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I love companies with great customer service and delivers their product the way the customers expect, and a good value. Amazon is one of those companies. Sony too. Apple too. JDS labs as well. Campfire Audio is the next.
I had an Alo interconnect and an amp called Rx Mk2 or something, I loved that thing paired with my FiiO dap in the old days. I was inevitably exposed to this Campfire brand and bought many of their products. Some of them are mediocre (like the campfire Orion, nova, IO, Jupiter and arguably the Cascade), some of them get well received like the Lyra, Polaris, Vega, Solaris, and some are simply epic like the Andromeda.
There are higher end IEMs out there in the market but a part of my heart is reserved for the Andromeda forgood. The Andro, is simply the best IEM created by this company, and it brought me some of the best listening experiences I ever had.
And now the Ara arrives, and I think it is better than the Andromeda. A more mature timbre under the same nutshell.
Opening the box, the succinct yet rich packaging and accessories bring a smile on my face. Same old Campfire accessories pack. Done nicely. The cork case is very thoughtful and practically handy. The stock cable is disappointing, it’s the same old litz cable. For any other IEM this price, campfire usually brings more strands to the litz, or upgrades it’s material. But I can live with it.
Sound and comparisons:
It brings out all the details in the music that ears can possibly hear. All of them. That’s how well they perform.
They don’t sound immediately outstanding if you are spoiled with many neutral gear. Yet that’s what you should expect from a reference headphone. Ara is Campfire’s gift to many musicians or media creators or those who listen to all types of music.
That’s all for the review part. Here comes the comparisons:
Andromeda (pre 2020 version):
More spacious due to the v-shape sound. More sweetness in vocals and acoustics. Less accurate and less details. Both cosmetically and sound wise, andro does sound more exciting but not long lasting as the Ara. Both fit well in my ears, but the Ara will be more compatible in fitting people’s ears because the nozzle longer.
Andromeda compliments well with Ara. I love both.
Solaris OG:
Solaris has a better soundstage and I prefer the amount and sourcing of the bass on the Solaris. The mids and treble is supposed to be the same between the Solaris and Ara, but because the bass more contained on the Ara, the Ara has better mids and treble to me.
Soundwise, both are awesome. I love the look and comfort of the Ara, and hate that huge chunk of gold on Solaris personally. So ugly. I prefer Ara slightly more overall.
Etymotic ER4SR:
Very similar sound although the frequency response is different. Better isolation and better fitting in ear if you use comply, although Ara fits very well in my ears. Smaller and congested soundstage. Much less detail. Much less musical.
Inear PP8 small version:
With both switches turned off, the PP8 sounds quite similar to the Ara but less musical. The Ara still kept a bit of campfire house sound making it not boring at all, yet PP8 sound is plain and boring. When the switches are on, the PP8 sounds more exciting and more similar to Ara. PP8 is less smooth than Ara, which did great in connecting the frequencies of sound (that is performed unevenly from different BAs by design). I like Ara better overall.
Xelento:
The bass of Xelento is richer, but less controlled. The mid range is simply worse than the Comet BA in Ara. The treble is less textured. It is much more comfortable to wear and has a more handy impedance. Comfort is very important to me so I give a huge thumps up to Xelento.
However, I like Ara better overall.
U18t
Ara sounds similar with a slight less detail. In many ways they perform similarly. But the presentation from the U18t is more aggressive and edgy, I like the smoother sound from Ara, maybe because I am just comforted by that little bit of Campfire house sound.
Thieaudio L9:
They are more musical in the initial listens, but if you listen more, you will find they are useless compared to Ara.
Moondrop A8:
They are as good in the midrange presentation, but overall worse than the Ara.
Ara vs Ara with other cables:
I like how Ara presents with a pure silver with gold plating cable (mine from EA ymmv). I also prefer OCC cables (mine from plussound ymmv) more than the stock cable. The stock cable does not suck but I recommend you to upgrade your cable so very much, and Ara scales with them.
Verdict:
There are many good IEMs on the market. If you want to buy one IEM and live with it happily forever, the Ara is a very strong candidate.
I also heard good words about the U12t, but never actually heard it.
