Disclaimer: Noble Audio - which I have mentioned positively in this essay - have been a client of mine since late 2014.
Achebe oversimplified things. Some things fall apart. Others compound into something exquisite. Baby bum-smooth Andromeda is as polished next to Jupiter as Jupiter is against a pre-production version of itself. It is my - perhaps self-serving - opinion that the two earphone manufacturers most violently busting through the limits of industrial manufacturing and branding ceilings are Campfire Audio and Noble Audio.
Subject:
Campfire Audio Andromeda - 1.099$ USD
Andromeda is Jupiter tweaked and finessed. Fastening hardware is now edgier, anodising is way smoother, case lines are more precise. Gone is its clinky tinsel cable. In its stead is something pliable, non-microphonic, and more comfy.
And best of all, Andromeda tweaks Jupiter’s carefree midrange into something wider, more aggressive and higher-reaching. Something much brighter into the highs and airier into the mids. It’s like classic Grado-emotion crashed into K10-midrange-airiness crashed into Jupiter-good-taste. It’s Jupiter with run through a carefully honed midrange excitement engine. Beautiful.
Note: images expand into lightboxes when clicked.
Its ergonomics are unchanged. You won’t fit Andromeda into small ears. And some normal-sized ears will have trouble with Andromeda’s hard angles and wide sound tube whose Lilliputian insertion depth may keep you shifting your ears around. No, it’s not the most comfy earphone around. But it works, it fits securely, and it is made to last.
And its green hues are as assertive as Andromeda - the galaxy - is far, far away. My review of it, however, is not. Look for it under my name over at Headfonia on Thursday.
Relevant links:
manufacturer: Campfire Audio
manufacturer: Noble Audio
ohm-image: Eyes on Jupiter - Campfire Audio's case for patience
headfonia: Campfire Audio Jupiter Pre-Production Report