SIGNATURE

Similar to the OG, it’s pretty hard to nail what exactly the AG’s signature is. It’s definitely not neutral, but then again I wouldn’t call the treble and bass significantly boosted over the mids to call it “V-shaped” either. And here’s an extra kicker: the treble sounds more subdued than that of the OG, possibly due to the lowered contrast between the mids and treble.

While the measurements indicate a focus on warmth from the lower-midrange/midbass emphasis, it doesn’t quite sound overly thick or rich on subjective listening either. The AG, in terms of relative placement between each frequency range, just sounds… balanced. With some additional caveats of course which I will explain later.

The good

As mentioned, the AG is a very balanced sounding set of in-ears, though this should not be confused with sounding “neutral”. The AG is most certainly not flat-sounding and has its own distinct colouration in tone, but not to the extent where it can be referred to as any sort of specialist. In a way, you can consider the AG as a jack-of-all-trades with the subsequent tag of “master-of-none”, where its presentation serves to offend as little as possible.

Treble is one thing I’ve liked with the OG, and the AG takes its own spin on that by virtue of boosting up the midrange. The treble still retains a little bit of the OG’s signature snap and sparkle, though now it sounds relatively reigned in and almost tame in comparison. Treble control and tuning is an extremely hard thing to get right, and the AG manages to pass with flying colours. So, for those who take offence at the OG’s high frequency presentation but like almost everything else about it, the AG just might be your flavour.

And of course if there’s one thing Campfire Audio is known for, it’s the imaging capabilities of their IEMs. Being a modification of the original Andromedas that were held to high regard for their wide staging, you would expect the AG to do the same. And thankfully, they do.

My usual reminders: I don’t usually talk about imaging in IEMs because a good 80% of them are in a vague, indistinguishable blob of “average”. And my expectations are always set low; without the usual interactions with the head and the pinna flange, IEMs simply have a tough time with HRTF emulation. But whether it be due to some form of phase-play relating to Campfire’s TAEC technology (which is basically a box that the spoutless BA drivers fire into) or just a function of the frequency response itself, the Andromedas (all of them) have this distinct ability to throw out the sound a little beyond the ear. I’m not going to throw hyperbole and exaggerations at you, the AG is nowhere close to sounding like a proper pair of headphones much less a well-calibrated 2-channel setup, but having the music sound like it’s not coming from inside your ears or head is a pretty big accomplishment to my eyes.

THE Bad

The AG’s midrange sounds a little bit weird.

Hear me out. The OG’s mids definitely sounds recessed but it did not, in any way, sound unnatural. And here’s where the AG just takes a little weird turn off the beaten track; it’s not bad, but every time I put it on after a listening session with my other daily drivers I just get a tiny nagging feeling that the instruments sound… off. Whatever it may be, it’s not that exactly a hard complaint but it certainly gets shoved right into the forefront especially against the OG.

The other thing about the AG, perhaps a different take on one of the points highlighted as a “Good”: the AG sounds… boring. Almost generic at times, though that could be attributed to how unique the OG was in a time where the “K10 tuning” was rapidly gaining in popularity. The OG holds a special place in my heart in that, despite its boosted lower midrange and suppressed upper midrange, it still manages to sound very clean and almost sterile at times (higher output impedances). An oddity considering that combo usually means a muddy or bloated presentation, but the OG somehow avoids that through a delicate balance of a wideband bass boost and its signature treble spike.

The AG plays around with that delicate balance in a more significant way that the Andromeda S did, and I think it’s a case they’ve broken the fine line with the changes. It could be the uneven mids, it could be the reduced midrange-treble contrast, who knows. I would still say that I can see this being at the top of someone’s favourite IEMs list, but for me I simply can’t get excited at the AG’s presentation. Which is ironic, considering that AG is claimed to be the more dramatic one according to their makers.

CONCLUSION

In terms of personal enjoyment, my ranking goes as follows:

Andromeda S Original Andromeda Andromeda Gold

Ultimately though, the AG is a decent kilobuck IEM that still maintains some of the strengths of its “predecesors”, though ultimately doesn’t do much to set itself apart from the red ocean of high-end IEMs. That said, in my own honest opinion, the AG should be considered as its own separate product rather than as an Andromeda variant. But I guess the Andromeda name is too valuable not to utilise.