Campfire Audio - Andromeda 2020

IEMs:- Campfire Andro 2020 > Shure se846 > Sennheiser ie800 > Dunu sa6 > Sony mdr ex800 > Sony xba N3 > final a4000 > Sennheiser ie200 > etymotic er2xr > Sennheiser ie600 > Kiwiears Cadenza > Shure se215 > blon bl03 > Moondrop Space travel Headphones:- Audeze LCD2C > AKG K701 > hd600 > hd660s > hd6xx > hd650 > Meze 109 > Koss porta pro > Grado sr225 > Grado sr80

Extreme Metal only sounds great on BA/Planar IEMs. The problem with EM is that that it doesn’t have the V-shape sound that most budget sets are tuned for. Niche genres need niche IEMs. For EM, the IEM needs to have exceptional treble. Hence BA/Planar sets. Anything with DD for bass = muddy since transient response of DD is simply not enough for the kind of speed you need. That is a limitation of DD. For budget I recommend S12 Pro, kilobuck Andromeda 2020, or multikilo U12T. I’ve tested all sorts from all budgets in accordance with the hype, these are the only three sets that sound good for Metal.

Andromeda 2020 was a kilobuck IEM (does it count, it's a bit less? )that genuinely blew me away. The soundstage didn’t just feel wide — it changed how I perceived the music entirely. Instead of “listening to music,” I suddenly started *seeing* a person: holding a microphone, standing in a room, singing in front of me. Their voice echoing throughout the room. It was the first time an IEM made the performance feel like a physical scene instead of an audio file. I could even visualize fingers plucking guitar strings. The only problem? I barely use them because I’m terrified of scratching the paint.

List is $2k, and I haven't seen any advertised lower than that. While I'd love to get a pair, it's definitely a luxury product. I have a pair of Andromedas that I got used a few years back. They sound great, but I'm smart enough to know that it's a hobby I don't need to pursue as it's just too costly. I do believe there are noticeable differences, but at a certain point, there are diminishing returns.

I think around 300$ is the sweet spot. I have tea pros (349$), a noble k10u (1600$) and a campfire andromeda S (1059$) and the difference is just around 20-30%

Cheapest endgame to me would be tea pros (349$) they sound so good and that bass is 👌 I also have kilobucks from before like the Andromeda S (1049$) and noble k10ua (1600$) they are better in resolution and soundstage but not that big of a difference compared to the tea pros.

0.5k I would say. I am quite happy with SA6, had a few kilobucks before that. When I got sa6 I was running Andromeda 2020 as my daily drivers and I felt more happy with sa6. Enough technicalities for my needs and somehow more fun!

Don't underestimate the Andromeda. They’re an older set and have been surpassed by many newer IEMs in terms of sheer detail. But it’s the sound signature that deserves its legendary status. It’s still one of the most spacious and smooth-sounding IEMs, and I would love to listen to it again just for that.

My bad, I never tried the Emerald Sea. But the Andromeda V2 was so good. I remember going to the local shop almost every week just to listen to them until I finally bought it lol.

I'm going to be honest man, if you genuinely like something then save up for it. I liked the signature of a 2019 Andro and bought one. Zero regrets. If a more expensive set hits what you want it to do perfectly or near perfect then it is worth it. But do also take time to appreciate what you have. If you want a step up directly from the EW200 at some stage then the EW300 is quite good for the price, it will be a step up in timbre and tech. If you want something almost similarly meta but a touch cheaper then see if you can demo the Crinear Daybreak. It's my daily to work.

Look I own about 10 or so pairs of iem's and it still remains the pair that impressed me the most but I highly doubt that it's the best in its price range to this day. It's just the best I own in this regard.

I’d say the first break point is somewhere around $300ish, then the next break point is “entry” kilobucks around $1k. So for the first break point IEMs like Dusk, anything Xenns, Thieaudio, Softears, so on and so forth, and for the second break point you have a lot of solid options like Monarchs, Dunu Glacier, CFA Andromedas, 64 Audio U4S, etc. Edit: to clarify, those are the points where I think you get the biggest jumps in quality relative to price points around them. So I don’t think it’s as worth it to move beyond that $300-$400 price point unless you’re jumping up to $1k.

For the most part yes, although entry kilobucks start to get pretty unique. Good example could be something like the Andromedas, I’m not aware of anything else that really gets similar to the tuning of the Andromedas (not even the later versions of Andromedas themselves lol)

Where are the Campfire Clara $800? Cheapest I've seen used is $1550. These would be a fucking steal at $800. I'd love to compare them to my Andromeda 2020 and Solaris 2020, but I don't have the cash for a new set of Clara at the moment.