Campfire Audio is a new company to the headphone scene, introduced earlier this year. However, it was started by Ken Ball and the team at ALO Audio. The two companies are sisters, with Campfire Audio focusing on transducers, i.e. headphones and IEM’s, and ALO focusing on upstream electronics and interconnects. Both operate out of Portland, Oregon and proudly boast it on all their products. The overlapping philosophies of these companies shows. The Lyra, like her sister ALO products, is built extremely well. The design is one of form following function; it manages to step away from a purely utilitarian look while eschewing any unnecessary frivolities. The resulting design is understated and classy, something I tend to admire.
The casing of the unit is made from “ultra high density…Zirconium Oxide Ceramic”, which is notably different from the ubiquitous plastic found in less expensive IEM’s. It feels very solid without feeling particularly heavy. The enclosures are small compared to my custom Noble 4, yet they feel heavier in the hand. This density adds to the perceived quality of the unit. And of course CA claims that the ceramic acoustic chamber offers sonic benefits as well. Within the casing is the star of the show, a single 8.5mm beryllium diaphragm (per ear). Surrounding it are many more buzzwords like neodymium rare earth magnets and copper-clad aluminum wire (CCAW) voice coils from Japan. I admit, I’m no engineer so I can only take them at their word that these high end parts do wonderful things. All I can do is tell you how the parts sum up into the sound, which I’ll get to momentarily.
Read the full article on Audiohead.com here: http://audio-head.com/campfire-audios-lyra-iem-mastering-the-dynamic/