The discovery thread!

[Dsnuts]

It is well known CA used Bellsing BAs. Some great sounding ones too.

 

[JAnonymous5150]

A joint venture between DROP and CA had it’s IEM fully built in China. Sorry forgot the model, it’s hard to remember every model!

Weird. I know Drop sold/sells Campfire IEMs, but I didn't know they did a joint venture. I'll have to look that up. Do you happen to remember if it was any good?

 

[o0genesis0o]

Doesn't Campfire just say their stuff is designed and assembled in the US? I guess I'm an idiot, but I always thought there components were manufactured by OEMs in China and shipped here for assmebly, tuning, QC, etc. Does anyone know for sure?

Or maybe I was thinking about 64 audio? I remember one or both of them mentioned that the shells are machined in US. At least there are videos of u18s production in US.

Anyhow, doesn’t matter If you want their stuffs, you buy. No other choice.

 

[Redcarmoose]

@https://www.head-fi.org/members/janonymous5150.560890/

What I mean by “joint-venture” is that the IEM was introduced as made by CA, but had those characteristics that you get with a Drop product, meaning it was not something you could ever specifically buy directly from CA. Like the HD6XX, though I don’t remember if it was different sounding or different looking, though it had a different name obviously......and throughly made in China.

 

[Redcarmoose]

I just remember reading the paperwork from either my Andromedas or my Supermoons and it says in black and white "designed and assembled in Oregon/US." It didn't seem like they were hiding it at all to me. I agree with you that there are plenty of other companies that are less than forthcoming about this kinda thing.

The Supermoon uses a Chinese built OEM driver most likely. I mean I could be wrong, but think about it? Why would you make an entire factory to make such a thing, when it (the factory) already exists in China?

It would take a video of the Ken Ball factory (with US workers) to convince me otherwise.

 

[Carpet]

Also remember that "assembled in" does not mean "all assembly was carried out in". If a company were meaning to mislead through misinformation (inconceivable in the US right?), then a company might chose to interpret putting on the eartips as "assembly". Hell, I'm sure there are companies that regard shrink-wrapping or applying a pricing sticker, as "assembly". I remember investigative reporting on cheap Pakistani surgical instruments. Offers were made to change "Made in..." branding to anything the customer wanted "Made in Sweden, of course Sir, let me just ring the factory!"

 

[Redcarmoose]

I remember before “Made In China” there was only “Made In Japan” and around 1970 it was considered cheep. Now things have twirled around to mean different things. For one KZ couldn’t probably keep QC the same as a small company, but KZ has individual models approaching 500,000 units at times.....just try and get your head around that! Truly there will always be QC issues with that level of output, yet just look at what you get now for the money! The sound!

Also remember that "assembled in" does not mean "all assembly was carried out in". If a company were meaning to mislead through misinformation (inconceivable in the US right?), then a company might chose to interpret putting on the eartips as "assembly". Hell, I'm sure there are companies that regard shrink-wrapping or applying a pricing sticker, as "assembly". I remember investigative reporting on cheap Pakistani surgical instruments. Offers were made to change "Made in..." branding to anything the customer wanted "Made in Sweden, of course Sir, let me just ring the factory!"

Personally I really could care less where stuff is made! It’s the sound that matters!

 

[r31ya]

Also remember that "assembled in" does not mean "all assembly was carried out in". If a company were meaning to mislead through misinformation (inconceivable in the US right?), then a company might chose to interpret putting on the eartips as "assembly". Hell, I'm sure there are companies that regard shrink-wrapping or applying a pricing sticker, as "assembly". I remember investigative reporting on cheap Pakistani surgical instruments. Offers were made to change "Made in..." branding to anything the customer wanted "Made in Sweden, of course Sir, let me just ring the factory!"

True,
it could be the IEM itself is build in USA with parts from china tough if this is whats happen, they will use "made in USA"
OR it could be the iem is already built in china, they just assembled the packaging

 

[Redcarmoose]

$16.50 USD
https://www.linsoul.com/collections/all/products/tangzu-waner-s-g?variant=43530411180249

 

[Mrcrunch08]

I challenge anyone to not tell me the Celest has planar IEM bass.

I would definitely argue against the Celest having "planar IEM bass". Don't get me wrong, I have fallen in love with the Celest and it has become my most used iem the past couple weeks. With that said, the bass reminds me of a subwoofer in a car or more specifically a sub with a passive radiator. It just doesn't have the speed I get from my planar iems. The bass sounds like it is coming from a much larger speaker and unlike any other iem I have tried. I can feel the pressure changes when bass hits further reminding me of an actual sub. It's just more of a full bodied rounder powerful bass compared to the tight almost sharp edged bass from the planar iems I have. It also seems to distort when under powered which I don't really notice on planar iems. I still love the thing and think anyone who enjoys the Mele has to give the Celest a try. Imo it's a hip hop heads' dream and fixes some of the faults of the Mele.

 

[WAON303]

Doesn't Campfire just say their stuff is designed and assembled in the US? I guess I'm an idiot, but I always thought there components were manufactured by OEMs in China and shipped here for assmebly, tuning, QC, etc. Does anyone know for sure?

$16.50 USD
https://www.linsoul.com/collections/all/products/tangzu-waner-s-g?variant=43530411180249

Saw the graph on HBB's YT video.

I don't think you can do better for 17 bucks.

 

[Redcarmoose]

I would definitely argue against the Celest having "planar IEM bass". Don't get me wrong, I have fallen in love with the Celest and it has become my most used iem the past couple weeks. With that said, the bass reminds me of a subwoofer in a car or more specifically a sub with a passive radiator. It just doesn't have the speed I get from my planar iems. The bass sounds like it is coming from a much larger speaker and unlike any other iem I have tried. I can feel the pressure changes when bass hits further reminding me of an actual sub. It's just more of a full bodied rounder powerful bass compared to the tight almost sharp edged bass from the planar iems I have. It also seems to distort when under powered which I don't really notice on planar iems. I still love the thing and think anyone who enjoys the Mele has to give the Celest a try. Imo it's a hip hop heads' dream and fixes some of the faults of the Mele.

Glad you’re onboard for the Celest’s charms, truly an unexpected surprise this year for me. .....nothing like it looks on the outside to be?

 

[Surf Monkey]

True,
it could be the IEM itself is build in USA with parts from china tough if this is whats happen, they will use "made in USA"
OR it could be the iem is already built in china, they just assembled the packaging

I’ve been to Campfire’s fab shop. They do make and assemble many of their IEMs here in Portland.

 

[W0lrince]

Is this new ?

 

[Mrcrunch08]

Glad you’re onboard for the Celest’s charms, truly an unexpected surprise this year for me. .....nothing like it looks on the outside to be?

Looking at that graph doesn't excite me much. That SPD 2.0 seems to drop off hard after 13-14khz. I don't know how much that will actually matter but what makes it more complete than the Mele for me is the treble. I was really hoping the next iem with a SPD would have removed the ba like this new one does but added a small 7mm dynamic for the upper mids and treble. The way the voice coil is attached is not precise enough for controlled high frequencies imo. Even the voice coil of the pics shown in this thread is off center. Idk, I hope I am wrong but unless they step their qc way up distortion might be an issue with this new SPD iem.