK? Don't get me wrong, but please put any posts relating to "in the context of what Crinacle thinks" on HF. Same goes for me. Perhaps you are a victim of bad timing, but too many mentions of Crinacle and not enough good impressions of Solaris in the last few pages of posts.
     
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2018
  8. Tachikoma

    Tachikoma Almost "Made"

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    f**k you the KSE1500 is amazing. But in all seriousness, it changes so much with tips it would be hard to give an accurate review without having some time to experiment.
     
  9. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I dislike stats with 2.5 exceptions: Orpheus, ESP950, and modified Jade (way OOP); and I dislike most planars. Tips won't help. I've never experienced something which I thought was a turd being polished into a gem with tip rolling.
     
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2018
  10. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I'm really starting to get a stronger sense that the effects of ear gain (and concha gain more than pinna gain), play a super crucial role regarding individuals' perception of FR with IEMs. Observation of headphone FR seems more consistent, particularly after taking into account personal preferences. Again, only makes sense since IEMs bypass the ear structures, and inverse transfer functions of our ears / brains are specific to the shape of our ears.
     
  11. Tachikoma

    Tachikoma Almost "Made"

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    When I first tried the KSE1500, I didn't push the tips all the way down the nozzle and it sounded very tonally strange and hypersharpened. After fixing that the tone was a bit more normal, but still too bright - just switching from medium sized shure olives to large sized shure olives fixed that for me.

    Every silicon tip that came with the KSE1500 sounded like dogshit.

    I think the KSE1500 responds more strongly to tip rolling than any other IEM I've tried (only etymotics and TFZs, to be fair). I think when they are set up right, people who normally dislike electrostats will like these quite a bit. The bass is unlike any electrostat I've heard so far (O2, lambdas, a bunch of pre-1990 vintages).

    Sorry about going off topic though.
     
  12. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    It wasn't the tizz, which I knew could be fixed via tips or insertion. Bass response was alright. It was the lack of speed (for an e-stat), limp-dick dynamics, the blended-poo mids, and overly liquid diarrhea presentation where I couldn't make out anything.

    Keep trying to convince me that I will like it with the right tips. It won't work. I've been through this "you didn't roll the right tips - it's super sensitive to tips" thing x117 before since the days of the much heralded AKG K3003 since 2010 or whenever. I've never known tips (or mods) to be able to change the presentation of the underlying technology used on IEMs or headphones.

    For the record, I even dislike BAs, but I see them as a necessary evil. I'd still look forward to a Campfire DD with Solaris lows / Andromeda mids and highs (or Andromeda at 2 ohms Zout) tuning.
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2018
  13. Baten

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    My impressions are earlier in the thread but I heard the mid range hollowness quite noticeably! ymmv. The technicalities were there but I still had to return them.

    Andro/Andro S is where it's at for me, I'm definitely an advocate of trying before buying for sure if there is a possibility to do so.
     
  14. Tachikoma

    Tachikoma Almost "Made"

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    Lol, I should be working in real estate if I could. Just saying it might deserve a second chance, but fair enough, your liquid diarrea might be medium rare wagyu to me and vice versa.
     
  15. drgumbybrain

    drgumbybrain Science Nut

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    I really appreciate shure kse impressions, because I cannot listen to it where I live. But I did enter here for Solaris, and I really don’t have any fu##### ideia why I’m reading shure review in Solaris thread.:drunk:
     
  16. Kunlun

    Kunlun cat-alyzes cat-aclysmic cat-erwauling - Friend

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    Merry Christmas! I'm on a train for a few hours so I'll post my impressions on the Solaris.

    I think I'll keep this relatively brief. I've been listening via an apex glacier amp and ipod 5.5 video to a mix of classical, choral, rock, pop, and world music, mostly acoustic leaning, but some of everything. I listen moderate to moderately loud to see if there's anything that'll hurt over time (FR spikes, resonances, etc.). Quartets and 4 or more voice vocal polyphony help show where the balance lies in the tuning.

    I'll start with an observation Colgin made vs his andro: The Solaris is heavy and not the greatest for walking around in. Depending what you do with your iems, these may not be a great choice. On the other hand, they could for some citydwellers be a primary home listening earphone. They are that good.

    Another important thing: These are for use with foam eartips only, that's generally true for Campfire Audio iems and you could call it a flaw of the whole line. I kinda think of it that way. The flip side is you could toss reviews not done with foam tips, if you wanted to be a head-fi doofus about it. Ken said he listens with foam tips, his iems tend to be harsh or have FR weirdness without them. If you don't like foam tips, don't buy these.

    The Solaris is pretty sensitive and could hiss a bit with the wrong pairing. Out of full size amps you may have issues, depending. It'll run reasonably well out of a phone, though, which is likely the idea.

    On to the sound. The Solaris sounds great overall. My comments and knitpicks are in the context that this is a high end iem that doesn't have any major flaws (cough TIA forte's treble cough).

    It does well with BA treble (and foam tips) in terms of timbre and clarity. These have a slight treble lift, but harshness is slight and quite tolerable. Violins and cymbals come off very well. The solaris does excellently with symphonic music generally.

    Male and female vocals sound good, there's just a hint of lack of smoothness to female vocals sometimes. The midrange is sometimes a little behind the treble, but it never rose to the level of a flaw for me.

    The bass balances the mids and treble well, sometimes taking a supporting role. The dynamic driver is fairly seemless, which is great. However, the moving air experience of a dynamic driver bass is reduced. Further, the texture in the bass, particularly lower bass, is a just a bit smeared compared to high end dynamics. In the same way, a high end BA iem like the Noble Katana will have more detail in the treble. Yet, because it's a well tied together sound, the overall experience is very good.

    The Solaris is really a whole-is-greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts kinda iem. My experience was that it tends to be an earphone that doesn't call attention to itself, performing at a high level and letting me enjoy the music. Although one can hear that it could be brought to a higher level across the board, yet I'd say that it's well worth hearing.
     
  17. seamon

    seamon Acquaintance

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    Great impressions! I think this is line in line with what I said, Solaris is never the best at any one thing. It's about the overall picture that makes it hard to find any faults with it.


    I did an Interactive Comparison of Audeze LCD 4(Benchmark), Campfire Audio Solaris and 64 Audio U12t to decide which IEM is the best I can get in the US rn. I am not interested in importing Asian or European IEMs, sounds too much of a hassle and Z1R has not been released yet so....
    The point of this is to determine which IEM gives me most of the SQ of LCD 4. Since LCD 4 is the benchmark, consider it having a score of 10 in all rounds. Source is a Questyle CMA600i. I'll try to cover as many genres. Flac or Tidal was used for all songs. Youtube Video linked just to show which version of the song was used.

    Round 1
    Leaving on a Jet Plane - John Denver (Genre - Folk)

    Audeze LCD 4

    There are primarily 3 things going on in this track - John Denver's Vocals, Guitar on the right and drums on the left. On the LCD 4, this song sounds wonderful. There is an immense sense of space. All 3 things have their own spots, perfectly separated from one another. John Denver's Vocals have incredible dynamics and extension. When he extends his voice, it goes on and on without any limit and comes down similarly. The transparency on the LCD 4 is amazing, you can hear every pluck of the guitar and the every drum note is separated from one another with very fast attack and decay. The cymbals especially are very fast and precise.
    Score: 10/10

    64 Audio U12t
    The biggest difference when switching to IEMs is that the sense of space(Soundstage and Openness) is almost halved. U12t has a little wider stage than Solaris so in this particular case, Solaris suffers more. The biggest flaw with the U12t is that John Denver's Vocals sound suppressed. There is no longer that incredible dynamic as with the LCD 4 and the extension definitely suffers quite a bit. It's as if John Denver's Vocals are being held back. Cymbals sound a little unnatural on the U12t and quite a bit more pronounced, almost on the verge of being harsh. John Denver's Vocals also encroach a little on the Right Side Guitar's space, just a little and not much but definitely noticeable and this is not a problem with LCD 4 or Solaris. The U12t Guitar though has more resolution than Solaris and the separate plucks are more audible.
    Score: 5/10

    Campfire Audio Solaris

    Solaris stage is deeper but a little less wide than the U12t. The Left side drums are positioned a little deeper than U12t. Both U12t and Solaris Imaging are pretty good but the edge goes to Solaris. Like the LCD 4, all 3 things(Vocals, Guitar and Drums) have spots of their own with none stepping into another's realm. A new thing on the Solaris that the vocals were quite a bit forward than the other 2. The Vocal dynamics and Extension were incredible and much closer to LCD 4 than U12t. The Cymbals also sounded just right. The width of the stage suffered a bit compared to U12t causing the 3 things to be slightly closer together. Bass notes on the Drum also sound quite a bit more natural on the Solaris because of the Dynamic Driver which just destroys the BA bass driver of the U12t. The Right Side Guitar unfortunately was slightly muted at times and less resolving than U12t.
    Score: 6/10


    Round 2
    POP/STARS - K/DA (Genre - K-pop)

    Audeze LCD 4

    The dynamic of this song is created by the Vocals and the bass track synchronizing to create one dynamic melody. The female vocals are amazing on the LCD 4. It also renders the bass track with that Planar bass that is just so fast, tight and impactful.
    Score: 10/10

    64 Audio U12t
    Vocals are very airy, airier than Solaris and just a tiny bit more prominent. However, the bass track suffers a lot. Not only does it lack the impact and extension, it sounds disjointed from the rest of the track. It feels out of place and instead of harmonizing with the Vocals like the LCD 4 and Solaris, it feels forced and completely ruins the dynamic of this song. The Vocals are the only redeeming quality and U12t makes them sound very very airy and sweet.
    Score: 6/10

    Campfire Audio Solaris

    This song sounds fantastic on the Solaris, in fact I would not mind replacing my LCD 4 for Solaris for this song. When the bass drops for the first time, it sounds very similar to the LCD 4, a complete package. Vocals are great and very airy though a little less than U12t but nothing to complain about. The bass vocal dynamic is maintained throughout the song and sounds great.
    Score: 8/10



    Round 3
    Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin (Genre - Rock)


    Audeze LCD 4
    This song sounds very spacious on the LCD 4. Vocals sound great, very coherent and natural. Everything is perfectly separated even when the passage gets very busy. When the bass hits, it sounds great as expected of Planar Bass.
    Score: 10/10


    64 Audio U12t
    Vocals are more pronounced than on the Solaris. However, they sound a bit uneven. It sounds flat at some places and a little jumpy in others. A little unnatural sounding but still great. A tiny bit more airy than Solaris but Solaris is no slouch in terms of air, U12t just has the edge. Bass is BA which is fine but.....BA. It has good impact but just cannot capture the sound of the drum in all its magnificence. Soundstage is a tad wider than Solaris but less deep. Separation and Imaging is top notch.
    Score: 5/10

    Campfire Audio Solaris

    Vocals are a tiny bit less pronounced than on the U12t but are much more coherent and natural sounding. I would say Solaris is closer to LCD 4. When the bass hits for the first time, it's one of the best things I have ever heard out of the Solaris. It's seriously so good. It's hard to go back to BA bass after this. Solaris edges out the U12t in Imaging as the focus points sound more precise. Separation is not a problem in either and both do this very well. Soundstage is deeper than U12t as expected.
    Score: 6/10


    Round 4
    A Cruel Angel's Thesis - Yoko Takahashi (Genre - JPop)


    Audeze LCD 4
    A rather simple song but upon careful listening, there are a lot of nuances in the vocals, sort of vocal cues that sound just right on transparent gear. Also the extension of the vocals is great. There's also a weird instrumental part mid-song that has layers upon layers of weird music that is hard to separate into said layers. There's also some sibilance.
    Score: 10/10

    64 Audio U12t
    U12t was more sibilant than both LCD 4 and Solaris. It also edged out the Solaris at vocal cues. However, U12t Vocal Extension was pretty bad. U12t was decent at separation of the weird instrumental part. The sibilance really takes out from coherency of the Vocals.
    Score: 7/10

    Campfire Audio Solaris

    Vocal extension is top notch. Solaris seemed to hit most of the vocal cues and the overall vocals sounded more coherent than U12t. Also when the bass track hits, it sounds very tactile, much better than U12t. Solaris just edges out U12t at the separation of the weird instrumental part.
    Score: 7/10



    Round 5
    Not Afraid - Eminem (Genre - Rap)


    Audeze LCD 4
    The focus is 3 things in this song, vocals, the sub-bass track and the sharp mid-bass track.
    Score: 10/10

    64 Audio U12t
    As expected, the sub-bass track sounds meh. The mid-bass track however was sharper and more pronounced than on both Solaris and LCD 4 almost on the verge of being harsh. Vocals sound neutral, if that's the right term. Solaris and LCD 4 Vocals have sort of energy to them that the U12t lacks.
    Score: 6/10

    Campfire Audio Solaris

    Sub-bass is fantastic as expected. Mid-bass track was better than U12t as it lacked the unnatural prominence. Vocals sound a tiny bit laid back compared to the U12t but the tonality is closer to the LCD 4.
    Score: 7/10
     
  18. Head pie

    Head pie New

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    1st SBAF post!

    Catching up on some Solaris reading.
     
  19. Baten

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    I know, oh no more crinacle stuff. But the guy made a post about unit variance/discrepancies; all three units he reviewed, varied quite a bit every time. That would explain different opinions (about the mids especially). Not sure what would be the cause, the hybris BA tech and QA difficulties? (Insane amounts of orders and its consequence?)

    Interesting to say the least. Would have loved to have heard a "golden sample". Mine wasn't.
     
    Last edited: Dec 27, 2018
  20. bengo

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    SBAF doesn't like content-free posts.
     

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