These quirky in-ears are high-end and come with the most fanciful packaging you ever did see
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Campfire Audio)
(Image credit: Campfire Audio)
T3 Verdict
Reasons to buy+Brilliantly direct, informative and expansive sound+Excitingly overwrought packaging and accessories+Good connectivity optionsReasons to avoid-Self-consciously odd-Rather relentless treble reproduction-Some very capable price-comparable alternatives
Reasons to buy+Brilliantly direct, informative and expansive sound+Excitingly overwrought packaging and accessories+Good connectivity options
Brilliantly direct, informative and expansive sound
Excitingly overwrought packaging and accessories
Good connectivity options
Reasons to avoid-Self-consciously odd-Rather relentless treble reproduction-Some very capable price-comparable alternatives
Self-consciously odd
Rather relentless treble reproduction
Some very capable price-comparable alternatives
Why you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
Why you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
Never knowingly understated, Campfire Audio - proud resident of Portland, Oregon - is no stranger to the more esoteric areas ofthe best wired headphones market. Where both pricing and aesthetics are concerned, in fact, the company is not afraid to go its own way.
These Andromeda Emerald Sea in-ear monitors are just the latest example of those characteristics in action. For the fifth version of its Andromeda in-ear, Campfire Audio has pulled out those few stops that remained in position. But it usually takes more than a hot green finish and a little brass hand (yes, you read that correctly) to make waves in the ‘premium in-ear monitors’ arena.
Andromeda Emerald Sea: Price & Availability
Today’s best Campfire Audio Andromeda Emerald Sea dealsNo price informationCheck AmazonWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best Campfire Audio Andromeda Emerald Sea dealsNo price informationCheck AmazonWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best Campfire Audio Andromeda Emerald Sea deals
No price informationCheck Amazon
No price informationCheck Amazon
No price informationCheck Amazon
No price informationCheck Amazon
No price information
No price information
We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
There’s no shortage of competition at this sort of money, of course. Everyone from Audeze to Sennheiser has a pair of pricey, high-performing in-ear monitors with which to tempt you. But no alternative, I think it’s safe to say, offers the sort of ownership experience that Campfire Audio does…
Andromeda Emerald Sea review: Features & What’s New?
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
The Andromeda Emerald Sea arrive in a wooden box that’s more readily reminiscent of expensive cigars than it is of expensive headphones. It’s inside a cardboard sleeve that carries both the company’s “Nicely Done” strap-line and a line-drawing of a beckoning hand. Or is it a pleading hand? It’s difficult to say.
The box itself is laser-cut, which makes it - according to Campfire Audio - a ‘dimensional folding case’. The lid slides and locks at one end, in the manner of an oversized tombstone - and reveals an image of an undeniably emerald sea on the inside of the lid, as well as the contents of the box.
Some of the stuff inside is exactly what you’d expect. There are the in-ear monitors themselves, plus three cables. There is a selection of silicone and foam eartips in a variety of sizes, and a tool for their removal and cleaning. The little ‘CA’ lapel badge is here, as it is in all Campfire Audio products.
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
But there are no fewer than three carry-cases included. One is of olive-green leather and is big enough for all three cables plus the Andromeda Emerald Sea earphones themselves, and looks quite a lot like an expensive purse - it closes using magnets and looks about as pricey as it sounds. One is a slightly smaller, nylon number that folds. The third, meanwhile, is a small and perforated alternative that’s made from that sort of synthetic material used in netting and what-have-you.
After all that, it’s a relief to find that Campfire Audio has dealt with the actual Andromeda Emerald Sea in-ear monitors with just as much thoroughness as it has their packaging. Inside each earbud’s 3D-printed acoustic chamber there are no fewer than five freshly designed dual-diaphragm balanced armature drivers - two look after the bottom-end of the frequency range, two take care of the higher-frequencies, and the fifth is in charge of midrange reproduction. This arrangement results in a frequency response that Campfire Audio claims is 5Hz - 20kHz, and total harmonic distortion of 0.5%. Unlike previous Andromeda models, sensitivity is an entirely unremarkable 94dB SPL/wM. So it’s not all little brass hands…
Andromeda Emerald Sea review: Performance
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
Before you start, make sure the volume on your source player is at ‘zero’. The Andromeda Emerald Sea are, as that sensitivity rating suggests, very easy to drive - so easy, in fact, they sound pretty loud even when their source of content is playing quietly. And there’s plenty to enjoy when these earbuds are playing at a tolerable level.
Detail levels, for instance, are high across the board. At every point of the frequency range, they seem able to wring every scrap of information out of a recording, no matter how minor or transient it might be. The effect is almost widescreen, in that you never feel like you’re missing out on any element of a recording - and the Andromeda Emerald Sea are adept at fitting every element of even the most complicated recordings together seamlessly, so the overall presentation is unified and coherent.
Low frequencies are deep and substantial, properly controlled and with a tasteful level of attack - so there’s punch and drive to the sound, and good rhythmic expression at the same time.
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
At the top of the frequency range, the Andromeda Emerald Sea drive on with real determination, to the point that they seem constantly on the verge of hardness, of slight edginess… but unless you’re careless with volume and/or partnering equipment, they never quite make good on that threat. Unless your source player is equally treble-confident this shouldn’t be too much of an issue though.
Dynamic headroom is impressive - even though these in-ears tend to sound like they’re playing loud all the time, if the material you’re listening to demands it then they’re capable of getting much, much louder. They never lose composure, though, and maintain their sonic characteristics in all circumstances. The soundstage they describe is big and well-defined, with plenty of space for individual aspects of a recording to express themselves, and proper attention paid to distances and silences as well as actual sounds.
So while the Andromeda Emerald Sea are a quite forceful, upfront listen, they stop short of outright aggression. ‘Attack’ never overrides ‘control’.
Andromeda Emerald Sea review: Design & Usability
(Image credit: Campfire Audio)
(Image credit: Campfire Audio)
Like previous Andromeda models, these Emerald Sea in-ear monitors are a fairly lurid shade of green. But this new model is a little smaller, a little less angular in its shape, slightly smoother - and, as a consequence, considerably more comfortable to wear. There’s still no mistaking them for the product of any other company, mind you.
The spouts onto which the eartips fit are made of stainless steel, and the fasteners for the MMCX cable connectors are copper and beryllium. Campfire Audio supplies three cables, which with predictable wackiness it has called ‘Time Stream’. They’re usefully flat, have silver-plated conductors, and feature 2.5mm, 3.5mm and 4.4mm terminations. So there should be no problem connecting to any source player worthy of partnering with the Andromeda Emerald Sea.
Campfire Audio Andromeda Emerald Sea review: Verdict
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
When you eventually tear yourself away from their packaging and start to listen, their forthright and revealing sound is unlikely to disappoint. Just make sure you’re fine with slightly too much of a good thing, especially where treble response is concerned.
Also consider
At the opposite end of the wackiness scale to Campfire Audio we find Sennheiser, whose IE900 wired in-ear monitors are as businesslike and unflippant as it’s possible to be - they’re also a stunningly balanced and insightful listen.
As for the larger-eared among us, Audeze has managed to miniaturise its favoured planar magnetic driver technology into an in-ear monitor called Euclid - they’re big ‘buds with great sound.
Sign up to the T3 newsletter for smarter living straight to your inbox
Get all the latest news, reviews, deals and buying guides on gorgeous tech, home and active products from the T3 experts
Build bigger arms in just 30 minutes with this 5-move dumbbell-only workoutIt’ll leave the biceps and triceps popping!
It’ll leave the biceps and triceps popping!
OMEGA puts the moon on your wrist with its new Speedmaster Moonphase MeteoriteOMEGA adds two new Moonphase Meteorite watches to its Speedmaster line-up
OMEGA adds two new Moonphase Meteorite watches to its Speedmaster line-up
There’s an amazing money-off deal on Samsung Galaxy S25 alreadyGet £50 / $50 off a new Samsung Galaxy S25 when you register your interest
Get £50 / $50 off a new Samsung Galaxy S25 when you register your interest
