I met the folks behind Campfire Audio last April in Tokyo for the Fujiya Avic Headphone Festival, and got to
try their whole line-up including their newest releases, the Atlas and the
Comet, I also had the pleasure of talking to both Ken and Caleb about their
philosophies on making and tuning audio gear, their process, how they came up with
their unique technology, and why they chose those approaches, notably of course
is the T.E.A.C. or tuned acoustic expansion chamber, that has lent their BAs a
certain quality; most exemplified in the Andromeda. Still one of the best
regarded IEMs in the market today. That technology has since made its way to
different models of their line-up.
The one we have here is the
Polaris, a hybrid configuration from Campfire utilizing 1 balanced armature
with a T.E.A.C. module and their 8.5mm Beryllium PVD dynamic driver with what
they are calling the Polarity Tuned Chamber, a 3D printed chamber that is
placed in both the front and rear of the of the driver to maximize the
performance of the driver, almost in a similar idea of how the T.E.A.C. maximizes
a BA. These are all finished in a 3D printed dual chamber nozzle and their
classic aluminum housing, with the cover finished in Cerakote for durability.
Once the FedEx man arrived with
the Polaris I quickly went with the unboxing, and the classic small Campfire
packaging is expected with the requisite tips, pamphlets, cleaning tools, of
note that is missing is the usual IEM “socks” but back to the earphones, photos
can barely do them justice, the texture and detail on the Cerakote and the
Anodized aluminum is flawless, and when light hits it the right way, the just
have a light metallic sheen that grabs your eyes. Moving on the cable, the 4
core Litz copper cable with a twist type braid is soft, with nice flexibility
and weight.
They came pre-installed with
their marshmallow foam tips, so I used those when I tried them out for the
first time, and first impressions give a nice full bass with vocals immediately
grabbing my attention in the texture of them. Details are good, but more
listening will be needed to form my full thoughts, but definitely a fun and
engaging tuning seems to have been the approach. Overall the use of new tech
and old tech on the Polaris is something new from Campfire and a full write up
will be presented soon. If you can't wait you can buy the Polaris directly from Campfire Audio here $599.00
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