Mid-morning shoutout to what is emerging as the sleeper combo of the year for me. The CFA Bonneville + A&K SR35.
The Bonneville is a "complete package" IEM for me-- something that becomes more apparent the more time I spend with it. It doesn't quite jump out at you at first, as per typical CFA it's probably quite unlike what you were listening to before you popped these in. I almost passed over CFA altogether when I was in SoCal but they were right across from the Musicteck table so I figured "why not". I went for the Cascara first as that was the one I thought I'd be the most interested in. It was good-- and my affection for the Bonneville compelled me to snap one up, though it has not arrived yet. Bonny didn't jump out at me at first but after four demos over the two days in SoCal I came to the conlusion that it was my favorite IEM that I'd heard at the show-- even besting the VE X for me, which I actually had to hop over something of a mental barrier to accept. The reason for me is that it brings a bit of everything and doesn't hit any of my red flags. Bass, mids and treble are all there. It's a little bit bombastic, but not overly so. Staging is well above average in height, width and depth. The bass thumps, vocals are free from veil (if a touch recessed at times), timbre in the mids is spot on with nothing metallic and zero shout or glare to my ears and lastly there is a sufficient amount of air and sparkle up top. Layering and imaging is quite good. Most importantly (for me) it doesn't veer into dryness, thinness, brightness or harman tuned sterility as seems to be the trend right now. It's a wonderful "all in one" sort of IEM for my tastes. I had initially hoped that these might finally be a CFA IEM that isn't that divisive...however some of the impressions I've come across suggest that is not the case. I do know a few others who are as floored by these as I am, so YMMV once again. I'm converging on the viewpoint that due to pinna bypass "we all hear things differently" is more literally the case than even I suspected, with people's individual ear geometry adding affecting the sound possibly quite substantially in some cases, especially in the highs. In any case I hope more people get their ears on the Bonneville and spend some time hearing it before judging. It won't be for everyone obviously, but I still maintain that his has the potential to appeal to a much wider audience than has been typical for many CFA releases as of late. YMMV, and all that.
