Cardas A8 Ear Speakers – initial impressions
I recently acquired these IEMs based on some of the interesting things I have read in the forums here about the technology used in the drivers and the sound signature they were going for, so was wondering where they would fit in my own list of preferences. To be clear, I have no affiliation to Cardas, so the views expressed are 100% my own with only my own questionable judgement and listening bias having a bearing on the final verdict.
About me: newly minted audiophile, late 30s, long time music fan and aspiring to be a reasonably inept drummer. Listen to at least 2 hours of music a day on my commute to work – prefer IEMs for out and about, and a large pair of headphones when I have the house to myself and a glass in my hand. Recently started converting my library to FLAC and 320kbps MP3, and do most of my other listening through Spotify or Tidal HiFi. I am a fan of rock, acoustic (apart from folk) and sarcasm. Oh yeah, and a small amount of electronica. Not a basshead, but I do love a sound with some body to it. My ideal tuning for most IEMs and headphones currently tends towards a musical and slightly dark presentation, although I am not treble sensitive in general. Please take all views expressed below with a pinch of salt – all my reviews are a work in progress based on my own perceptions and personal preferences, and your own ears may tell you a different story.
Technical info
Driver type: 10.85mm dual magnet dynamic driver
Housing type: Solid brass, with an ABS coating
The Cardas A8 use new driver technology in their dynamic driver setup, using what they call an “ultra linear contour field dual magnet” driver to eliminate flux modulation distortion in the driver by replacing the permeable pole piece (the iron “end” of the magnet) with a permanent magnet. This is claimed to allow the driver to work in a linear way through the entire frequency range, reducing distortion as it goes. Cardas do not publish tech specs for this IEM, but from a listening perspective, whatever they have done seems to work. This IEM has been in development for a few years, and it does seem to show - the driver exhibits minimal signs of distortion and an enviable bass response.
Unboxing
The A8 Ear Speakers come in a nice presentation box which unfolds to reveal the IEMs in the top half, and a very nice semi-hard carry case in the lower half behind some plastic sheeting. The carry case holds the various tips being used (a few pairs of double flanged tips, and Comply tips in two sizes). The IEMs themselves are presented in a moulded insert in the top half of the box, with the cable wrapped underneath. All in all, it is quite understated but definitely classy, and gives a nice feel for the quality of the “ear speakers” you are about to listen to. Solid but not spectacular.
Build quality and ergonomics
The A8 are a very well put together IEM, with a real sense of substance and build quality. The IEM housings are machined from billets of solid brass then covered in a blue rubberised coating with the Cardas “Golden Spiral” logo on the back of each one – the rubber coating is designed to reduce wear and tear on the outsides from normal day to day use. Like the logo, the earbuds are made to follow the “golden spiral” of the inner ear, being a slightly oval cannonball shape. The brass makes itself felt in the construction, with the buds feeling very heavy compared to a normal set of IEMs. In fact, the IEMs could probably be considered very heavy compared to a small elephant or a real life cannonball, such is their density – while this takes a while to get used to in your ears, it does leave you with the reassuring feeling that short of someone taking a sledgehammer to them, these pieces of kit will be very adept at handling the normal day to day bumps without so much as a scratch. In terms of fit, the round shape does sit very well in the ear once correctly positioned – they come with a few different dual-flanged tips and some Comply foam tips, but due to the aforementioned weight of the buds, I find only the Comply tips allow me to keep them in my ears successfully without some form of adhesive. I have been blessed with very large ear canals, so people with smaller ears will probably be able to get a good fit with the enclosed silicon, but it doesn’t sit well enough for me to “lock them down” without the additional grip offered by the Comply. The actual shape of the earbuds is very comfortable, and they can be worn for decent lengths of time with no discomfort, apart from the strange sensation of having half a kilo hanging from each ear. The buds themselves have no removable connectors, but the strain relief on the housing is long and very robust looking, so doesn’t cause any undue concern. The cables to the earpieces are also different colours from the Y-splitter up, which is a nice touch and does help identify which ear each bud goes in at a glance without having to check the underside of the casings. From the Y-splitter down, the cable turns into a magnificently thick bright blue braided affair about 1/8 of an inch thick, and does remind you that Cardas are first and foremost a high-end cable manufacturer. The conductor cables are wrapped around a central core cable in a way that minimises any strain on the signal wires no matter how the cable is pulled, and like the buds themselves look able to stand up to a military drill sergeant level of abuse with no ill effects. The Y-splitter also houses a 2.5mm connector with a locking mechanism allowing you to swap out the cable below for a balanced version (Cardas offer both the A&K compatible 2.5mm balanced connector or the Pono variant with two connectors), which is a novel and pretty useful solution if you need to run these balanced for one or more of your DAP options. Due to the length of the cables down to the y-splitter from the buds, I am not able to wear these over-ear comfortably – again, due to the dimensions of my head and neck (too many years playing rugby), this may be a purely personal issue so those with smaller craniums (crania?) or collar sizes may have more luck. The cabling does look like it is built for the long term, but is still flexible enough not to be restrictive, and the use of Comply does limit external noise and the effect of any microphonics, but due to the fact these are worn down then some can occur in day to day use.
Sound quality
Test gear:
LG G Flex 2 (via Neutron Player)
iBasso DX90 (with Cayin C5)
Sansa Clip+ (Rockboxed)
Microsoft Surface Pro 2 (straight from the output jack)
Main test tracks (mainly 320kbps MP3 or FLAC/Tidal HiFi):
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats – S.O.B. / Wasting Time
Blackberry Smoke – The Whipporwill (album)
Slash – Shadow Life / Bad Rain (my reference tracks for bass impact and attack, guitar “crunch”)
Slash & Beth Hart – Mother Maria (vocal tone)
Richie Kotzen – Come On Free (bass tone)
Chris Stapleton
Elvis – various
Leon Bridges – Coming Home (album)
Foy Vance – various
Blues Traveler
Daft Punk – Random Access Memories (album)
Sigma - various
Rudimental – various
Rodrigo y Gabriela – various
Mavis Staples – Livin’ On A High Note
Don Broco - Automatic
General impressions on the sound signature
If I had to describe these ear speakers in one word, it would be this: musical. There is a feeling of warmth and depth to the sound that is reminiscent of hearing the recording in person, with real depth to the notes and a crystal clear reproduction. There is absolutely no grain that I can hear on any recordings (low or high quality), with vocals sounding smooth as silk without losing any of the detail in the recordings themselves. It is a warm tuning, definitely – the bass presence is certainly north of neutral, with a speed and impact that reminds me of the ASG series from Aurisonics in quality and effect. The mids are buttery smooth, and highs are present but not emphasised, which again brings this IEM firmly into my preferred tuning bracket of slightly warm and dark, so please bear that in mind when reading on below. While there is plenty of detail present in the soundscape, these are definitely a more “musical” style of IEM, built for listening rather than analysing.
Highs
The highs on the A8 are clear and smooth, and while not being overly emphasised, have a decent extension and good level of detail retrieval. There is not an overwhelming sense of air with these IEMs, with a gradual rolling off as you get right up to the top end of the frequency range leaving quite a “close” feeling to the music presentation. Cymbals sound lifelike but lack the “tizz” sometimes present in brighter earphones, with an almost muted feel to them as they fade out of earshot. The substance is still there where required, however – my staple test track for higher register music (“Starlight” by Slash and Myles Kennedy) sounds excellent, with the high notes feeling clean and defined rather than dull and lacking, and with enough bite to keep the song rolling along nicely. The clarity is very good too, with plenty of texture and detail sitting under the surface of the otherwise muted presentation.
Mids
The mids are slightly recessed compared to the highs and bass, but not drastically so, with nothing more than a mild “V” in evidence to my ears. They are very full bodied, with the proprietary driver doing a good job on vocals and guitar based tracks. Like the bass, there is absolutely no graininess in the sound, with everything feeling smooth as silk in terms of presentation. The thickness of the sound lends a very musical slant to the tuning, with these built firmly for enjoyment rather than analysis. Despite the warmness of the tuning, underlying details of the tracks being played are still apparent – the in-room echoes from the recording studio on the first Leon Bridges album are all clearly audible, and additional guitar fills and licks placed on the periphery of “The Whipporwhill” by Blackberry Smoke all make themselves known in the back of your mind, giving a good impression of detail. These are probably more resolving than your mind gives them credit for, with the fullness of the lower and mid-ranges hiding a bit of the technical excellence underneath “behind the scenes” as it goes about its day job of putting a smile on your face and making you enjoy your music. Vocals are smooth and convey a good sense of realism, bringing an authentic weight to proceedings that makes you feel you are in a live studio recording.
Bass
One of the strong points of the new driver setup used in the A8s is the bass reproduction – both quantity and quality are top notch, with excellent speed and resolution and no bleed into the mid-range. In some ways it feels like the star of the show – this isn’t strictly a basshead IEM, but there is definitely a good helping more in the low end than the “average” IEM, with good extension from the midbass down into proper teeth-rattling sub bass. Despite the ample bass presence, it never feels bloated or overwhelming – the detail the dual magnet dynamic is capable of putting out definitely marks this as a high quality driver, with texture and resolution to spare. While the tuning is slightly biased towards mid-bass, the sub-bass doesn’t feel neglected, and provides a great visceral sensation when pushed by any electronica you decide to play, rumbling well into the sub-sonic registers and highlighting its excellent extension. It’s a well worn cliché, but the A8 is capable of reproducing sounds in the lower frequencies I have only previously heard with my ASG-2.5s, digging detail and nuance out of the bottom end of the spectrum that would leave more “consumer tuned” brands like B***s crying into their soggy bowl of bass-soup in a direct comparison. Allied to the detail and timbre comes a welcome portion of “slam”, with the 10.85mm speaker moving an impressive amount of air in and out of your eardrum on demand, giving a great animal presence to bass drum hits and thundering basslines. Listening to “S.O.B.” by Nathaniel Rateliff on some of my other IEMs, the foot-stomp style drum rhythm underpinning the track sounds like… well, a drum. Through the A8s, this takes on the feeling of a hundred people stomping their feet on the floor in unison, with an almost physical feeling of the foundations moving slowly in time with the beat. This physical presence makes itself felt on other percussion-heavy music, with the excellent drumming on a few of my favourite Muse tracks taking on an almost ballistic feel, putting you directly in front of the kit (I always seem to hear drums behind me for some reason) and feeling the air move with each drum head impact. As always, with this level of excellence and prominence comes a caveat – if you aren’t a fan of warm sound signatures with a fair to heavy bass presence, then these ‘phones won’t be the ones for you. While never artificially flooding a track with bass where it isn’t in the master recording, these will ruthlessly extract any that is present, take it out for a quick jog to warm up and a trip through the carwash for a clean and polish and push it back in through your ears in glorious technicolour, playing loud and proud. If you have read my other reviews, you will know I normally use two tracks (“Bad Rain” by Slash, and “Hello, It’s Me” by Sister Hazel) to benchmark the bass performance in my head for an IEM, and the A8 handles both with ease. The Slash track growls when it is supposed to, rasps when it is supposed to and sounds just like it was supposed to in the studio (I imagine), with the texture of the bass notes resonating and the riffs turning on a sixpence. The Sister Hazel track is a far more liquid affair, but the A8 takes that in its stride as well, making you feel like your ears are slowly filling up with chocolate (the good kind, not that cheap muck they chuck into budget Easter Eggs) as the smooth bass keeps pouring in. Again, the speed is impressive, as once the bass stops, the soundscape clears away again and lets you enjoy the silence between notes without any feel of sloppiness. Impressive.
Soundstage/separation
Soundstage is decently wide and deep, making a nice round “sphere” just outside the confines of your head in all directions. Despite the thickness of the sound, the imaging is excellent, with the dual magnet driver placing instruments and voices accurately across the stage and allowing you to zero in on specific players or passages with a little effort. Separation is very good, with clear definition between sound sources and clear distinctions between the different layers. Due to the thicker bass and mid tones, there isn’t as much “air” between instruments as you may find on less lush sounding IEMs due to the thicker edges of each note, but it is still possible to follow twin guitars and individual drum hits without any feeling of overlap.
Isolation
Once correctly seated and using Comply tips, the isolation is excellent, and more than suitable for daily commuting and travel use. The shape of the buds sits well in the outer ear, blocking a decent portion of the opening with the solid brass housing. As these have to be worn down (in my case), cable microphonics can be noticed sometimes, although this is not a major irritation and can be countered with a shirt clip if needed.
Amping/Sources
The A8s are an easy to drive IEM, with good volume able to be obtained from a little over half volume on my LG G Flex 2. Putting them through a more refined source like the DX90 does help the IEM pull slightly more detail from the track (as you would expect) so you could say the A8s are reasonably “true to source”, but additional amping isn’t really required or rewarded, as far as I can tell. The thick and warm side of the tuning also does well to minimise any shortcomings from lower quality tracks - although the accuracy and precision of the driver won’t turn a steaming pile of MP3 into a Mozart concerto, it is certainly not as choosy as some other IEMs I have heard in the same price bracket.
Comparisons
Aurisonics ASG-2.5 – These are my current “king of the hill” IEM, and my daily driver for at home listening when I’m not using over-ears. The A8 share a few similarities with the overall sound signature of the 2.5s, with a heavy and extended bass presence and great musicality in the mid-range. The highs are more smoothed off and not as airy on the A8, with the 2.5s having a more sparkly “feel” and audible extension due to the dual-BA setup. Soundstage is also won by the 2.5 as a result, with the A8s getting just outside your head while the 2.5s sometimes feel like they are filling the whole room you are sitting in. Mids are more recessed on the A8s compared to the bass, whereas they are more forward on the 2.5. Both are excellent, but the A8 has a slightly more clean sound, with the 2.5 edging it for male and female vocals due to its more forward tuning, and the usual Aurisonics excellence in that tuning segment. I use the 2.5s with the bass port ¼ open, and on this setting, the A8 surprisingly has more bass “slam” and overall presence than the 2.5, with a slightly elevated sub-bass. Obviously if the ports are opened further, the 2.5 can outstrip the A8 (and probably any other IEM out there for sheer power and quantity), but the A8’s performance is still impressive nonetheless – both these IEMs could easily beat your brain into submission and take its lunch money without breaking a sweat. In terms of bass extension, the honours are pretty even – the A8 has slightly more sub-bass presence to my ears but doesn’t dig quite as far as the 2.5. The A8 is far easier to drive, reaching a much higher volume on the same output settings on both my phone and DX90.
Echobox Finder X1 – this has also been one of my daily drivers in recent months, and is in a similar enough price bracket to merit comparison. The Finder is a far more V shaped sound with my favourite filter (the bass filter), whereas the A8 has a thicker low end presence and a muted treble, giving it a meatier but less aggressive feel. For the bass, the Finder is impressively quick, but has a more mid-bass slant on the tuning, compared the A8’s marginally slower speed and more balanced mid and sub bass. Quantity wise it is edged by the A8, but there isn’t much in it. Mids on both are excellent, but the Finder has a thinner and sharper overall sound compared to the more organic and musical sound of the A8. Treble wise, the Finder is tuned far more aggressively than the A8, with far sharper treble and greater audible extension, compared to the smooth and slightly rolled off feel on the Cardas. Soundstage is won by the Finder, again due to the more emphasised treble tuning.
Audioquest Nighthawks – this may seem like an odd comparison due to the fact the Nighthawk is a semi-open over-ear headphone which costs about $200 more, but I include this for reference due to the similar tuning that both creators seem to be aiming for. Both the A8 and NH make a big play in their supporting literature about the fact that the technology they use minimises distortion at driver-level, giving a more authentic sound. Both models have a heavier than usual bass tilt, a musical midrange and a similar take on treble (detailed, smooth and not over-bright or emphasised). Overall, the Nighthawk seems to be similar enough that if you enjoy their uniquely relaxed and clear sound, you will very likely enjoy the same qualities in the A8, and vice versa. For absolute purposes, I will say that the NH does best the A8 in all categories pretty much (with the possible exception of “slam”), as you would expect from an over-ear in the next price bracket.
Overall conclusion
The Cardas A8 is one seriously impressive “ear speaker”, and provides a good musical alternative to the more reference tuned IEMs you will find in this price bracket. The new driver tech seems to be doing its job, with the speed and presence of the bass being top notch, and absolutely no grain or distortion to be found anywhere, no matter how much juice you pour into it. The ergonomics are well thought out, with two minor flaws: these buds can’t be worn over-ear if you have a larger than average head/neck, and the sheer weight of the housings means that anyone with wide ear canals is likely to have to go foam in their eartip selection otherwise they will be hearing the sound of a brass ball-bearing hitting the floor as it falls out of their ears on a regular basis. The warm and bassy low and mid ranges add a “solid” and authentic feel to the music listened to, making this ideal for sessions where you want to just listen to the song, not the notes. The tuning in the treble doesn’t technically lack extension but does lack sparkle so won’t be great for treble-heads, and leaves a lack of air that some might find slightly claustrophobic. Despite the negatives I have mentioned, there is no getting away from the fact that this is a supremely enjoyable listen, making most genres of music sound thick and alive in ways that more analytical or technically accomplished headphones struggle with. Allied to the stellar build quality and the option to use balanced cabling, this makes it a great IEM for those looking for this type of tuning, and one that I would challenge anyone not to enjoy. In fact, for sheer enjoyment, these almost made into my top tier in place of the ASG 2.5, only losing out of the bass flexibility and dash of magic in the vocals and the high end that the 2.5 can bring. For anyone who likes this sort of sound signature, these would be a very worthwhile listen.
