New Campfire Audio IEMs

@KenBall Hey Ken. How do the dimensions of the housing and nozzles on the new IEMs compare to Andromeda/Orion/etc. aside from removing the facets? I haven't tried anything from your lineup yet primarily due to concerns about shallow depth of insertion.

 

Interesting tidbit about the Dorado:
On the Dorado's there's no filter on the dynamic driver so it also plays in the HF spectrum where the balanced armatures take lead. As the DD settles in it becomes more coherent with the two BA's. It's a unique approach to a hybrid IEM. Cheers

Coherency is always a problem concerning hybrids in my experience, hell even most multi BA setups I notice incoherence. This makes it so tough for me to decide on which IEM i'm most interested in.......Hopefully i can try the lineup soon.

 

All of @Kunlun's dynamic driver talk is making making me think the Lyra might possibly be in my price range...

 

This is really intriguing because I thought I was the only person on SBAF who liked the Lyra, haha. It's been my daily driver for IEM use for months and I preferred it over the Dunu BA hybrid designs. Never tried Andromeda, but I've never minded the Lyra's sound signature like others have - though I always thought it could use some more sub bass (and a MAAAAYBE a tiny tiny bit less mid bass). The Vega sounds right up my alley.

 

If you make it down to the SBAF meet, you'll get a chance to listen to them. I'll give them a listen to compare with my Andromedas. This will be a treat.

 

Some further notes:

Comply->Generic foam->Spiral Dots for me. There's already a mesh built into the IEM, unlike the Andro, so I thought putting a Comply on it with its own mesh would muffle the sound but that doesn't seem to be the case at all. Spiral Dots made the highs harsh. The included foams have no mesh of their own so you may find those to be a good compromise.

The Vegas sound terrific with both my Modi Multibit/Joti and my GOV2+. It sounds good with the Pono but the Pono isn't up to the level of those other components. So the OI is definitely less of an issue here. I will of course report back with how they sound with the ZX2 once that arrives.

Mine are still burning in but I've been listening to them nonstop for about 3 hours. I alternate between critical listening and just kicking back and enjoying it. I'm hearing a lot of what @Kunlun described in his post of the benefits of DD. Definitely more decay than the Orions or Andros, and the bass extends way down low and absolutely slams. A very different sound sig from the Andromeda.

Oh and I've been running them balanced this whole time. Didn't even unwind the included cable since everything I have for IEMs has a balanced option.

 

What type of sound signature are we talking about?
Any familiar full size headphone that would be close?

 

It's probably easiest to compare these with the Andromedas, since that's a point of reference a lot of people here have heard. To me, the Andromedas are the cream of the crop for BA IEMs (although I haven't heard some well regarded TOTL IEMs like the Deca). They're excellently balanced, without any one element of the FR standing out, they have a wide and deep soundstage, and of course tons of detail.

Unlike the Andromedas, the Vegas have one area of the FR that stands out more than the rest. These things are bassy. Really bassy. This is easily the lowest extending and most impactful bass of any transducer I own. That being said, I don't feel like it overwhelms the mids, which I normally find to be the case with bass-heavy cans. So while the bass stands out, it's not overwhelming the rest of the sound. Still, I can see this being too much for some people.

I don't get the feeling of listening to speakers like I did with the Andro. These are closer in, and feel denser because of the bass quantity. Basically smaller soundstage and less air. The details are there but I'm finding with these that I'm tending to focus on certain elements within a track instead of letting it all wash over me like I could with the Andros. So it's not just a different FR, but also a different presentation. This is definitely not a "super Andro"; they are alternatives (and @KenBall has said as much on HF). The Andromedas are best in class for BA, and I haven't heard TOTL DD IEMs so I cannot say for sure that the Vegas are also best in class, but I can say that they easily keep pace with the Andros and do some things better due to the differences in driver types. It sounds to me like Ken would have priced the Vegas the same as the Andros if he could, but the R&D and material cost drove the price up. I think it's more a case of having a DD flagship and a BA flagship instead of the Vegas supplanting the Andromedas.

The more natural decay of the DD and the tone/timbre are hypnotic. Some songs I was trying to analyze and I just stopped to listen.

I'm not sure what full sized cans I'd compare these to. Maybe you could frankenstein together a comparison from various qualities of other full sized cans, but I'm not thinking of a specific single over ear that I would directly compare these to. I remember Marv said that the Andros had the tonality of the HD600 with the technicalities of the HD800. The Vegas are as technically capable as the Andros, but I'm not sure what I'd compare it to for tone.

 

Exactly right regarding the tips and the foam versus silicone trade-offs. A good quality foam tip, like the ones Ken includes (or the Comply) really make these IEMs sing. Silicone tips, even the SpinFits, give the CA IEM's, well, fits. My experience is with the Dorado's, but I've heard from Ken it's the same with the Vega's and Merrick's experience seems to match.

I also agree with the observation that the new CA IEMs (again the Dorado instead of the Vega - that model is on its way) are not the tops in terms of soundstage, but that they paint a really enjoyable picture. I've heard the Andro's and they are imaging machines, and you notice it, but with the Dorado's I was not distracted by the size of the stage - it just worked and was enjoyable. The detail retrieval and natural decay of the DD really makes these really engaging and, dare I say, fun.

Ken's done well with these IMHO. Cheers

 

How's the treble compared with the Andros?

 

Harsh with the Spiral Dots (and I'm assuming Spin Fits based on what @mscott58 just mentioned), but smooth with the foam tips. Not smoothed over. I believe Ken told someone in the HF thread that there is a bump around 13 kHz and then it begins to roll off.

 

@KenBall

Thanks for your reply. So they are different flavors rather than one being superior to another. I've only had the Andros for a couple days but I'm already immensely enjoying its sound, especially its open and airy sound with a big soundstage for an IEM, I'm not sure if the Vega would be a substantial upgrade.

One more thing. I noticed that Vega has a lower sensitivity than Andros. With my limited experience (and what others have said), the Andros seem very efficient and can easily be driven out an iPhone or a DAP of modest power to spectacular performance without the need of a separate, dedicated amp or going balanced. On the other hand, I believe a guy on HF said that you said Vega does benefit from lots of juice and preferably a balanced connection for maximal performance.

Could you elaborate on this? In contrast to Andro, which already has superb baseline performance and doesn't really need a separate amp to scale much higher, are you saying that one should consider a portable amp (preferably balanced with lots of power) to get the best out of Vega?

 

That's what I read either here of head-fi. They will benefit from amping.

 

Yep. If they're like the Dorado's (which is their half-brother, so to speak) they definitely benefit big-time from amping. Out of the ip7 the Dorado's were only mediocre. Out of the ALO CV5 or CDM they're exceptional. Listening to the Dorado's right now through the CDM using Mullard 6112's. I'm only running SE right now as I don't yet have a 2.5mm TRRS to MMCX cable - but one is on the way.

Good stuff! Cheers

 

Mine aren't coming until tomorrow... At least I will have them for the weekend. I was going to take the day off tomorrow to enjoy them, but now I must come to work, so I might as well stay the day.

 

@Merrick Are you detecting any noticeable peakiness in the treble with the Vega?

 

No, I listened for probably a total of 8 hours yesterday and never felt that the sound was harsh or fatiguing anywhere in the spectrum. This is again with the foam tips. Silicone did feel peaky to me.

 

I hate foamies. I hope I don't get bothered my peaks, I'm not that sensitive to them normally. Have no issues with the Th900.

 

Sorry if I missed it, but could you please compare the treble of the Andro and vega?