Cascade by Campfire Audio

Your not a freak Blackships!, I should have made this slider for the 5% of people who are giants. Now that we have proofed out the longer part we are proceeding to production, stand by.

Thank you for your assistance on the matter,

Ken

 

This is why I love Ken and Campfire audio!

 

What a great heaphone

I was wondering if at all bigger pads will be offered by campfire, this headphone sound changes with the degree of angling the pads, or position of the pads over the ears, and I see why some people with bigger ears might wish to have bigger pads,

What I wish for in terms of getting to perfection status , is bigger pads, better headband that can be used without all the moving parts as to me any slight change in the positions of the pads can yield a different sound

on another note how can the headband be removed

 

Hey all - I could use some thoughts on whether I should pick up the Cascades, Andro's or Atlas? I am not a big fan of strong bass, but I appreciate it at neutral or ever so slightly elevated levels. I am not at all a "bass head." I like warmer sounds, but neutral works too, as I can adjust it with an amp to some degree. I am new to the hobby and still learning, so this is an exciting next step for me and the above three options seem a good way to move up to the next level.

I have an OPPO HA2-SE right now for portable DAC/AMP.

Appreciate any advice on these Campfire options (or indeed other options).

 

If you haven't seen the other Cascade measurements/impressions thread, check that out first. I was on the Cascade loaner tour and I am going to be posting my own impressions in there soon too. I also own Andromeda (haven't heard Atlas). My take is that if you don't like bassy headphones, probably skip Cascade. @cskippy did a mod to make the Cascade less bassy (shown in the other thread), and I tried it and it really does reduce the bass, but it is still north of neutral and what I consider to be a bassy headphone. It seems like a waste to go for the Cascade if you aren't particularly into bass as that is really its specialty.

I'm not sure if you have previous experience with IEMs, but keep in mind IEMs are just very different in sound/feel than over-ears and you should definitely be sure you are ok with how they fit and that isolating, closed in sound they will produce. Even though Andromeda has a really nice soundstage and airy sound to it, it still sounds like an IEM. In terms of tonal balance, Andromeda can tend to have a slightly V-shaped response, but really not that far off "neutral" and how much bass it has can be adjusted to taste based on source gear, tips, and even cable impedance. In my experience, the bass can range from just a tad polite or thin to tastefully elevated, but it never sounds bass anemic or basshead slamming. So that actually might work well for you. I haven't seen many impressions of Andro with HA2-SE, but I would almost guarantee you would hear some level of hiss straight from that source. If you get an impedance adapter like the iFi iEMatch that should help it a lot. The Andromeda is overall and excellent sounding IEM, but going into it you have to be aware of how sensitive it is to source, tips, and cables. So if you are not the type of person that wants to fuss around with experimenting with those things it can be a turn off. However, if you are ok with that, you are rewarded with an IEM that can adjust to your specific preferences and just sound "right" once you have it settled.

 

Very helpful @I_want_all_the_tacos - appreciate your reply. To be totally honest, my only IEM experience is with my current 1More Quad Driver in ears, which to my uninitiated ear sound amazing. I wear them for, literally, 8+ hours a day for everything. I am looking for something to take that experience much higher.

I have used Beo Play H8 for some time, but they seem mediocre and really uncomfortable. I also had the Audeze LCD-2 Classic for a week or so, but I really disliked their comfort, fit, size, sound, recessed mids and overall experience. My favorite over ears I tried so far are the HD660S, which I thought were awesome. Just looking to take it up a couple notches. Depending on the price of the IEM's/Headphones, I am open to buying a new Amp/Dac and have been researching those too. Lots to learn and excited to progress. That feeling when you hear the music you have known and loved for decades in ways you never knew were even possible, is addicting, to say the least.

One more thing I am wondering is if the Cascade bass can be tamed with the provided filters?

 

The included filters all INCREASE the bass to some extent. Really, the best way to tame the bass is cskippy's mod. You can see from the FR comparison that it does an excellent job of only reducing bass and not messing with the other frequencies. It is essentially just causing a break in the seal of the magnetic pads attached to the drivers.

If you are already used to IEMs and it sounds like you might even prefer them for comfort, the Andromeda could definitely be a good pick for you. Take some time and read through the dedicated Andromeda thread. It is long, but I read every single post in there before purchasing my Andromedas a few weeks ago and all the info is really helpful.

 

Yup, felt ring or EQ is the only way to make Cascade "neutral". Andromeda is a lot closer with the right tips and source. I use medium Spin Fits, stock litz cable and ADI-2 DAC. You can also use IEMatch or UE Buffer Jack to reduce the bass.

 

I guess when breaking the seal there will be sound leakage out and in, so if I would only take out the white filters, would you suggest doing that or does it mess up with the sound too much?

 

I can't check to see if there is more sound leakage with the felt ring but the break in seal is so minor, I can't imagine there's much leak at all.

There is a non removable filter on the pad that should not be removed. It will make them really v shaped. See my review.

The additional filters should also not be used as they add more bass.

 

Awesome - thanks all.

 

No offense intended, but if this is the case, why don't manufacturers do this before selling them?

 

Think about the time, manpower, and extra equipment required to burn in each and every headphone. That's just an unreasonable expectation IMO. Just enjoy the break in period.

 

Some people really enjoy to track sound quality changes early on for instance.

 

I suppose that would depend on the price of the headphones, but I do see your point. If getting them at their best would drive the costs even higher, then I would probably just get them as is and do the burn in myself.

 

Most expensive part of it would be having the space to have a bunch of headphones connected to powerful amplifiers to actually burn them in for the 72+ hours. You'd need enough space to handle whatever your regular output of headphones is, plus a bit of extra space incase you get a bunch you need to burn in at once and not experience back order.

Best case scenario (for consumer), costs stay the same, and your headphones get delayed an extra 3 days because predicting demand is painful and they're not gonna burn in headphones pre-order. Worst case scenario is all of that time, overhead, and uncertainty (in terms of supply/demand delay; 3 days is a LONG lag time for some businesses) gets tacked onto the bill.

I'd rather just burn them in myself and see how they perform over the first week I have them and save the nice folks over at Campfire the trouble. Can't ask them to do much more after the top tier customer service I've received from them.

 

I tried these today. The pluck of an upright bass was like a shotgun blast to the side of the head. I like a little extra down below but my god.

 

Regarding bass, the fabric pads make a big difference. They still have solid bass but it's no longer overwhelming. I also tried the felt mod in the other thread but the pads have the best sound for me. I can hear a lot more detail and clarity now.

I find the headband starts hurting my head after 45+ minutes of use. Has anyone tried modding these for top of the head comfort?

 

Figured I'd necro this thread since Cascades are no longer on backorder most places and can actually be obtained.

Here are my measurements bone stock (haven't tested any alternative filters of pads offered) -



Tone sounds like it measures - clearly evident midbass boost, decent sub extension, slightly withdrawn lower mids, bit of extra sparkle up top. They're not fatiguing at normal listening levels by any means, but that's mostly because fatigue starts from the boosted lows as you crank it before the mids or highs. It's a 'fun' V-shaped sig with decent dynamic control overall, good imaging though unremarkable stage, sounds similar from most sources, though the resolve and tightness scales up just a little bit. Great sig for portable/travel use, comfortable, decent isolation. Excellent alternative for those scared of IEMs (I have many customers who are squigged out by the idea of deep insertion)

This is a lot like the Atlas/Vega IEM in a headphone. Tone's actually vaguely similar to Focal Stellia, but ever-so-slightly more V-shaped. I like the Cascades better than most closed-back headphones off-the-shelf with no mods, and I think they show great potential. If not for my modded TH900s I would probably be head-over-heels for the bass here, it's got great texture and control in this class.

Not sure if I'll explore mods on these or not. Broken seal very evenly shelves down everything <400hz, but makes the sub rolloff more evident -



Pad swap might be all that's needed - maybe partially perforated pads? Cups so shallow, not much room to work with damping-wise.

 

Seems as if they were tuned by someone who uses glasses