My Andromeda arrived earlier today, and I've got a few hours worth of listening in. I'll post more when I've had a full day with them.
Early impressions with very poor formatting and sentence structure: These are extremely easy to drive, as expected. Excellent instrument separation. Crystal clear highs with plenty of sparkle. Soundstage is wide, but not artificially so. Female vocals sound excellent.
These sound very much like open back orthos to me, if that helps anyone with a comparison (but without the natural background sounds of your environment, obviously
)
I took a little time to acclimate to the sub and mid bass, but by midway through my audition, I was quite pleased with them.
Tracks I've auditioned so far: (I'd be glad to listen to anything you might recommend, and provide feedback. Forgive the lack of comments on most of the tracks below. i was lost in the music.)
Eiji Oue & The Minnesota Orchestra - The Firebird Suite, 1919 Revision - VII. Finale (24-bit) - very pleasantly reproduced. The horns have a ton of character and life. Beautiful layering. Highs are bordering on too sharp at times.
Austin Wintory - Journey Soundtrack - Apotheosis (love this track... the lack of sub bass is quite evident here. violins sound superb on these IEMs. Very happy with the sound. Smooth. I played with the EQ a bit, and found they responded well, keeping their character, but filling out the sound.)
Tron Legacy Sountrack - Recognizer (not much to say here. Track sounded good.)
Porter Robinson - Worlds (album) - (Electronic music sounds sublime on the Andromeda.)
Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb (tons of sparkle. smooth vocals. great layering.)
Dire Straights - Sultans of Swing
Julia Fordham - Concrete Love (her voice sounds just right. Good stuff.)
IAMX - The Background Noise
Purity Ring - Sea Castle (plenty of oomph and sparkle here. Vocals shine.)
CHVRCHES - Under the Tide
B.o.B. - All I Want (Hip Hop tracks really shine on these IEMs.)
Childish Gambino - Crawl (love the 3d sound of the beginning of this song)
Kings of Leon - Supersoaker
The Postal Service - Such Great Heights (the opening is presented just right. Very nice.)
August Burns Red - Provision
Daughter - Youth
Taylor Swift - New York
Galantis - Gold Dust
The Chainsmokers - New York City
A$AP Rocky - 1Train
Muse - Animals (live at Olympic Stadium)
Kraftwerk - Autobahn (remastered version)
Upular (3D audio version) - feels very close. I'm used to this track feeling a few feet away. This feels like its inside rotating around INSIDE my head. very odd feeling.
I tried the silicon tips out for a few tracks and was not overly impressed. I'l need to re-approach these later.
Switching out to the included comply medium tips, I found getting them on and off quite difficult (TIGHT FIT). The highs are tamed with the comply tips, which might be favorable to some, but it does lose some sparkle in the exchange.
Stock tips: Comfortable, but even when barely inserted had a bit more pressure than average with foam tips.
Comply tips: warmer sound, tamed highs.
Silicon tips:
fit is decent, but its almost impossible to get a good seal with silicon. as a result, the sub bass was crippled. Highs were too much for me. Harsh sound in comparison with the smooth sound of foam. Playing with the medium tips and deep insertion has led to a quite comfortable fit using the included silicon tips.
Comply tips with no wax filter (not included - I had some lying around that fit) - I found these to be my favorite. The fit was better than the slightly larger stock foamies. The sparkle isn't lost as with the wax cover version of the Comply.
Sound: 9.2
Build Quality: 10
Accessories: 9
Comfort: 8.5
Soundstage: 9.5
If you like analytical sound, these will pull at your heartstrings.
Note on comfort: Coming from the PFE 232 (known for their absurd comfort), after 2 or 3 hours, these felt like rocks jabbing in my ears. I fiddled with the tips for a while, and did some playing with the memory wire. Fitting the memory wire so that it partially supported the IEMs was a big help. I still find them less than comfortable, however.
Further note on comfort: I'm one of those people who have a hard time where medium complys are slightly too large, and smalls don't seal, so take my comments about comfort with a grain of salt.
**EDIT: after playing with the silicon tips for a bit, I found the medium fit rather well, and am quite happy with the deep fit seal and sound. Very comfortable.