Cascade by Campfire Audio

Just got mine. Won't comment on the sound yet, but I've got a huge head and even at maximum yoke extension, the bottoms of the earpads either sit on my earlobes or I have to tuck them in. It's not uncomfortable, but not ideal. Not sure I'll be keeping these, which is a shame because I've been looking for a good portable headphone for travel.

 

Hey Blackships,

wow you must have a big head we tested with some of the largest heads we can find. Let me look into making a longer slider before you give up on them. The slider is super easy to replace.

Thanks

Ken

 

That would be awesome! I do in fact have a very, very large head. Longer sliders would definitely solve the fit issue.

 

I am getting a quote now from my tooling guy

Unfortunately tooling can take some time to make but Im on it...

Ken

 

@KenBall Actual picture of blackships, for reference:

 

@blackships how big is your head? I’m 64cm and wondering about the cascades

 

I feel small and inferior, when I put the sliders all the way down and put them on my head the pads are way below my ears, so yeah you have a gigantic brain and cranium ;-)

But were working on having some longer sliders made for giant peoples!

Ken

 

Can anyone Photoshop some headphones on this dude?

 

He wears them under chin.

 

He's probably listening to the Violent Femmes - "Big hands, I know you're the one."

 

Just got mine in and initial impressions are surprisingly positive. There seems to be a sizeable bass boost starting at around 150-200hz. This does muddy the midrange sound a bit, but it's a worthwhile trade-off for the impact in my opinion, at least on the electronica and hard rock/metal I gravitate to. I was expecting a blown-tweeter type sound but the treble seems to be reasonably well represented. They do in fact remind me of my Vega with the stock campfire foam tips, but more comfortable and with slightly more polite treble. I would rather listen to these than my aeon closed for sure....more natural timbre and oodles more bass impact.

I have no issues with comfort or fit, they're pretty lightweight

 

Cascasde by Campfire Audio: Fatheaded Freak Edition

 

Oh hell I have nothing better to do.

 

Thinking, "Headphones sound great, but this Shatner album sucks."

 

Now thats great, you want to continually engineer the product as feedback is given. Campfire Audio you have my attention.

 

It actually looks like the clamping force is squishing his head....I DO recognize that guy from Star Trek though!

I AM looking forward to hearing these at CanJam either way.

 

Some quick measurement graphs. Usual disclaimer: I'm a noob who sucks at measurements. Also the pads are pretty squishy/compliant and it is tricky to get them at the exact same position from channel to channel, therefore do not hold the imbalances against campfire, it's probably my fault, even though it still looks pretty close anyway. Additionally, the cups don't really swivel freely, they kind of get held in place by friction so they don't just readily clamp to a flat plate like a lot of headphones. I will try to put together an actual review when I get more time.

 

That BASS! I'm at a loss of explanation of why these headphones are not tuned like the andromedas, which I feel is the most highly regarded and successful product they have released? I'll hear these next week at canjam on units that are burnt in. Still confused why its tuned like that. Are closed cans expected to have a ton of bass?

 

Remember, the Andromedas (and to a certain extent all of their IEM's) are just as bassy from a very low OI source such as their own Alo Audio portable amps. I assume that's the sound signature Ken intended for the Andromeda's but it just so happened that we discovered that we can get a more neutral tuning from higher OI devices like iPhone 6's and ZX2's.