[Amadeo Nospherathu]

Well hello there Pico Origa SE in the house for demo, thanks to the ever generous @efftee

*EDIT The battle between Aroma and Pico is going to be very very interesting... Stay tuned.

OMG! Amp for big tubes! My CDM looks at it with dismay)

 

[Amadeo Nospherathu]

The bad thing about YouTube algorithms is they just use simple rule to compile "my mix" and you will end up listening to the same track over and over and eventually want to avoid them.

In streaming services such as Spotify, you can like a track in discovery mix but I am not sure if Spotify uses smarter rule to find out similar track or simply just compile those you liked to push to you just like YouTube.

I don't use algorithms because they often fail. So they form playlists quite strangely. When they are genre - it is generally a problem.

 

[Amadeo Nospherathu]

And jewel sounds absolutely F'ing glorious off the CDM with the Hugo2, Hugo2 alone is very nice, super technical but that added does of tube warmth is EXACTLY what Jewel needs. I've never heard CDM be so highly resolved. Turning the technical into the musical as only class A tubes can.

I will allow myself a little boredom, but not only. Tubes made for the Air Force also show a good result. I have several of these and this is the jewel of my collection.

 

[Amadeo Nospherathu]

That's a bold opinion, for sure. It's not my take at all, but I respect the difference of opinion. "I prefer x more than y" ≠ "y is inferior to x". I appreciate the advice, and I genuinely apologize if I offended you or anyone else.

Of course, you, like each of us, choose according to your taste, and this is absolutely correct. I'm just saying that there are other ways. And maybe you will be satisfied when you pay attention to them too.

 

[Ike1985]

I see that you really like your VE8 a lot. Even better than your Jewel?
I use a PWA August Fun with mine. How about you?

I don't own a VE8, I demoed it for a few weeks years ago but it made an impression.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

Well you can't compare directly because you can't hear 2 cables simultaneously so all what you say is made up, since none of that has ever been measured.

But yes let's just leave it there, reminds me why I've been away since a year or more from this cesspool of knockoff autists.

See ya next year. Enjoy the view from under your rock.

 

[Skyediver]

you could listen to this on mediocre gear and it would still be good. But to to me this is the combination of artistic creativity and production quality that really justifies every penny spent

I gotta give this a listen. Noticed it made a number of “Best of 2022” lists from reviewers I respect.

 

[Rockwell75]

I gotta give this a listen. Noticed it made a number of “Best of 2022” lists from reviewers I respect.

Hey man nice to see you check in! Are you going to make NYC in Feb?

 

[rush1]

Well hello there Pico Origa SE in the house for demo, thanks to the ever generous @efftee

*EDIT The battle between Aroma and Pico is going to be very very interesting... Stay tuned.

Oh my… Are those duelund caps?
Man you got me excited… I presume you upgrade it? … or it comes standard with duelund?

 

[tone.texture.soul]

Oh my… Are those duelund caps?
Man you got me excited… I presume you upgrade it? … or it comes standard with duelund?

This Origa belongs to our fellow Cooler @efftee who generously let me borrow it for review. As far as I know Pico let you customize certain parts when they built it, not sure if this was standard or upgraded. Part of the reason they are not making them anymore, ran out of all the good parts I guess.

I am anxiously waiting for some incoming tubes, it uses full size 12AU7 or ECC88 tubes, so my vast collection of 12AX7's wont work. You can change the op amps also, I tried the Burson V6 Vivid, Staccato and Sonic Imagery Labs, all different variances of awesome. Quite a cool amp, i'll share further impressions when I have the tubes.

 

[Alexzander]

By the way, what is the smallest portable real tube (not nutube) headphone/iems amp that is available on the market?

 

[Levanter]

By the way, what is the smallest portable real tube (not nutube) headphone/iems amp that is available on the market?

Probably Little Bear B4-X

 

[Damz87]

Had some spare time this afternoon to visit Addicted to Audio Melbourne, and I finally got a chance to demo the Campfire Trifecta

I’ll cut right to the chase, this isn’t an IEM I’d be willing to pay anywhere near its current MSRP for, at least for my tastes and priorities. However, I can understand the appeal for those that value a rich, analogue presentation with DD timbre, because Trifecta offers that up in spades.

My two main dealbreakers were the technicalities and treble response. I found its technical performance to be quite underwhelming for its high price tag, particularly its speed, separation and detail retrieval. The lower treble sounded rather splashy, almost peaky, and the upper treble extension felt rather poor.

The bass, whilst being pretty well textured and extended, really struggled on faster paced bass lines from my electronic test tracks. I heard quite a lot of mid bass, and the slow speed of the drivers made bass hits sound wooly, like as if they’re firing behind a wall. The mids seem decent, a bit recessed behind the huge bass and forward lower treble but they have a nice organic tone to them that I expected from a warmly tuned DD IEM.

When I listened to one of my acoustic test tracks (Angus & Julia Stone - Yellow Brick Road) it seemed to perform at its best and where I felt CFA’s tuning choice for Trifecta made a bit more sense. It certainly felt like a unique sound, and if my library consisted more of that type of music, I’d probably be more inclined to consider picking one of these up. But again, at $3400 it’s simply too much of a specialist of a specialty I don’t prioritise enough.

It’s a shame, I was really hoping for it to impress me because I do have a soft spot for CFA and their older mainstays, the Andromeda & Solaris.

Thankfully, it wasn’t all lost for Campfire today because I got to try the A&K x CFA Pathfinder once again, and this time impressed me so much that I had to pick one up! It pairs amazingly well with SP3K. Last time I heard it I didn’t own this DAP and I thought it was okay but nothing too special. But this time, it was like a completely different experience. Looking forward to more listening of this little hidden gem over the weekend

 

[Nostoi]

By the way, what is the smallest portable real tube (not nutube) headphone/iems amp that is available on the market?

Alo CV5 and Oriolus BA300S are small, though neither are very good (the latter especially woeful), IMO.

 

[Tristy]

Had some spare time this afternoon to visit Addicted to Audio Melbourne, and I finally got a chance to demo the Campfire Trifecta

I’ll cut right to the chase, this isn’t an IEM I’d be willing to pay anywhere near its current MSRP for, at least for my tastes and priorities. However, I can understand the appeal for those that value a rich, analogue presentation with DD timbre, because Trifecta offers that up in spades.

My two main dealbreakers were the technicalities and treble response. I found its technical performance to be quite underwhelming for its high price tag, particularly its speed, separation and detail retrieval. The lower treble sounded rather splashy, almost peaky, and the upper treble extension felt rather poor.

The bass, whilst being pretty well textured and extended, really struggled on faster paced bass lines from my electronic test tracks. I heard quite a lot of mid bass, and the slow speed of the drivers made bass hits sound wooly, like as if they’re firing behind a wall. The mids seem decent, a bit recessed behind the huge bass and forward lower treble but they have a nice organic tone to them that I expected from a warmly tuned DD IEM.

When I listened to one of my acoustic test tracks (Angus & Julia Stone - Yellow Brick Road) it seemed to perform at its best and where I felt CFA’s tuning choice for Trifecta made a bit more sense. It certainly felt like a unique sound, and if my library consisted more of that type of music, I’d probably be more inclined to consider picking one of these up. But again, at $3400 it simply too much of a specialist of a specialty I don’t prioritise enough.

It’s a shame, I was really hoping for it to impress me because I do have a soft spot for CFA and their older mainstays, the Andromeda & Solaris.

Thankfully, it wasn’t all lost for Campfire today because I got to try the A&K x CFA Pathfinder once again, and this time impressed me so much that I had to pick one up! It pairs amazingly well with SP3K. Last time I heard it I didn’t own this DAP and I thought it was okay but nothing too special. But this time, it was like a completely different experience. Looking forward to more listening of this little hidden gem over the weekend

What would you say the Pathfinder sounds most akin to? I’ve heard reports of an OG Solaris with better bass