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Mine are in Memphis too.Glad to hear about the fit as that was my main concern coming from OG Andros. My 2020 order is sitting in Memphis
Campfire - Solaris
- Thread starter KB
- Start date
DunkFealer
100+ Head-Fier
Hi all!
I'm now bringing back my first impressions in the form of a shootout between the 64 Audio tia Trio, the Andromeda Gold (AG), and Solaris 2020. This format makes more sense to me since as far as first impressions go, relative differences are more obvious to notice than the details of each earphone's sound on their own. I'll also be pointing out songs that exemplify these differences, as I am firmly a music-first audiophile. To get this out of the way, these are all fantastic earphones and while I will be talking about better/worse features, the differences are not ever really night and day (despite what may sound hyperbolic). All of my listening was done out of the balanced port in my ZX300 with Symbio W Peels (my tips of choice). Here's a picture of what my set-up looks like:
On with the shootout:
Comfort:
After spending maybe 8 consecutive hours listening to Solaris 2020, I can say that it is personally still the least comfortable of my set of earphones. While the AG is roughly the same size, something about the way the Solaris rests on the back of my ear makes it a bit less comfortable. On the other hand, the Trio's are one of the most comfortable headphones I've worn (the Meze Rai Penta's are likely the best). Either way, because this is extremely ear dependent I wouldn't think too much about it since others seem to agree Solaris 2020 is a big improvement over OG.
Soundstage:
To get the easy one out of the way, Solaris outperforms the AG here by a noticeable margin. The way the instruments get laid out around my head on something like Mingus' Taurus in the Arena of Life is just shockingly good on Solaris 2020, certainly beyond what AG gives me. Interestingly, I find it harder to make a claim about the Trio vs. Solaris. I believe this is mostly because the Trio bass is so space-filling. So, while technically the Trio may have a similar stage size, practically it ends up feeling smaller (or maybe more crowded?) as a result of the bass.
Tonality:
Here's the main event for most. So what's actually different between these?
Bass:
The bass is implemented differently across these earphones. The AG's bass sticks out in this comparison as it is the one with the least sub-bass extension. The AG's bass is characterized by the mid-bass slam/thump (which can be quite satisfying with the right genre). The Solaris retains some of this mid-bass thump but adds sub-bass extension. It's often satisfying and of great quality, yet not great quantity (although bass is like spiciness, everyone's got different tolerances). The Trio has deep sub-bass extension (about as deep as the human ear goes I'd say) and fantastic texture. It also boasts significantly greater quantity over both Solaris and AG. A great track to test this with is Pusha T's Come Back Baby. Here, the bass in the track is almost entirely made up of sub-bass and so the AG immediately comes off toothless. Additionally, the more well-behaved bass of the Solaris 2020 does not match the energy of the track. Generally, I find the bass on the Trio to be both of better quality and quantity than on either Solaris or AG, and so it is much more satisfying when listening to genres like Hip-Hop, many Electronic sub-genre's or modern Pop. However, the Trio is still very far from being a basshead IEM and I while I would describe it as V-shaped, its really not that aggressive of a V (points of comparison here are short auditions of Polaris 2 and Atlas).
Mids:
Compared to either the Trio or the AG, the Solaris mids are significantly more present. This is not to say that they are overly recessed on either the Trio or the AG, since neither has an aggressive V-shape signature. This is most evident on a track like the Fleet Foxes' Montezuma, where guitars feature prominently and the emotion on the vocals takes the center stage. It's a no contest victory for the Solaris here, though I suspect that the Trio and AG were not really trying to compete here, as their design methodology is simply different.
Treble:
Honestly, all three of these IEMs do excellently in the top end. The extension is across the board fantastic (although I think the Solaris is sliiiiightly smoother, and AG is a smiiidge sharper, with the Trio as a sweet sweet spot in between). As was mentioned earlier in the thread, I'd describe the AG as having a different texture/timbre at the top end (slightly crunchier?). This is maybe the most similar category of all, but I think the shimmering/reverby sounds on a track like Frank Ocean's cover of At Your Best (You Are Love) highlight the differences.
Coherency:
Solaris is wildly coherent. It feels incredibly natural and relaxed. The best track I can think of to highlight this is D'Angelo's Really Love. The song is so delicate that any imbalance across the spectrum is exaggerated and feels unnatural. Solaris excels here, while the Trio ends up overemphasizing the bass and hiding D'Angelo's subtle vocal idiosyncrasies. AG on the other hand tweaks the top end just enough that it sounds a little off.
Conclusion:
I think what I've taken from this is that my AG's are largely redundant in my collection as they are neither as exciting as the Trio, or as coherent as the Solaris. So I suspect that what will practically happen is that the Solaris will be my go-to's for Folk/R&B/Rock/Classical/Jazz while the Trio's will be my main pair for Hip-Hop/Electronic/Pop. For the sake of my wallet, I hope that this is my endgame... Hopefully you enjoyed reading this! I enjoyed putting it together
I'm now bringing back my first impressions in the form of a shootout between the 64 Audio tia Trio, the Andromeda Gold (AG), and Solaris 2020. This format makes more sense to me since as far as first impressions go, relative differences are more obvious to notice than the details of each earphone's sound on their own. I'll also be pointing out songs that exemplify these differences, as I am firmly a music-first audiophile. To get this out of the way, these are all fantastic earphones and while I will be talking about better/worse features, the differences are not ever really night and day (despite what may sound hyperbolic). All of my listening was done out of the balanced port in my ZX300 with Symbio W Peels (my tips of choice). Here's a picture of what my set-up looks like:
On with the shootout:
Comfort:
After spending maybe 8 consecutive hours listening to Solaris 2020, I can say that it is personally still the least comfortable of my set of earphones. While the AG is roughly the same size, something about the way the Solaris rests on the back of my ear makes it a bit less comfortable. On the other hand, the Trio's are one of the most comfortable headphones I've worn (the Meze Rai Penta's are likely the best). Either way, because this is extremely ear dependent I wouldn't think too much about it since others seem to agree Solaris 2020 is a big improvement over OG.
Soundstage:
To get the easy one out of the way, Solaris outperforms the AG here by a noticeable margin. The way the instruments get laid out around my head on something like Mingus' Taurus in the Arena of Life is just shockingly good on Solaris 2020, certainly beyond what AG gives me. Interestingly, I find it harder to make a claim about the Trio vs. Solaris. I believe this is mostly because the Trio bass is so space-filling. So, while technically the Trio may have a similar stage size, practically it ends up feeling smaller (or maybe more crowded?) as a result of the bass.
Tonality:
Here's the main event for most. So what's actually different between these?
Bass:
The bass is implemented differently across these earphones. The AG's bass sticks out in this comparison as it is the one with the least sub-bass extension. The AG's bass is characterized by the mid-bass slam/thump (which can be quite satisfying with the right genre). The Solaris retains some of this mid-bass thump but adds sub-bass extension. It's often satisfying and of great quality, yet not great quantity (although bass is like spiciness, everyone's got different tolerances). The Trio has deep sub-bass extension (about as deep as the human ear goes I'd say) and fantastic texture. It also boasts significantly greater quantity over both Solaris and AG. A great track to test this with is Pusha T's Come Back Baby. Here, the bass in the track is almost entirely made up of sub-bass and so the AG immediately comes off toothless. Additionally, the more well-behaved bass of the Solaris 2020 does not match the energy of the track. Generally, I find the bass on the Trio to be both of better quality and quantity than on either Solaris or AG, and so it is much more satisfying when listening to genres like Hip-Hop, many Electronic sub-genre's or modern Pop. However, the Trio is still very far from being a basshead IEM and I while I would describe it as V-shaped, its really not that aggressive of a V (points of comparison here are short auditions of Polaris 2 and Atlas).
Mids:
Compared to either the Trio or the AG, the Solaris mids are significantly more present. This is not to say that they are overly recessed on either the Trio or the AG, since neither has an aggressive V-shape signature. This is most evident on a track like the Fleet Foxes' Montezuma, where guitars feature prominently and the emotion on the vocals takes the center stage. It's a no contest victory for the Solaris here, though I suspect that the Trio and AG were not really trying to compete here, as their design methodology is simply different.
Treble:
Honestly, all three of these IEMs do excellently in the top end. The extension is across the board fantastic (although I think the Solaris is sliiiiightly smoother, and AG is a smiiidge sharper, with the Trio as a sweet sweet spot in between). As was mentioned earlier in the thread, I'd describe the AG as having a different texture/timbre at the top end (slightly crunchier?). This is maybe the most similar category of all, but I think the shimmering/reverby sounds on a track like Frank Ocean's cover of At Your Best (You Are Love) highlight the differences.
Coherency:
Solaris is wildly coherent. It feels incredibly natural and relaxed. The best track I can think of to highlight this is D'Angelo's Really Love. The song is so delicate that any imbalance across the spectrum is exaggerated and feels unnatural. Solaris excels here, while the Trio ends up overemphasizing the bass and hiding D'Angelo's subtle vocal idiosyncrasies. AG on the other hand tweaks the top end just enough that it sounds a little off.
Conclusion:
I think what I've taken from this is that my AG's are largely redundant in my collection as they are neither as exciting as the Trio, or as coherent as the Solaris. So I suspect that what will practically happen is that the Solaris will be my go-to's for Folk/R&B/Rock/Classical/Jazz while the Trio's will be my main pair for Hip-Hop/Electronic/Pop. For the sake of my wallet, I hope that this is my endgame... Hopefully you enjoyed reading this! I enjoyed putting it together
Last edited:
mashuto
Headphoneus Supremus
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Nice write up! Certainly matches my impressions of the 3 quite well.Hi all!
I'm now bringing back my first impressions in the form of a shootout between the 64 Audio tia Trio, the Andromeda Gold (AG), and Solaris 2020. This format makes more sense to me since as far as first impressions go, relative differences are more obvious to notice than the details of each earphone's sound on their own. I'll also be pointing out songs that exemplify these differences, as I am firmly a music-first audiophile. To get this out of the way, these are all fantastic earphones and while I will be talking about better/worse features, the differences are not ever really night and day (despite what may sound hyperbolic). All of my listening was done out of the balanced port in my ZX300 with Symbio W Peels (my tips of choice). Here's a picture of what my set-up looks like:
On with the shootout:
Comfort:
After spending maybe 8 consecutive hours listening to Solaris 2020, I can say that it is personally still the least comfortable of my set of earphones. While the AG is roughly the same size, something about the way shape of the Solaris rests on the back of my ear makes it a bit less comfortable. On the other hand, the Trio's are one of the most comfortable headphones I've worn (the Meze Rai Penta's are likely the best). Either way, because this is extremely ear dependent I wouldn't think too much about it since others seem to agree Solaris 2020 is a big improvement over OG.
Soundstage:
To get the easy one out of the way, Solaris outperforms the AG here by a noticeable margin. The way the instruments get laid out around my head on something like Mingus' Taurus in the Arena of Life is just shockingly good on Solaris 2020, certainly beyond what AG gives me. Interestingly, I find it harder to make a claim about the Trio vs. Solaris. I believe this is mostly because the Trio bass is so space-filling. So, while technically the Trio may have a similar stage size, practically it ends up feeling smaller (or maybe more crowded?) as a result of the bass.
Tonality:
Here's the main event for most. So what's actually different between these?
Bass:
The bass is implemented differently across these earphones. The AG's bass sticks out in this comparison as it is the one with the least sub-bass extension. The AG's bass is characterized by the mid-bass slam/thump (which can be quite satisfying with the right genre). The Solaris retains some of this mid-bass thump but adds sub-bass extension. It's often satisfying and of great quality, yet not great quantity (although bass is like spiciness, everyone's got different tolerances). The Trio has deep sub-bass extension (about as deep as the human ear goes I'd say) and fantastic texture. It also boasts significantly greater quantity over both Solaris and AG. A great track to test this with is Pusha T's Come Back Baby. Here, the bass in the track is almost entirely made up of sub-bass and so the AG immediately comes off toothless. Additionally, the more well-behaved bass of the Solaris 2020 does not match the energy of the track. Generally, I find the bass on the Trio to be both of better quality and quantity than on either Solaris or AG, and so it is much more satisfying when listening to genres like Hip-Hop, many Electronic sub-genre's or modern Pop. However, the Trio is still very far from being a basshead IEM and I while I would describe it as V-shaped, its really not that aggressive of a V (points of comparison here are short auditions of Polaris 2 and Atlas).
Mids:
Compared to either the Trio or the AG, the Solaris mids are significantly more present. This is not to say that they are overly recessed on either the Trio or the AG, since neither has an aggressive V-shape signature. This is most evident on a track like the Fleet Foxes' Montezuma, where guitars feature prominently and the emotion on the vocals takes the center stage. It's a no contest victory for the Solaris here, though I suspect that and Trio and AG were not really trying to compete here, as their design methodology is simply different.
Treble:
Honestly, all three of these IEMs do excellently in the top end. The extension is across the board fantastic (although I think the Solaris is sliiiiightly smoother, and AG is a smiiidge sharper, with the Trio as a sweet sweet spot in between). As was mentioned earlier in the thread, I'd describe the AG as having a different texture/timbre at the top end (slightly crunchier?). This is maybe the most similar category of all, but I think the shimmering/reverby sounds on a track like Frank Ocean's cover of At Your Best (You Are Love) highlight the differences.
Coherency:
Solaris is wildly coherent. It feels incredibly natural and relaxed. The best track I can think of to high light this is D'Angelo's Really Love. The song is so delicate that any imbalance across the spectrum is exaggerated and feels unnatural. Solaris excels here, while the Trio ends up overemphasizing the bass and hiding D'Angelo's subtle vocal idiosyncrasies. AG on the other hand tweaks the top end just enough that it sounds a little off.
Conclusion:
I think what I've come off from this is that my AG's are largely redundant in my collection as they are neither as exciting as the Trio, or as coherent as the Solaris. So I suspect that what will practically happen is that the Solaris will be my go-to's for Folk/R&B/Rock/Classical while the Trio's will be my main pair for Hip-Hop/Electronic/Pop. For the sake of my wallet, I hope that this is my endgame... Hopefully you enjoyed reading this! I enjoyed putting it together
Coherency is definitely a spot where the Solaris shines. Very much so. You kind of just forget that you are listening to headphones and the music is just there. I have definitely gotten lost in music when listening in a way that is hard to come by with others.
Mine still stuck in custom! suppose to be available for pick up on Thurs!... now it's Monday 
Mine still stuck in custom! suppose to be available for pick up on Thurs!... now it's Monday
Did you buy through Travis?
Yes sir. Bought from his shop a couple of times (W80 & Atlas), great guy.
Yes Travis rocks, I bought my Atlas from him as well as my OG & SE Solaris
crazyeyes
500+ Head-Fier
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So I was doing a little bit more listening with the Solaris 2020 and Andro 2020 out of my Fiio M15 4.4 balanced. I have to say the Andro 2020 is still a great IEM it has a lot of great qualities to it. At first when I put them in after the Solaris I thought the mids were more forward but upon further listening I don't think the mids are further forward I just think the Solaris has better depth and layering to the soundstage that stuff doesn't sound as "congested" as it does on the Andro. I wanted to give both a fair shot but I keep going back to the Solaris everytime.
crazyeyes
500+ Head-Fier
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There was very little if you were really listening on 4.4 balanced. I didn't hear any on 3.5. But others might be more sensitive to hiss than I am.
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I’ve never heard the Atlas. How is it?
BobJS
Headphoneus Supremus
Mine are in the FedEx facility 2 miles from my home. Still won't get them until Tuesday. I can wait. Plenty of toys to play with until then.
mashuto
Headphoneus Supremus
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Bassy. Not as technically proficient as the Solaris, and lacks a bit in sheer detail retrieval and soundstage, but they are a lot of fun.
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Do they have a less bloated sound than the Polaris 2?
mashuto
Headphoneus Supremus
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Never heard the polaris 2 so I cant speak to that. I will say that I dont personally find them sounding bloated, as the bass, as huge as it is, doesnt really overpower everything else. I still find them "balanced" in the sense that nothing completely dominates. But they are definitely quite bassy.
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