Impressions Campfire Audio 2023/2025 Chromatics, Black Star and more

Also interested in seeing some impresions comparing the Black Star, Bonneville and (either) Andro OG or Solaris OG.

 

Just curious on the new even more pricier Andromeda "Emerald Sea." That price jump is ewwww.

 

He's got 3 TOTL dynamic/BA hybrids with little explanation of what the difference is. Black Star, Bonneville and the new Solaris. Makes me want to hear CA iems again and hear all 3 together.

 

I have the Black Star, but nothing to compare with currently in that realm of design. My best 'take' is that they are a full-bodied Solaris. More bass weight and heft. The new driver can move a good amount of air while the PR's keep everything in a very good balance. Any Campfire fan should really enjoy the Black Star. I'm guessing it is a situation like the Andro / Andro Gold - with the Black Star being a Dr. Franky of something Solaris and something Bonneville? Haven't heard the Bonny, and it's been very long for the Solairs - but it is easy to hear the CA DNA.

Hopefully some better comparisons come in - I'm quite curious also.

 

Nice to see a dedicated thread for this series here. I have the Bonneville and I shared some impressions in another thread here a couple months ago which I've quoted below...not a lot to add on that front. IMHO a highly enjoyable set. I think CFA have really hit on something good with this new bass driver they've developed and which is present in the Bonneville, Black Star and Cascara. It's a cleaner, quicker more controlled bass response than earlier drivers they've used and it manages to be very satisfying in its impact timbre, and decay-- and even in IEMs where its. allowed to flex a bit (in the Bonneville and Cascara) there is minimal interference into the midrange. I've since purchased the Cascara and am quite happy with them. Nice bombastic "fun sounding" set that extends really nice down low, pretty decenly up top and has a fairly open and present midrange. Cascara is probably my favorite of the CFA single DDs that I've heard. I owned an earlier version of the Supermoon and have not heard the Ponderosa or the Black Star. Black Star from what I've gathered from a few of my friends who have one is probably the IEM out of all their current crop that will most satisfy "netural heads" or fans of the OG Solaris.

 

The Cascara peaks my interest, particularly cause it comes in a custom fit as well. It's been awhile since I've seen a dynamic driver CIEM (I almost put money down for a Futuresonics MG5HX about a year back).

Do you have any thoughts on the Cascara compared to perhaps the JVC FDX1 or Moondrop Kato, in terms of sound signature? I remember trying the Atlas back when it was released and leaving unimpressed (the huge bass emphasis was overwhelming the mids to my ears).

 

I've owned both the Kato and the Atlas in the past though I've not heard either in years. I've never heard the FDX1. I was never particularly fond of the Kato-- that dry-ish Harman tuning isn't really my thing. I also found Atlas too bloated in the mid-bass and veiled in the mids. The Cascara is more like the Atlas than the Kato in that it's more bombastic and bass driven as per CFA house sound...however unlike the Atlas the Cascara has this new driver and the bass/sound is tighter, faster, more controlled and doesn't get in the way of the mids. It's a nice evolution of CFA's DD driven house sound imho and is a fairly even keeled presentation all things considered... however if you're seeking something more reference or neutral oriented...I'm not sure if this will be for you. Definitely worth a demo though. (Hope this helps.)

 

I listened to some of the CFA lineup at an audio show last year. The Orbit, Andromeda Emerald Sea, Supermoon, and the Trifecta Astral Plane. CFA also had the Solaris, but I don’t think I got around to that one. The ear tips they used were great. That was the first time I felt like an IEM fit and was comfortable.

Before I get too far, I want to say I have very little experience with IEMs. I have tried IEMS at meets, and did own an older version of the Apple airpod which I didn’t like. IEMS would always fall out or feel like they were falling out and generally IEMS have not made for an enjoyable experience for me.

I don’t understand what I experienced with the Trifecta. It somewhat reminded me of the prank I played as a child on my dad messing around with his stereo Equalizer box. There were odd recesses (Unsure if right term) that made parts of the bass and treble stand out unpleasantly. I wish I had better words and memory to better describe it but it was just strange.

My experience with the CFA Supermoon was the complete opposite. Exciting from top to bottom timbre. It had real presence, and rich vocal presentation that I enjoyed.

More context. This was in between going back and forth from the Stax SRX-9000, ZMF Caldera, Audeze CBRN, Utopia on big zOTL amps. My impressions were more than likely influenced by those experiences.

 

You wouldn't be alone in finding this with the occasional Campfire IEM. I had that experience with the Dorado 2020. I've not paid close attention but I've seen widely differing impressions of the Trifecta, so I suspect its tuning is polarizing. Some trusted ears like @Rockwell love it. I'd have suggested that you might have needed a more powerful source to drive the Trifecta properly, but I doubt that's the case since you had a good experience with the Supermoon, which needs a decent amount of juice.

I'm excited to try out the latest in the Campfire lineup at CanJam in a couple of months' time.

 

The Trifecta isn't hard to drive at all, like most CFA sets. I owned the Supermoon for a while and they're nothing alike. Supermoon is a lot brighter and the biggest complaint I've seen from folks is that it has a hint (or more depending on your source and ears) of metallic timbre in the uppermids and highs. I never had this issue so much myself.

The Trifecta is oe of the most divisive IEMs out there-- and for some it's just a matter of listening to it for a bit until your brain adjusts to what it's hearing. People after a more neutral sound will probably not enjoy it as much. Source is also a major factor. Ken Ball tuned it using the Sony WM1Z, which I've recently aquired, and find the synergy exceptional. There are definitely some peaks and dips in the upper frequencies but to my ears it helps with staging and makes the tuning more exciting-- nothing feels missing to my ears, though I imagine your music library will be another huge factor. The tuning is definitely nowhere near as egregious as the Dorado 2020, which I also owned for a while. Graphs of this IEM can vary dependign on the rig and who is doing it but this one seems fairly consistent with what I hear:



Trifecta excels at classic rock, jazz, small ensemble, acoustic. Instrumental timbre is some of the best out there imho. The slower DDs in it make it perhaps a bad fit for really busy orchestral music or intense electronica. However the capacity of this IEM to "move air" and covince you you're at a real live event is second to none.

I've written my own review of the Trifecta, which you can read here but to this day I think my favorite "quick summary" of this IEM came from Head Fi user JS27 (who is on SBAF somewhere under a different name that I don't recall...maybe he'll see this and chime in) and which I'll just cut and paste here:

"This is potentially the most unapologetic Campfire Audio expression ever. If that makes your heart soar or a super-sour frown shows up on your face.....go with that.

Like Folkvangr a few months back, with an admitted precious few minutes in.....this is an odd but staggeringly awesome set for a particular (and awesome) set of individuals.

It looks like something you win getting pure platinum on Bayonetta.

It sounds like the best possible audio endpoint you could dream in 1993. It tells it's story with very analog - dynamic driver - organic pre-2010 R2R hallmarks. It will sound wooly and bleedy to those that worship at the alter of Our Lady of Balanced Armature. It does not into sparkle of EXT's. It does not reverberate from the silent, inky void where Planars ferry their magnetic souls. It is a wonderous, enveloping, swirling, resolving cloud of 2022-level special effects on top of the simple, warm, organic heart of the DD sound. This is a dream from Hi-Fi future as dared to be imagined by 1979.

It has....by my lights as a jerk-ass typing on the internets...."TOTL worthy" traits. As someone who has spent a Scrooge McDuck-like fortune on audio stuffs over 20+ years.....they've been on my ears for every second on the three hours I've had them from a sense of fun and "Oh, let me listen to...X". Not much lands there for me....this is definitely something. It's playing all genres with fun and love in it's shiny little heart. It's full-stop an eclectic approach...but damn it's something.

Tone: Warm, analog, boomy/roundly percussive. It's got a helping of the classic-tube gold and honey. A bit of sunshine without being bright in the sense of old school-grado/beyerdynamic. This is probably going to be the make or break for those lucky few putting ears on this set......it's an approach to tone that could be called Two Channel Heaven if you dig or the most Hi-Fi Lo-Fi sound you'll ever hear if you don't. No matter the driver type, a lot of current tone voicing tends to accentuate decay, weight, clarity, color......when I listen to the Atriums or Advars, I feel like I'm in the drum-skin. You feel the brush work, you hear the depth. On Trifecta, your experience is often the reverb-laden space right off the instrument.....the interior of the drum, the buzz over the strings of a guitar. It's expressive and evocative of an earlier style of voicing.....but may seem a little syrupy/one-note for those who most enjoy chasing depth/texture ala' BA or Planar set-ups. Not saying tone is a weakness here....it's just a different approach than most modern TOTL-style voicings. It's a E88CC Gold Lion affair.

Frequency: Mild/mid-mild V. The bass....she a boomin'. This is a wide-range and expressive bass tuning......but it's much more in the vein of a woosh-of-air thump from a two channel than the heavy, down-into-the void rumble and texture of the Z1R or XE6. Mids are a step or two back depending on the mix being feed.....not the star of the show, but a solid presentation. The most modern part of the tuning is the swell into the mid-high and treble the gives definition against the mids and a sense of some lift if not outright air.....but is not sibilant/aggressive. Think Z1R with mids pushed up a notch and treble down one or two. It presents a lot of energy without being fatiguing via tone/tuning.

Special Effect/Technical: The warm/boomy vintage tone can lead one to think that the technicals are so-so on first listen.......but the Trifecta, in my humble ear-holes, is a surprise technical powerhouse for a DD design. It's highly resolving. It images and spaces amongst the best IEM's I've heard, and handles complexity and layering with e-a-s-e. It's the widest stage I've heard in an IEM and plenty holographic. More wide than tall. Against the Z1R as an IEM touch-stone in this category, the Z1R is taller with a cathedral-like effect but not as wide. The Trifecta's presentation is most akin....in terms of what I've heard over the years....to an IEM HD800. Not tone/tuning.....but that nebulous cloud of sound staging. Like the HD800, it can seem artificially stretched on certain mixes (which may or may not be a concern to you).....but it's like nothing else I've ever heard on an IEM for complex or expansive/orchestral mixes. To me, this category is the point of the Trifecta....and like the tone it won't be for everyone. But children......it's straight f##$ing magic golden cosmic fire with certain mixes.

What does it work with?: Trifecta...for me....is working with all genres. It can into delicate....it can into rock/metal. It has plenty of speed and layering. It's really more mix dependent. The Trifecta is not the candidate to go pick apart mid-compressed rock/metal/pop tracks.....like the Z1R, you're going to feel like something is off-balance with scooped/hollow mids (though Trifecta gets you a lot further with a lot more music in this category than the Z1R). But if the mix...any genre...presents good articulation around the instruments or layers......holy hall of sound gods does the Trifecta just grab everything and explode it out into an all-detail-revealed golden cloud of sound.

Intimate solo presentations or small jazz club acoustics.......no issue, Trifecta works big and small. But let me cut to the chase......if an album is instrument-forward, has 6 tracks, and is 90 minutes long.......Trifecta is its soul mate. Prog. Doom. Orchestral. Stoner. Trifecta is like being at a laser-light show in God's planetarium. Earthless?.....MAGIC. King Gizzard and the Wizard Lizard......MAGIC. Gentle Giant?.........MAGIC. Elder?.......MAGIC. Porcupine Tree?....MAGIC. Woobler?......MAGIC. Later-day Opeth?.......MAGIC. If an album plays to 70's style organic-synth electronica.......it's like Trifecta was made for it. Tangerine Dream or John Carpenter sound tracks......unbelievably awesome in presentation."

 

I have a set of Bonnevilles cIEM's. Caveat: I am old (in my 40's) and my hearing is declining. I have had a fair number of IEM's over the years, Etymotic everything, 64audio N8, Futuresonics MG5hx, Campfire all kinds of stuff to include Vega, Equinox, and now Bonneville; as you can see I like bass.

I also like the Bonneville. It's bright and has less bass emphasis than Equinox, especially around 100hz. I think Bonneville is somewhat V shaped; what I do like about it compared to Equionx is that the midbass is more controlled which allows the sub-bass to come through with a bit more thump, and also the midrange to be more present. The other edge of that sword is that I detect a lot of energy in the 3-5khz range. I don't think Bonneville will be real popular on SBAF because there's a bit of bite to the cymbals, and if my old ass can hear that....you younger folks will probably be sensitive to it. The Equinox, in contrast to Bonneville, sounds like the Campfire Cascade full sized headphones to me....no doubt a bit too boosted in the ~100-150hz range for some tastes, almost an ever present low-end hum because of it. Bonneville avoids that, giving good sub-bass impact while maintaing air in the midbass and low mids that sounds much less congested.

I still like Equionx/Cascade for the right type of music, fun for metal or EDM. The Bonneville on the other hand, is more midrange present while still having some good sub-100hz thump to my ear. I was dissapointed when I first heard it because I thought it was too bright. This was because I had been acclimated for a year or so to the Equinox. I became accustomed to the Bonnevile over a few days, and now, in A/B comparisons the Bonneville does resemble my 2019 HD650 tonally in the midrange. In rock/metal with a lot of crunchy guitars the HD650 does sound congested compared to Bonneville, and the Bonneville adds some actual subbass growl and additional clarity (or elevated high-end hissiness, depending on how sensitive you are to it). Much thicker and full sounds than my HD800 resonator mod and much less bloated and balanced than than the Cascade.

So I dunno, would I buy Bonneville again considering the price tag? Maybe, but either way I'm glad Campfire is continuing to develop really high end IEM's and I think, especially maybe for older guys who aren't as sensitive to high frequency energy, it's actually really nice.

Just an honest review, but take it with a grain of salt, I hold myself out as no expert.

Edit to add: after a lot of A/Bing Bonneville vs my 2019 HD650, HD800, and Ether Flow Open, I think they sound most like the Ether Flow Open.....V shaped, with a similair treble peakiness around 4k? I think the Bonneville has better extended subbass at the expense of some visceral thump compared to the full sized Ether Flow. I know Ether Flow Open (the 1.1?) wasn't well loved here so that tracks with my expectation of Bonneville's likely SBAF reception.