[ArjanAssen]

Absolutely ... that amazingly beautiful finish is such a practical flaw in product design!

But serious, are there people who did try to repaint? Especially the corners of my Andromeda are sensitive. The green is already fading.

 

[BS5711]

What is this talk of re-paining.

They are aluminium and the finish is anodised. To re-do anodising would require complete disassembly so the aluminium shells can be dipped as needed, obviously that is not practical.

I am not sure how anodised aluminium is a design flaw.

 

[OhmsClaw]

What is this talk of re-paining.

They are aluminium and the finish is anodised. To re-do anodising would require complete disassembly so the aluminium shells can be dipped as needed, obviously that is not practical.

I am not sure how anodised aluminium is a design flaw.

Yeah... why it can't be done. However it was finished, it's impractical.

 

[Takeda`1537]

What is this talk of re-paining.

They are aluminium and the finish is anodised. To re-do anodising would require complete disassembly so the aluminium shells can be dipped as needed, obviously that is not practical.

I am not sure how anodised aluminium is a design flaw.

It is a very bad short term design ... for how much I loved my Andros' sound, I loathed their beautiful finishing.
What is the point in having beautiful IEMs if you cannot use them or it you know that by taking them out of the box they get ruined? These are not single-use item ..

 

[OhmsClaw]

It is a very bad short term design ... for how much I loved my Andros' sound, I loathed their beautiful finishing.
What is the point in having beautiful IEMs if you cannot use them or it you know that by taking them out of the box they get ruined? These are not single-use item ..

Taking care of expensive items. As with all things that require care. It's just unfortunate sometimes.

 

[Takeda`1537]

Taking care of expensive items. As with all things that require care. It's just unfortunate sometimes.

I have plenty of others IEMs, a majority of them way, way, way more expensive that Andros but that can be used normally, with due standard care, and do not just get ruined so easily....
I still call it either bad product design or in-built intentional product obsolescence.

(I work in corporate and product strategy and innovation. I lecture on the same in business schools ... this is either one or the other of these two cases. This does not detract to, subject to personal preference, older Andros sound really good)
(anyway enough on this topic)

 

[Gww1]

I'm glad to see an official thread at last, the Andro S was my first high end IEM and since then I've always had a soft spot for Campfire - they've also been very kind and generous whenever I've reached out to them with queries etc...

Here are a couple of pics of my previous Campfire setups that I really enjoyed, this year I'm looking forward to giving the Bonneville a try!

 

[o0genesis0o]

Taking care of expensive items. As with all things that require care. It's just unfortunate sometimes.

No matter how much I baby these, the paint at the edges would chip. Now I just accept the fact that these Andro would “develop character” over time.

 

[SunRa Fan]

I had a Sharp MD-D10 for years. MD was a cool format but one thing I don’t miss is Sony’s ATRAC compression format. You can really hear its shortcomings on acoustic and classical stuff. I remember how Sony would only offer their recorder player here for years($600 in the early 90’s). So expensive. As far as I’m concerned they shot themselves in the foot with that move alone. MD was a far superior replacement for cassettes.

 

[NewEve]

Alright, so what about: Black Star vs Andromeda 2020 & Solaris 2020

Anyone?

@suman134 Thanks

 

[1oad3r]

Thoroughly enjoyed these this afternoon.

 

[suman134]

@suman134 Thanks

Different, much different. Better in many ways.
BlackStar is a fusion between OG Solaris and 2020. It has the cohesion of OG but is balanced like 2020. Bass is in between both. It's not lacking bass but it's not bassy either. It's bass dynamics, body and control are superior to both. Treble is where it is a bit less forward. Slightly relaxed to keep things clean and less fatiguing.
BlackStar has tall notes across the spectrum, this much taller notes in the highs can be tiring. BlackStar might end up as "the IEM of the year" for me.
A friend of mine who doesn't appreciate CFA IEMs too concurred that BlackStar is very good. That says a lot.

 

[o0genesis0o]

Different, much different. Better in many ways.
BlackStar is a fusion between OG Solaris and 2020. It has the cohesion of OG but is balanced like 2020. Bass is in between both. It's not lacking bass but it's not bassy either. It's bass dynamics, body and control are superior to both. Treble is where it is a bit less forward. Slightly relaxed to keep things clean and less fatiguing.
BlackStar has tall notes across the spectrum, this much taller notes in the highs can be tiring. BlackStar might end up as "the IEM of the year" for me.
A friend of mine who doesn't appreciate CFA IEMs too concurred that BlackStar is very good. That says a lot.

It’s only $999 and comes with the similar accessories pack as the new 2023 line-up, which is quite affordable by CFA standard. How did I miss this?

Let’s see if my local store has one for demo.

 

[Derivative]

It’s only $999 and comes with the similar accessories pack as the new 2023 line-up, which is quite affordable by CFA standard. How did I miss this?

Let’s see if my local store has one for demo.

very interesting proposition indeed!
I really dig the more classic CA look compared to the recent releases (Bonneville, Cascara etc). One to demo for sure.

 

[o0genesis0o]

Sad day. No stock of black star in Australia (Addicted to Audio). I have no courage to blind buy a campfire IEM, so I would need to sit this one out.

Would appreciate if anyone find a frequency response graph of these IEMs.