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

I’m still waiting for my Symbio tips to arrive.

 

I think I mentioned it before, but I get better bass with Spinfits than Symbios (moar, and punchier). Fit is more secure and isolation is better, but I went back to the Spinfits.

I received a couple of orders in a little over 2 weeks with the free shipping. Taiwan Post is pretty fast, so maybe the delay you guys are seeing is on the USPS end.

 

Perhaps I got a dud symbio, but mine has a certain hump near the peak, where the foam ends and the harder silicon starts. This hump puts a higher pressure on the ear and makes it uncomfortable.



I do not have this issue on the small bore medium size symbios that I have on my SM64 and they're smooth throughout.

And this is why I personally use just the JVC Spiral Dots. Comfiest tips for the Andromeda, barring complys.

 

Going on with my impressions, this time using the balanced output of WM1A:

Yes, the hype is real. Sony DAP's are meant to be played using the balanced out. Even I as a true soundstage-imbecile can notice the widening of the soundstage. Also, the instrument separation is noticably better without losing the musicality. The tad bassy output from the SE is much closer to neutral using the balanced out and I did not feel the evil urge to EQ, not even once! This, my friends, is pure audio nirvana to my ears...

And all this cost me a mere 30 bucks incl. shipping. The cable was the basic brainwavz copper cable with 2.5mm jack and the adapter is the iBasso CA02. Both of them connect very securely on both ends without any misfittings, which is the synonym of most of the no-name chinese aliexpress thingies. I'll probably order a proper cable from impact audio after a few months, but for now I can heartily recommend this combo for trying the balanced output without breaking the bank.

I'll do some more A/B'ing with the ALO audio cable in the future but my first impressions tell me that I'll have to say goodbye to my beautiful ALO audio cable though

 

Nice IEMs porn.

 

Well, my Andro trouble has been sorted out. The seller is a stand-up guy and gave me a refund. Since CA is 10 miles from where I work, I dropped them off for repair and while I was there, bought a brand spanking new pair to replace them. It was interesting visiting them in person. Definitely a boutique establishment. Unless you were looking for them you'd drive right by without knowing what the place was. I walked in and the people looked at me like, "Who's this guy?" Once they knew I was a customer they were really cool though. Even gave me a discount on my Andros for being a local.

I'm an IEM newbie, and my first experience with IEMs led me to make some generalizations. I have the Noble X and the only tip that I could keep in my ears were Complys. However, Complys made the Nobles too dark and congested sounding for my liking. I've only kept them to use on trips when I'll be away from my desktop setup for a while. The Andros have kicked aside what I thought about IEMs to such an extent that you'll probably see my closed cans for sale before too long. (Definitely my Eikons, haven't decided about selling my Atticus yet.) They isolate and have minimal sound bleed while sounding open at the same time! They only question mark for me at this point is comfort. My right ear is rather sensitive so I'll have to figure out whether it can stand long listening sessions.

Overall, I haven't been this satisfied with a headphone purchase since I bought my HD650 years ago.

P.S. - A ZX2 is on it's way over the Pacific from Japan as I type.

 

Happy it all ended up working out for you Druid.

Hopefully that repair bill at CA doesnt set me back too much, some associates told me it may just be a loose wire on the inside at the connector though, so that shouldnt be too expensive to repair.

 

That's very nice of them. A proper way to treat a customer. And to surprise of many people, most audio businesses are boutique, several people operations.

 

I finally received my Symbio tips. I can see the issue people are having with long term comfort. The foam on these is far more dense than the CA or comply foam tips. I’m not feeling much give when I press them, and the large ones that came in my sampler pack look like they did get depressed and haven’t fully expanded back to their regular shape. Luckily the larges are too big for my ears anyway and the mediums looked okay.

Sound wise, these seem to bring out the best in the Andros. The high end sparkles more than with the CA foams (the ones I use the most because they give me the best seal and mitigate any treble peakiness), but I’ve yet to hear anything resembling shouty treble. The bass is impactful but with nuance (recognizing a BA will never be able to bring out the full texture of the bass like a great DD will), and the mids are just gorgeous.

Given that I tend to listen to these for a few hours at a time at most, I can handle the less than perfect comfort for the quality of the sound. If I wore these all day, the Symbios would probably be too much and I’d choose something more comfortable.

 

Give them some time. Either they soften a bit or your ears adjust. But I found comfort to improve with wearing them after a while.

 

If that happens, these would be the perfect tips for the Andros.

 

Yeah, at this point, I have no problems wearing Symbios for long periods. Which was not the case when I got them.

 

One thing I think I can add to the mountain of knowledge that is this thread is this: After going from a very well used Andro to a brand new one, I can be reasonably sure that burn-in is real with these. The used pair was very close to perfect in the treble, while my new pair can be a bit sharp at times. Only other possibility (I doubt it) is that the new stainless steel nozzles are the culprit.

 

There is one fact that can relate just how much I've grown to love my Andros. I've started using ear plugs in the shower, because heaven forbid that I should get water in my ears and make using these uncomfortable for a few days!

Also, I think these pair well with a Jot, despite the OI. The pairing with the ZX2 is as advertised, but it's amazing to me that for all the Jot's power it has near zero hiss with the Andros. Also, the FR doesn't seem overly bassy to me, but that could be lack of experience speaking.

 

@KenBall This was interesting, what would you say? As you know, one of the andro's few issues is that there are treble peaks that are hot for some, would a change to the nozzle for andro2.0 help that?
Or do you think there is something to the idea that even some aspect of a ba-based iem can "burn in"?

 

That's funny coincidence. @Bill-P and I talked about this not long ago. We've had our Andromeda for a long time and use them a lot (bill def wins in hours total haha) and we also felt that the Andros treble are more smooth after a crap ton of use.

 

I'm honestly not so sure anymore. Today the treble seemed just about right, and I certainly haven't set them aside and burned them in for 100+ hours. It could be that there is a brain aspect as to whether I'm sensitive to treble on a given day, and it just happened to line up with when I'd just received my new Andros. On the other hand maybe a brand-new pair need a little use before they settle. I'm not familiar enough with the physics and engineering (and psychology) to take an educated guess.

 

looking at the picture of Andro just posted above I wonder if anyone already thought about grinding the edges which are painful for me, the only reason why I sold them (twince)