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Loaner: Campfire Ara

Discussion in 'Closed Loaners' started by ChaChaRealSmooth, May 28, 2020.

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  1. Galm

    Galm Still looking for Little Red Riding Hood

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    Since the amount of people was pretty limited, they went for experience over reservation order.

    shrug while obviously it's nicer to hear them in person the loaners are already a huge privelege. Being able to get impressions from experienced members will help more people in the long run.
     
    Galm, Jun 8, 2020
    #41
  2. Stuff Jones

    Stuff Jones Friend

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    I don't want to start a bruhaha, but is this really true? If so, it would be great if the selection criteria were made explicit. Maybe in addition to "Friend" we could get an "SBAF trusted ears" moniker.
     
    Last edited: Jun 8, 2020
    Stuff Jones, Jun 8, 2020
    #42
  3. ChaChaRealSmooth

    ChaChaRealSmooth SBAF's Mr. Bean

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    The other alternative is that I'm a goober and made a mistake. This can sometimes happen on high-demand loaners where we have multiple units (I need to shuffle things around on the tour so that it makes sense, sometimes I accidentally delete names that should have been there).

    @Stuff Jones added in.
     
    ChaChaRealSmooth, Jun 8, 2020
    #43
  4. shotgunshane

    shotgunshane Floridian Falcon

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    @purr1n ’s set has arrived and they’ll be going up on my list.
     
    shotgunshane, Jun 10, 2020
    #44
  5. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    The idea was to make sure it went to the right people for impressions first and ASAP. Last time we missed a big opportunity from CF where two IEMs got "stuck" at one place. By the time I got them, it was like eight months later and no one cared anymore. That's embarrassing from my point of view where the vendor approached us so I was determined that this not happen again. Especially since this time I approached the vendor.
     
    purr1n, Jun 10, 2020
    #45
  6. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    I'm cool with this if there's an opportunity for some kind of tiered approach: trusted ears first, then lowly plebs like me as I'm very interested to compare directly with OG Solaris, but I don't mind waiting a couple months or more to do so.
     
    yotacowboy, Jun 10, 2020
    #46
  7. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Looking forward to your impressions. Missing them already. I hope you guys hate them so I can get them back soon.
     
    purr1n, Jun 10, 2020
    #47
  8. skem

    skem Friend

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    Last edited: Jul 19, 2020
    skem, Jun 12, 2020
    #48
  9. raif

    raif Man made lobster/plankton

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    I am really hoping that Schiit releases whatever crazy amp they may or may not be working on before this gets to me. Not sure if the AF is the best amp for super sensitive iems and I think plugging them into an iphone dongle feels like sacrilege.

    I might have an older Geek Out lying around somewhere...
     
    raif, Jun 12, 2020
    #49
  10. shotgunshane

    shotgunshane Floridian Falcon

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    Ara sounds fantastic on the iPhone dongle.
     
    shotgunshane, Jun 12, 2020
    #50
  11. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    You will get noise for sure from AF. A Magni 3+ on 1x gain from most desktop sources will have very limited volume range before things get loud. From Pixel 2 + dongle, no problem. ZX2 has some hiss, but it's known not to be the quietest portable+IEM.
     
    Last edited: Jun 15, 2020
    purr1n, Jun 12, 2020
    #51
  12. M3NTAL

    M3NTAL Friend

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    The Andro Gold is pretty decent on the ES100 but I like all my balanced armatures to be on my desktop chain with the SFD-1 mk2 in front of them. It helps flesh them out enough to live with their trade-offs. Most of my listening with them is with the Krell Klone, but it requires the IEMatch to be silent. My T3 does not like being paired with that low of a load. I think I need to find one of these iPhone dongles. Are they better than an iPod 5/5.5 ?
     
    M3NTAL, Jun 12, 2020
    #52
  13. shotgunshane

    shotgunshane Floridian Falcon

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    If I recall right, the iPod 5’s had high OI, so probably would require a portable amp. I think that’s what Kunlun uses, or at least used to.
     
    shotgunshane, Jun 12, 2020
    #53
  14. shotgunshane

    shotgunshane Floridian Falcon

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    On its way to Kunlun. Should be to him about Thursday.
     
    shotgunshane, Jun 15, 2020
    #54
  15. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    YMO, Jun 25, 2020
    #55
  16. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    @Bloom loaner has been shipped to @raif today.

    Note: Original shipping box was no longer accepted by Fedex, so they took all the items out of the box and put it in a new FedEx, most likely trying to rip me off. Then again, box was semi-beat up.
     
    YMO, Jun 29, 2020
    #56
  17. Kunlun

    Kunlun cat-alyzes cat-aclysmic cat-erwauling - Friend

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    Last edited: Jul 4, 2020
    Kunlun, Jul 1, 2020
    #57
  18. Mystic

    Mystic Mystique's Spiritual Advisor

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    Ara safe and sound, received it yesterday.

    FYI it seems that FedEx is not getting signatures and just dropping it off (understandable considering the current situation).
     
    Mystic, Jul 4, 2020
    #58
  19. raif

    raif Man made lobster/plankton

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    I got the Ara safe on Friday. Judiciously waited until after the ‘murica drinking subsided to give em a listen but dedicating some time tonight!
     
    raif, Jul 5, 2020
    #59
  20. raif

    raif Man made lobster/plankton

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    raif, Jul 9, 2020
    #60
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