[Pabsu]

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mthfhlz check out xinhs cables too lots of options.

 

[Erkil]

got confused .. re Titan ... Symphonium is so much into BAs that I forget that some models use DD .... mistake ..

I also tend to think of Symphonium as all BA. Have to remind myself every time I think about Titan

 

[Erkil]

Listed

https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds/campfire-audio-andromeda-gold-special-edition.79481/

Do the Gold box have the limited number printed? Like 99/1000?

 

[Erkil]

I’m enjoying my Holocene, but I’m not too fond of the cable; it’s too thin, always worried to break it someway, and it’s 3.5 mm terminated.
Any suggestion for an upgrade cable that won’t cost as my IEMs?

I feel like the original cable is quite strong despite being thin. I have some cheap KBEar and Open Hart cables from AliEx that looks good:

I just found this on AliExpress: NOK539.72 | KBEAR Chord 6N Graphene+4N OFC Silver-plated Mixedly Braided Upgrade Cable With MMCX/2Pin Connector Earphone Wire Accessory KS1
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EusmfdE

I just found this on AliExpress: NOK364.07 | OPENHEART 4 Core High Purity Oxygen-free Copper Silver Plated Balance Cable 3.5/2.5/4.4mm MMCX/0.78 2Pin IEM Earphone Cable
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EJOHlog

 

[Pabsu]

https://www.null-audio.com/collections/iem-headphone-cable null audio is also an option

 

[gaex86]

thx all for the suggestion!

 

[CFA Chris]

Chris, you said the Clara would come with the duet cable. But on bloom audio it's only coming with the Metal cable. Will this be different when it's sold on the official site?

Hi All, sorry I've been a bit out of the loop on here on head-fi. Was knocked out for about a week with a pretty gnarly cold.

The base model of Clara comes with Time Stream Duet, Ti version comes with the Time Stream Ultra. This looks like probably a typo. We will have presale on our site up soon, I'm working to get caught up and get this live for everyone.

 

[Tom75]

So everything else is the same. Are there any differences in terms of soundsignature?

 

[dumpsterfire]

I've been playing with the Cascara this past weekend and comparing it to the Astrolith and also the IE600 as it's also a single DD and in the price range of the Cascara. Here are my notes, feel free to ask any questions:

Astrolith vs Cascara

• Astrolith is simply on another level in technicalities, clarity, resolution, detail retrieval, separation
• Cascara presentation set a bit further back than Astrolith
• Cascara slam/tactility, bass texture, expressiveness is its strongest suit and a total delight
• Overall texturing on Cascara sounds more "right" to me, DD driver vs planar
• Astrolith's speed creates an incredible amount of technical precision that is breathtaking in comparison to Cascara
• Cascara bass bleeds into the mids, creates a boxy presentation at times, especially on deeper male vocals, Astrolith has none of this
• Cascara sounds muffled in comparison to Astrolith, with a few minutes of listening this feeling goes away but it's clear the resolution and clarity are not on par
• Cascara is rolled off on the top end, Astrolith's full extension in the top gives a lot of air and sparkle, Cascara sounds duller

Cascara vs IE600

• Cascara has closer staging, IE600 is wider and deeper
• Cascara more midbass focused, IE600 more subbass
• IE600 has a much more prominent treble
• IE600 mids are thinner, Cascara more full bodied
• No bass bleed on IE600
• IE600 seems more resolving than Cascara, could be result of tuning with IE600s more prominent treble and lower midbass
• IE600 has more clarity, better instrument separation
• Like two ends of a see-saw, Cascara with tipped up bass and IE600 with tipped up treble
• Least "fun" of the three, more neutral and analytical

 

[fejnomit]

I've been playing with the Cascara this past weekend and comparing it to the Astrolith and also the IE600 as it's also a single DD and in the price range of the Cascara. Here are my notes, feel free to ask any questions:

Astrolith vs Cascara

• Astrolith is simply on another level in technicalities, clarity, resolution, detail retrieval, separation
• Cascara presentation set a bit further back than Astrolith
• Cascara slam/tactility, bass texture, expressiveness is its strongest suit and a total delight
• Overall texturing on Cascara sounds more "right" to me, DD driver vs planar
• Astrolith's speed creates an incredible amount of technical precision that is breathtaking in comparison to Cascara
• Cascara bass bleeds into the mids, creates a boxy presentation at times, especially on deeper male vocals, Astrolith has none of this
• Cascara sounds muffled in comparison to Astrolith, with a few minutes of listening this feeling goes away but it's clear the resolution and clarity are not on par
• Cascara is rolled off on the top end, Astrolith's full extension in the top gives a lot of air and sparkle, Cascara sounds duller

Cascara vs IE600

• Cascara has closer staging, IE600 is wider and deeper
• Cascara more midbass focused, IE600 more subbass
• IE600 has a much more prominent treble
• IE600 mids are thinner, Cascara more full bodied
• No bass bleed on IE600
• IE600 seems more resolving than Cascara, could be result of tuning with IE600s more prominent treble and lower midbass
• IE600 has more clarity, better instrument separation
• Like two ends of a see-saw, Cascara with tipped up bass and IE600 with tipped up treble
• Least "fun" of the three, more neutral and analytical

Like I mentioned elsewhere, I like my bass bleeding....

 

[dumpsterfire]

Like I mentioned elsewhere, I like my bass bleeding....

For a lower end, fun set that I can toss in my bag the lower comparative performance of the Cascara doesn't bother me. I couldn't do with them as my main or sole set of IEMs though.

 

[fejnomit]

For a lower end, fun set that I can toss in my bag the lower comparative performance of the Cascara doesn't bother me. I couldn't do with them as my main or sole set of IEMs though.

No def not. They are my gym set. Good isolation. Bass cuts through all the ambient noise. Keep me rocking while I work out.

 

[dumpsterfire]

An addendum on Cascara and Astrolith, regarding scaling. The Cascara can scale to a point. Putting the Timestream Ultra cable on them brought out additional detail and clarity, the bass was a bit more controlled. Going from my DAP to my desktop amp brought out even more. It's never going to be a TOTL IEM in terms of transparency, detail, or resolution but despite its sensitivity its performance ceiling doesn't stop with the stock cable or lower powered devices.

Astrolith to me doesn't significantly scale. Its performance levels remain incredibly high regardless of what you connect it to. Instead Astrolith will reveal the limits of your sources. Plug it into a lower end dongle and you will absolutely hear the limit of that source's ability to resolve fine detail, or any other performance metric. Plug it into top tier amps connected to top tier amps and you'll hear everything those devices are capable of. I do think the Timestream Ultra cable expands the soundstage on the Astros but it's not nearly as much of a difference as I heard with the Cascara. Astrolith is just a really well behaved, well performing IEM.

 

[Sweet2K]

I purchased the Dark Star prior to it going on sale for $599.99. I only have a few IEMs to compare it to as a point of reference. The new biofilm DD intrigued me. I was hoping I’d get more sub bass/bass volume from it. I have the FiiO FH19, MEZE Advar, UM Mest MKII. I expected more bass than the Mest MKII, but it didn’t deliver any more. I’d say it’s on par with the Mest II. The timbre is slightly less accurate than the Mest II to my ears, but still good. The highs were very crisp, clean…not quite as resolving as the Mest II. The vocals were slightly forward…very neutral and clean. More of a W signature. The mid bass was punchy and dynamic. I’d say slightly more mid bass than the Mest II. Overall it sounds very dynamic. The soundstage is not as holographic as the Mest as the mids/vocals sound a little more congested to my ears…not bad though. I like more warm, rich, fuller sounding tonality with slightly more weighty notes. The FiiO I enjoyed because of the dual dynamic 12.7mm driver…even with those it only had slightly more pronounced bass volume than the Dark Star. The Dark Star ruined the FH19 for me…it made the FH19 sound sort of veiled. I was impressed how much cleaner/clearer the Dark Star sounded. I think the build quality of the Dark Star is great! It is a PVD coated stainless steel shell…it’s light and solid and is comfortable to wear. The cable that comes with it is not very good. I think the accessory package is very underwhelming and clearly where they were able to cut costs and offer this for less. I only had the upgraded MEZE Advar Cable to swap. I tried using the FiiO cable…lol…there’s no getting those things off. I tried using the tool Fiio provided and the tool bent. lol. Drop did give me a $200 refund due to the sale price. So, at $599 I think it’s a good deal. It’s definitely a great IEM to run around with…It wasn’t quite enough to satisfy my craving for something more though. My next stop I think is the Maven II…or the Kublai Khan. I’m torn between the two. Anyway, I know this isn’t the best review…I don’t have the vast experience with many IEMs to really give a solid point of reference, but I wanted to try and help anyone who might be on the fence.

 

[Barnstormer13]

I tried nearly 10 pairs of different tips with Astrolith. I think it’s one of the most sensitive pairs of IEMs regarding tip rolling.

I totally agree, that foam tips reduced the feeling of sibilant tones. But these also reduce the punch and authority of the bass. That might be the case with all IEMs, but with Astrolith it’s pretty obvious.

I ended up using with the CP100 from Spinfits, getting the best results out of it.

Look at the shape of the tip. What diameter - conical or straight, which distance from the driver to your ear canal - tips sometimes look the same, but when you pull it over some stand out other nearly disappear behind the nozzle, and finally the material - thick or thin silicone. All of this specs can change the signature, not completely, but recognizable.

The Astrolith is one of the highlights of 2024, it has only one flaw to me. They sound a bit flat, not in a way, that these IEMs are missing separation, more that sounds are not holographic, not plastic. I thin

Thank you for your continued advice. And that's more or less what I've been thinking over the past 24 hours. I've really been trying to like these, but I just don't. At least not as much as I should given the cost.

The only thing that is giving me some pause is that I love the reach that the Astro has on the low end. Almost like someone is tapping the back of my head on certain tracks. Does the Clara come anywhere close to this? It's not a dealbreaker as I'd much rather have my preferred male/female vocals and midrange, but it would be nice. I'm not the kind of person that's going to keep a collection of several IEMs. Ideally, I want one pair that I'm going to be able to travel with and work with 99% of the time.

I've already sent a message to CFA asking to start the return process. I bought it with the Black Friday Timestream Ultra cable - but I'm hoping they'll let me keep the cable and just deduct the deal/difference from the total refund. Also complicating matters is that I went all-in and bought Modulate tips, and I sent in my impressions. So I'm also hoping they can keep my impressions on file and pause my custom tips order till the Clara comes out.

Here's hoping the Clara launches sooner rather than later. I was really hoping to have something to listen to over my holiday break.

Best thing I ever did was go to a can jam and compare IEMs. With literally hundreds to try, i discovered there’s some that don’t work for me at all, a lot that are good but nothing special, and some I love. Toss it back and find one you love.

For me, the Astrolith is special and I love it, but I also find its pretty tip sensitive which often means it’s ear sensitive too. It doesn’t surprise me some would find the tuning off.