[cr3ativ3]

You tell me, your German better be better than mine, you seem to hang around there

I wasn't sure how to translate it and couldn't make sense of what they were saying, i.e., same config/specs or same tuning? (Which would be misleading and doesn't seem to be the type of the company.)

Your translation is right. How they wrote it , it could be a bit misleading . I don’t think that they mean that it’s the same iem like Andromeda gold . Cause all can see at the FR that it’s not ... in German thinks could have a bit different meaning as a straight translation .

 

[NewEve]

A bit more on the Ara over here at reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Headphonep...amp&utm_medium=&utm_content=comments_view_all

I made the decision to get them as soon as my dealer has them in stock which I hope will be this coming week.

 

[musiclvr]

 

[audio123]

Comparing to the limited edition variants of the Andromeda (S, SE: Gold & MW10), the Ara is undoubtedly the neutral sounding one out of the lot. One thing that stands out from the Ara is the overall definition. The bass is very clean and tight. Vocals have good body and the upper midrange emphasis helps in the overall engagement. The treble is detailed and articulate with controlled sparkle. The positioning of vocals and instruments is very precise. There is holographic soundstage expansion, the width in particular. To sum it up, the Ara is clean & detailed and it has a very appealing sound.

 

[Colors]

Comparing to the limited edition variants of the Andromeda (S, SE: Gold & MW10), the Ara is undoubtedly the neutral sounding one out of the lot. One thing that stands out from the Ara is the overall definition. The bass is very clean and tight. Vocals have good body and the upper midrange emphasis helps in the overall engagement. The treble is detailed and articulate with controlled sparkle. The positioning of vocals and instruments is very precise. There is holographic soundstage expansion, the width in particular. To sum it up, the Ara is clean & detailed and it has a very appealing sound.

How does it sound different from the Andro Gold? Just wondering as they have the same BA driver quantity and configuration (low/mid/high). Would be a useful comparison.

 

[audio123]

How does it sound different from the Andro Gold? Just wondering as they have the same BA driver quantity and configuration (low/mid/high). Would be a useful comparison.

In brief, the Ara is less v-shaped sounding than the SE: Gold with reduced sub-bass emphasis, more forward and fuller midrange, smoother treble. They complement each other very well. Cheers!

 

[NewEve]

Now this is just mean—liking them so far?

 

[musiclvr]

Now this is just mean—liking them so far?

Just had to take a quick pic and post this pairing. I’ll tell you what; give me 3 songs to listen to (of your choosing of course) and I will report back with my impressions. The gear chain will be as follows: iPhone>Chord Mojo (set to 2vrms)Line-Out> ALO Audio SXC 8 interconnect>CypherLabs Sustain 84(Lo Gain)>CA Ara

 

[NewEve]

Just had to take a quick pic and post this pairing. I’ll tell you what; give me 3 songs to listen to (of your choosing of course) and I will report back with my impressions. The gear chain will be as follows: iPhone>Chord Mojo (set to 2vrms)Line-Out> ALO Audio SXC 8 interconnect>CypherLabs Sustain 84(Lo Gain)>CA Ara

That's awfully nice, thanks There you go:

• Bold as Love - Jimi Hendrix - Main interests: Male vocals & Lows as I expect the mids to be outstanding
• Summertime - Big Brother & The Holding Company, Janis Joplin - Main interests: Female vocals & Highs as I expect the mids to be outstanding
• Moaning' - Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Main interest: how piercing is the trumpet from 1:00 to 2:00

PS I hope you're not having tears of blood based on my selection

 

[ActuallySparky]

Do you find you can get the volume low enough for the Ara on a massive desktop tube amp like that? At least with the Andromeda Gold, I have to use software volume reduction before I feed a signal into my DAC to be able to use more than 1% of the volume knob on the Drop 789,

 

[musiclvr]

That's awfully nice, thanks There you go:

• Bold as Love - Jimi Hendrix - Main interests: Male vocals & Lows as I expect the mids to be outstanding
• Summertime - Big Brother & The Holding Company, Janis Joplin - Main interests: Female vocals & Highs as I expect the mids to be outstanding
• Moaning' - Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Main interest: how piercing is the trumpet from 1:00 to 2:00

PS I hope you're not having tears of blood based on my selection

-Bold as Love impressions: The lows are quite impactful with crisp attack, natural decay, and realistic tonality. Jimi’s vocal are portrayed in a very holographic way, really euphonic. The synth effects toward the end of the song portrayed are huge sound stage width but was not very tall, if that makes sense. You could really tell that you were hearing an older synthesizer but not in a good way. Very revealing though on the Ara’s part.

-Summertime: Firstly, this is a great track to really lay bare any sibilance issue a iem/headphone might have. Great selection hear. Janis’s vocals were rendered very life like with a huge dynamism yet without any piercing in any of the “sss” parts of words being sung. I completely anticipated full cringe moments and was surprised to find that I was getting all the detail without punishment. Now the guitar riffs and cymbal work was just sobering in a great way! Very life like and with such detail. Soundstage was wide AND tall. It was appropriately separated. I expected some collapsing of the soundstage dying busier passages but the Ara took it in stride. Another great selection here for determining treble refinement.

-Moaning- Now this track had me scratching my head a bit during the trumpet passage. I played trumpet for about 6 years through my early years in school so I do have a good idea of what I expect to hear. Also, I am a huge Miles Davis and Chris’s Botti fan. So when I heard the trumpet come in at that 1:00-2:00 marker I payed real close attention. It is a really beautiful solo with perfect staccatos and huge dynamic swing. This had me dialing the volume down a few decibels to really immerse myself in it. At first I felt like the tone was darker than it should be with a breathy almost woodwind quality. I immediately listened to some Miles and Botti for reference and determined that what I was hearing was simply a different kind of mic setup or was it something more? This song seemed like it was a live recording and when I payed attention you can hear where Art moves to and from the mic causing the sound more distant this softer and darker at times than I’m used to. It was very upfront and vibrant though....hmmmm. Whereas with other artists you could tell they were in a studio booth recording most likely. I don’t know. Here is were I felt that the Ara might have a small masking effect on potentially grating highs at the cost of tonality with some brass and piano recordings. Again a great track to reference dynamic swing, upper mids, and treble refinement.

Well I hope this was helpful!! Hahaha

 

[musiclvr]

Do you find you can get the volume low enough for the Ara on a massive desktop tube amp like that? At least with the Andromeda Gold, I have to use software volume reduction before I feed a signal into my DAC to be able to use more than 1% of the volume knob on the Drop 789,

The Sustain84(S84) by CypherLabs is actually a really great tube amp for iems. I love what tubes can do for my full-size headphones so I looked for a tube amp that would play nice with iems too. After reading how there was a black noise floor/background when a A12 iem from 64Audio and a 6c from Noble Audio, from 2 notable review sites, were being used on the S84; I had to take the leap. I am able to get plenty of volume play without channel imbalance or hiss in Lo Gain mode. It’s very cool actually because it is quite the juxtaposition with the Ara but compliments the Ara sound really well by imparting air and a touch of a euphoric quality too.

 

[NewEve]

-Bold as Love impressions: The lows are quite impactful with crisp attack, natural decay, and realistic tonality. Jimi’s vocal are portrayed in a very holographic way, really euphonic. The synth effects toward the end of the song portrayed are huge sound stage width but was not very tall, if that makes sense. You could really tell that you were hearing an older synthesizer but not in a good way. Very revealing though on the Ara’s part.

-Summertime: Firstly, this is a great track to really lay bare any sibilance issue a iem/headphone might have. Great selection hear. Janis’s vocals were rendered very life like with a huge dynamism yet without any piercing in any of the “sss” parts of words being sung. I completely anticipated full cringe moments and was surprised to find that I was getting all the detail without punishment. Now the guitar riffs and cymbal work was just sobering in a great way! Very life like and with such detail. Soundstage was wide AND tall. It was appropriately separated. I expected some collapsing of the soundstage dying busier passages but the Ara took it in stride. Another great selection here for determining treble refinement.

-Moaning- Now this track had me scratching my head a bit during the trumpet passage. I played trumpet for about 6 years through my early years in school so I do have a good idea of what I expect to hear. Also, I am a huge Miles Davis and Chris’s Botti fan. So when I heard the trumpet come in at that 1:00-2:00 marker I payed real close attention. It is a really beautiful solo with perfect staccatos and huge dynamic swing. This had me dialing the volume down a few decibels to really immerse myself in it. At first I felt like the tone was darker than it should be with a breathy almost woodwind quality. I immediately listened to some Miles and Botti for reference and determined that what I was hearing was simply a different kind of mic setup or was it something more? This song seemed like it was a live recording and when I payed attention you can hear where Art moves to and from the mic causing the sound more distant this softer and darker at times than I’m used to. It was very upfront and vibrant though....hmmmm. Whereas with other artists you could tell they were in a studio booth recording most likely. I don’t know. Here is were I felt that the Ara might have a small masking effect on potentially grating highs at the cost of tonality with some brass and piano recordings. Again a great track to reference dynamic swing, upper mids, and treble refinement.

Well I hope this was helpful!! Hahaha

Stunningly detailed, thank you!!!

 

[musiclvr]

Stunningly detailed, thank you!!!

You’re most welcome. Thank you for introducing me to those beautiful songs.

 

[NewEve]

You’re most welcome. Thank you for introducing me to those beautiful songs.

Glad you liked them!