Since Nightjar started as a cable company, what cables do they pair their IEMs with?‘and worth every penny.
The Watercooler -- Impressions, philosophical discussion and general banter. Index on first page. All welcome.
- Thread starter Rockwell75
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I've heard good things about the Serial, but it appears very hard to get a hold of them. Haven't heard anything about the other two yet and haven't tried them myself.
s2kphile
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There will be a sale in April on the Penon main website for their 10th Anniversary so the Serial may be on sale.
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Awesome! Did you A/B the Serial to UM 3DT and/or 7Hz Legato?
s2kphile
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Have not yet. Hoping to get hold of a Legato to test out but that peak 6-7k region looks sibilant to me. And I was told by a buddy the upper mids of the 3dt gets shouty if you raise the volume to get that bass up.
That said, id still like to hear them for my self to see. When the next Hificon happens ill bring out the Serial for you to listening to.
Kiats
Headphoneus Supremus
Was in a bit of rush today at CanJam SG but managed to see the SP3K and it seemed a nice weight. Big thanks to Jeremy from AV One for showing it to me. Will give it a listen when I'm next in the store
Yeah, we're cancelling CanJam! Had a meetup with, dunno, 10 Cooler Kids at Jaben which barely fits 5 persons really, then a great Bak Kut Teh dinner (@MatW I told them what that dish would mean in Dutch) plus an IEM session after that and most were ready to fall asleep at the table. And some have been on the prowl for 2-3 days already!
drftr
Glad you guys are having a blast. Those private auditions pre and after the Jam are the best
. It's a shame I couldn't make it, stuff got in the way. Growing a business requires some sacrifices
.
Kiats
Headphoneus Supremus
We had a good catch up over coffee this morning prior to the show itself. I brought along my Luxury & Precision LP6 Ti 7AE and Obsidian P6Pro. To give @metaljem77 a chance to listen to it. I recall some of the others had a listen as well. It was good fun. Guess they now understand why everyone has been patiently awaiting LP7. 
They have a stock cable for it. I believe it’s a dark-brown, copper one. I heard it with another, higher-end cable, and it scaled really well with that one too.
Greeting Head-Fi Watercooler!
Today having nothing better to do on a lazy Saturday I found myself back at Addicted To Audio in Melbourne, sampling their latest wares through my new Shanling M6U player and affording the staff the opportunity to hear my Penon Impacts, which met with approval.
There were three new IEMs in particular I was eager to hear, and I'll offer you my thoughts on each. Please bear in mind my demo of each was no more than a few minutes, and although the shop was not terribly noisy, impressions gathered under such conditions are definitely not to be taken as gospel but rather rough indicators.
For this particular session EDM tracks I'm familiar were played through Apple Music, saved locally to the M6U's Micron i400 Micro-SD card, from artists such as Yotto, Marsh, Booka Shade, Spencer Brown & Ilan Bluestone - I feed my ears whatever @Damz87 & @aaf evo tell me to and have no complaints yet!
Campfire Audio Andromeda Emerald Sea
I like to maintain a positive attitude in life, but sometimes that's difficult. This is one of those times.
The new Andromedas look much more modern & futuristic than the older shell models, and better yet I find the new shells much more comfortable as well. In fact among high-end IEMs these are some of the most comfortable I've used in a long time. The problem is they don't sound terribly much like high-end IEMs.
It's almost as if CFA took the previous generation's drawbacks (poor dynamic range and BA-bass that lacked texture and didn't go deep enough) and kept them, without adding any new advantages. Having owned the Andromeda 2020's I remember they were at least superb at imaging, and were excellent value for money among IEMs in their price range.
Not only did I find the new Andromeda's resolution a very noticeable step down, perhaps even from an older high-end IEMs like the U12T and far behind the Mentors & Ragnars of the world, but their overall character was extremely dull, muted and flat. Poor dynamics may be an acceptable tradeoff from IEMs that are superbly resolving and technical like the U12Ts, but here I'm left wondering exactly what was given in return.
Certainly their soundstage was nice and wide, and there was a pleasing inoffensiveness to the overall tonality with no jarring peaks I could detect. However it didn't feel like the Andromedas were able to pull off the 'flat reference' sound either - they were far too coloured for that, with what sounded like excessive midbass. Sub bass was again rolled off like the previous model and even the treble lacked the sparkle the original Andromedas all those years ago were famous for.
This is a real shame because they are extremely comfortable and give the appearance of being physically very well made, but appear to be shockingly overpriced for the quality of sound they deliver - a worrying trend common among CFA's latest batch of products.
Campfire Audio Solaris Stellar Horizon
Like the Andromedas the new Solaris look fantastic and their stainless steel shells are an absolute work of art. CFA are really knocking the visuals out of the park with their recent releases and the build quality of the Solaris Stellar Horizon warrants particular praise. I recommend demoing them purely to sample how beautifully crafted they are.
Physically the Stellar Horizons reminded me of the Pathfinders since they share a similar shape, but didn't seem to stick out in my ears quite as much. Sonically they impressed me, their DD-fueled bass was satisfyingly deep and prominent and they featured a wide soundstage befitting a TOTL-calibre IEM.
They struck me as a satisfying IEM that justified their price tag far better than the Andromedas, however I find it much easier describing high-end IEMs by mentioning qualities they lack or are deficient in, so please place the following nitpicks in that context.
Firstly whichever DDs CFA are using are slow enough that I could easily hear them struggling to keep up with the music. Granted I was playing rather fast-paced EDM tracks in this demo, but that's hardly a niche genre these days. When a DD struggles to match the timing of the BAs it is paired with the lack cohesiveness is something I find annoying and fatiguing, for me it's a dealbreaker though I understand not everyone feels that way.
Furthermore to my ears the Solaris demonstrated an excess of midbass I found distracting in that it seemed to annoyingly cloud the presentation, potentially obscuring detail. Speaking of that the Solaris were a step down in resolution from my Penon Impacts and BA/EST hybrids of similar ilk, though they did retrieve more detail than the Andromedas which struggled to resolve much at all.
I also found the Solaris' midrange to be a touch recessed & whispy, but their treble possessed quite a lot of energy - not enough to bother me, but others may be more sensitive. Overall the Solaris brought back memories of the Pathfinders which I did quite like, the real issue is with CFA's recent pricing it's become harder to overlook shortcomings when the competition is so stiff.
To think the Impacts at USD $2500 are more affordable than these... frankly unless you place a priority on appearances or metallic enclosures or were annoyingly insistent on a DD being mandatory, it's very difficult to recommend the Solaris when there are many more highly resolving IEMs delivering better technicalities out there at similar prices - and in some cases much less. Even if you're a basshead, the FatFreq Maestro SE's would be my recommendation instead if their large fit works for you.
Campfire Audio Trifecta (not pictured)
I've heard the Trifectas several times before, but having recently acquired the Shanling M6U was keen to see if a different source might do the trick.
You see I'd previously been dramatically unimpressed by them, as were all the other Australian Head-Fiers who'd heard them so far to my knowledge, in fact even Addicted To Audio's staff... well perhaps I'd best not speak for them but let's just say Trifecta sentiments in this part of the world run almost universally in one direction.
So despite having heard them twice already I spent more time with the Trifectas today than any of the other IEM, wanting to make absolutely sure no possible sonic blessing they possessed escaped my attention.
I'll certainly say this much for them - they do offer something unique, and there aren't many IEMs in the hobby which can claim that. CFA have also taken a risk by trying something different which deserves due recognition.
Physically they are quite light and comfortable and do not stick out in my ears too far. No complaints there. Their soundstage is massive, and they have the ability to produce instruments that sound very large, with a palpable visceralness that emulates floor-standing speakers as much or more than any IEM on the market. I would love to hear them driven by really first-class desktop amplification and suspect they'd sound spectacular with the right tube amp.
Perhaps EDM was the wrong (or even worst?) genre for them, but previously I'd tested the Trifectas with other styles of music and today didn't massively change my feelings towards them - my opinion remains that they are horribly flawed and fatally overpriced.
To begin, these DDs are disappointingly slow. Far too slow to keep up with music of any appreciable pace acceptably. Busy passages become an incoherent mess, not least because Trifecta is tuned to be unapologetically boomy with excessive midbass that obscures the midrange at times. Imaging and resolution are not up to TOTL IEM standards, and as for the treble.... CFA should've included binoculars in the box because you'll need help finding any.
Are my expectations partly to blame? Having been an audiophile for the better part of 30 years an ingrained demand for a base level of precision, delicacy and finesse has become sacrosanct. When they are not delivered I carefully scrutinise what they've been traded away for, an exchange much easier to judge favourably when price is an obvious constraint.
That's not the case here. These are a USD $3375 set of earphones. Now perhaps you listen predominantly to slower music and you're happy to prioritise timbre & tonality over technicalities then Trifectas may be something you find satisfying. However I wonder how effectively that itch could be scratched with vastly more affordable IEMs. One can purchase Chi-Fi earphones with pleasant tonality for as little as $20 these days, it is largely an IEM's ability to resolve detail, project a soundstage and accurately delineate sounds within it that increases in accordance with price, and though Trifectas have a terrifically large stage they fail dismally in many technical departments.
My honest opinion is the Trifectas are absolutely worth trying, if nothing else to help reveal your own audio preferences to yourself.
Noble Audio Ronin
I'll cut to the chase (it's getting dark and this post is quickly approaching full-blown review length) and simply state Ronin are my favourite Noble IEMs yet.
Unfortunately I wouldn't consider purchasing them for the same reason other Noble IEM have escaped my interest - physically Ronin are massive, larger even than the Multiverse Mentors which lie right on the edge of my size comfort zone. Which oddly enough, is not to say I found Ronin remotely painful. Not at all, merely awkwardly disconcerting having something that large suck in my ears.. perhaps this is a sensation one gets used to eventually?
It's hard not to wonder why Noble IEMs always seem to be so much larger for their driver count than other brands. Having said that these particular shells are gorgeous viewed in person, sparkling in a the light in a way that's difficult for the camera to catch. The stock cable also looks superb, with serious Effect Audio Gaea vibes.
I spend less time with Ronin than the CFA IEMs so my impressions are briefer, but came away very impressed by them. Definitely more to my taste than Ragnar, lacking the excessive brightness of that IEM but delivering a much smoother, all-genre friendly presentation.
Most immediately obvious was just how satisfying Ronin's bass was - enough so that had someone told me they contained a DD I might've almost believed them. I felt they surpassed the Impacts in this regard, which themselves have BA bass that is no slouch. Ronin also seemed a bit meatier, perhaps with more upper bass than the Impacts and possessing a smoother overall character. I did not get the impression detail was being shoved in my face quite so much, though the flipside was they may not have resolved quite as much detail as the Impacts, at least with the M6U. A more thorough comparison would be needed however, and I do plan to try them again.
Size aside, Ronin are an IEM I could very happily live with, though at USD $3900 there's a wealth of extremely stiff competition out there especially in the used market.
Thank you to Addicted to Audio for hosting me, it was a pleasure as always.
My biggest takeaway from today was just how competitive the market has become.
Had Ronin arrived just a year ago it might well have knocked my socks off, but so many amazing IEMs have come & gone since then it's hard not to be a little blasé. "Really good" doesn't quite cut it the way it used to, and it's harder to excuse tiny flaws that might've once been overlooked.
I pity the manufacturers, but its a great time to be a consumer. Vibrant competition surely drives innovation, and I get the feeling many of us are almost "annoyingly satisfied" with what we already have, waiting for something daringly different to arrive but not knowing what, suspecting we'll know when we hear it.
tone.texture.soul
Previously known as Tokpakorlo
Agreed, it is very clear and open, highly detailed, almost clinical but still very musical. Very very resolving while still retaining that signature copper sound and timbre. What I like most is how natural it sounds, nothing is overemphasized, instruments sounds as they should, great for all genres. Yes while it doesn't add a ton of weight to the notes l notice that the entire FR has a very even weighted presentation, instead of thick bass, and then getting thinner and lighter as it goes up, like the OTL. Mids in general are more forward, ala Orphy. Similarly, there is definitely something about the midbass and lower mids area, a bit fatter, which in turn gives the sound a sense of weight, but not thick or syrupy at all. Cardas Clear for sure, incredibly clear, sometimes it feels you're hearing your music through a piece of crystal, where it's very 3D but also perfectly organized and spaced out, big stage but not extended past reality.
The shielding does not add more weight, it is very similar tuning to the OG. But there is a far darker background, far more microdetails, and better dynamics. More control, everything is more tight, taught, punchy and clean. Subtle sprinkles or top end from the Jewels EST, to powerful tight bass, or crystal clear mids, the Shielding version simply has more of everything that made the 50s OG such a special cable.
Mine is currently breaking in, I will report back when it is is a final stage. But being honest, I don't think it's fair to compare it directly to the Orpheus. I don't think anything quite does, except for maybe the Brise 8w but that's a different beast all together with a noticeably different tuning, and it still misses some of that Orphy magic. But for the first stage below Orphy, the 50s Shielding absolutely compares or bests everything else.
Enjoyable read. Thanks for the impressions. I felt the same way about Ronins sonics but found the fit on the larger side.
Greeting Head-Fi Watercooler!
Today having nothing better to do on a lazy Saturday I found myself back at Addicted To Audio in Melbourne, sampling their latest wares through my new Shanling M6U player and affording the staff the opportunity to hear my Penon Impacts, which met with approval.
There were three new IEMs in particular I was eager to hear, and I'll offer you my thoughts on each. Please bear in mind my demo of each was no more than a few minutes, and although the shop was not terribly noisy, impressions gathered under such conditions are definitely not to be taken as gospel but rather rough indicators.
For this particular session EDM tracks I'm familiar were played through Apple Music, saved locally to the M6U's Micron i400 Micro-SD card, from artists such as Yotto, Marsh, Booka Shade, Spencer Brown & Ilan Bluestone - I feed my ears whatever @Damz87 & @aaf evo tell me to and have no complaints yet!
Campfire Audio Andromeda Emerald Sea
I like to maintain a positive attitude in life, but sometimes that's difficult. This is one of those times.
The new Andromedas look much more modern & futuristic than the older shell models, and better yet I find the new shells much more comfortable as well. In fact among high-end IEMs these are some of the most comfortable I've used in a long time. The problem is they don't sound terribly much like high-end IEMs.
It's almost as if CFA took the previous generation's drawbacks (poor dynamic range and BA-bass that lacked texture and didn't go deep enough) and kept them, without adding any new advantages. Having owned the Andromeda 2020's I remember they were at least superb at imaging, and were excellent value for money among IEMs in their price range.
Not only did I find the new Andromeda's resolution a very noticeable step down, perhaps even from an older high-end IEMs like the U12T and far behind the Mentors & Ragnars of the world, but their overall character was extremely dull, muted and flat. Poor dynamics may be an acceptable tradeoff from IEMs that are superbly resolving and technical like the U12Ts, but here I'm left wondering exactly what was given in return.
Certainly their soundstage was nice and wide, and there was a pleasing inoffensiveness to the overall tonality with no jarring peaks I could detect. However it didn't feel like the Andromedas were able to pull off the 'flat reference' sound either - they were far too coloured for that, with what sounded like excessive midbass. Sub bass was again rolled off like the previous model and even the treble lacked the sparkle the original Andromedas all those years ago were famous for.
This is a real shame because they are extremely comfortable and give the appearance of being physically very well made, but appear to be shockingly overpriced for the quality of sound they deliver - a worrying trend common among CFA's latest batch of products.
Campfire Audio Solaris Stellar Horizon
Like the Andromedas the new Solaris look fantastic and their stainless steel shells are an absolute work of art. CFA are really knocking the visuals out of the park with their recent releases and the build quality of the Solaris Stellar Horizon warrants particular praise. I recommend demoing them purely to sample how beautifully crafted they are.
Physically the Stellar Horizons reminded me of the Pathfinders since they share a similar shape, but didn't seem to stick out in my ears quite as much. Sonically they impressed me, their DD-fueled bass was satisfyingly deep and prominent and they featured a wide soundstage befitting a TOTL-calibre IEM.
They struck me as a satisfying IEM that justified their price tag far better than the Andromedas, however I find it much easier describing high-end IEMs by mentioning qualities they lack or are deficient in, so please place the following nitpicks in that context.
Firstly whichever DDs CFA are using are slow enough that I could easily hear them struggling to keep up with the music. Granted I was playing rather fast-paced EDM tracks in this demo, but that's hardly a niche genre these days. When a DD struggles to match the timing of the BAs it is paired with the lack cohesiveness is something I find annoying and fatiguing, for me it's a dealbreaker though I understand not everyone feels that way.
Furthermore to my ears the Solaris demonstrated an excess of midbass I found distracting in that it seemed to annoyingly cloud the presentation, potentially obscuring detail. Speaking of that the Solaris were a step down in resolution from my Penon Impacts and BA/EST hybrids of similar ilk, though they did retrieve more detail than the Andromedas which struggled to resolve much at all.
I also found the Solaris' midrange to be a touch recessed & whispy, but their treble possessed quite a lot of energy - not enough to bother me, but others may be more sensitive. Overall the Solaris brought back memories of the Pathfinders which I did quite like, the real issue is with CFA's recent pricing it's become harder to overlook shortcomings when the competition is so stiff.
To think the Impacts at USD $2500 are more affordable than these... frankly unless you place a priority on appearances or metallic enclosures or were annoyingly insistent on a DD being mandatory, it's very difficult to recommend the Solaris when there are many more highly resolving IEMs delivering better technicalities out there at similar prices - and in some cases much less. Even if you're a basshead, the FatFreq Maestro SE's would be my recommendation instead if their large fit works for you.
Campfire Audio Trifecta (not pictured)
I've heard the Trifectas several times before, but having recently acquired the Shanling M6U was keen to see if a different source might do the trick.
You see I'd previously been dramatically unimpressed by them, as were all the other Australian Head-Fiers who'd heard them so far to my knowledge, in fact even Addicted To Audio's staff... well perhaps I'd best not speak for them but let's just say Trifecta sentiments in this part of the world run almost universally in one direction.
So despite having heard them twice already I spent more time with the Trifectas today than any of the other IEM, wanting to make absolutely sure no possible sonic blessing they possessed escaped my attention.
I'll certainly say this much for them - they do offer something unique, and there aren't many IEMs in the hobby which can claim that. CFA have also taken a risk by trying something different which deserves due recognition.
Physically they are quite light and comfortable and do not stick out in my ears too far. No complaints there. Their soundstage is massive, and they have the ability to produce instruments that sound very large, with a palpable visceralness that emulates floor-standing speakers as much or more than any IEM on the market. I would love to hear them driven by really first-class desktop amplification and suspect they'd sound spectacular with the right tube amp.
Perhaps EDM was the wrong (or even worst?) genre for them, but previously I'd tested the Trifectas with other styles of music and today didn't massively change my feelings towards them - my opinion remains that they are horribly flawed and fatally overpriced.
To begin, these DDs are disappointingly slow. Far too slow to keep up with music of any appreciable pace acceptably. Busy passages become an incoherent mess, not least because Trifecta is tuned to be unapologetically boomy with excessive midbass that obscures the midrange at times. Imaging and resolution are not up to TOTL IEM standards, and as for the treble.... CFA should've included binoculars in the box because you'll need help finding any.
Are my expectations partly to blame? Having been an audiophile for the better part of 30 years an ingrained demand for a base level of precision, delicacy and finesse has become sacrosanct. When they are not delivered I carefully scrutinise what they've been traded away for, an exchange much easier to judge favourably when price is an obvious constraint.
That's not the case here. These are a USD $3375 set of earphones. Now perhaps you listen predominantly to slower music and you're happy to prioritise timbre & tonality over technicalities then Trifectas may be something you find satisfying. However I wonder how effectively that itch could be scratched with vastly more affordable IEMs. One can purchase Chi-Fi earphones with pleasant tonality for as little as $20 these days, it is largely an IEM's ability to resolve detail, project a soundstage and accurately delineate sounds within it that increases in accordance with price, and though Trifectas have a terrifically large stage they fail dismally in many technical departments.
My honest opinion is the Trifectas are absolutely worth trying, if nothing else to help reveal your own audio preferences to yourself.
Noble Audio Ronin
I'll cut to the chase (it's getting dark and this post is quickly approaching full-blown review length) and simply state Ronin are my favourite Noble IEMs yet.
Unfortunately I wouldn't consider purchasing them for the same reason other Noble IEM have escaped my interest - physically Ronin are massive, larger even than the Multiverse Mentors which lie right on the edge of my size comfort zone. Which oddly enough, is not to say I found Ronin remotely painful. Not at all, merely awkwardly disconcerting having something that large suck in my ears.. perhaps this is a sensation one gets used to eventually?
It's hard not to wonder why Noble IEMs always seem to be so much larger for their driver count than other brands. Having said that these particular shells are gorgeous viewed in person, sparkling in a the light in a way that's difficult for the camera to catch. The stock cable also looks superb, with serious Effect Audio Gaea vibes.
I spend less time with Ronin than the CFA IEMs so my impressions are briefer, but came away very impressed by them. Definitely more to my taste than Ragnar, lacking the excessive brightness of that IEM but delivering a much smoother, all-genre friendly presentation.
Most immediately obvious was just how satisfying Ronin's bass was - enough so that had someone told me they contained a DD I might've almost believed them. I felt they surpassed the Impacts in this regard, which themselves have BA bass that is no slouch. Ronin also seemed a bit meatier, perhaps with more upper bass than the Impacts and possessing a smoother overall character. I did not get the impression detail was being shoved in my face quite so much, though the flipside was they may not have resolved quite as much detail as the Impacts, at least with the M6U. A more thorough comparison would be needed however, and I do plan to try them again.
Size aside, Ronin are an IEM I could very happily live with, though at USD $3900 there's a wealth of extremely stiff competition out there especially in the used market.
Thank you to Addicted to Audio for hosting me, it was a pleasure as always.
My biggest takeaway from today was just how competitive the market has become.
Had Ronin arrived just a year ago it might well have knocked my socks off, but so many amazing IEMs have come & gone since then it's hard not to be a little blasé. "Really good" doesn't quite cut it the way it used to, and it's harder to excuse tiny flaws that might've once been overlooked.
I pity the manufacturers, but its a great time to be a consumer. Vibrant competition surely drives innovation, and I get the feeling many of us are almost "annoyingly satisfied" with what we already have, waiting for something daringly different to arrive but not knowing what, suspecting we'll know when we hear it.
I agree - love the Ronin, it's fantastic, but the fit isn't great mostly due to size and weight for me. But, clearly I don't have the biggest ears.
I've not heard the Serial or 7Hz, but UM 3DT is a pretty solid choice at it's price point, you can usually get it for closer to $300 from Musicteck.
There is a filter mod you can apply that tames that peak down a bit if it's a problem; it's enough for me to be pretty happy with the result anyway. 3DT is no giant-killer or anything, but has a nice coherent presentation with a very natural timbre for vocals and acoustic instruments.
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