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

For cheap go for a Sony A35 Walkman or a cheapo A17. For expensive, 1A Walkman (the black), QP1R, and used ZX2 are better received here. Onkyo DPX1(A) may also be a bet. I personally do not like FiiO X5iii but Torq said many good things of it.

I own(ed) A17, A35 and DPX1.

Do not agonize. There are so many DAPs out there.

 

Yeah, and my personal recommendation is that you don't get Andro until you either have the right DAP or you can afford to replace your current devices with it.

But please feel free to explore and discover new pairings. Someone among us has got to be the guinea pig, right?

Currently, IMO, the best and most appropriate solution is Sony ZX2, but there may well be something else that we haven't tried yet.

 

Yeah I'm not ready or onto being anyone's guinea pig or constantly selling and buying. I'll pass on that and leave that to someone that has better resources.

 

I don't have any of the sources that pair synergistically with the Andros, but I get great enjoyment from them with iEMatch (desktop) and EQ (phone) to tweak the bass response. I heard them first before buying, but I'd say having the Andros and not having an ideal source is better than not having the Andros. I'm still working on obtaining the latter.

 

4. I don't think the Andros lower mids are very good. They don't, for example, do a good job with the sonorous sounds of cellos or male vocals. I think that's in part what gives them such great clarity, the somewhat hollowed out lower mids. This was my main issue with them, outside the fact that they're BAs.
5. Highs are incredible from the source I used (ZX2). Smooth and airy.

 

That's my philosophy as well. I use my phone as my source on my commute. My phone is a samsung s8+ and not great but is rather this that a good dap with a mid fi earphone. Ill take the convenience of one device. I didn't get w chance to demo before buying but I knew what I wanted and had a good idea this is what I wanted.

I do have a a slightly better source for my laptop (geek out 1000) and too lazy to purchase better. It lets me switch between a low and higher ohm so I can tune it a bit. I can purchase better sources but I do enjoy the sound as it is. If I ever get back into full size headphones maybe ill get something better but for now this works.

 

It's difficult to compare as I haven't owned the uerm in years. That probably is my biggest regret in this hobby since it's not available for sale and the used market for it doesn't exist. I do recall having issues with the bass at times in both quantity and quality. I really liked the highs and midrange. It was one of the few that was considered neutral without the harsh highs. I don't have any glaring issues with the andromeda other than my phone not up to par with better sources so it doesn't sound as good as I know it can. I need to find a nano sized dap that sounds amazing.

I really like the andromeda and haven't bought any earphone since. I would prefer it in a custom shell instead and not big on the idea of custom tips so that's where I'm at now. I'm not paying 250+ for tips. The uerm probably was around 95% there to my perfect sound signature and the andromeda fills that gap a bit closer to 100.

 

Same here except I run mine off of a Oneplus 3T. I do think that I'm a lot more lenient on my portable gear in terms of how critical I am. I expect a lot more out of my home headphone and speaker setup than my portable gear. Andros off anything is a better option than no andros though.

 

How much of a detail monster are the Andro's?

 

@Hi-Fi: 6. How much detail do the Andromeda's pull out of music? I adore extreme detail but smoothnessat the same time.

@Marvey: Andromedas are one of the resolving and lively IEMs I have ever heard. I'm sure thereare others just as good or better at the $2000+ price points.

@Bill-P: A decent amount, but they're likely not the kind of "details" you are thinking of if youthink it's going to subtract from the listening experience. Andromeda is more detailed than most IEMs I have heard (the Stax is still one or two levels down, and UERM is close but bass too cloudy/light?), but it's not the kind that throws out harshness masquerading as "details". It's just going to show youwhat thesourcecando, so choosing a source that can pull the "right" kind of details is important. To a numberof us here, ZX2 does that. I'd say AK120 also does it but it's not on the same level as ZX2.

[quotes aren't working now and I can't be stuffed using BBcode on my phone]

 

@Hi-Fi
TL;DR

Read more. Buy one used.

We make purchase recommendations, not guarantees. This thread documented lots of impressions of Andromeda. Read more of the authors of respective posts. Find their preferences and standard of evaluation. Then reference for yourself. And again, keep in mind no one post guarantees Andromeda will be your thing. Buy one used and sell it you don't like it. Andromeda is an easy sell so you'd have minimal loss.

 

Just chiming in to say getting the ZX2+Andromeda combo is the best audio decision I've ever made, with many thanks to the sbaf community for so many detailed impressions on it, and a special thanks to @k4rstar for helping me seal the deal a while back on Discord. My other sources include just a Macbook Pro, iPhone 6, and a GOV2+. The ZX2 is just a very special source to me, and it is more than synergetic with the Andromeda.

The ZX2 it just plain impressive with its imaging and stage. MBP and iPhone are artifically wide with little depth and lifeless sounding. GOV2+ is great, but the zx2 does everything it does but better with a smoother, more organic response. Listening to my CD rips, it is so precise that I can tell when things in a mix are just slightly off-center, and the seperation/layering is just sublime, making it super easy to follow instruments and hear just about everything in a recording. It really demonstrates the Andromeda's own imaging ability, with a headstage that is as big as it is precise. No weird holes or gaps in the sound; just a unified picture of multiple, cleanly seperated instruments and sound. Microdetail/plankton is also very strong. Just effortlessly resolves the different timbres of instruments, and makes it pretty believable. The stage changes with every album; it can be intimate and studio-like, or huge when listening to a live recording, gathering all the spatial cues, echos, and decays. All of this just equals hours of extremely enjoyable and entertaining music listening. I do use a UE buffer jack to kill the hiss since I use the zx2 often in quiet places, but the hiss/noise isn't that noticable in a plane, bus, or outside. The buffer jack also lessens the bass and brightens things up a tad, which I personally prefer given the ZX2's 1.5 ohm OI that makes andro a little bassy.

I'm very satisfied with this combo, and its the portable dream I've always wanted. If I ever upgrade, it will only be if something comes out that is substantially better at the same or better value. I still lust over more expensive DAPs and IEMs that supossedly sound better, but it's hard to justify spending even more money when I already have something that sounds as good as this. Might buy a WM1A one day, but I think Andromeda is going to be with me for a long tome.

 

^ try turning off Sound Adjustment in ZX2. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. The difference to me was not subtle at all.

 

I have everything forced off. I was blown away when I initially forced it off a while ago. It was like cleaning your glasses and putting them back on to see just how dirty your vision was lol

 

Oh, I see. In my case, the process seemed to come back every now and then and killed everything again, so I just followed what Head-fi suggested and disabled it instead. But even then, it seemed to come back after a restart (like if the device ran out of battery and then turned back on when it was plugged in to charge). So I ended up having to enable it, restart, then disable it again. Dealing with it was crazy.

I ultimately chose to root the device and use Tasker to automate the whole enable/disable process for myself. It didn't seem enough to just force the process to disable. Maybe it's just because I'm on an earlier firmware or something. Read on Head-fi there are a bunch of firmware revisions.

It may just be me, though. Most of it is just the hiss that I'm really sensitive to, and with enhancements on, there was very audible hiss to me even when there's nothing playing.

When I first heard the ZX2 without knowing about this trick, I didn't really want to consider it honestly. Then @brencho let me try his ZX2 with all of the enhancements off and it pushed me over.

 

My battery has died when I forget to turn wifi off/airplane mode on, and when I go back to turn SE off, its still labled as "disabled". I think it's pretty obvious when it's functioning now that I know what to listen for. Like, if you listen to something like spoken word or a solo vocalist that hasn't been touched or EQ'd at all, there's added reverb. It's pretty F'd up.

I must have a different version of the firmware. I do remember it being much more noisy with enhancements on, but even after forcing it off, it still hissed. About on par with the iPhone 6 but much less than the V2+. It really isn't that bad. I think I'm just a bit of a stickler when it comes to noise.

 

Hello all.... Over the past few weeks I've been bouncing around this thread but have likely missed a few pages here and there. I've had the Adromedas for a week now and love them but recognize the need to consider impedance requirements while matching sources. This is my first IEM. My current headphone system is straight forward but it's end game for me (for a while) and took months of trial and error (returns) to find the sound that works best for me. I run HD 800s off a Woo Audio WA8 fed by my Mac or iPhone SE using Tidal Hifi/MQA. Even though I listen to all types of music for enjoyment and testing equipment I primarily listen to classical, jazz and folk acoustic while working and reading with headphones. I travel with my job and spend a few nights a week in hotels where I can listen for hours without being interrupted by my kids. My current set up is fantastic and technically transportable but the HD 800s is a huge headphone and the WA8 is solid but being a tube amp I do get nervous carrying it around (it probably looks funny going through security at the airport too). So now I'm looking for the end game IEM set up centered around the Andromedas (I bought iSINE 20's with the cypher cable to but that's a different story).

As pointed out by many on this thread the CA's sound good running straight off my iphone but I know I can do much better. I have a Chord Mojo which I would return if I could since I really don't have a use for it. It paired nicely with the JH Angies I had but I returned them but can not return the Mojo. I like a complete sound but the Mojo is way to warm and there's too much base for my taste. Impendence be damned they sound killer with my WA8 but I would rather not travel with it any more.


So my question.......... I do not want to spend months chasing incremental improvements this time around. I'd rather spend up front and be done with it going straight to my IEM end game. The search is fun but it's a distraction from work and I want to get back to listening to my music and not the equipment. I have a Chord Hugo 2 on hold that I ordered before understanding the impedence requirements of the CA's. I can still get out of it, or return it if it does not pair well but I'd rather not do that to company I'm buying it from if I know it will be a bad pairing.


With this background, I'd be interested to hear other views on transportable end game solutions. I'm good for up to $3K for amps/dacs/dap. Knowing my WA8 covers my desire for tubes, I think it's between the Chord Hugo 2 (maybe I'll need to add a IEMatch) or the Sony ZX2 which would be my first DAP. The Hugo 2 is brand new and is suppose to sound great but I can not find any views regarding IEM's that are this sensitive. I would frankly rather avoid a DAP if I can get as good or better sound running off my MAC or iPhone but if the sound is really that good I may do it. I'm off work this week and want to be at end of job before returning to work. Size is not much of an issue since I travel with a large briefcase but it all needs to run off batteries when necessary.

So, within reason, if price was not an issue what would you buy to knock your socks off?

 

ZX2 or whatever the new TOTL Sony is.