In 2022 when Campfire Audio launched Supermoon, the audiophile world was abuzz because someone had finally done it: they created a planar magnetic IEM that both captured the best characteristics of planar headphones and had solid timbre and tonality. Many planar IEMs had delivered fast technical performances – and some had solid tonality – but nothing had hit that sweet spot by achieving both the way that Supermoon did. The all-new Astrolith is the long anticipated follow-up, using two all-new planar magnetic drivers. Can it exceed the combination of technical excellence, cohesion, and tonality that Supermoon achieved?
Build and Design
Astrolith comes in Campfire Audio’s Deluxe package, with protective nylon case and carrying bag, 4.4mm and 3.5mm Timestream cables, and a premium leather case, in addition to the standard array of eartips and other case candy. If you’re not familiar with Campfire’s Timestream cables, they feature a unique parallel orientation of the wires, rather than the more typical braided design.
The build is similar to Campfire’s Chromatic Series resin designs, but with a larger mirror polished stainless steel faceplate. This gives you a blend of the Chromatic Series’ lightweight comfort and simplicity with a more high-end visual design. Internally, Astrolith has a unique dual-planar magnetic design, featuring custom 14.2mm and 6mm planar magnetic drivers. When you put all the pieces together, does Astrolith deliver a sound that’s as out of this world as the name indicates?
Sound
Astrolith combines a powerful deeply extended bass with a nimble, airy top-end for a unique sound. Comparing Astrolith with past Campfire Audio hits, it seems to blend the technical excellence of Supermoon with a tonality that strikes closer to Andromeda, offering some characteristics of each, along with its own unique flavor.
The subbass is one of Astrolith’s big standouts. It delves deep down below the range of human hearing with a rumble that differs in character from the almost surreal subbass that bone conduction provides. The midbass feels like a slightly harder hitting version of the original Campfire Andromeda with the same sort of warmth that adds a touch of color while remaining nicely separated from the midrange.
Astrolith’s mids are perhaps where it meets most clearly with Andromeda and Supermoon, providing the clean separation and layering of Supermoon along with a tinge of the vocal sweetness Andromeda was famous for. Supermoon’s vocals can be a little hit or miss though. While it doesn’t bring out sibilance in most cases, the worst offenders in your “Sibilance Reference Track” playlist will likely trigger a few harsh notes.
Astrolith’s treble is crisp and fast, giving the IEMs a strong sense of technical prowess and also providing a sense of air and spaciousness to the sound. Astrolith gives you a fast attack and natural decay on cymbals, along with access to the small details in a recording – the artist’s fingers on the frets of an acoustic guitar or the bowing of a violin, and the last bit of exhalation of a singer after the big note.
Astrolith’s stage is spacious, with the horizontal left to right separation and distance feeling particularly wide. The stage is generally three-dimensional, but it doesn’t feel as deep and high as it does wide. There’s a good sense of weight and body to the imaging, with the planar drivers providing some aspects that feel more like the cohesive, lifelike imaging of over-ear headphones than the more strongly separated sound of balanced armature based IEMs.
Astrolith is pretty sensitive to pairings, and my personal favorite was the iBasso DX320 with the Amp14 card. Accurate, but not overly analytical tunings like the DX320 or even the warmer timbre of the iFi GO Bar Kensei made for good pairings, while pairings like the iBasso DX260 brought out more sibilance, and some warmer DACs left the mids too washed out.
Listening to Kokoroko’s “Home (anaiis Remix)” transports the listener into a dreamlike state, where Atrolith’s imaging and dynamics offer swells of brass rising and falling in the background, while vocals hit like waves coming right at you. In between, you’ll find warm, warbly guitars filling the space. Astrolith’s presentation bridges the dynamics and detail of the song into a cohesive whole.
Astrolith can offer a similar transportive effect if you close your eyes while listening to “Sun Killer” by Spiritbox, but you’ll be transported somewhere quite different. Rather than waves of soft vocals on an ethereal beach, you’re hit with towers of fiery guitars atop the rumbling ground of the band’s hard hitting bass and drums. Astrolith delivers an accurate presentation of the instruments, with a close-up presentation of the vocals that avoids fatigue, and remains musical throughout.
Often IEMs that excel at capturing the sound of highly produced modern recordings driven by processed or electronic instruments can’t quite deliver a lifelike timbre on acoustic guitars, or put you in the stadium with a live recording. The cut of “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” off Pink Floyd’s Pulse is one of the all-time great live performances, and a good test of whether a system can deliver a truly lifelike presentation. Astrolith captures the spaciousness of the stadium, offers a holographic delivery of the highly emotive guitar solo – putting it perfectly in place in front of the wall of organs and synths that form the background of the intro. When the band comes in, you get that “front row” feeling, and the kick drum and bass have a strong cohesion with a blend of texture and impact.
Comparison: 64 Audio Volür
If you’re shopping for an IEM with great bass and a little extra top-end sparkle in the $2500 range, you have two great options at the moment: Campfire Audio Astrolith and 64 Audio Volür. The two IEMs come from very different pedigrees, but have more in common than you might expect.
In terms of the build and comfort, Volür’s shell feels a little more substantial, and the IEMs are generally very comfortable, but I find Astrolith to be an easier fit, along with being lighter than Volür. Neither lack for style, though Volür’s purple abalone faceplate certainly stands out more than Astrolith’s clean stainless steel. I’m a sucker for Campfire Audio’s packaging, which, in addition to having a little more stuff, has more of a fun vibe than the clean, pro-audio style of the 64 Audio packaging.
In terms of sound, both emphasize the low bass, and offer a sort of “refined basshead” presentation, but Astrolith is slightly less refined, giving you a little more emphasis and fun in the low-end. Volür is more accurate in the midbass and low mids, but doesn’t have as much fullness and body as Astrolith. In the treble, Volür has a more defined snap and sizzle, while Astrolith is more evenly extended in the top end. Volür’s soundstage also feels more evenly rounded and three dimensional, while Astrolith is wider but not as deep.
Overall, Astrolith strikes me as a little more fun – and a little bit faster and more resolving– while Volür is generally more accurate, with that little touch of extra in the subbass and treble. Purely on timbre and tonality, I’d probably pick Volür, but for bigger bass and a more exciting presentation, Astrolith wins out.
The Bottom Line
Astrolith combines the speed and technical performance of the brand’s previous planar, Supermoon, with a tuning that feels like an evolution of classic Campfire Audio IEMs. Where planar magnetic IEMs have proven difficult to get right, Campfire Audio hits another home run, that both retains the distinct characteristics of planar magnetic drivers, while staying faithful to the brand’s legacy of natural, effortless musicality.
