High End IEMs suggestion (Campfire Andromeda or Campfire Vega or Alternative suggestions)
Feb 27, 2019 at 11:28 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 12
Sutachiba

Sutachiba

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Good day, fellow audio enthusiast!

My first post so please be gentle with me :d

I have been using the Sennheiser IE80 for about a year now, so far I loved the sound of it but I wanted something more. I have been roaming around headphone stores in Hong Kong during the December holiday trip and I tried many of the high-end IEMs.

At first, I wanted to go for a medium price ranged IEM such as the Fiio FA7 or Fiio FH5, I loved the separation and the sound-stage of FH5 personally. But then I tried out the Campfire Andromeda, and I WAS IN LOVE. The sound stage is wide. EXTREMELY WIDE, the bass is not as strong as the IE80 (it focuses on quality, not quantity so it's cool), the voice is silky smooth and treble is sparkly/airy.

I went to research on the Campfire Vega as well but I couldn't find any demos to try out.

I wanted to know if I should go for the Andromedas or Vegas, but I wanted to also know if there are any alternatives to these TOTL IEMs out there. The reason I wanted to go for Andromeda or Vegas is because there are second-hand markets in Hong Kong that sells them at a decent price :)

Budget:
Around 600 USD

Source/Amp:
I would be using it with my LG V30 most of the time since it is my GOTO day to day driver for playing music every day. I would be mostly playing all my music in FLAC/DSD format on my phone since the V30 is able to play them.

Preferred tonal balance:
I love bass (IE80 turn me into one Basshead), but I wouldn't mind taking away a bit of the bass for a clear vocal and distinct separation of instruments. Sparkly/Airy treble would be a plus.

Preferred music genre:
I listen to many different genres of music. Ranging in Pop/Jazz/Old School Rock/Classical/J-Pop/Dubstep. So I don't really have a preferred music genre...

Past gear experience:
Sennheiser IE80 as I said above. The bass is nice but the vocal sounds veiled a lot of the time :frowning2:

What aspect of your current listening experience would you like to improve?
I wanted to have an earphone that would have a better instrument and vocal separation, as well as a big soundstage (spacious). I don't want the vocals to sound veiled. I also want sparkly treble and good bass. (I might sound too greedy already lol).

Thanks for any suggestions!
 
Feb 28, 2019 at 2:32 AM Post #2 of 12
Feb 28, 2019 at 8:06 AM Post #3 of 12
Feb 28, 2019 at 9:19 AM Post #4 of 12
Yeah, unfortunately the Solaris is definitely out of my price range :frowning2:
But I am still eager to seek for any alternatives that is in a similar price range.

If you have listened to Andromeda and Vega, which one would you prefer and why?
 
Feb 28, 2019 at 9:31 AM Post #5 of 12
Sutachiba said:
Yeah, unfortunately the Solaris is definitely out of my price range :frowning2:
But I am still eager to seek for any alternatives that is in a similar price range.

If you have listened to Andromeda and Vega, which one would you prefer and why?
Click to expand...

Vega sounds more like the IE80, but I much prefer the Andromeda. Andro S (used) could also work if you want more forward mids.

Accoustune HS1650CU (new) could also be a nice option at the ~600USD range. I think they have it at Jaben if you wanted to try it out?
 
Feb 28, 2019 at 10:06 AM Post #6 of 12
I have thought about Acoustune HS1650CU before but the last time I went to Jaben I didn't test it out :frowning2:
I was too occupied on trying out the Sony black brick and gold brick (Sony NW-WM1A & Sony NW-WM1Z) and man these were great.

Have you listened to the Acoustune though? And what were the difference between them and the campfire IEMs listed above? (If you have listened to them) :)
 
Feb 28, 2019 at 7:11 PM Post #7 of 12
Sutachiba said:
I have thought about Acoustune HS1650CU before but the last time I went to Jaben I didn't test it out :frowning2:
I was too occupied on trying out the Sony black brick and gold brick (Sony NW-WM1A & Sony NW-WM1Z) and man these were great.

Have you listened to the Acoustune though? And what were the difference between them and the campfire IEMs listed above? (If you have listened to them) :)
Click to expand...

Campfire Jupiters are in your price range.
Plenty of bass and better all around than the Vega's which I also own in my opinion.
Super sensitive and your phone should drive them.
 
Mar 1, 2019 at 3:58 PM Post #8 of 12
I'm a bass head too and I own the Campfire Vega, the Shure SE846 and the JH16v2 pro customs.

The JH audio are way out of the budget you decided to allow yourself to spend so there...

Between the Vega and se846 though I cannot praise the SE846 enough.

The Vega have a huge drop in the middle section of the spectrum, really huge. To me it doesn't sound natural at all. The bass response is top notch but even to a bass head music cannot be well represented in the bass section only.
Given you can drive and EQ them properly (though very little effort there is needed) the SE846 are outstanding in comparison.

The shure earpieces suffer from their reputation because they are very popular and a whole lot of people who don't know how to drive them to their potential are constantly bashing them.
But I can assure you if paired to a proper dac and EQed correctly you will be very satisfied with them. They are fun, dynamic and very oh so very powerful but never sounding unnatural.

That said the andromeda earpieces are also very good and the lack in bass response you felt could be dealt with using proper equalization because I'm telling you those babies can have mean bass too:)
 
Mar 1, 2019 at 11:25 PM Post #10 of 12
I definitely back W50 line from westone too...I hated bass and the W50 line is loads of it....its one of my most hated line of Westone product. seems like a good fit for you.
 
Mar 4, 2019 at 12:58 AM Post #11 of 12
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