[paggio]

The alo audio silver cable does add a nice level of detail and I enjoy it over the stock cable

A month ago I got a pure silver litz Alo cable for less than 100$

 

[hawker]

That feels like it may be a little harder than I thought it would be. Playing IEM musical chairs right now. It may actually be close enough that you would need a switching device so there would be no time gap while swapping out. It is not a hands down easy win for the Solaris, I think it will come down to micro detail and very subtle things. Perhaps even by song on which is better. Thank god I have 2 weeks.

I will say that it feels incredible to have the andro form factor again. I sold my greens for the solaris and while I got better sound I lost the light weight and great comfort and fit for my head size. These are very pleasant to wear and certainly not a major downgrade from the Solaris.

 

[Sp12er3]

Anyone ever compared the good ol KSE1200 with the Andromeda? How does the the CA compare to the electrostats?
I'm talking on both Tuning (bass Qty, punch, depth, mid presence (esp for Female vocal), and treble sparkle) and technicality (Soundstage, micro detail, layering, positioning, etc) standpoint, I know it's gonna be hard for BA to compete with Electrostats on technicality, but just wondering.
Im mainly looking for an accompaniment to my Z1R, as their bass can be a bit much on some genre.

 

[iFi audio]

Anyone ever compared the good ol KSE1200 with the Andromeda?

I haven't, but got to listen to KSE1200 at a show one time and was thoroughly impressed. Andromedas are one of my all-time favorite IEMs though and I think that with a bassy DAC/amp or DAP they're a great match.

 

[Neweymatt]

Anyone ever compared the good ol KSE1200 with the Andromeda? How does the the CA compare to the electrostats?
I'm talking on both Tuning (bass Qty, punch, depth, mid presence (esp for Female vocal), and treble sparkle) and technicality (Soundstage, micro detail, layering, positioning, etc) standpoint, I know it's gonna be hard for BA to compete with Electrostats on technicality, but just wondering.
Im mainly looking for an accompaniment to my Z1R, as their bass can be a bit much on some genre.

I can't tell you about the KSE1200 vs Andromeda, but I do find the Andro2020 to be an excellent contrast and complement to the Z1R, it's great to swap between them for a completely different flavour. Andro imaging, detail and instrument placement is excellent, the soundstage has more width vs the z1R's greater height. Z1R is good for female vocals, but I prefer Andro2020, especially if the genre is also lighter and brighter.

Pair it up with a source with low output impedance, and you may be surprised how much bass Andro2020 delivers, the HiBy RS6 is excellent for this. I bought that DAP mainly to have a portable source with more power to drive the Z1R better when out and around, but I've wound up using it more with the Andro instead.

 

[Sp12er3]

I do find the Andro2020 to be an excellent contrast and complement to the Z1R, it's great to swap between them for a completely different flavour. Andro imaging, detail and instrument placement is excellent, the soundstage has more width vs the z1R's greater height. Z1R is good for female vocals, but I prefer Andro2020, especially if the genre is also lighter and brighter.

Pair it up with a source with low output impedance, and you may be surprised how much bass Andro2020 delivers.

Well I'm looking forward to it, that's also how the KSE ended up being also, a perfect compliment to the Z1R, I love that thing so much I was so sure I will keep it around for years... it's just the sample I got is a bit of a lemon so I am a tad desperate to find a replacement now.
I will mostly be using it with my LG V60, BTR3, WM1A and TA-ZH1ES. I'm pretty sure all 4 have 0.3-1.4 OutputZ with the LG being the noisiest, at least I don't hear any hiss on it with my current most sensitive iem, Final Heaven II.
Picked a used V1 with no scratch condition on its metal thanks to usage of rubber case for 300usd, hope it's all OK.

 

[iFi audio]

Well I'm looking forward to it, that's also how the KSE ended up being also, a perfect compliment to the Z1R

The thing with KSE1200 is that they're less practical to use than regular IEMs, but that's not even an issue if convenience isn't high on the priority list.

 

[Sp12er3]

For me the Z1R itself is also a mostly desk bound IEM with how heavy it is, on KSE itself tho, it's good because it has... Shure build, small, comfortable and isolate quite a lot. Good bedside IEM.
The amp is much less of a problem these days IMO as there's a lot of good Bluetooth DAC/Amp in recent years.

 

[iFi audio]

The amp is much less of a problem these days IMO as there's a lot of good Bluetooth DAC/Amp in recent years.

Just so we're on the same page, I thought that KSE1200 is a closed system, so that these Shure IEMs won't work with regular amps?

 

[NickleCo]

Is the Andromeda 2020 still highly relevant in Fall 2022?

I ask in terms of both performance and price. Is it still near top of heap for performance, as well as price/performance ratio? I see it’s still selling at or near its original price of $1,100-

If one is looking for similar wide spacing and quality, as well as size, is there anything else more current?

Thanks.

check out the audeze euclid if you want wide soundstage

 

[Sp12er3]

Just so we're on the same page, I thought that KSE1200 is a closed system, so that these Shure IEMs won't work with regular amps?

Yeah it won't, but the amp itself is designed to work with other source that is NOT a straight line out thus usage of the Clipping LED indicator.
Either Headphone out/Var LineOut is better for it IMO,
Plugging short cabled Bluetooth dac/amp on it is a great way to make it portable. The included Amp and Bluetooth dac/amp stack is pretty small and basically untethered.

 

[iFi audio]

Yeah it won't, but the amp itself is designed to work with other source that is NOT a straight line out thus usage of the Clipping LED indicator.
Either Headphone out/Var LineOut is better for it IMO,
Plugging short cabled Bluetooth dac/amp on it is a great way to make it portable. The included Amp and Bluetooth dac/amp stack is pretty small and basically untethered.

OK, now I understand, thanks for explaining

 

[Sp12er3]

I feel the amp thing on the KSE is about as problematic as the low Impedance of the Andromeda, annoying, but Fixable.
Plugging 3.5mm onto the Tazzy: man it's thin and bright, swapping cable to DIY pure copper 4.4mm into the WM1A more well balanced albeit with more mid bass presence than I like, very, very different sound.
Man, this is about as different as my audio Technica IM series line, just gotta find the right source I guess.

 

[Damz87]

I feel the amp thing on the KSE is about as problematic as the low Impedance of the Andromeda, annoying, but Fixable.
Plugging 3.5mm onto the Tazzy: man it's thin and bright, swapping cable to DIY pure copper 4.4mm into the WM1A more well balanced albeit with more mid ass presence than I expected, very, very different sound man, this is about as different as my audio Technica IM series line, just gotta find the right source I guess.

Finding the right source for the Andromeda can be difficult. Took me a while but I finally settled on the L&P W2 (OG version). There is zero hiss and a completely black background, plus the tonality of W2 synergises very well.

 

[Sp12er3]

Finding the right source for the Andromeda can be difficult. Took me a while but I finally settled on the L&P W2 (OG version). There is zero hiss and a completely black background, plus the tonality of W2 synergises very well.

Yep, so far the best I've heard it is with Tazzy's 4.4 Bal, clean, clear with enough bass Qty, punch is good, etc. Not as deep and punchy as KSE but good enough. It also sounds more airy than the Shure, that thing always sounds decidedly closed.
Hmm let's see whether 3.5mm with the WM1A is a good combo.

So far the hardest thing to get used to is the comfort, that stem is so short my ear always mesh with the metal protrusion (the one with L/R indicises) any recommendation for long stemmed eartips that may alleviate this pain while not sacrificing stock sound tuning?
This thing is more uncomfortable than my Z1R
I might have to break my ear in first...