Why are we — a pro audio team — checking out earbuds? Cos these Campfire Audio Orbit wireless earbuds have a superior sound and come from a company that specialises in wired IEMs.
The music community is becoming more and more self-sufficient. Countless audio podcasts talk to artists and producers who wear all the hats of music-making from writing, production, mixing and mastering. Even Fred Again talks about making beats using his generic earbuds on the London Tube.
If you fit this mould (pun intended), surely you know a stroll around your neighbourhood listening to your latest mix can be a great way to reflect on your work. You might want to choose these Campfire Audio Orbit wireless earbuds for this task.
This new release sees them enter the market of reasonably priced earbuds, coming from a trusted company, with quality sound. They make custom fit and universal fit IEMs (…In Ear Monitors) for those who want the best.
To give you some insight into Campfire Audio’s range, their Trifecta universal fit IEMs fetch just over $3K USD with three full-range 10mm ADLC diaphragm gold-plated dynamic drivers and their custom fit Supermoon IEMs fetch $1500 USD with a 14mm Full-Range Planar Magnetic Driver featuring a 2 micron thick diaphragm. Both IEMS have a 5Hz–20 kHz frequency response.
Knowing this should instil someone with a sense of confidence when thinking of getting themselves some new earbuds, so what’s the catch? Honestly, not much. These sounded fantastic and made me wonder if more audiophile companies might dive in and offer higher-quality sound to the lower-priced market.
Opening up a trusted Live from Happy recording that had had the full spectrum of sound — Andy Bull — and the mix stood up. I will say I felt more weight in the low mids, rather than the low lows, but I was also reminded I was on wireless tech. Changing over the ear tips — it comes with various-sized tips to suit, 3 x Foam and 3 x Silicone — actually helped the low end and also how they sat in the ear.
They come with a 10mm LCP Dynamic Driver so I was not surprised in the quality of sound. The vocal sounded as it should. I didn’t bother diving into the app to adjust the EQ, as I wanted to hear them ‘Flat’. The smart app is pretty cool though — it comes with multiple EQ presets and a 7 band EQ for all you boffins out there can tweak to your ear canals desire. There’s lot of multi-functions adjustable features too.
I can image myself spending some time setting up the perfect EQ — I’d personally raise the high end a little — and gestures to make the most of the available functions including using the microphones to take calls. It does come with dual high-quality built-in microphones btw, maybe these would be good for field recording?
Did I mention these look cool? They don’t look like something from a futuristic sci-fi film, nor do they look ‘Cheap’. They’ve got a lovely gold-plated Campfire Audio logo and muted light brown design.
The Campfire Audio Orbit earbuds share the same frequency response as their high-end IEM offerings — 5Hz–20 kHz. I would trust this as the sound reproduction was clear and there was no distortion. Speaking of clear, even in the busy city the connection was strong and I did the old 2-room away test, and they still latched onto my phone.
They connect via Bluetooth 5.2 (thank goodness), have 8.5 hours of playtime at 80% volume (watch your ears people!), the case has 30 hours playtime reserve and they come with a USB C to C charging cable.
It’s a good look for the future of earbuds if these Orbit earbuds are setting the new standard and giving us audiophiles better offerings on the market. They also came with a pack of Campfire Audio Trading cards. Not sure what this is all about, but I kinda loved it.
The Campfire Audio Orbit earbuds come in at $429 AUD / $249 USD. Check out more at Campfireaudio.com
