Campfire Audio Astrolith: Into the Planar Multiverse
Our wholesome, good old IEM manufacturer Campfire Audio from Portland, Oregon has come up with another wave of product line-ups, and we’ll be reviewing the flagship product among them – called the Astrolith. Campfire Audio has been experimenting with innovative, sometimes unusual concepts – their flagship products especially.
The Andromeda (Review link), the 5BA innovation that shook the global in-ear hobbyists (as well as the major player that allowed CA to gain its reputation first comes to my mind. The Lyra, Vega, and Atlas are the flagships that showed the wholesome charms of what a single dynamic driver could offer. Solaris (Review link), Solaris: Stellar Horizons (Review link), and Bonneville (Review link) are DD+BA hybrid flagships that were and still are popular among the community.
The Trifecta (Review link), the 3DD flagship that was never seen before from the scene has caught major attention due to its daring approach to tuning and structural design. For the past several years, we’ve been seeing Campfire Audio exploring planar drivers through the release of Supermoon UIEM/CIEM and the recent Moon Rover Planar IEM. However, there wasn’t any official flagship product of the Campfire Planar family, until now. Campfire Audio Astrolith is a dual-planar driver IEM that now holds the flagship tag among its planar line-up and retails for $2199. Let’s see how this sounds, performs, and compares to other in-ears.
Packaging / Including
Campfire Audio has been pursuing the “moon” concept for all planar drivers as Astrolith also makes that very relevant on its packaging. With Campfire’s classic paper packaging box covered with its unique design art, Astrolith comes with:
- 2 Time Stream Cables (3.5mm and 4.4mm)
- Handmade Leather Folding Case
- Breezy Bag Jr. (which is a mesh, zipper case)
- A pair of earpiece mesh bag
- 3 pairs of Marshmellow foam tips
- 3 pairs of Silicone tips,
- Microfiber cleaning cloth
- A cleaning tool
- A Campfire Audio Lapel pin.
It’s a tad sad that Campfire Audio now dropped the 2.5mm cable from the including, though it’s an undeniable fact that the 2.5mm era is fading away. Or it’s simply because Astrolith is not as highly priced as Solaris SH or Trifecta which were the ones that offered three Time Stream cables.
Earpieces: Multi-Planar Magic, with 2 Special Chamber Systems
.Astrolith utilizes two planar drivers (14.2mm Planar + 6mm Planar) with new technologies Campfire Audio has developed for Astrolith. The 14.2mm Planar driver is topped with AAOI Housing (Additive Acoustic Optical Inclusion housing) which handles and tames the powerful driver to an appropriate extent, ultimately bringing out efficient impact, texture, imaging, sonic refinement, and layering across the low-mid frequency range. This is the upgraded generation 14.2mm Planar driver which was first introduced through Supermoon and which shares the same driver diameter. The AAOI Housing also serves as a solvent that nicely blends the 14.2mm Planar driver with the 6mm Planar driver.
Speaking of the 6mm Planar driver, this 6mm Planar driver is responsible for the upper frequencies, serving as a tweeter for the Astrolith. With the AAOI Housing actively contributing to this 6mm Planar as well, Campfire Audio has also adopted a PPR (Particle Phase Resonator) tuning chamber which is the most carefully and precisely engineered driver housing Campfire has ever created and was the most challenging to achieve, according to the engineering team.
While 6mm diameter drivers are common for dynamic drivers, encountering a planar driver as small as 6mm is atypical, just as Campfire themselves said. Planar drivers are difficult to shrink its size and diameter due to their form factor, yet if achieved, in exchange you achieve an extremely fast, transient response – especially for the upper range and treble resolution. Yet similar to the AAOI chamber, the 6mm Planar’s PPR chamber also exists to smooth and temper this highly agile and resolving driver. Having two powerful drivers controlled using each dedicated AAOI and PPR Housing chamber leads Astrolith to create maximum sound while staying smooth and fatigueless.
As for the outer form factor and appearance, Astrolith sports a black 3D-printed acrylic body with a mirror-finished stainless-steel faceplate. Campfire Audio IEMs have been experiencing ergonomic issues with some users, and so far I could say that this is one of the most comfortable IEMs to wear. The earpieces are lightweight and robust, providing a firm and snug fit. As usual, Astolith uses standard MMCX connectors with metal nozzles.
Time Stream Cables – 3.5 and 4.4 Plugs
Campfire’s newly introduced stock cable, the Time Stream Cables is included in two different terminations and comes with both options as default – in 3.5mm and 4.4mm. The silver-plated copper wires are insulated individually which gives a flat look like some old electric cables we’ve seen back then. However, Time Stream cables are softer than most other stock cables and don’t cause microphonics. From a technical aspect, avoiding modular plugs and sticking with the classic one-termination cable is better for audio quality and I appreciate Campfire Audio for that.
Next Page: Sound Impressions / How Does it Sound?