Campfire Audio - Andromeda Emerald Sea (2023)

So the delta earbuds are just moderately worse than the emerald sea. Interesting. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

These are the newer Andromedas, the Emerald Sea.

Don’t bother with anything else for now, the Emerald Sea is an extremely capable IEM, but it has some issues in the treble region. I’d recommend testing out some EQ profiles and experiment that way. This profile has worked really well for me, and fixed all the issues I had with them out the box. 🎧 Campfire Audio Emerald Sea – Corrective EQ (10-Band Graphic) Preamp: -4 dB 31 Hz → +2.0 dB # Adds sub-bass weight 62 Hz → +1.5 dB # Reinforces bass punch 125 Hz → +1.0 dB # Warms low mids 250 Hz → 0.0 dB # Neutral anchor 500 Hz → +1.5 dB # Restores vocal warmth 1 kHz → +2.5 dB # Brings vocals forward 2 kHz → +2.0 dB # Adds articulation 4 kHz → -2.0 dB # Smooths shoutiness 8 kHz → -3.5 dB # Tames treble glare 16 kHz → +1.5 dB # Adds air and shimmer

I’ve been lurking this sub for a while and got a whole bunch of great tips on what kind of gear to get. First I went with a Cayin RU6 to drive some Senheisser DT 990 Pros (250 ohms) that I use in the studio for flat reference mixing. Listening to high res lossless audio with those and the Cayin was… ok. Certainly better than using Bose, but nothing to write home about. Thinking I wasted money on the Cayin, I went shopping around. I was looking for beautifully sculpted IEMs for listening to music. So I zeroed in on Campfire Audio Andromeda (Emerald Sea). I tried them and I could not believe the clarity and instrument separation on dense mixes. I plugged them into my Cayin, saw that it was on sale because it was an open box item. And then I listened… Holy shit! I can hear pick scrapes. Faint finger slides on guitar chord changes. Room reverberation for ALL instruments became crystal clear in the mix. Previously hidden delays and modulation effects became obvious. While I understand these IEMs have a scooped EQ profile, the bass tracks are defined and lose their mud, while also giving a nice thump to the sound. Percussion details spring out and there’s distinct separation of the drumskins and the cymbals. There’s sizzle in the brightness, but it’s never harsh. Everything has its own layer and space. Nothing competes in a good mix. I’ve never heard music like this except for a studio environment, and certainly never out of my iPhone. I understand now. For shits n giggles I A/Bed the Andromedas with Powerbeats (absolute junk). I am ruined. I’ve been listening to Grateful Dead live shows (Veneta 72, Boston 77, Cornell 77, ect). Mk.gee’s Two Star and the Dream Police. Several Rush records. All Billy Strings’s records and several shows, including the recent one in Eugene on Nugs. I certainly hope this audiophile dabble doesn’t become a crippling addiction lol. Cheers to this community for all the thoughtful advice and discussion.

They are legit incredible. They flatter music beautifully.

Campfire Audio Emerald Andromeda would be my pick.

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.

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.

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)

I would almost flip those honestly, at least in my experience - from $20 to $300 you get better/more controlled upper treble and the like, while with kilobucks you get more unique tunings (think things like Andromedas or the IER-Z1R or something)

Yeah - Campfire Andromeda, JH 13V2 Pro, QDC Anole VX, 64 Audio U12T, Campfire Moon Rovers