[toughnut]

I have tired Xelento several times and as recent as couple of days ago when I gather with my friend. Ie800 and Dream heard them in show condition. I almost bought the Xelento one time.

I’m intrigued. Between Xelento, Andro, Vega, Atlas and Solaris, which is the most fun but technical sounding pair?

 

[MidFiMoney]

UPDATE:

I initially reported that I wasn't crazy about the Solaris/Dita Truth cable (silver) pairing. Prior to burn-in, I thought vocals sounded somewhat artificial and there was noticeable harshness in the highs.

Post burn-in, I've changed my mind. The pairing is excellent! There's a noticeable improvement in detail retrieval. Vocals are so so sweet! Highs are slightly brighter yet very well controlled. Bass is tighter without sounding leaner. Essentially, the Solaris no longer sounds laid back to me but still manages to sound like a Solaris. Hopefully, that makes sense haha.

 

[Audiophonicalistic]

Well I had a little gathering with another headfier couple of days ago. I recently sold an andro, a vega and a focal clear and bought the Solaris. Trevor from Norne Audio sent me his latest pure silver cable, the Silverguarde 3 and that is what I am using with the Solaris 4.4 balance into 1Z. I always like a very high end silver sound as they seem to clean out the sound and tightened up all the bloominess. I will say that the new stock cable-the pure silver litz is one of the best stock cable Campfire ships with their Iems but the Silvergarde 3 up the sound by 30%.

At hand we have the WM1Z, LPG, and Woo WA8. The pairing with 1Z has been described a few times here but the pairing with the 1z and WA8 improves the sound by couple of notch.

I noticed that the Andro S is out of stock now so I called and was told that they will not restock the Andro S as it is a limited edition. So the Andro S is now officially over. So I went into the B stock site and snap up a Andro S before they are gone, great price at $849.00.

My Solaris has about 60 hours and I already have a few thoughts of returning the Solaris back as I have the two weeks return policy with campfire. I finally realize that the hopes of wanting a Atlas-Andro sound in one iem is a fantasy. It doesn’t exist regardless of how many of us want It to be. That shimmering, sparkling, airiness just cannot be reproduced in Solaris nor the thumping visceral bass of the Atlas. The Solaris is a different sound altogether albeit a rather nice sound if one wants it. I also learn or notice another charisteristic of the mid range sound of the Solaris. I might not have noticed it had I not known that the mid range is cover by both the dd driver and the BA driver. By now having owned some of the best single driver iems (Lab 2, Vega, Atlas, LCD i4, Fibass, etc) I have grown use to the smooth smooth sound of single driver and as I pay close attention to the mid range on the Solaris, I keep thinking I am hearing both the dd and the BA making the sound. Could be placebo but I will investigate a little more into it.

I understand life is full of trade offs and at this point I am much more appreciative for each of the beautiful things that each Iems can do. Happy thanksgiving.

Could you post a photo of the norne audio? I'm a sucker for looks. Also, how does it hold up against effect audio cables?

 

[Jalo]

Could you post a photo of the norne audio? I'm a sucker for looks. Also, how does it hold up against effect audio cables?

I am not very familiar with the Effect audio cables so I cannot help you there. I will try to post picture when I have a moment, I am still out of town on the Thanksgiving break.

 

[guitardave]

Has anyone here used the Solaris with a desktop amp or a Hugo 2 with connected to a pc? Just wondering how much hiss there is and how it sounds with those types of amps. It seems like 98% of the people here with the solaris owns a dap or uses it with their phones and I'm the complete opposite as far as how I would use it.

I sometimes use my Solaris out of an H2 and there is no hiss that I can hear.

 

[FangJoker]

I sometimes use my Solaris out of an H2 and there is no hiss that I can hear.

I've heard that it was noisier than andros with the Hugo 2. Do you use it with a PC, Mac, or dap?

 

[guitardave]

I've heard that it was noisier than andros with the Hugo 2. Do you use it with a PC, Mac, or dap?

From a MacBook

 

[MidFiMoney]

Has anyone tried the Solaris with the Pure silver Litz cable?

 

[ExpatinJapan]

Has anyone tried the Solaris with the Pure silver Litz cable?

I have. The stock cable is physically thicker. The weave is the same.

The stock Solaris cable is a better match.it keeps that full, rich and expansive sound.

I do find usually that the stock cables CA chooses to pair with their earphones are excellent choices. I do some cable rolling and mostly always go back to the stock/original cable.

The Jupiter is my main exception. But the pair I have came with the earlier Tinsel cable.
————————————-

In other news. My reviews have all been delayed because I have been mainly listening to the Solaris.

So I will probably have to circumnavigate my usual general sacred ‘no jumping the queue’ review policy and review the Solaris next - just to get back underway.

Oh, and I still havent returned to the Andromedas.

Loving the Solaris. ‘Nicely done’ for sure.

 

[czy6412]

I might be the one of few who returned the Solaris, mostly due to the channel imbalance of my pair, but also Solaris does not pair well with my player

 

[seamon]

I might be the one of few who returned the Solaris, mostly due to the channel imbalance of my pair, but also Solaris does not pair well with my player

You build around your player?
Transducers should be considered first imo.

 

[harishmirror]

I’m intrigued. Between Xelento, Andro, Vega, Atlas and Solaris, which is the most fun but technical sounding pair?

Stick to the Andros, they will earn a cult status soon. Just like the Sony Ex1000.

Got a chance to try the solaris again, this time for about a day of A/B testing alongside with my IEM fleet. I feel the Andromeda has better imaging and a wider sound stage than the Solaris. But the Solaris adds a dark three dimensional depth with analog bass (typical DD effect), nothing ground breaking, like how certain posts over hype it in here. They sound exactly how an 1.5k iem should sound like. Not tripping the 2k+ segment like the Andros did.

I would rather pass this one and wait to try the next most hyped IEM on headfi

 

[ExpatinJapan]

I might be the one of few who returned the Solaris, mostly due to the channel imbalance of my pair, but also Solaris does not pair well with my player

It might not be your issue but worth a mention.

Early on I had an irritating time with channel imbalances with other earphones until I realized that one of my ear canals was bigger than the other.

So now I use different sized tips.

———————————

Btw. Which player did it ‘not pair well’ with?

 

[seamon]

Where's my freakin pitchfork?

 

[czy6412]

It might not be your issue but worth a mention.

Early on I had an irritating time with channel imbalances with other earphones until I realized that one of my ear canals was bigger than the other.

So now I use different sized tips.

———————————

Btw. Which player did it ‘not pair well’ with?

Well I used to think in that way but all of my other iems including Vega are fine to me. There is no reason that Solaris is the exception since I use the same tip (Symbio Peel) for all of my iems

My player is the LP5 Gold Limited Edition, which is similar to the current for sale LP5 Ultra. It has a thick sound with insane detail retrieval but it lacks soundstage, making iems that are very good at detail retrieval quite congested. For Solaris my player brought a huge amount of information in upper midrange and treble, which is unbearable to me. For dynamics like Vega it is fine since Dynamics are usually lacking in treble information comparing to BA.

I can alleviate that by either getting a good quality silver cable (which will reduce the thickness of upper midrange and treble) or I can change my player. I will probably back to the Solaris party as I ordered LP6 and I will see how that pairing can be.