I love my Dorado 2020! Having said that, I know this may be a taboo topic for purists, but I use EQ [sparingly] on my phone audio app (Poweramp) to adjust an IEM a bit. I'm not going to spend $500 on an IEM and require that it sound exactly how I want it to sound without tinkering with it a bit. For the many people out there who seem to be bothered by treble, maybe you can EQ it down just a bit and you might be very happy and not feel like you have to look and look for the sound you want. Just a thought ...
Campfire Dorado 2020
- Thread starter KB
- Start date
...This is interesting, I also have the Fiio Fh3 and the Dorado 2020 and although I consider the gold to be a brighter iem than the Fh3, I do not perceive it with treble as aggressive as you indicate.
What dac or dap are you using?
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Sure, list your sibilance test tracks -- I'm curious to see what I hear in them with my Dorados. Thanks!
+1
I love to EQ. The thing about Campfire IEMs is that the tuning can be a bit "out there" sometimes...but they absolutely nail the fundamentals that really matter to me (timbre, staging, bass quality, imaging). So a little EQ can turn something like my Dorado 2020 (which I EQ to bring the upper mids forward a bit) or Trifecta into a force of nature very difficult to top for my preferences. That said I've had my Dorado 2020 for over two years and I've never heard anything approaching sibilance. I'd take it, even without EQ, over the Monarch II any day of the week. YMMV and all that.
Agreed. I've been looking for 4+ years for what I have found in the Dorado, and I think it can be summed up maybe in the word "power." So many chi-fi IEM's are polite, refined, whatever you want to call them (Moondrop, Penon, ThieAudio, etc) -- good sounding but just don't have the power and energy of the alot of the Campfire line.
I'm not trying to offend anyone who likes the chi-fi family of phones -- I'm just celebrating a brand that has satisfied what I like.
Lastly, I'm trying to get my financial guts up to try the jump up to the CA Solaris -- don't want to be disappointed with it, if that's possible, for the price-jump required over the Dorado.
Do you mean the latest Solaris (Stellar Horizon) with the silver and gold colour shells?
Now, I haven't heard that one myself, but based on the impressions and reviews I've seen, it seems like it would be quite a different tuning to the Dorado.
I recall people mentioning that it was relatively neutrally-tuned, without the levels of bass they might have been expecting.
I can't remember if @Rockwell75 had posted impressions? (I've been on a bit of a hiatus from Head-Fi for a while until now!).
I mention this mainly because of your great comments about the power and energy that Campfire can deliver!
I'm not suggesting the new Solaris is bad by any means - and as I said, I haven't even heard it - but rather just saying that if you're looking for something more along the lines of the Dorado's DNA, then again - based on reviews etc - the Trifecta might seem like the more coherent upgrade path (if one could afford it of course!)
Conversely, I *have* heard the Campfire Saber, which I enjoy a great deal.
If you haven't tried it, I might suggest that as your next Campfire IEM to try if you can find one for sale (it was a limited edition)?
I am not sure where you're based, but if The 'Sip, refers to the Mississippi, then I found one dealer in the US who still seems to have it for sale AND on discount ($399):
https://www.headamp.com/products/campfire-saber
And, bearing in mind I've got morning brain fog, if The 'Sip refers to somewhere completely different, please forgive my assumption!
For me, the Saber has a tuning that is a lot more similar to the Dorado than the Solaris is (I own the Solaris 2020), but with the key difference that the upper mids are more forward. Not to the extent of (e.g.) the Empire Ears Odin, but in a way that brings all kinds of benefits.
It takes that classic Dorado-esque Campfire sound and adds a new and different dimension that I haven't heard in any of their other IEMs thus far.
I eviewed it if you want to find out more:
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/campfire-audio-saber.25725/
I suppose I'm also trying to offer an alternative option that would let you spend *less* rather than more, and which you might end up loving more!
Which would be nice
Anyway, hope this helps and do let us know whatever you decide to buy in the end
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I just want to say that it's quite nice to see this thread stay relatively active after all this time-- I have felt from the very beginning that the Dorado 2020 was a very special IEM and I'm so glad to see it continue to find its audience.
You're exactly right here. The Dorado 2020 has what I consider to be a quintessentially "American" sound in the form a dominant bass response and an incredible muscularity to its sound profile on the whole. I've always speculated that this stems in part from the acoustic properties of the ceramic shell. Either way it's fantastic and not something found in very many IEMs. Like you I landed on the Doroado 2020 after having spent a couple years searching for exactly that sort of sound.
I would demo it first as @Layman1 points out the Solaris, while great, is not necessarily an upgrade from the Dorado, which has a hefty dose of its own secret sauce. For reference my own upgrade path lead me from the Solaris to the Dorado (not the other way around). The Solaris Stellar Horizon is a great IEM but it's more of a quintessentially "Hifi" sound and does not go for the same bombastic muscularity that is the main charm of the Dorado 2020. A more natural upgrade to the Dorado is the Trifecta...however having both I can say there are still times where my mood will demand nothing less than the Dorado's sound.
I gotta say it looks rather dashing alongside my new AK SR35:
You're exactly right here. The Dorado 2020 has what I consider to be a quintessentially "American" sound in the form a dominant bass response and an incredible muscularity to its sound profile on the whole. I've always speculated that this stems in part from the acoustic properties of the ceramic shell. Either way it's fantastic and not something found in very many IEMs. Like you I landed on the Doroado 2020 after having spent a couple years searching for exactly that sort of sound.
I would demo it first as @Layman1 points out the Solaris, while great, is not necessarily an upgrade from the Dorado, which has a hefty dose of its own secret sauce. For reference my own upgrade path lead me from the Solaris to the Dorado (not the other way around). The Solaris Stellar Horizon is a great IEM but it's more of a quintessentially "Hifi" sound and does not go for the same bombastic muscularity that is the main charm of the Dorado 2020. A more natural upgrade to the Dorado is the Trifecta...however having both I can say there are still times where my mood will demand nothing less than the Dorado's sound.
I gotta say it looks rather dashing alongside my new AK SR35:
OK, thanks on the info about Solaris vs Dorado. I don't have the $$ and probably time to keep several expensive IEMs, so I tend to want an all-rounder (or what I can live with as an all-rounder!), and the Dorado is that for me right now. I don't have a way of demo-ing the Solaris, so I will probably just be satisfied with the Dorado until I can do that.
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[duh, accidental duplicate post!]
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Had these for around a month now, so well and truly past the honeymoon phase and I still love them.
Atm my fave 3 iems I've ever heard are
Trifecta
Singularity/Dorado
These are my favourite campfire IEM ive owned (versus Andromeda, Solaris and Vega). They sound like a muscle car, notes have an extraordinary thickness to them, but detail and overall technical performance is great too.
Atm my fave 3 iems I've ever heard are
Trifecta
Singularity/Dorado
These are my favourite campfire IEM ive owned (versus Andromeda, Solaris and Vega). They sound like a muscle car, notes have an extraordinary thickness to them, but detail and overall technical performance is great too.
Andy listens
New Head-Fier
I still love mine too. I recently added Holocene to the mix. Drop had them marked way down. The two provide tuning to cover the variety of music I listen to.
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