[Rockwell75]

Black Star seems like it's going for a flatter, more neutral signature. My favorite thing about Bonneville is that it's not that.

 

[revelo]

I am curious about the new black star release. Not sure if it’s a different DD than the Bonneville but the overall driver setup is very similar obviously tuning is different. Regardless I’m planning to pick up a Bonneville but curious to hear peoples opinions on the black star.

It seems to be using the new Dual Magnet DD from the Bonneville

 

[Rockwell75]

It seems to be using the new Dual Magnet DD from the Bonneville

Yeah one has to wonder what the differences are beyond the sig. Bonneville is $300 more and Dark Star looks like it's made of more premium materials. Not that that's the final word anything, and price doesn't correlate direcly to pleasure with CFA IEMs (or in general imho).

 

[Nautilius113]

Sorry, my wording there was not quite clear.

The Chromatic Series is meant to be more attainable price wise. However, that in no way makes them lesser than their other IEMs. They come with simpler packaging and use the CIEM like shells. The point of entry for Chromatic series is $500 and ends at $1400 with Bonneville.

Whereas the Elemental Series currently starts at $1450 for the Emerald Sea and ends with Trifecta at $3375.

Remember though, regardless of price, it all comes down to preference. I absolutely love Solaris however I probably would prefer Bonneville as an all rounder.

Oh i see , thank you , when i read review , i thinks i will prefer more bonneville than emerald Sea, i thinks emerald sea part of price is for her amazing unbox and extra cable amd leather case .

 

[Nautilius113]

Black star in the box.
If you remove more or less 80 dollar for cable and 30/50 for the leather bag , is much more cheap than bonneville essential edition .
Probabily should be less confortable and more heavy .

 

[Rockwell75]

I finally received my Cascara today:

I'm loving the sound so far-- lots of top end air and detail, no harshness or evident peaks, decently large stage, great timbre, fantastic bass and forward clear mids. As with Bonneville the bass is really something on these...early days but I would be surprised if there was another single DD below $1k that could offer the total package in a bass driven IEM that this does. No small amount of my decision to purchase these was excitement about being able to connect them to this cable.

Also, I've been looking forward to this for a while:

As an added bonus and nice touch the CFA team sent me this signed letter:

And included bonus set of infinity pouches:

Nicely done.

 

[korvin12]

I finally received my Cascara today:

I'm loving the sound so far-- lots of top end air and detail, no harshness or evident peaks, decently large stage, great timbre, fantastic bass and forward clear mids. As with Bonneville the bass is really something on these...early days but I would be surprised if there was another single DD below $1k that could offer the total package in a bass driven IEM that this does. No small amount of my decision to purchase these was excitement about being able to connect them to this cable.

Also, I've been looking forward to this for a while:

As an added bonus and nice touch the CFA team sent me this signed letter:

And included bonus set of infinity pouches:

Nicely done.

Congrats Bro on your new purchase, a very underrated beast!!!

 

[kmhaynes]

I noticed the trade-in program page seems to be gone too:
https://www.campfireaudio.com/trade-in-program

www.campfireaudio.market is still available, just not as a link from their main website, so that is where trade-in possibilities could be pursued.

 

[royalemint]

I noticed the trade-in program page seems to be gone too:
https://www.campfireaudio.com/trade-in-program

https://www.campfireaudio.com/pages/trade

Found this under "Contact & Product services"

 

[zadillo]

www.campfireaudio.market is still available, just not as a link from their main website, so that is where trade-in possibilities could be pursued.

The only mention of trade in is in the FAQ section, and the page it links to is the one on the main CA site that gives a 404 error:

“
Can I Trade-in My Used IEMs?

You can trade in your used Campfire IEMs for credit towards new products on our main site, CampfireAudio.com. Click here to learn more or receive a preliminary quote for your trade-in! “

 

[zadillo]

https://www.campfireaudio.com/pages/trade

Found this under "Contact & Product services"

Interesting, a different URL from the one they took down:

https://www.campfireaudio.com/trade-in-program

 

[royalemint]

Interesting, a different URL from the one they took down:

https://www.campfireaudio.com/trade-in-program

I guess they forgot to update the links.

 

[cats4cans]

I guess they forgot to update the links.

I wonder what prices they offered. Buying from marketplace is usually a decent deal. Maybe write a note and let them know.

 

[kmhaynes]

I finally received my Cascara today:

I'm loving the sound so far-- lots of top end air and detail, no harshness or evident peaks, decently large stage, great timbre, fantastic bass and forward clear mids. As with Bonneville the bass is really something on these...early days but I would be surprised if there was another single DD below $1k that could offer the total package in a bass driven IEM that this does. No small amount of my decision to purchase these was excitement about being able to connect them to this cable.

Also, I've been looking forward to this for a while:

As an added bonus and nice touch the CFA team sent me this signed letter:

And included bonus set of infinity pouches:

Nicely done.

SO, how does the Cascara compare to the Dorado 2020?? I assume a bit similar with the DD being the main driver, but maybe a bit more mids??

Dorado is a tad dark for me when I can't use EQ, like online places (YT, SoundCloud, etc.), but with my PowerAmp Android app on my Samsung phone, I can dial in exactly how I like it.

Nice folks @ CFA! They've always answered my random email questions very quickly.

 

[emdeevee]

Black Star had a very balanced signature. From what I could hear, no specific frequency was emphasized over the others. It was very tight sounding. Mids have that typical Campfire special sauce, very holographic.

I'm seriously enjoying the Black Star! I'm actually sort of blown away by it...it has replaced my Singularity as my nighttime driver for now. I will be demoing Bonneville soon and am really looking forward to that as I'll be familiar with Black Star. My understanding is the same DD is in both sets, and just wow on this DD! Black Star is the deal from CFA I'm thinking.

SO, how does the Cascara compare to the Dorado 2020?? I assume a bit similar with the DD being the main driver, but maybe a bit more mids??

Dorado is a tad dark for me when I can't use EQ, like online places (YT, SoundCloud, etc.), but with my PowerAmp Android app on my Samsung phone, I can dial in exactly how I like it.

Nice folks @ CFA! They've always answered my random email questions very quickly.

I've not tried Cascara yet, tho I trust @Rockwell75 impressions as we seem to gel

I do have Dorado (with some influence from the above mentioned) and it got me quite entranced. I agree with the "dark" descriptor, it is a heavy sound if from a very small shell!

I'm going to hazard the guess that the DD in Cascara is the same as the one inside Black Star, not Dorado, and that Dorado will retain its dark, deep reputation, where Black Star and it's DD give CFA the best lower boom to match with their super mid/highs. Tldr: Dorado remains budget basshead CFA, Black Star not basshead, but serious bass, just more balanced.

Honestly, if I were advising a new head fier, you could pick up Dorado and BS for less than any other TOTL iem and have the best of both worlds to enlighten your forward path, or retire with.