Intro: I am an admitted mids-head,rather than a basshead. I found the Cascade to be too bass heavy naked,so my thoughts that follow are from listening with the 2nd strongest filter in place.
Build Quality/Comfort/Presentation:
I found the build quality to be excellent. Well built with a smart design. The magnetic cup/pad design will hopefully become more popular with other companies as it made pad rolling to be a breeze.
I have read others complain about the comfort of the headband,and while I agree that the weight could be better dispersed across the band,I didnt find the Cascades to be uncomfortable on my shaved head. Im guessing having a full head of hair would help further.
The only problem with the design for me was the narrow width of the pads. Theyre simply too narrow for the average ear.
Sound and Technicalities:
Tone: The Campfire Cascade is a very warm headphone. I admittedly enjoy a warm tilt to my headphones, I think however that the Cascade is too warm, especially when used sans the included filters.
Lows: These are a bassheads dream. Theres gobs of bass to go around,from impactful midbass slam to the deep rumble of sub bass. Its quite clear that Campfire gave zero thought to trying to make these anywhere close to neutral...and they succeeded.
Unfortunately as mentioned by others, the bass often times creeps into the mids,which muddies up the detail quite a bit,especially with older,warm recordings.
Mids: While I wasnt particularly impressed with the mids in general,for a bass-centric headphone however,these have pretty good mids.
V-shaped but not to an extreme degree I would recommend these to a basshead who happens to like mids. For a midhead who happens to like bass,not so much. The above forementioned bass bleed really detracts from the mid section.
Treble: The highs are relaxed to my ears,which I rather enjoy. Detail retrieval isnt this headphones main strong suit,nor is it a weakness,but given the alternative of these,or a fullblown treble heavy screech machine (like the DT770) I will take the Cascades relaxed treble everyday of the week.
Soundstage:
Compared to the comparably priced Aeon Flow Closed, the Cascade has a narrow sound stage. However i did not find it any more or less narrow than many closed back headphones, but this is not the expansive width (nor depth) of the AFC either.
Amping: The Cascade is a breeze to drive,whether it was direct from my LG V20,or an Ibasso DX50 or from a AGD R2R-11 the Cascade delivered essentially the same performance,punchy warm controlled bass.
Final Thoughts:
My wife,who is a pop child of the Eighties absolutely loved the Cascades. I found that with modern music that had a lot of slick,studio board created bass The Cascades sounded phenomenal. In addition, bright music and/or EDM,rap,hip-hop,and even some hard rock like AC/DC these headphones are a ton of fun.
My son,whom is a metalhead, hated the Cascades. I would fall somewhere in between,neither loving nor loathing my time with The Cascade.
If I was just starting out in this hobby and had $800.00 to spend I feel that there are better ways to get going in this hobby rather than the Cascade. However if youre in the market for a portable closed back,already have a competent home system in place, dont want to be bothered with carrying around an amp, and your musical tastes lean towards bright poppy tunes and enjoy bass in abundance then the Cascade might be the exact headphone youre looking for.
Build Quality/Comfort/Presentation:
I found the build quality to be excellent. Well built with a smart design. The magnetic cup/pad design will hopefully become more popular with other companies as it made pad rolling to be a breeze.
I have read others complain about the comfort of the headband,and while I agree that the weight could be better dispersed across the band,I didnt find the Cascades to be uncomfortable on my shaved head. Im guessing having a full head of hair would help further.
The only problem with the design for me was the narrow width of the pads. Theyre simply too narrow for the average ear.
Sound and Technicalities:
Tone: The Campfire Cascade is a very warm headphone. I admittedly enjoy a warm tilt to my headphones, I think however that the Cascade is too warm, especially when used sans the included filters.
Lows: These are a bassheads dream. Theres gobs of bass to go around,from impactful midbass slam to the deep rumble of sub bass. Its quite clear that Campfire gave zero thought to trying to make these anywhere close to neutral...and they succeeded.
Unfortunately as mentioned by others, the bass often times creeps into the mids,which muddies up the detail quite a bit,especially with older,warm recordings.
Mids: While I wasnt particularly impressed with the mids in general,for a bass-centric headphone however,these have pretty good mids.
V-shaped but not to an extreme degree I would recommend these to a basshead who happens to like mids. For a midhead who happens to like bass,not so much. The above forementioned bass bleed really detracts from the mid section.
Treble: The highs are relaxed to my ears,which I rather enjoy. Detail retrieval isnt this headphones main strong suit,nor is it a weakness,but given the alternative of these,or a fullblown treble heavy screech machine (like the DT770) I will take the Cascades relaxed treble everyday of the week.
Soundstage:
Compared to the comparably priced Aeon Flow Closed, the Cascade has a narrow sound stage. However i did not find it any more or less narrow than many closed back headphones, but this is not the expansive width (nor depth) of the AFC either.
Amping: The Cascade is a breeze to drive,whether it was direct from my LG V20,or an Ibasso DX50 or from a AGD R2R-11 the Cascade delivered essentially the same performance,punchy warm controlled bass.
Final Thoughts:
My wife,who is a pop child of the Eighties absolutely loved the Cascades. I found that with modern music that had a lot of slick,studio board created bass The Cascades sounded phenomenal. In addition, bright music and/or EDM,rap,hip-hop,and even some hard rock like AC/DC these headphones are a ton of fun.
My son,whom is a metalhead, hated the Cascades. I would fall somewhere in between,neither loving nor loathing my time with The Cascade.
If I was just starting out in this hobby and had $800.00 to spend I feel that there are better ways to get going in this hobby rather than the Cascade. However if youre in the market for a portable closed back,already have a competent home system in place, dont want to be bothered with carrying around an amp, and your musical tastes lean towards bright poppy tunes and enjoy bass in abundance then the Cascade might be the exact headphone youre looking for.
