Sound Impressions: Bass / The Dynamic Driver Nature
To first describe Clara’s overall sound, it’s thoroughly balanced, reference, and light w-shaped. It has a monitoring-like neutrality, yet Clara draws a clear line from typical reference monitors – because Clara doesn’t sound flat. A good dynamic driver exudes quality when you give a listen – you could almost visualize the dynamics and airy liveliness from the diaphragm, with good examples being Technica TZ-700, DITA Perpetua, or Victor FW-10000. Especially for dynamic drivers, the factors for sound quality don’t come down to only extension and resolution, but also control of the dynamics; being able to strike/decay accurately and naturally greatly affects how lively the bass sounds. Clara’s bass captures this rare trait well, delivering the highest-quality bass heard from Campfire Audio products to date.
The sub-bass is powerful and punchy, with the lively and natural dynamics as mentioned earlier. The bass quantity isn’t technically basshead level, though it’s plentiful enough for sub-bassheads and reference-ears to find sufficient. The sub-bass doesn’t feel so lumpy but gives a gradual elevation, keeping a calm, mature attitude rather than bombastic. Ensuring a natural presentation, Clara makes sure the dynamic driver presence is heard and accurate at all times, effortlessly reaching down to the ultra-lows with clarity. The smooth, micro-refined, and velvety textural details are one of the nicest sides of listening to Clara.
Sound Impressions: Mids & The Clear Wave Chamber
The rather simplistic driver counts may deceive you. Well, don’t your prejudices lead you to overlook Clara, as Clara offers one of the very best mid-range resolution and detail retrievals among the Campfire Audio line-up. In fact, the tuning and technicality of Clara’s mid-range rub shoulders with or even surpasses many flagship IEMs that are higher in price or utilize more complex drivers. Clara’s mids could be summarized as being “organically fun”. The vocals are comfortable to listen to and very neutrally tuned, yet it’s clearly different from the typical vocals you’d hear from those claimed as reference tunings; Clara’s mids are smooth, full, and thick. It doesn’t get as technically aggressive in unveiling the mids, but prioritizes smoothness.
Campfire Audio designed a new ‘Clear Wave’ chamber system specifically for tuning Clara’s mid-range, and I’d say it’s making a clear difference compared to other hybrid IEMs, including Campfire Audio’s. What left me impressed was how natural and coherent the vocals sound with the dynamic driver woofers. Clara’s vocals have a roomy, creamy, and organic texture and tone, carrying a distinctive dynamic driver feel – timbre, texture, and ambiance – but with tight, crisp resolution. It’s very soothing and effortless to listen to while displaying micro details. Clara offers pleasant mid-range air and sparkle despite the neutral-dark, warm timbre. Clara has exceptionally natural phasing, drawing tonal/phasing coherency that is rare to be found in hybrid IEMs. Upper mids carefully gain a bit more air for transparency without causing any dips or sibilance.
Sound Impressions: Highs / Soundstage
Compared to the smoother, warmer lows and mids, the highs are where you can hear the more analytical side of Clara, within the boundaries of preserving Clara’s organic nature. Trebles are fine-tuned to provide technical detail without becoming grainy. Adequately toned down in quantity and brightness, highs are also clear and fatigue-free. It’s not the aggressive detail digger nor takes over the stage, but upholds its position as a backer
Despite the calm and gentle manner, the trebles here take a very strong role finalizing the “Clara experience” – more than you’d imagine from the specs. Clara’s high frequencies have a very silky, damp, and rich tone, an addictively delicious tone to listen to. Though the real catch is that it doesn’t feel unnatural or colored either. Trebles that are tuned to sound reference and accurate often sound plain and bland in tone, while the musically sounding IEMs season their trebles, often sacrificing some accuracy for the fun. However, I couldn’t hear much trade-off being made for Clara. Trebles sound neutral all while being incredibly rich. The headroom isn’t either overdone or underdone, scaling roomy and expansive. Clara scales the sound large as long as the phasing stays accurate and reverbs are well-controlled.
Next Page: IEM Comparisons with Andromeda 10 / Grand Luna & Verdicts