[RonaldS86]

Never had a durian, but looks like a dangerous fruit to eat!

It's not about that spiky fruit skin, but the odor of it that some public transport prohibit you to carry it inside because it will linger for quite some time
The texture of the fruit itself is quite weird so it's a double trouble for some people to taste it. Most of them hate it solely because of the odor let alone tasting it

 

[emdeevee]

The Campfire Bonneville is a ridiculously good IEM. I can't believe it's "only" $1400.



My first impressions after an hour of listening is that it is an all-rounder pure and simple. It does female vocals exceedingly well, but it is no slouch at all with male vocals. It has a powerful bass with the right sources and tips, a very natural and coherent timbre, and a wonderfully and artfully tuned treble that eschews targets and does its own thing and the results are very, very good.

Technicalities are also particularly impressive: resolution, macro and microdynamics, and it is also wonderfully spacious with an adventurous take on imaging that generously creates images across the soundstage.

The only thing worth noting is that these IEMs are nefariously sensitive to tip rolling. More on tips I have used and how they fare, later. But a winner for sure, and price-class defining, perhaps.

I think you and Jeff @Rockwell75 are a match made in heaven!!!

 

[RonaldS86]

Anybody here take a plunge on this new stuff?
https://us.creative.com/p/headphones-headsets/creative-aurvana-ace-2
Looking good visually and it has a DD too

 

[wolfstar76]

Happy Monday! The new Penon Quattro, a 4XDD, has landed at my door!! I must admit that I don't jump at every opportunity these days because I'd be eating my cats food. But this one was just too much for me to pass on...even if i still deeply love my Serial and saw no need to replace it with what seemed a new take on it. But knowing that Penon knows what's going on in the market of iems, I figured this might be special because they must (?) have listened to other similar configurations that have been out since Serial, like Trifecta and the newer Monacha, such that an updated Serial would be disappointing.

I have only had them in my ears for an hour, which for a Penon means almost nothing - it's gonna take many many hours to burn in. It sounds better out of the box than did Serial, with the expected more powerful bass, but with an unusual amount of treble that Serial doesn't have.

I think it's way too early to judge, but I'm going to hazard a guess that Serial lovers will like this more, and folks who feel that Penon's other iems lean bright will be pleasantly surprised by the deeper bass than either Serial or 10th AE provide. I've not heard every Penon or ISN iem, but if those I have heard, this is certainly the deepest bass I've heard in one. I'm going to give it a lot of burn time before I can really figure it out, but deep, balanced, cohesive bass shaping the low end is currently being challenged by an exciting treble at the top end, and like most other Penons, vocals seem front and center in line with Serial.

Tbh, I'm pretty excited and see some fun listening ahead! Physically, they're pretty, with a nice blue faceplate, shells about the same size as 10th AE, a bright blue 4w cable I need to research, and otherwise standard Penon packaging with their tips which work great. Thanks, Penon for letting me get these just a bit early! My present to myself this month (except for that unexpected BS from CFA)!

$399?

 

[wolfstar76]

Anybody here take a plunge on this new stuff?
https://us.creative.com/p/headphones-headsets/creative-aurvana-ace-2
Looking good visually and it has a DD too

Anything from creative will be mass market driven, not audiophile products.

 

[RonaldS86]

Anything from creative will be mass market driven, not audiophile products.

Well, just for the sake of trying a new tech and it cost "only" US$150

 

[stacey]

Anything from creative will be mass market driven, not audiophile products.

Noble has a couple of xMEMs products. The Falcon Max TWS and the XM-1 IEM. It’s terminated with USB-C so you can plug into your smartphone and go.

 

[RonaldS86]

Noble has a couple of xMEMs products. The Falcon Max TWS and the XM-1 IEM. It’s terminated with USB-C so you can plug into your smartphone and go.

This is a good option too when it's available. Or is it available now?
Oh sorry, I opened the link just now. So the TWS just appear on the potafest JP recently and the IEM is already on pre order but it's US$700...

 

[HarlanDraka]

The Campfire Bonneville is a ridiculously good IEM. I can't believe it's "only" $1400.



My first impressions after an hour of listening is that it is an all-rounder pure and simple. It does female vocals exceedingly well, but it is no slouch at all with male vocals. It has a powerful bass with the right sources and tips, a very natural and coherent timbre, and a wonderfully and artfully tuned treble that eschews targets and does its own thing and the results are very, very good.

Technicalities are also particularly impressive: resolution, macro and microdynamics, and it is also wonderfully spacious with an adventurous take on imaging that generously creates images across the soundstage.

The only thing worth noting is that these IEMs are nefariously sensitive to tip rolling. More on tips I have used and how they fare, later. But a winner for sure, and price-class defining, perhaps.

I agree on Bonneville, very musical iem and pairs exceptionally well with zm2. I’m still in tips rolling, as you wrote they are VERY sensitive to tips and insertion depth. Let us know which tips you preferred

 

[btwine]

I am surprised by some of your reactions, as well. Not to discredit them. Not in the least. We just hear differently. To me, I hear a full, deep, all-encompassing slam from the bass (slam to me is more mid-bass focussed) and I also hear rich, full mids that are spot-on timbrally. They have deep sub-bass reach, as well, even to a startling degree at times. Also I hear them as quite different from RN6, which have a clean, linear bass, balanced between sub and mid, and much more linear mids with more pinna gain and also a smaller soundstage. I think of them as complementary, in fact with the RN6 as a detailed, clean and ordered all-rounder while the Bonnevilles are bombastic, bass-centric and airy with a huge, enveloping soundstage and some of the best depth and imaging - not "pinpoint" perhaps, but music doesn't sound "pinpoint" in reality to me.

On a side note - and this has nothing to do with your mini-review but another recent one, in fact - I am persnally becoming a bit fatigued with the description of bass that "stays in its lane" or doesn't "bleed into the mids." I know what this means, of course, but I have trouble accepting it as always a good thing. Part of the problem with the RN6 - and the reason I ultimately sold them - is that the bass stays too much in its lane and doesn't bleed enough into the mids!

This is really helpful - I’m getting a bleedin’ education on bass nuance and lexicon the last few days. And now you've got me thinking about moving on from my Rn6 as well.

 

[emdeevee]

This is really helpful - I’m getting a bleedin’ education on bass nuance and lexicon the last few days. And now you've got me thinking about moving on from my Rn6 as well.

Just my $.03, but Xe6 is the bleeders dream.

 

[osocan]

Never had a durian, but looks like a dangerous fruit to eat!

Just had it for lunch

 

[fiascogarcia]

This is really helpful - I’m getting a bleedin’ education on bass nuance and lexicon the last few days. And now you've got me thinking about moving on from my Rn6 as well.

Yeah, I wouldn’t go that far. To me, I associate bass bleed with what I consider boomyness. It’s like listening to a bass player playing in a gymnasium versus playing in a studio. Personally, I prefer the studio sound.

 

[salwani8888]

Just had it for lunch

I'm feeling nauseous thinking about it

 

[Rockwell75]

Seeing the image, this was the first thing that came to my mind.

Awesome. I agree with whoever said we should sell these at CanJam. Or maybe it's time for some Watercooler swag generally.

I get quite a fair amount of slam with Bonneville! I like the bass and lower midrange tone a lot.

Awesome man I'm glad to hear you're enjoying it

I think it probably has good potential in CIEM form. Surprised you didnt get one

I've never felt the urge to jump into customs, partly because of commitment issues, but also because I tend to get a good enough fit with most IEMs that it's not high on my list of priorities. That said if I do go custom CFA is a good choice for me if for no other reason than their being so local to me makes it easy to deal with repair/warranty/fit issues should they arise.

On the blind buy question, I left it blank because I don't trust any company without trying it =) Curious why not put a none option?

The "none" option is just not answering the question lol

I am surprised by some of your reactions, as well. Not to discredit them. Not in the least. We just hear differently. To me, I hear a full, deep, all-encompassing slam from the bass (slam to me is more mid-bass focussed) and I also hear rich, full mids that are spot-on timbrally. They have deep sub-bass reach, as well, even to a startling degree at times. Also I hear them as quite different from RN6, which have a clean, linear bass, balanced between sub and mid, and much more linear mids with more pinna gain and also a smaller soundstage. I think of them as complementary, in fact with the RN6 as a detailed, clean and ordered all-rounder while the Bonnevilles are bombastic, bass-centric and airy with a huge, enveloping soundstage and some of the best depth and imaging - not "pinpoint" perhaps, but music doesn't sound "pinpoint" in reality to me.

On a side note - and this has nothing to do with your mini-review but another recent one, in fact - I am persnally becoming a bit fatigued with the description of bass that "stays in its lane" or doesn't "bleed into the mids." I know what this means, of course, but I have trouble accepting it as always a good thing. Part of the problem with the RN6 - and the reason I ultimately sold them - is that the bass stays too much in its lane and doesn't bleed enough into the mids!

I believe there is false delineation between parts of the frequency spectrum that is not really there in a reality. To my mind, there are no good mids -- mids that sound full and real and true to life -- without good participation form the frequencies below them. Instruments resonate from one more or less stable band of the frequency spectrum but they draw from and activate lower frequencies and upper frequencies by nature. Harmonics. Heading in both directions. And microphones capture this. Maybe it's inevitable to a certain degree with hybrid IEMS, but if the hand-off between the frequency ranges covered by the different drivers is too clean and apparent, then yes, you get the effect of something not bleeding into something else, but you also get an incoherence that I really don't like. Hence the magic of a well implemented single DD. (Looking at you Cascara!) The RN6 had this slight incoherence to my ears, whereas the Bonnevilles do not. The Bonneville drivers "bleed" into each other a bit - and hence the parts of the spectrum they cover bleed into each other - but in all the right ways.

Anyway, sorry for the rant but these two IEMs exemplify this nit I just needed to pick.

This is a brilliant summary of something I've always believed but never really been able to articulate properly. I've often thought of one of my priorities in a sound signature from an IEM is that everything plays together as a unity-- and as you vividly accurately describe one of the side effects of everytihng "staying in its lane" is that you lose a bit of this unity and see instead the trees instead of the forest.

Bonneville has plenty of what I think of as a throbbing bass. Just not a thwack kind of bass. For example, my top Sub-Bass Thwackers: Grand Maestro, Maestro SE, and Fei Wan. Those to my ears have a different kind of bass experience than Bonneville and other what I think of as Mid-Bass Throbbers, like Rn6 and Perpetua.

YMMV on the throb/thwack.

Twackers and throbbers...lol. Interesting way to put it. It is true that I have always been more focused on mid-bass thump than sub-bass. I'll have to pay more attention next time I hear one of the Fat Freq IEMs. Incidentally my main issue with the MSE is that it's too lean in the mid-bass lower mids.

The Campfire Bonneville is a ridiculously good IEM. I can't believe it's "only" $1400.



My first impressions after an hour of listening is that it is an all-rounder pure and simple. It does female vocals exceedingly well, but it is no slouch at all with male vocals. It has a powerful bass with the right sources and tips, a very natural and coherent timbre, and a wonderfully and artfully tuned treble that eschews targets and does its own thing and the results are very, very good.

Technicalities are also particularly impressive: resolution, macro and microdynamics, and it is also wonderfully spacious with an adventurous take on imaging that generously creates images across the soundstage.

The only thing worth noting is that these IEMs are nefariously sensitive to tip rolling. More on tips I have used and how they fare, later. But a winner for sure, and price-class defining, perhaps.

I agree on Bonneville, very musical iem and pairs exceptionally well with zm2. I’m still in tips rolling, as you wrote they are VERY sensitive to tips and insertion depth. Let us know which tips you preferred

Loving all the Bonneville love-- it's certainly one of my standout IEMs of 2023.

Am I only one who got it in purple?



Way more appealing than the black imho.

That said, this is what's really winning the day for me at the moment:

The WM1Z is an absolute joy to look at and hold. Everything about oozes style, refinement, class and perfection. The most amazing thing off the bat is how insanely low the noise floor is-- I think this fact alone adds an extra layer of resolution to whatever I plug into it. Synergy with Perpetua, and I'm starting to suspect all DD IEMs is a thing to behold-- smooth, weighty, natural and refined with a natural warmth and timbre that is to die for. Early days but I'm really liking what I'm hearing so far. My Trifecta is with CFA right now so it will be a few days before I'll be able to hear that with the 1Z.

Lastly, daily reminder to complete our year end survey if you haven't already. Beyond respecting the norms of healthy community I don't make many demands of people who post and hang out here but I'd really appreciate it if everyone who does takes the time to do their duty and fill it in-- the collective data is interesting and helpful for all...cheers .