CampfireAudio Atlas Earphone Review – Epic Vivid Spacious Immersion
Campfire Audio Atlas
USD1299
Pros
- Huge spacious grand signature style
- Beautiful design aesthetics and excellent solid build quality. Excellent silver cable
- Great textured bass layering and full richness of signature
Cons
- Fit style not the best for over the ears usage
- People might be weary of MMCX connectors
- Signature could be a bit too full sounding for some peoples preferences
Sound Signature:
As always the most vital part of any earphone review is the sound signature.
Let me start of by saying straight away that tip selection and fit is essential to getting the full experience from the Campfire Audio Atlas earphones. I recommend you try the full suite of supplied tips and your own preferred tips before making any concrete signature judgements as there was quite a large impact on signature and fit. Designed to be worn straight down and by taking time to select the best tip for ideal nozzle depth, a secure comfortable seal can be attained. After some tip rolling and testing I managed to attain my preferred signature style and fit using the Final Audio Design Series E type tips supplied.
So how is the signature, now we have a nice comfortable fit. Let me go through the familiar band of frequency ranges that all us earphone fans are interested in.
The initial character that the Campfire Atlas cyber punk style earphones portray is one of a large scale weighty signature, that has a strong impact yet is still highly resolving. At first you feel it needs toning down, as it all feels a bit overwhelming but after a few minutes your ears get used to the immersive signature and you learn to embrace the epic scale. The sub bass and core bass ranges are well textured and smooth, portraying a richness that is comforting and fully adding to the realism and organic musicality of this earphone. Over time the scale recesses a little, but in a good way, still big in scale but with a more refined precise balance across the spectrum.
Pushing far into the low-end frequency range, the deepness is not distorted and retains a smooth textured depth that scales well. Resonating rumbling vibrations at times, the bass maintains tight control and punches with a solid authority, transitioning with fluidity as the track style changes in pace.
Even with the sizeable signature at no times do I feel any heavy artificial type colouring or sharp edged renditioning, everything sounds so smooth yet carefully weighted. The rich texture and powerful focus gives large substance, yet still with a measured balance across the rest of the frequency spectrum, not bloating or shadowing the other frequencies.
Another strong point for the Atlas are its abilities in imaging and placement. These are portrayed with a realism in the style of instrument positioning, at times a little spacious but this is, in my experience a welcome aspect giving space to breathe around instruments, so they are not hurried, truncated or forced, always sounding coherent and adding to the immersive experience. There is strong accurate representation for instruments, especially wind instruments. The entire signature is lush with complexity in the layering and has a more natural enveloping feeling as a result of this.
Staying in-line with the goal of a large scale signature style, the mids have a lifted presence and focus with a slightly laid-back attack style, this helps with intimate emotional aspects of vocal characteristics making them very natural and close sounding. Staying true to the soulful subtle intimate aspects of vocals, especially for live performances. Due to the size of signature style I was worried there could be ear strain or driver flex but thankfully everything feels like it is handled effortlessly without any sign of fatiguing especially for longer listening sessions.
You may think that with the fullness of signature, detail could be compromised but you are far from the truth, clarity of detail and resolution accuracy is clean, dynamic and precise, adding refinement to the sea of sound you are constantly plunged into.
Treble region extends well and is not overshadowed or held back by the meat of the signature. Never bright, sharp, clinical or harsh, the detail sprinkles an infusion of energy and again shows the earphones versatility especially on complex intricate fast style music. The expert handling of the speed of transitioning shows the effortless and fluid response of these multi-tasking monster earphones.
Another characteristic that again stands out is the sense of space and 3D sense of placement when you are immersed in the depths of the sound stage. Notes and instruments hold their own specific unique instrument-true characteristics with a sense of space and positioning around them, not sounding artificially airy as such, but seeming to pan out in the 3-dimensional space and holding strong their positions. Continuing to maintain a cohesive musical structure and shape. This is one of the main elements that separates the Atlas from some of it’s competitors, along with it’s richness of grand soundscape. This engaging breath of signature with the timings of transition perfectly navigated, result in a blended intense natural realism of musical experience.
Currently the Campfire Audio Atlas earphone is amongst one of the preferred of all the flagship earphones we at earphonia.com have ever experienced. Campfire Audio have really raised the bar and created a grand scale immersive signature with a solid timeless design.
As you have probably guessed from both our reviews, the team at earphonia.com can certainly recommend both the Atlas and the Comet earphones by Campfire Audio.
We look forward to experiencing where you go from here and are happy to be aboard as the ship sails into uncharted territories, as now you have the weight of the world on your shoulders to follow this one!
https://campfireaudio.com/shop/atlas/
