Campfire Audio Solaris 2020 Edition Review

Solaris 2020

$1499

9.2

Sound Signature

9.4/10

Build Quality/Design/Accessories

9.4/10

Value

8.8/10

Pros

• Huge Grand Scale Expansive Staging, Dynamic sound signature.
• Solid build quality, better fit from smaller shell size.
• Excellent Upper region extension

Cons

• MMCX connection, some people don't like this type of connector
• Shells smudge as glossy finish

Sound Signature:

Now I suppose the question everyone wants to know is how does this sound.

The specifications are solid, using a number of custom Campfire Audio designed technologies:

As advised by the manufacturer we left the unit on 24 hour burn in for a duration of 7 days to stabilise and open up the fluidity of the signature and dynamics before starting any listening sessions.

As mentioned before, correct tip selection is essential to get the full experience with these earphones, we finally settled on the Final Audio Design E Type medium tips. We also used some silicon custom tips that helped with a more custom type fit style.

So straight away I have to say thankfully these sound almost identical to the original Solaris earphone which is a significant achievement to maintain the core signature style while reducing the shell size significantly.

Right from the get go, the signature fullness and vastness of expanse hits you. Abundant with depth and musicality these beautiful earphones have a very natural feel and dynamic engaging presence to them.

What is a bit of an enigma is that usually when sound signatures have a really impacting initial listen you get overwhelmed and it feels a little too much but thankfully that is not the case with the Campfire Solaris earphones. After a few minutes your ears get familiar with the immersive signature and you learn to acclimatise and embrace the epic scale. Stepping in the blind expanse with a desire and comforting  expectation.

Compared to the original Solaris, the staging does not disappoint, I was worried that the internal revised dimensions would effect the translation of acoustics but thankfully the same range and large signature style is present. We know that the QA at Campfire Audio is an important brand consideration, so it is not surprising that this sound dynamic is almost identical to the original version.

Treble helps the extended highs and has a precise control that is expertly tuned, showing off sparkles at times and gives a shine to the upper end elements with a good breath of extension.

One of the most impressive signature aspects is the expansive scale and breath of staging. It is really sizeable and creates an immersive grand musical experience to get fully embraced with. The depth and range of stage doesn’t have an unrealistic feel, quite the opposite helping to give a more three dimensional feel to the layering and imaging placement composition. Staying smooth and well blended, so that everything sounds pure with an organic natural type feel.

Layering is excellent without sounding artificial, maintaining precision and blending well to add to the immersion and scale of this grand signature.

Bass has good extension and is well textured, which portrays an ease of transitioning, quick to attack with coherence across the frequency spectrum. The earphones tuning is able to adapt to all variety of styles and rhythmic paces, making it always sound musical and fun at all times. Sometimes intense and adding to the immersion of the music, it is well balanced with good layering blend.

Mid range is very well tuned, giving the meat and body to the signature. This area holds true to the instruments and vocals, especially for well mastered tracks, this gave Blue Note recordings a very emotional live set presence when listening. Bringing verve and flare to this already majestic earphone.  I did notice that poorly encoded recording are laid bare, showing all elements, so it is recommended to have high res and well mastered recordings to get the full Solaris experience.

The 2020 edition has extra changes to further extend treble upper regions. I was initially worried that this would introduce unwanted peaks but gladly this is not the case and the treble is detailed and precise with beautiful clean energetic sparkles.

The signature as a whole has an effortless aspect to it that is really astounding, adding to the beauty of the natural character of sound signature. The decays seem to be a little laid back helping with the realism of experience. Coupled with the strong refined mids, immersive staging, impacting bass and precise transition aspects makes the Solaris one of the most pleasurable well tuned earphones that the team at earphonia.com have had the chance to experience.

Ken has now set the bar extremely high and you can see his curve of progression from Vega to Andromeda to Atlas and now the summit-fi in ear Solaris 2020.

Now he has climbed to majestic heights with the Solaris 2020, we are keen to see where the masters path will lead for his next earphone after producing this expansive pinnacle of audio musicality.

There are a few important questions that our followers have asked, primarily should I buy the original or the 2020 edition, I would say that you will be happy with both but for pure ergonomics and form factor I would say go for the 2020 Edition.

If you currently have the original version and are happy with the size, design and fit I would say there is no point selling the original and upgrading as the sound signature on the 2020 edition is so similar, most listeners wont be able to tell the difference in a blind test.

The team at earphonia.com can certainly recommend the Campfire Solaris 2020 and it is in the top tier of the best tuned  earphones  we have had the chance to experience.