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.