I am pretty confident that portable audio does not produce the same sonic result/listening experience as does a high-end, 2-channel, speaker-based system (nor require as many hyphens!). Of course portable audio does not have the sheer size, weight, cost and power requirements of 'home 2-channel gear either. (Probably won't get you thrown off a bus or a train either!)
That said, it can still be quite good, but one needs to set proper expectations. (and here I do mean a specific one, who shall remain nameless.) The situtation reminds me of someone who lists a litany of reasons why they cannot put things in their eyes, cannot maintain proper cleaning and storage procedures, and has very unusualy correction requirements, then goes on to offer scathing criticisms of contact lenses, comparing them to glasses and 20-20 vision. DOH!
I own speakers, headphones and iems and ciems. I have several of each, and work in high end audio retail. I've heard lots of stuff. I think the truth is that, once you weed out the junk, much of what remains is more than good enough to use to greatly enjoy your favorite music. Some combinations may fit together better than others, and having some awareness of what's possible, and how different things sound, can make it easier to come up with good combinations, es[ecially ones that fit your specific 'taste'. For me, many of those synergistic combinations involve Campfire iems, my current go-to being the Solaris. My Solaris allow me to hear the subtle sonic differences between my daps, but work pretty well with all of them. No, they don't make all of my recordings sound the way that I want them to-but my recordings don't all sound the way I want them to in the first place. I do not blame the messenger. They are pretty easy (but not cheap-lol) to drive, but are really sensitive to positioning in the ear. Insertion depth, angle, tip and seal are more crtical for these than some other iems I have.
KB's iems all honor the timbre, tonality and authentic sound of acoustic instruments. Campfire iems are coherent, dynamic and natural sounding, some with more bass than some like, but my big ears love them. I use Azla tips, size L, and they work equally well on Andromeda, Vega, Atlas, and Solaris. Comparing to other totl or upper end iems, I find the Campfire stuff more timbrally acurate than many others, which are often either hyper-detailed, or bass monsters, neither of which sound like live musical events (at least to me). I hope lots of people love them, so KB can saty in business and continue to provide them, since I could never afford to have him make them just for me. Other than that, I will like them whether anyone else does or not.
Too much?