For any Andromeda reviews going forward I think it is very important to specify which version you'll be reviewing. The v1.5 Andromeda will be what I'll be referencing for this write up. (I'll go into the specifics for the telltale signs of each of the different Andro's).

So, a few months ago, a friend of mine (who've already moved on with the hobby) asked me if I wanted a near mint v1 which I later found out it was a v1.5 Andro. I've had previous Andro's (v2, v3 and 2020) before and each one of them I hated and barely lasted a month with me. This will just be a very brief review on them.

Design:
One of the best and most iconic designed iems out there. They are beautiful and jewelry-like. The sharp angled edges with the vibrant green just screams luxury. The contrast between the green and the shiny stainless-steel screws is to die for!!

Build:
Outstanding! the whole body is made of aluminum making it durable and lightweight (unlike the atlas...). My only gripe would be the nozzle which is prone to condensation. I won't hold it against CFA as it's already been amended with the later versions. Add to that the finish which very easily chips off. Though I can see the appeal of how it would add some sort of patina to the overall look.

Cable:
It's thin neigh-weightless and sounds great. What's not to like? Kidding's aside I have 2 glaring issues with this version's cable. 1) The ear hooks are clunky and gets in the way. 2) They oxidize from the clear sheath to the translucent 3.5mm molded jack. I've also had an issue with my late CFA Nova cable's mmcx housing cracking, but willbe regarding it as an isolated issue as I've never encountered it on any of the other CFA iems I've owned.

Sound (1-3):
Generally, they have what I would consider a w-shaped signature some may consider them neutral, but they have too much of a midbass and subbass focus. (Pardon my lack of input in this area but I find it hard to describe a signature on its own, I feel much more confident and more talkative when I compare them to one another).

My listening rigs for this are:
-Apple dongle + Tidal
-Cayin N8 (Low gain, Solid state, P STD, Super Slow PCM Filter)
-Sony A105

1) Treble - Is odd. I'm frankly not a fan how the treble is on these (nor any of the versions I've had). It is quite extended in the upper regions giving rise to sibilance and harshness. There is a dip in the lower treble regions which results to a somewhat disjointed distinction between the treble vs the rest of the spectrum. Out of the 4 Andro versions I've owned these are by far the best sounding.

2) Midrange - is linearexcept for the added thickness due to midbass quantity. Regardless, there's barely any complaints from me. No particular spikes/dips. It is smooth and pleasing, I can perceive a bit of BA timbre but nothing too glaring.

3) Bass - It has quite the midbass amount and it gives the signature a lot of warmth making the whole thing sound musical yet barely any bloom/bleed. On to subbass, for an all BA iem it is surprising how much air it can move. It can't compete against DD bass but there's a lot of body here, albeit it doesn't dig deep.

Resolution:
It's hazy at times but for the most part, it's adequate. If it wasn't for the midbass quantity it would've been better and cleaner. I'll give more examples of how good/bad it can get in the comparisons. I always find describing resolution best portrayed through comparisons, describing something by itself would by default make it good.

Soundstage:
I feel it's bottlenecked by the midbass. I wish it was more expansive. Still, it never fails to deliver a holographic experience. It has satisfactory width, depth and height.

Imaging:
Despite sounding hazy, it is excellent! Summer Friends by Chance the Rapper is so immersive! But I find them source dependent. Imaging is nonexistent on some sources while others are exemplary.

Comparisons:
Just note that my iem's are very much tailored to my preferences. Some are very obscure and old (I still enjoy audio, but I don't care much for newly released iems).

~ I'll put out more comparisons once I get back to listening to my other stuff. ~

FlipEars Aim v4 ($500) + Effect Audio Cadmus ($230)
The Aim v4 is a warm mid-centric sounding iem with a more forward upper midrange and a boost in the lower mids. It's cleaner and smoother sounding in the treble region with no particularly glaring dips. Both have good midrange but Aim has the more euphonic and much more pleasing (though less realistic). In the Bass section, Aim has more midbass and subbass but Andro gives a more textured experience (in terms of preference I would lean towards aim's execution). Technicalities is where Andromeda trumps Aim in all areas. Resolution is unmistakably Andromeda's dub. Going from Andro to aim makes aim sound quite veiled. Andro also ends victorious in both soundstage and imaging due to aim sounding very in your head while Andro sounds exponentially out of your head.

Unique Melody 3DD-Ti ($1099) + Effect Audio Thor II ($400)
I'm a bit cheating here because i have the thor 2 in balanced format but regardless I have to include my favorite sounding iem! It is close to impossible to describe the 3DD-Ti's sound signature. Its treble is basically 3 spikes with dips in-between. It sounds unlike anything else. And i love it! But I'll stop gushing over my love for these.
To start, Andro has a more extended treble and significantly more linear. In terms of peaks, I much prefer 3DD-Ti's mainly because it avoids sounding harsh and sibilant. It does have a bit of nasality to it but is a non-issue after a while. On to midrange. Andromeda has a thicker more natural and upfront midrange. 3DD-Ti is considerably more recessed due to the lack of midbass, and the incredibly contrasting treble spikes and dips. For Bass, it's 3DD-Ti's win as it has body, physicality, even more texture, and way better decay. Resolution is way better on the 3DD and i have no clue why... Andromeda for imaging since 3DD-Ti's midrange is noticeably more recessed making instruments and vocals sound odd. Soundstage would be a tie for me. Regardless, 3DD-Ti has my heart <3

Campfire Atlas ($1299)
We all know at this point Ken Ball's favorite child the atlas. It is bassy, fun, and very very vibrant (and unforgivingly heavy on the ears sonically and physically). The atlas will always have a special place in my heart due to it reigniting my passion for audio. I sold a couple kilo buck iems for cheap for the reason of wanting a pair as soon as possible and have never looked back. I would give atlas the treble as it sounds the more linear of the 2, it still has the tendency to sound harsh and sibilant but this time the dip is gone making it more natural. Midrange i would say is Andro's win mainly due to atlas's tendency to smooth out/mask detail because of the amount of midbass. As if it's angry for midbass. Atlas's midbass bleeds and bloom and it confidently flaunts it. Subbass is a no competition for Atlas. Resolution I would reluctantly give to Andromeda because of Atlas smoothing out detail. For soundstage, it's a clear win for Andromeda due to (again) Atlas's amount of midbass making everything sound in your face (don't get me wrong, it is still very much technically proficient just not as much as Andromeda). As for imaging, there are times where Atlas sounded incredibly life like, but they were few and far between, so by default it's yet another win for Andromeda. In short Atlas is Andromeda if you crank the bass dial to max. It is just so vibrant that it drowns the competition.

Empire Ears Merlin ($2000) + Effect Audio Cadmus ($230)
These are a special edition Empire Ears Spartan IV with upgraded internals + Effect Audio Rowan cable (which i don't have anymore). These stay true to the Spartan's lean, neutral, and somewhat analytical signature. I'll start with treble. I would say both are sufficiently extended but merlin having a more linear no sibilance/harshness gets my pick. Midrange, both are very good, but I prefer merlin's due to it having no added note thickness. For bass, Merlin is definitely leaner sounding, but have the same physicality and punch with having a proper decay yet again gets me pick. Resolution goes to Merlin, the lack of midbass makes Merlin very technically adept. But Andromeda wins in terms of soundstage and imaging because of how effortless it can paint and immerse you.

VS the previous Andromeda's I've owned:
(I will be lifting my impressions off my post on the Andro thread here)
"As for my previous andros, I'll start with v2 which was the oddest sounding to me. It was very very warm, and bass barely had any slam, it was bloaty beyond belief enough so that my $550 iem (flipears aim v4) had better slam. Now off to v3, I liked how the smoky Litz looked and felt when worn but now the issue with it was that there's not much dynamics to it. It, at times, would sound monotonous and somewhat dead sounding. As for 2020, it was what I thought to be the best out of the bunch just from reviews alone, but I found it too warm sounding for my liking."

As for the different Andromeda iterations:
V1 - Aluminum nozzle. The edges are sharp with no beveling but the most telltale sign is the use of a torx screw (looks like the Montblanc logo).
V1.5 - introduced the newer tri-wing screw heads. Has beveling around the edges improving the comfort (can attest to the comfort since my nova v1 had no beveling and i would always end with sore ears with that one). also, more beveled nozzle (I can't quite remember this)
V2 - First to use the stainless-steel nozzle.
V3 - smoothed out finish, no more milling lines, first to come with the smoky Litz cable.
V4/2020 - New nozzle design with the horizontal lines instead of the 3 bores (fixes the condensation build up issue). More rounded housing

Drivability:
These are notorious in the community for being such a sensitive iem. They can and will sound different on different sources. I wish I had more sources with me, but I've since been inactive in the hobby ever since I bought my grail Fourte's.

+ Apple Dongle (Tidal) - with the current trends in the hobby and a particular person saying that apple dongle is enough of a source, I went ahead and bought one and as much of a DAP purist that I am I have to admit it's not that bad an experience. Sure, the SQ won't blow you away nor are there any hint of technicalities but for an ultra-mobile solution its good. Now onto the sound, it is very warm sounding. The treble sounds quite tame here, more probably to do with the midbass being more aggressive than what I am normally used to with DAP's. Midrange sounds about the same as with my experience with other daps but subbass sounds way more rounded, it doesn't dig that deep but there's considerably more. Also, shockingly, there is zero hiss here!

+ Sony A105 (Tidal)
(My preferred combo) Compared to with the Apple Dongle, the a105 is more resolving with better midbass control and avoids sounding monotonous. Compared to with the N8, the treble is smoother and less piercing. The dip is still present but more subtle this time. Midrange sounds more neutral here with no added note thickness, Midbass isn't as forward this time, as if it's in the back adding warmth to the whole signature. Subbass, like the midbass took a back step and is now lesser in quantity but with the caveat of losing body, punch and even texture. It doesn't really get holographic with this combo. There is a bit of hiss here...

+ Cayin N8 (Flac - DSD)
Very good end to end extension to the point where it's too much. There's too much treble here and bass region outright makes it sound somewhat like a DD everything sounds very nuanced and textured. This is where it sounds holographic the most, to the point where i have more expensive iems that pales in comparison. Another con i would like to raise is the dips. Because everything sounds very spacious the dips are becoming more and more apparent. timbre at times sound very wonky. It tends to sound disjointed as if there's 2 separate areas, upper treble (TAEC driver) and the rest of the spectrum (regular BA drivers). Sad to say there is also hiss here.

Conclusion:
What else can I say? The Andromeda is what truly put CFA in the market, some purists will say it's the Jupiter, but CFA never again captured lighting in the bottle as with the Andromeda, they literally hit the jackpot with it. Just by looking at the sheer number of iterations/special editions is enough to warrant such a claim. I remember my first time hearing a v1 Andromeda back in 2017 when I met up with a friend. At the time I was sporting a nova and wanted to know how much of a difference they had and man I was shocked to hear something so airy, dynamic, pleasant, etc. It was then and there that I understood what audio can do lol. After all these years, they still do sound good just not really what I would say competitive to more recent releases. Regardless of what I have said, I think every enthusiast should at least once, try the Andromeda. Whether it be positive or negative these iems are nothing short of legendary.

These are not new in the market, in fact, they are close to getting, if not already discontinued. That said, I've always found these (along with the atlas) some sort of an enigma, and as such i knew i had to get a pair. When an opportunity presented itself in the form of a 50% off for a basically brand-new unit, I bought them without a second thought.

Unboxing
Having owned and sold a plethora of campfire's models they are nothing to write home about. The same old carton box (just bigger) riddled in a psychedelic theme. Inside that, you'll be greeted with a big and bulky pleather finished carrying case with a lanyard attached. Opening that, is where the headphones are nestled with 2 included goody bag envelopes one for the cable inside a Ziplock bag and the other, filled with the tuning filters, warranty, and a pamphlet about the headphones and the filters.

Build
To simplify, it is fine and decent for its price point. For a $800 product it should at the very least be built like this (Metal, leather and pleather). It's not as confident feeling as my z7m2 from sony but it's forgivable since the gimmick for it was to be a 'portable' pair of cans. One thing i really hate about the build is the headband. It feels worse than the headband on my sub $150 beyerdynamic dt770 and compared to that, it's just embarrassing. The seams where the pleather ends look very barebones and diy, I can see the threads coming undone with only a strip of glue holding it in place. Not to mention the headband has started to disintegrate in some areas where it touched the inner lining of the case.

Cable
it feels like the stock campfire (pre smoky litz) iem cable in a slightly bigger gauge. Sadly, i won't be able to confirm it since they encased it in some sort of cloth which makes it look very cheap... the way this cloth behaves is weird it has lots and i mean lots of kinks, it is not smooth, and instead its quite rough. For a cable company it's just upsetting. As for its connectors, its rather good. The 3.5mm plug is in a 45-degree angle making it very pocket friendly. As for the lemo connectors, it's very robust feeling I unplug them after every session and I'm probably closing in to 60x of un/plugging and it still feels very secure definitely no complaints there.

Fit
I have to dial it to 2 clicks both sides to get it to fit me, but they never really feel in place. Sudden head movements would cause it to shift. shaking my head left to right in rapid succession would result to total removal.

Sound
A little background about me, I don't have a particular preference for sound but i can tell you that i love campfire's atlas. I sold my empire ears zeus xiv (which was a $2700 iem) because of it and it reignited my passion for this hobby but that's a story for another day. I place technicalities above anything else.

The set up i used for this write up is as follows:
Stock Cascade with the square filters (I'm currently in a trip and i havent changed the filters since middle of last year so i don't quite know which... It's probably 2T iirc)
Cayin N8 3.5mm mix of SolidState/Nutube, P/P+, Hi gain, Short Delay Sharp PCM Digital Filter, with no EQ

Generally, The signature is a typical v shape one where bass hugs you from all corners and it feels cozy and welcoming.

Treble
Very well extended but never got sharp, rather its quite smooth with enough bite to avoid dulling the detail. It is also quite good at presenting details. One thing that caught me by surprise is the airy nautre it has. Despite the amount of bass it never really masked the treble much.

Mids
As it's a typical v shaped tuning, it is pushed back. It has a rather thick lower mids which still makes the vocals sound engaging and makes up for the recessed upper midrange. As a result, everything does sound a bit heavy note wise.

Bass
It is STRONG, HEAVY, FULL, and DOMINANT (also surprisingly clean). For a 42mm driver it can push serious amounts of air! It outdoes sony's 70mm driver with ease. But despite all that air and decay it never became sluggish, in fact its quite agile (for what it can do) and very, very (oddly) textured! It can bleed to the other frequencies but i found that it is somewhat track dependent. Songs like Of Monsters and Men's From Finner, Theres a questionable amount of bleed everywhere and it as a whole, sounds very bloated and muffled, the depth is there but the attack it very much masked by the dominating midbass. On the other hand, Vampire Weekend's White Sky sounds quite at home with this tuning. Theres a bit of recession in the upper midrange but it is easily forgotten because of the thicker than usual vocals. (I picked these songs as they are released around the same time and are of the same genre).

Soundstage/Depth
They're not wide sounding. They're more deep than they are wide. They never felt suffocating, there's enough air and space in between instruments to avoid sounding claustrophobic. Just quelle your expectations if you're keen about these.

PRaT
Attack is actually pretty good, Timbre is on the warmer side, it never sounded wrong just somewhat heavy. It never got bogged down by the bass all in all quite decent and pleasing.

Drivability
Like any other cfa product, it's very easily driven. But note that it can SCALE! Off my Laptop (X1 Carbon gen7) it sounds very boring, the treble is too smoothed out it sounds as if it's all midrange specifically lower mids and very warm. Off my Sony A105, it gets better though the texture disappears and there's not much distinction between subbass and midbass, it is still clean sounding just not emphasized. And you all know about the N8.

Conclusion
They're fine. Definitely not worth its original asking price (back then and even more so today!). But for what they are, portable fun sounding headphones, they're pretty great! There are lots of room to tune the sound, whether it be in pad rolling, or the filters (especially the funky thing my friend told me about which was to remove all the filters including the ones that are stuck on by adhesive lol) there's a lot to be gained from a single headphone. I'm not really expecting anyone to read this but hey, i hope this updated take helped you in this intoxicating hobby of ours. Cheers!

A bit of background:
I first heard these in a meet a long time ago. At the time i was still sporting the wm1a (i have the cayin n8 now) and what i heard was nothing short of extraordinary. I did not know iems could even sound like those! (At the time i was daily-ing the empire ears zeus xiv and jh audio angie) They were airy, so airy and i knew these were the ones i want. But due to the high price tag i could only look at them with contempt knowing I'd never be able to own one. Fast forward to last year an opportunity presented itself in the form of a practically brand new unit. After a few months of deliberation and a restless couple of weeks (shipping company really did tease my patience with these lol). I bought them it took me a couple of days to come in terms of me owning my grail iems.

The 900° turn:

These are very well documented already so I'll leave out the unboxing and etc.

It has been years since i last got to try these and from my last demo i was completely floored by how they sound. But when i tried these out i was... disappointed? A thought kept pondering in my mind. Thoughts like "was it really this bad?" "Did i just get scammed off my money?" "Was i just caught in the moment?" (To preface, even the previous owner tried his best to delay my purchasing of these because he said he also considered these one of the worst sounding iems, i really do commend the guy for being very transparent about the things he sells). So like any normal person i tried to find the best possible thing i could do to improve the sound... in the end i bought an effect audio janus d a freaking $1600 cable (im used to buying expensive cables but this is by far the most expensive ive bought) from a recommendation of a fellow fourte owner. Tried them out and again... i was met with disappointment. It was muddy, uninteresting, thick, very wonky and not to mention the fit was horrible. It kept on falling off my ears. In the end resorted to the thing i should've done first, tip rolling. I eventually landed on the aet07 and it did improve the fit but i wish i could say the same for its sound.

Later, after scouring the 1000+ paged 64a thread here, i found a few interesting things. 1) the nozzle was very long and would render the effects on most tips useless and 2) that nozzle is quite slippery so a constant readjustment on the eartips' sitment is in order and finally 3) there was a fix to this and it was to simply cut the base of an eartip and slap it on the base of the nozzle to stop the eartips from sliding. Doing this did a number on my overall experience! I am now hearing my most beloved airy tia treble, perhaps a bit too much. But that didn't stop me from loving the new sound. It was glorious... and insufferable. The treble soared but it became too harsh to the point where even my inner treblehead called it quits. For the next couple of months I posted these up for sale on a number of local fb audio selling groups. I eventually pulled them out because nobody would commit.

Fast forward to last week. On a random fb group someone posted this chart explaining which low pass filters does what in an easy to understand manner. I got curious and gave it a try. First i tried super slow roll-off which had little to no reverberations and no boosts (prior to changing, i was on short delay sharp roll-off which had a tendency to prolong reverberations and boost the upper treble too much). At first i didn't really hear the difference but little by little i was wondering why it sounded transparent, natural and inoffensive. Curiously, i cycled through my files from classical all the way to edm and to my surprise, fourte sounded linear! No more harsh sounding treble, no more dipped/missing upper midrange. It was practically perfect at this point (i also changed over to sony ex11 eartips because it gripped my ears better than the aet07). It wasnt the same sound i remembered from when i tried them with the wm1a rather, it sounds better!

Tl/dr:
Demo with wm1a floored me > bought but heavily disappointed > bought a $1600 cable, got even more disappointed > replaced tips, got better response but treble was so harsh it made them almost unlistenable > saw post of low pass filters and achieved audio nirvana.

Sound:
My chain is as follows;
•Iem: Sony EX11 in medium > 64Audio Fourte > Effect Audio Janus D (via the 4.4mm janus pig tail)
•Source and settings: Cayin N8 in balanced > low gain > P std > Super Slow digital filter > no EQ.

Treble:
A chameleon, it can go from very smooth with barely any sharpness to etched and nuanced. Yorushika's Only sorrow sounds very warm and cozy devoid of peaks and is very soft and smooth. But going to The Stroke's Machu Picchu the treble becomes sharp, etched with an almost ringing nature. It is baffling to say the least. Fourte does all of this without masking any detail and still very extended yet it avoids being overdone and artificial.

Midrange:
Smooth with great lower mid presence. It does sound somewhat recessed but nothing that deal breaking. It has good tonality. Not too warm nor too cold. It may be due to the added note weight from the janus but as it is now, its damn natural. Switching over to P+ mode on my n8, fixes the recessed nature so I'd just chalk it down to chain synergy. Aside from those i cant really complain much it sounds beautiful as it is. Not too forward nor fatiguing.

Bass:
The weakness. I'd love if it had more slam and physicality. It reaches quite deep but the decay is too fast to really get a feel. On the other hand, it is incredibly textured and nuanced and it rumbles quite a bit. It fits in the whole presentation quite well.

Technicalities:
Soundstage:
I noticed the width lessened after i switched over to my current digital filter settings. Prior to changing, it was quite the spectacle but due to the absence of midbass and pressure it didn't have that much presence. It feels open and free, giving everything in a song ample space. Nothing feels compressed.

Depth:
Lack of midbass made depth shallow and uninteresting. It certainly performs well but it feels lacking.

Layering:
As expected for a flagship, it performs spectacularly. If anything, i wish certain things have a bit more bolder presence to other ones. The way i hear it now, its cohesive but its mellow with not much distinction between each other. Don't get me wrong, i can easily pinpoint what one thing is, its more of a nitpick than an actual con.

Imaging:
Contrary to what other people say, i find the imaging a weak point. Because there's not much depth present, imaging doesnt feel as grounded or as solid. Everything seems to be floating in my head. I can distinguish where an instrument is placed yet it doesnt quite feel there (if that made sense...).

Conclusion:
I would not recommend them to the average listener. They have quirks and are not afraid to show it. They are certainly showing its age but one thing is for sure. They are unabashedly worthy of its status as a flagship. I do wonder what 64audio is brewing seeing as they havent made any major releases for close to 7 years (considering fourte was released back in 2016!).

*Viewing them as a $400 headphone*

So, I got these from a trade (my andromeda for these) a few months ago. I got them with a perforated extremely angled pads which made things lose detail. Those pads didn't last long before it started to disintegrate. Bought some lambskin pads online and is what I will be referencing for this write up.

Packaging -
usual midrange Sony packaging; cardboard sleeve > cardboard box > headphones > cables > some pamphlets > cables.

Nothing out of the ordinary.

Build -
incredibly robust free from that nothing creaks, or unevenness. Visually perfect devoid of flaws and relatively light for how big and bulky it is.

Cables pros - Pleasing to the eye finish that follows the general design and color scheme of the headphones with ample amounts of strain relief, cable itself is tangle free with a confident feeling yet soft sheath.

Cable cons - 1) for the 3.5mm, extremely long. 2) proprietary connectors exclusive only to the Sony MDR-Z7/m2 and the Z1R.

Sound -
To preface, the set-up I'm using for this is the Cayin N8 on High gain > P+ mode > mix of tube mode and solid state > all with the 3.5mm stock cable.

I will start with TREBLE. Smooth, perhaps too smooth... it doesn't have any particularly unpleasant peaks it sounds natural and depending on the song it might get boring due to the 10k dip. Don't get me wrong, it extends quite well and is rather detailed but leans more towards naturally done detail.

As for MID-RANGE, smooth for the most part except for a single 3k peak which causes the honk (will need some time to get used to). At times it sounds a bit hollow usually more apparent on male vocals not so much on female vocals.

And lastly BASS. Bass is a bit of a hard one to comment on despite that I will start with the midbass. Due to how Sony designed the cups I find it very controlled with nigh resonances, I know it's wrong and I want to hate it, yet I find myself craving for it after every session. For the subbass, it is both there and not there. At times there's copious amounts of rumble and at times barely any. The more I listen the more I get enamored. When it's there, it is punchy, deep, and just sublime. My only complaint is that it doesn't quite hit the deepest parts.

As for TECHNICALITIES expectedly for a headphone sporting 70mm drivers moving ample amounts of air, it's not the fastest. Soundstage is a medium for a closed back. It's skewed more towards width rather than depth. Imaging and layering's somewhat smeared I can distinguish each instrument in a track but lacks a sense of physicality. The background is very dark and gets holographic at times (currently listening to Electric Light Orchestra's Mr. Blue Sky makes it sound incredibly immersive, most classic alt/folk has this effect). Most of the time it's diffused.

ISOLATION is decent, can still hear the AC as of writing this, still respectable considering the vents surrounding the cups, sound leak shouldn't be a problem unless the person is a few inches away from you then they will hear it.


DYNAMICS. Despite the treble it is dynamic to a degree. Of course, take my view of dynamics with a grain of salt I only have a limited range of sources I can test this on. Just curb your expectations.

Drivability -
From what the previous owner told me and from my experience using them, I have come to a conclusion that they need power to sound their best. Although the Cayin N8's 4.4mm balanced is more capable than the single ended port. It makes the whole sound brighter (more to do with how Cayin implemented it than the headphone itself. I never use the 4.4mm and have converted all my cables to 3.5) I generally like the lusher more intimate sound of its 3.5 port. Using the settings I listed at the sound portion, I usually run them around 29-40s/100 depending on the dynamic range of the song (chesky recorded tracks for example needs around 50s). But I can drive them easily off the n8 on low gain all other settings turned off at around 30s. On the Sony a105 I need about 50-70/120. On paper they look to be efficient headphones that can be driven off anything, but they do need a bit more juice to drive them and an even more impressive source to make them sing their best. I will be excluding amplifiers as I found them unnecessary (at least for the ones I own. They dulled the details a fair bit compared to me running them off the 3.5).

Scalability -

Sadly, I don't own any desktop grade sources. But generally, they do scale quite well. Well enough for me to notice a sonic degradation when I plug them off my Pico Power and Elukit portable tube amp via my crystal cable diamond series interconnect (mentioning it for a subjective point that I did not skimp on any of the peripherals in my chain). Off the Sony A105 they sound pleasantly warm just a bar touch monotonous. Off the Cayin N8 they sound spacious, ethereal in the upper ranges but thick and tight in the lower registers with dynamics to spare 10-fold!

Conclusion -
The Sony Z7m2 is a uniquely polite sounding headphone with reviews and comments from both the head fi community and the Japanese community split 50 to 50 "You either hate it or love it" is a phrase you'll hear a lot from them. Sure, they don't portray the grandness that their original price tag suggests but what you get is a pure-bred Sony; built to last, relatively attractively designed and a trailblazer! It would be an understatement to say I have an inkling Sony wanted to over-do themselves when it is clearly a product of over engineering, a product that left many confused why Sony even bothered to release it despite it being the antithesis of the mk1.

It's a lush sounding headphone add to that the almost weightless head feel and you have a recipe for an addictive product.

So a quick introduction about the product

The product was released back in 2018 by Unique Melody during their 3d printed titanium phase as a form of revision/revitalization of the original 3DD released back in 2014-ish (very few articles can be found now a days about it so im sorry if the year is way off). But because of the lack of reviews (excluding the japanese and chinese ones) i can only find 1 review and luckily its from a very experienced and well known reviewer.

The fact that crinacle released that very detailed and memed upon graph of the iems, of which i refer to as the canadian rockies of iem tunings, did not help with its, infamous, popularity. Which eventually led to its discontinuation around 2020 (or early 2021).

A little bit about me:

I'm a rather youngling in the hobby at only 23 y.o. but i'd say my experience in the iem market is rather rich (but i have to say, my tendencies to get hyped by things is quite a problem... hence me purchasing this iem). I used to be a BA only snob kind'f guy who would'nt bat an eye if the item didn't have a BA in its configuration. But due to some disheartening experiences with ba imbalances on totl iems ive since shifted over to only dd iems (check the 'about' part of my profile if youre curious about my past iems).

Please note that I bought this 2nd hand as theres no way I'd be able to 1) get (already discontinued) and 2) afford this brand new.

Packaging

It came in a medium sized black box the size of about 2 campfire boxes stacked atop each other and is fastened by magnets. Once opened you are immediately greeted by a very nice custom dignis case, of which i initially thought was synthetic leather but fortunately it was a sort of leather called buttero leather. Once opened I was greeted by the iems themselves almost falling 4 feet off the ground (luckily i was fast enough to catch them with my leg). Moving forward from the heart racing balls clenching event, the next thing fastened inside the case are 3 packs of complys each in varrying sizes and silicone tips.

Going back to the box, underneath the case is a rather sizable cleaning cloth and a rather snazzy looking business card with an imbedded usb (apparently it should've had some documentations about the product but i was not able to find any when I tried accessing it, i'll have to get in touch with UM about it). I'd love if they included a cleaning apparatus but i'd digress.

Design and build

For an iem with 3 dynamic drivers they are tiny! But don't let its small stature dictate its build quality. The shells themselves are quite thick and exudes quality and craftsmanship and completely devoid of give (*ahem* lime ears)

Now, onto the main attraction of the piece, its faceplate... they say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and in this case it very much is. I know some people who hate how much it resembles a rather phallic looking object but i am not one of them. I love how intricate the design is very much in line to their 'unique' moniker

Cable

Onto the rate limiting part of the iem... The cable... How do I put it... It looks like one of those cheap $10 chinese "upgrade" (id much prefer to call them fashion cables) and the fact that it oxidizes really doesnt help. Luckily for it and UM, it sounds great! Sure the inverted 2 pin housing makes the iem exhibit driver flex. But the sound alone makes me think otherwise. I has average ergonomics but is devoid of microphonics. Oh and not to mention its very light.

DB-Go

My unit was rather loose when using the module in anything between closed and open, they wouldnt really move but they do rattle when they are in the middle. That aside, the effects are not as apparent, i'd say the switch on the lime ears model x has a much more upfront effect. The db-go when switched up adds a bit of warmth in the midbass masking a bit of the treble sparkle. It's one of those things that you're glad it's there but at the same time your completely fine without. Definitely nowhere near the customizability of say a JHA module but compared to the JHA its much more ergonomic and light. I could remember so many times that the bass module of the JHA snagging at the edge of a table yoinking my triflanges off my ears (an experience i am not fond of).


Sound

To the part where you're all waiting (to meme) for:

I would classify the general signature of the iem (irregardless of dBGo) as bright. But occassionally when called for, it can sound V. I've also talked to some other owners of the iem that it is volume dependent and that under low volumes it would sound bright but in higher levels its unapologetic bass will show itself. I for one am a low volume listener (to the point where i sometimes, set my volume to 1 inorder to reset my bias).

My set up for these impressions are as follows:
Sony NW-WM1A (midnight plus fw in lo gain) > Astrotec 2.5 to 4.4 converter > stock cable > stock silicone tips in medium

Treble
I can clearly hear the dips at around 2k,4k,5k and 8k causing the majority of vocals, with the excemption of the throaty ones, to exhibit this odd "i have a cold right now" timbre. But most of the time you wont be focusing on that because those dips also paved way for the vocals to be incredibly airy, extremely detailed and free of fatigue (unless its a poorly recorded source since you know, trash in trash out). Its as if youre at the top of the mountain ( the canadian rockies in this case) and you take a deep breath. Very refreshing, ethereal and crisp without any bog downs of excessive warmth. Though sibilance can be heard on poorly recorded source materials.

Midrange
Because of the peaks present in the treble area there is no escaping male vocals sounding thin but even with that i never found myself wanting more note weight rather its perfectly blended along side the peaks. In fact i'd say its the main attraction of the whole signature, it's something only a dynamic driver can do. Vocals never sounded tinny. But i have to say, it does not handle poorly recorded songs well.

Bass
Probably the best extension I've ever heard in an iem! Maybe it's the lack of midbass that makes it so apparent and straightforward. It also has incredibly textured bass. A far cry from my daily driver campfire atlas wherein that focused on midbass but i always found the subbass extension on that iem lacking. There were even times where i got dizzy just from the vibrations these things exhibited, who needs bone conductors amarite! (Jk i havent tried any of UM's boner iems). In short the bass is lean and mean they never failed to give me a satisfying bass line.

Soundstage and Imaging
The fw i am running right now the midnight in plus mode is a fw that;

"combines characteristics of the WM1Z and DMP-Z1 sound signatures, for a warm thick sound, yet clear, precise, and detailed, with an increased analogue feeling, all wrapped in a holographic presentation (especially in the "Plus" boot mode)." -direct from MrWalkman's blog/site

and trust me everything about it is on point! There's one particular reference album that i put on for both imaging and soundstage and that is the "Dr. Chesky's Rock reimagined album" its an album that has incredible attention to detail (everything chesky made has been like that and only superceeded by his newer releases). These songs were definitely bordering realism territories.

The eccentric signature gave rise to a rather unique and weird presentation. I can't pinpoint the reason why but everything is crystal clear without veil nor echo. There are some songs, namely ones from the first take, where it felt as if i was in a studio that was full of sound dampening foams very surreal indeed.

Conclusion

It is definitely an iem reserved only for the most specific of tastes. Not a crowd pleaser but rather a guity pleasure. But its not all fine and dandy, even for me! I had to invest countless hours to find the right fw combo for it to really shine.

As the title suggests this wasnt my first choice but rather it became my only choice. My first choice was the Final Audio Design AKr02 but when i recieved the unit (was bought online from a local shop) i noticed it was defective, one side sounded like there was no isolation (it was their last unit). Loved its sound reminded me of the andromeda without the sibilance. Now on to the k3003, when i first listened to it the first thing that jumped to me was its soundstage it was massive and it sounded to natural but it was sibilant like ****! I didnt experiment with the filters since i read in other peoples reviews that the ref filter was the best one and that the other ones were underwhelming. I noticed that the mids were nowhere to be found (this was even more apparent since the iem i was listening prior to this was the CA novas, of which are touted as having very laid back treble).

After a few hours (of pure agony) i finally got attenuated to its sound signature (note that the sibilance is still as rampant as ever) i realized that this was the signature that ive been looking for! Everything sounded crisp, light, transparent, incredibly detailed, precise imaging and with bass thats enough to pave through my expectations (sound signature wise its pretty day and night compared to my other iems; nova, polaris and savanna).

After a few days of experimenting with the filters and some tips ive come to the conclusion that the stock tips (other tips tend to either remove the sparkle or just makes the damn thing even more sibilant) with the reference filters sounded the best, i found the bass boost loses that incredible sparkle and the high boost though removes the sibilance (idk why its like this...) was just lacking. Fit is good but im forced to wear them around the ear since it hurts my inner ear after a while if worn downward. Isolation could have been better.