Lets get one thing out of the way…right away..
Campfire Audio does not mess around. They punch the competition right in the mouth and they do it often…bout every damn time they release something.
The quality is always top notch. Campfire Audio gear is designed and made in America.
I’m American.
I enjoy typing “Made in America”
I reaaaaaaally enjoy it when what I am talking about is exceptional and on par and beyond, items made by the most famous, high quality personal audiophile gear manufacturers on the planet.
Review of Campfire Audio Comet:
The set goes for $200
$200 does not often (ever?) ..buy you a set of this quality. 3D modeled, drop forged steel, polished beauties with mmcx removable LITZ cable.
I am going to save the pic and vid bombing for the bottom of the review so you can get what you came for right away.
…the f’ing sound!
STAGE:
LED ZEPPELIN – Stairway to Heaven
I grew up on this album among others. This was one of my Mom”s favorites. The song opens like pedals on a flower one by one as each member comes into the fold. This song has an epic build up from the slow opening guitar notes into a full on rock and roll explosion that goes in all directions sonic wise and that makes for a good psycho-acoustic stage. After growing up with vinyl on home systems it always sounded very compact on mp3 files and ipods but moving up to items like Sony’s WM1A and using high quality vinyl rips brought back the familiar separation between Robert Plant, John Bonham, John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page.
The Campfire Audio Comets are using a single wideband Balanced Armature driver and deliver a stunning sense of realism.
TREBLE:
BOSTON – Foreplay/It’s been such a long time
I use this song for staging usually but it has so much upper frequency info it can be an excellent evaluator of treble detail, and expose roll-off. All of the notes I expect to hear are heard. There are no obvious caverns along the treble frequency. It would be clear. It always is. Lots of stuff sounds just alright with this song and some…few, sound fantastic. The Campfire Audio comets are a new one in the fantastic group.
I have to say again these are $200 and are a single balanced armature driver
BASS:
LED-ZEPPELIN – Dazed and Confused
Another Zep track…..yeah…shoot me!!
This was THE FIRST track I ever played with the Campfire Audio Comets because I doubted/expected the bass to be lacking or at least some roll off in the sub-bass.
Nope.
This was when I knew this was not going to go as expected and was the beginning of the awesome…I smiled.
I like Ken (never met him) but we have a common tie to…Hawaii.
I was going to try and be very polite to a guy who seems genuine and is really out to make great gear, but, the bass is going to be an issue and I gotta be honest, my bass loving brethren are reading this…..and……like I said above…I smiled, this set is just fine..because I like good bass that does not screw my mids and these really really surprised me.
The bass guitar string pulls are clear and defined and resonate and decay in a natural manner. They are as they should be. Man that is so rare and I have never experienced that with a single BA. Never experienced that with a set that has 4 BA just for bass…crazy. And the mids are excellent……craaaazy!
Totally impressed.
MIDS:
FLEETWOOD MAC – Gold Dust Woman
The most important is the last on the list.
The Campfire Audio handle vocals like a boss…..or put another way, these are very good/exceptional in the mids
The mids are a slave to bass and confused as treble and get blamed for most sonic issues cuz they do…in fact, (the issues) reside along their range.
Bass that is elevated too long will encroach on mids and create a veil that can cover the entire mids and sometimes the whole audible spectrum. This is most apparent with vocals both Male and Female vocals as the fundamental range of both sexes spans more than half of the mid range. The harmonic range fully crosses and goes way into the treble If it is veiled by late bass or recessed tuning or an un natural bump before the treble you will hear it.
http://www.independentrecording.net/irn/resources/freqchart/main_display.htm
This Fleetwood Mac track had at least 2 female and 2 male voices. There are often other layers with unknowns but Mick, Lindsay Stevie and Christie are definitely there. It sounds like Stevie Nicks was mastered in at a slightly higher level than everything besides the guitar and some effects. The other vocalists are a tad back but if this track is played with bad mids they will sound quite distant. Stevie is met by backing vocals by Christie that are about as loud as Stevie appears to be during the outro both saying “woman” together near the end of the song. If you know this song really good you can hear scooped/veiled/forward or recessed mids pretty much right away.
If the bass is good and the treble is great…you got 2 outta 3…right…that’s good yeah?
No…the whole thing will go down the “V” sig toilet and be just another set of in ear monitors.
The mids….they make this set great.
What’s in the Box bro?
The video…it shows all
Review in vid and on this site coming soon
Campfire Audio’s Site
https://campfireaudio.com/shop/comet/
Darko
https://darko.audio/2018/04/highly-polished-campfire-audio-announce-atlas-comet-iems/
Head-Fi’s thread
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/new-campfire-comet-and-atlas.876320/
Home | Bad Guy Good Audio Reviews 