Special thanks to the owner of the Perth branch of Addicted To Audio, Dan, for allowing us to audition and take photos of the Campfire Audio Ara and Andromeda 2020 in their beautiful showroom. We appreciate the staff's kindness in assisting us.
Overview
The Ara is CA's new 7 BA IEM that actually isn't another iteration of the 5 BA Andromeda. I auditioned the Ara with my Sony ZX300 for 30min before making comparisons with the Andromeda 2020 for another 30min. Each 【X】 denotes a reference for some test tracks used to come to this conclusion.
Sound Impressions
The Campfire Audio Ara's titanium body is literally the embodiment of its steely timbre.
Despite having 4 BA drivers dedicated to the low end, the Ara's bass response is surprisingly reserved 【1】. The Ara's bass is incredibly tight and does little to balance out its aggressive upper mids, which largely contributes to the Ara's brightness 【2】.
The tight bass also doesn’t bolster the Ara's midrange with body, causing vocals to sound thin - deep male vocals in particular lack weight 【3】. This leaves plenty of room for the Ara's metallic-tinged mids to dominate the stage.
Possibly due to its peaky response between 3kHz and 6kHz, I suspect that the steely edge to the Ara's upper mids will divide potential users based on their listening tolerance and music library.
I personally wouldn't use the Ara with acoustic tracks, musicals and emotional ballads. However, the Ara shines with my J-Rock library. Having a relatively lesser bass presence in the mix to begin with, these J-Rock tracks tend to complement the Ara's aggressive upper mid response, competently bringing forth low-level detail in a busy multi-instrumental mix 【4】. I especially love how the Ara fully keeps up with the excitement of these fast-paced tunes with its lightning fast attack transients to steer clear of congestion and make for an exciting listen 【5】.
Up top, the Ara has an equally forward treble response. Cymbals and hi-hats are close to the listener but the Ara's "splashiness" slightly hinders its otherwise decent resolving ability in the treble 【6】. For this reason, I prefer the Ara's treble playback for musical enjoyment (with J-Rock) rather than monitoring and analysing.
The Ara could also be described as a having a reverse L-shaped response (V-shaped without bass emphasis). In spite of its "distant sounding" midrange and wide headstage, I did not feel that the Ara's headstage was particularly deep. Images were well projected along its X-axis and to a lesser extent, along its Z-axis.
Given my personal taste for warmer signatures, the Ara's lean signature and hard upper midrange aren't my cup of tea. Nevertheless, treble-heads who prefer a very well-controlled bass response may find its cleanliness appealing.
Andromeda 2020 Comparison
I will now briefly compare the new Ara to the revised Andromeda 2020.
The Andro 2020's midrange is not as scooped as the Ara as vocals are now relatively closer to the listener. These vocals are imbued with more warmth than the Ara, evident from the Andro 2020's "fuller" sound.
As compared to the brighter Ara, the Andro 2020 has a more pleasing tonal quality with its less "hard-sounding" upper midrange. This allows the Andro 2020 to bring details forward with much less effort. I also prefer the Andro 2020 for its tighter but well extended treble since crash cymbals now sound less splashy, and songs sound more "open" in general.
To my ears, the "openness" described above supplements the Andro 2020's deeper headstage and the resultant spaciousness gives me the impression that it images better.
Both these IEMs are outstanding technical performers but the Ara's tonal quality makes it more genre-specific (with regard to my music library, as referenced below) while the Andro 2020 has the upper hand in versatility.
I hope you've enjoyed my short impressions of the Ara! Join the discussion on Reddit and stay up to date with our latest reviews and impressions on Facebook and Instagram :)
Test tracks for reference: Artiste 1 – Song 1, Song 2. Artiste 2 – Song 1…
The 1975 - Sincerity Is Scary, If You're Too Shy (Let Me Know). Billie Eilish - bury a friend, everything i wanted.
Falling In Reverse - The Drug In Me Is Reimagined, Popular Monster.
Of Monsters And Men - Stuck In Gravity. Andrew Lloyd Weber - Any Dream Will Do, 'Til I Hear You Sing.
Coldrain - COLORBLIND, ENVY, COEXIST. Bring Me The Horizon - Drown, Sleepwalking.
MY FIRST STORY - Mukoku, With You, 1,000,000 TIMES.
ONE OK ROCK - Cry Out, Taking Off. Royal Blood - Out Of The Black, Figure It Out.