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

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

  1. songmic

    songmic Gear cycler East Asia edition

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    Yes, surprisingly I also prefer the black foam tips compared to the Comply T400, even though both do not have wax guard. Generally I prefer Comply tips with my IEM's, but with the Andromeda, the stock black foam sounds more transparent and airier.
     
  2. GoodEnoughGear

    GoodEnoughGear Evil Dr. Shultz‎

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    I ended up tearing the supplied Comply's trying to remove them..it's a tight fit. Luckily Spinfits work best for me (out of supplied foam, Complys, Spiral Dots and some triple flanges I tried).
     
  3. zen

    zen New

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    The Andromeda is my latest acquisition and I am absolutely enamored with its sonic presentation. Listening to the Andromeda has been a very rewarding experience so far. The folks at Campfire Audio have absolutely nailed the tuning with this iem.

    I only have low OI sources at hand, so no experience with the recommended few ohms OI source for the Andromeda. Frankly speaking I am finding the bass levels with less than 1 Ohm OI rather satisfactory, not sure I would want anything less.

    The veterans have already expressed much about the strengths and weakness of this iem, but I am enjoying it so much I just feel like putting down some thoughts at the risk of being redundant -

    Strengths
    - Beautiful treble presentation. Life like decay. Smooth yet revealing. I know it sounds cliche but can't think of better ways to describe it
    - Reference like balance of the bass, mid and high frequencies but with pleasant note weight. Conventional reference presentation can sound too lean and thin in my experience (example - ER4) but the Andromeda avoids this like a boss.
    - Super dynamic sound. Its easy to get emotionally engaged with the presentation.

    Weakness
    - I will confess, in terms of sound I can't find any. There's absolutely nothing I would change about its sonic presentation.
    - However, I wish the ergonomics were better. I have smaller than average ears and the edges put pressure on a few areas. Its getting better though, definitely not as uncomfortable as it was in the first few days.

    English isn't my first language and my skill for writing meaningful sound description is sub-par at best, so apologies in advance!
     
  4. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    I agree- the funny angular capsule and short nozzles made them tricky for me to enjoy. I don't really have a criticism of the sound, but couldn't talk myself into wanting to put those things in my ears on a regular basis.

    (Also, your English is apparently fine- don't worry. We've had some Singlish slang posters here, and that did get a bit tiring- but I would imagine that most people wouldn't have thought twice about the quality of your language, had you not pointed it out :D)
     
  5. shotgunshane

    shotgunshane Floridian Falcon

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    Try rotating the shells forward, towards your eyes when this happens. It usually relieves the pressure areas and will be comfortable for much longer listening.
     
  6. zen

    zen New

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    You are very kind!

    The spinfits coupled with a shallow insertion depth helped improve comfort significantly for me. It still is a far cry from the comfort I get from my customs, but right now I don't mind trading a bit of pain for the amazing sound.

    I just tried this, but unfortunately my ears are small enough to prevent much rotation towards the eyes. I can definitely see it working for bigger sized ears though.
     
  7. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

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    I was looking at ALO's current portable amps, and it looks like they all have an OI of less than 1. I've seen people on HF praise how well they pair with the Andromedas (which you would expect based on them being from the same manufacturer), but wouldn't their low OI negatively affect the sound of Campfire's BA IEMs? Has anyone heard their current Rx or Continetal v5 with the Andros?
     
  8. brencho

    brencho Friend

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    I'm also very curious about this, but in relation to the GOV2A/+ which has an OI of 0.47. Essentially the same question as my man Merrick, which is how OI near 0 affects Campfire's BA iems (e.g., andromeda). Presumably the new DD iems would be less affected by OI and would benefit from the extra juice.
     
  9. Koth Ganesh

    Koth Ganesh Friend

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    IME, a low Zout tends to make the Andromeda sound bassier. I've experienced this with my FiiO X5ii and now with the lightning to 3.5mm adapter for the iPhone 7 (according to @shotgunshane, the OI is 0.3 ohms)
     
  10. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

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    @Koth Ganesh You didn't find the bass quality to suffer when you had such low OI outputs? When I paired the Andros with the Jotunheim which has a near 0 OI, the bass was boomy and hollow.
     
  11. Koth Ganesh

    Koth Ganesh Friend

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    Yep, there is a bit of a bloom (I'm now stuck with the iPhone 7) compared to when I used it with the iPhone 6s.

    Add: Based on Marv's recommendation on the iPhone 5 (page 1 of this thread), I actually ordered one a couple of days ago !
     
  12. shotgunshane

    shotgunshane Floridian Falcon

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    @Koth Ganesh, the iFi IEMatch might be of help. It can apparently be set to about 2.5 ohms OI. However that would mean iPhone 7 dongle to IEMatch dongle to iem.
     
  13. shotgunshane

    shotgunshane Floridian Falcon

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    To be clear, not all less than 1 ohm out sources sound the same in bass with Andromeda to my ears. Some sound much better than others.
     
  14. Koth Ganesh

    Koth Ganesh Friend

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    Haha...I already checked out the Match and pondering about the ridiculous connections here.... And, you're right about varying Zouts albeit below 1 ohm...For example, the iPhone dongle sounds "more" neutral than the Fiio X5ii.
     
  15. Cellist88

    Cellist88 Friend

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    Would one of these sources be the QP1R?
     
  16. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

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    Ah, that's probably the case with the ALO amps then.
     
  17. shotgunshane

    shotgunshane Floridian Falcon

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    Less than 1 ohm out sources I've used are: Mojo, QP1R, new iPhone 7 dongle and a Mezzo Modded AK120. The Mezzo modded AK120 has the greatest synergy with Andromeda and followed closely by the QP1R. The iPhone 7 dongle is respectable but not a favorite. As much as I like the mojo with other iems, I do not like it with Andromeda.
     
  18. Cellist88

    Cellist88 Friend

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    Which one sounds better/ has better synergy? Andromeda with qp1r or Andromeda + ifi iem match + geek out v2+ infinity balanced.

    I will get the andros but wondering if it's worth it to keep the v2+ and get balanced cables (PITA) IMO. If it's close enough might just go for qp1r as it also has a dac function now.
     
  19. angryteen

    angryteen New

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    Been switching back and forth between regular comply foams and comply wax guard. agree that wax guard indeed kills some of the air, both foams introduce a thicker upper bass/ lower mids, resulting in a somewhat meatier sound vs silicone tips.
     
  20. LunaC

    LunaC New

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    I'm still finding the DFR great with the Andros. More depth and the extra bass doesn't muddy up the image like the iP7 dongle
     

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