Campfire Audio - Astrolith

I know 2200 is a hell of a lot but my fucking god those Astrolith are absolutely unbelievable. For EVERYTHING. Safest bet of the entire bunch. You could even go second hand and get I guess 30% off & they will still have warranty as they've only been out for around 5-6 months? Build quality fantastic also. Have you actually heard the Variations or are you just looking at graphs? To be honest I don't feel anything is lacking and if it is, it's more than compensated for by what it excels at.

All but one of my sets is less than $1k retail - and that set can trade blow for blow with many well regarded $2000 sets... and out of the hundreds I've heard, it is the only one that I can say that for. It is of course the Moondrop Variations, and they easily sound like a decent $1200 - $1300 set. The only $1k set I own that does not sound like a. $1k set is the Campfire Alien Brain. I'd say 600-700 would be a fair price for these. Fortunately I got them for $500 open box & /they are my out & about set & have the right characteristics for that. My list of others, their retail price & my thoughts as to whether they represent good value. Canpur 622b - $5500 I think this is an INSANE amount of money for a set. I lucked out & bought (technically) secondhand as an unwanted gift & unused. These are so far from my favourite typical kind of set as they have very little sub bass (not that I need to have every set be a basshead set) - BUT - that does not stop them from easily being the most impressive pair I've ever put in my ears. I savour them. I used them twice a week & really make sure I have no distractions & no one is home. For funk/rare groove/soul etc, they are unbelievable. For excellent pop/rock in eg Prince, Queen & MJ, same thing. For the Blade Runner 1982 Vangelis soundtrack - best I've ever heard it & I've heard it a lot. It's really difficult to qualify $5500 as a price for ANY IEM - but if one set does - it's these. Others - Final A8000 - $2000 - absolutely. Most clear & natural anything I've ever heard. For well recorded jazz, absolutely unbeatable. Good with lots of other stuff, too. Empire Ears Raven - $3750 - the best sub bass heavy 'basshead' set that have ever existed IMO. This is basically the dream sound I had in my head as a 'basshead' set & I've been through them all. Absolutely yes - absolutely worth it, but the build quality could certainly be better for that price. Campfire Astrolith - $2200 - the best planar set that exist IMO. Decent value. Incredible proprietary tech. Thieaudio Prestige Ltd CIEM - $1800 - my most used set of all time. All day every day for two years solid. Fatfreq Maestro SE CIEM fully custom - $3500- technically sound, bass is decent but nowhere near the Raven. Still, it's great to have a bottom heavy set that are so comfy, look stunning (my choice of around 200 aesthetic designs + additional options). FiR RN6 - $3000 - the ultimate one & done! Thieaudo Valhalla - $2000 - no idea, haven't arrived yet 😅 I have more but I gotta Run.

It goes to show you how different people's ears are. I've owned or borrowed (for a week) most of these & I own a couple as the rest didn't do if for me. My opinions on a few that really stand out - The 64 Audio Volur were a huge disappointment for me. And the bass really isn't very special to my ears. It was lacking in both quality & quantity. I typically hate all BA bass, but I've chosen the U12T over them (which were a rare blind but & got sold extremely quickly). The Campfire Astrolith are one of the very few IEMs that I believe are actually worth spending that kind of money on... I don't find the treble an issue at all. I was given the option to borrow a demo pair for a week & within 10 minutes of using the demo pair I'd transfered the funds to purchase. It was the quickest IEM decision I've ever made alongside the Prestige Ltd. The Sony IER-Z1R are by a very, very long way biggest selling high end IEM of all time & for very good reason - they are incredible and can do blow for blow (and usually win - at worst, a draw) with any $4000 bass centric set. You need to gets to use the right tips (the Sony Triple Comfort tips that are one of two kinds they are boxed with & hook them to your ears properly with cables that will allow for it - reinforced in the few inches leading up to the MMCX cable or something a generally a bit stronger). The comfort issues are a common complaint, but they are mostly unwarranted. It's a little bit like learning to tiw your shoelaces, but with 90% less time & effort once you understand how. You certainly wouldn't be putting them above the Volur for bass & I think that's objective rather than subjective. Unless you can find someone who seems proven to have very similar tastes to you in things you have tried in terms of both likes & dislikes of several sets... I wouldn't take their opinion very seriously as it's unlikely you will have a similar experience.

I'd agree, but the Astrolith are fucking unbelievable SOUNDING. They do have a few good sounding sets. Also not just looks but CA are the gold standard for BUILD

you mention 2.8K max yet mention devices that are inexpensive, so I assume your currency isn't USD. Moondrop Chu 2? but if you are talking USD, campfire audio Clara/Andromeda 10, 64 audio Volur are bassy, campfire Astrolith is snappy/punchy in its attack, 64 audio u6t is very utilitarian(all genre)

Campfire Audio Trifecta & Astrolith. Both are ridiculously priced for mediocre performance.

I absolutely loved the sound of astrals but the shell wouldnt fit no matter what tips i used. It was quite uncomfortable since the nozzles are almost not angled at all and i need iems with angled nozzles like the p7 or ziigaat nuo.

Interesting impressions, thanks for sharing these! I actually like the Astrolith, though I can see where you're coming from, treble-wise. As far as the Trifecta, I agree that $3k is a steep price for it--but its does, IMO, bring something to the table with its bass that I have yet to hear anywhere else. Hopefully Campfire brings the same tech used with that IEM to some of their lower-priced IEMs in the future. I highly suggest you give the Vision Ears VE10 a listen if you get a chance. It sounds like you'll really like it based on your other impresisons.

It sounds to me like you just don't like it. That's totally fine. I personally avoid most planars/micro-planar IEMs since they're not tuned well. A few notable exceptions are the Kiwi Ears Aether and Campfire Astrolith.

[The Kiwi Ears Aether](https://youtu.be/SeB6BQaZse0), for sure. [I reviewed the Timeless II](https://resonancereviews.com/7hz-timeless-ii-review-strong-performance-questionable-refinement-50e07b8697c4), but wasn't not nearly as happy with it. [The Campfire Audio Astrolith](https://youtu.be/aI5qikMTwHY) is a really, really good IEM, but is so expensive that its hard to recommend to the general enthusiast community.

1300 for my Thieaudio prestige limited & another 300 to reshell /CIEM. 2200 for my Campfire Astroluth. Both expensive, but I get a huge amount of use out of both. Easily my all-time top 2... and neither are close to my most expensive.

I was at Axpona yesterday, listened to a lot of iem’s, and I was kind of amazed at how much everything mostly sounded the same. I tried every item from Thieaudio and while I had favorites, I would be completely happy with the hype 4, with the Divinity 14 and Origin being my favorite, but it was shockingly close. Same with 64 audio, liked all of their offerings favoring the u18t, followed buy the velour and u4s. At the Bloom audio table, they had almost everything to try. Crazy how much sounded the same. At the campfire table, I a/b’d the supermoon and astrolith, with the latter being better, but not $2k better. Diminishing returns really kick in super fast in this hobby.