Would love to hear your experience. I’m really curious.
Not seeing a ton on these new CA IEMs. I’m not sure why but I think some folks were scared off by wacky tuning. imo if you’re buying $500 IEMs, you’re probably an audio nerd, and have other headphones/IEMs anyway. And even if you’re looking for 1 set, why not try them? eBay and simple return policies make it pretty easy to give something a go without committing sight unseen (hearing unheard?).
I specifically wanted something wacky so I bought Mammoths. Diggin the sound so far.
Edit: for clarity, im not some CA shill, I’ve never kept a CA thing long term.
I’m just an advocate for trying weird gear.
I’ve been frustrated by the few reviews that exist, which seem mainly interested in comparing the new CA IEMS to each other and to other CA IEMS and leave me with little sense of how they fair on their own. I mean, it helps to know where the Holocene fits into the CA lineup, but since I’m not a collector but really just want one set of IEMs and wish to upgrade over my existing set, I have no way of knowing if any CA IEMs might suit. And of course these days it’s about knowing how IEMs compare to their Chi-fi competitors. I have no sense at all from the reviews if, for example, Holocenes are any better than Blessing 2, which are half the price.
Bumping. Anyone have impressions of these?
There’s a pretty massive thread on Headfi but you’re right there isn’t a ton of info out there. From what I see people are way more interested in the higher end CA iems or like you said collector’s. One thing I can say is I don’t regret buying my mammoths based on the very little info that’s out there but they are a completely different animal.
The Head-Fi thread I’ve seen isn’t particularly informative.
The Holocene seems hidden in Andromeda’s shadow.
I think that’s what they are supposed to be, a less expensive Andro.
Some poor soul’s been trying to sell their Mammoth at increasingly slashed prices on Head-Fi. Campfire have become a brand people are cautious of for such high price tags, rather than blind buying or expecting the best. That’s been my impression based on the market at least.
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Edit: I double checked, and yes, there’s a good thread in head-fi. I thought I had seen it, but I hadn’t. I was confusing it for the thread on both Mammoth and Holocene.
I suspect Campfire’s running into a problem wherein ChiFi is blowing apart people’s sense of value-for-dollar, making the case for the cheaper Campfire models harder to make.
One question I really want an answer to is whether it would be better to buy a new Holocene or a used Andro 2019? (I suspect what I really want is the Andro 2020, but price).
Id hold out or if you can negotiate I’d do that. Chifi definitely makes it tougher for CA but in my experience the build quality that CA has with their IEMs is well above that of the chifi brands I’ve seen.
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I bought a pair of used Holocenes from the Campfire Audio Market (“Good” condition but I only see one very tiny dot as a blemish on the outer shell). With coupons they cost me a bit under $400
I’m enjoying them a lot - they’re the first expensive IEMs I’ve bought (second most I own is the Olina) so I don’t really have much to compare them to.
But I think they’re at least worth checking out
Any sound comparison that you cam make with Olina?