Campfire Audio Axion - Review

Introduction

This reviewer is fairly new to Campfire Audio, knowing them only by reputation, innovation and their prolific development cycles and evolving ranges. I do admire their range and trajectory, and such positive beliefs were reinforced at Munich when I met up with Campfire Audio (who rather embarrassingly were next to my Munich hosts, Meze Audio). A quick chat with Aubrey (if I recall correctly) and General Manager Chris Halasz spurred me towards the Axion with high energy.

Design

Campfire’s new Axion is a USB-C terminated earphone that features a high-quality 32-bit / 384 kHz DAC (digital to analogue converter) chip. This bypasses the often low-quality or absent DAC found in your smartphone or laptop, promising to deliver better power and performance to your Axion earphones.

The Axion features a full-range, silicon dynamic driver in a slim earbud with an MMCX connector. The earphone features a straight-down design with no preformed over-ear cabling. The design appears to be for everyday use in a smartphone or laptop. There is a microphone on the right-hand cable connector, located after the splitter, which manages phone calls and pauses music. There are volume controls as well.

The Axion has a low impedance of 15.3ω, making it relatively easy to drive, with a claimed frequency response of 5Hz-20 kHz. Impressive. THD (Total Harmonic Distortion) is quoted as less than 2%.

Quality

The earphones are nice and soft to the touch, with the MMCX connector fitting flush and cleanly. The cable has a thinner plastic feel, and the USB-C connector clicks cleanly into a phone or iPad.

In the Box

Performance

Review Equipment

I’ve been using my Google Pixel 8 Pro and an older iPad with either Tidal, Qobuz or PowerAmp Apps.

Physically

The very first thing to say is that they work seamlessly for me in all environments. I’ve had no bother at all.

The lightweight, slim design fits my ears well, despite my preference for the preformed over-ear cable and buds that I have become accustomed to. The cable, to me, is noisy, and even with cotton T-shirts and summer wear, I’m not accustomed to this. The earphones, however, isolate nicely. I’ve settled on the middle silicon ear tip, and they fit like a glove.

The control microphone thing on the right cable is excellent, and pause/volume control is intuitive. Knowing this control is on the right makes left/right choices simple.

Google Pixel 8 Pro

I had to disable USB-C audio routing in developer options for the phone to recognise that it has an external DAC. Apart from that, everything sounds good. The best sound I got out of the phone was with the PowerAmp App.  Here I have some pristine 24-bit recordings for reviewing. I certainly did not need much volume to push these guys along.

My Nils Frahm Some (24-bit, 96kHz official download) sounded crisp and atmospheric, though it appears my phone was downconverting the 96kHz to 48kHz. No complaints, though; it still sounded spectacular.

Amos Lee’s eponymous album is also a favourite for its male vocals in the lower and midrange. Colors (no ‘u’, Qobuz 16 bit, 44.1kHz) has a lovely solid bass and good enough detail and the warmth in the midrange vocals is a standout. I guess it is the warmth that stands out over an analytical performance, and this is fine.  I did enjoy The Chromatics’ Sound of Silence (Qobuz iPad 24 bit, 44.1 kHz) for the detail, though the bass seemed to be a bit thuddy in parts. I stumbled across Paolo Freu’s Didjio (Qobuz, iPad, 24-bit, 96 kHz).  Now that is a track with a soundstage!  The Axions were fantastic here.

Computer with Qobuz

Using my computer with the Axions desktop was a good experience, and I got more out of the earphones.  You can do the typing thing, leave one bud in for a bit of background, take a call, and it is a nice experience, it is better and seems to be louder.

Things do tend to get a bit messy with the likes of Art Blakey and his Jazz Messengers, A Night In Tunisia (Qobuz 24-bit 192 kHz), with the low midrange getting a fraction cramped. I certainly don’t think you’ll be eavesdropping on JS Bach’s Organ Works by Peter Hurford (Toccata and Fugue in D minor (Tidal 16bit, 44.1kHz)) for critical listening with these Axion earphones.  These earphones are reminiscent of midrange artists such as Nubia Garcia and Gregory Porter. Listen to Garcia’s fantastic track Source (Qobuz 24bit, 96kHz) with the brilliant cymbal splashes and left-right production and particularly Porter’s L-O-V-E (Qobuz 24bit, 96kHz), it’s what music is all about.

Overall, I have had a lot of fun with these earphones; they’re in my pocket in the twin ear carry pouch, and they’re easy to access without fiddling around with the Bluetooth settings. They’re also very immersive, and the isolation contributes to that low-end bass floor that forms a head stage for quality ad hoc listening.

Thoughts

We’re going to tackle the dongle with in-ear monitors vs. this AXION (£259) debate. I found with the iFi Audio GO Link Max (£79) and a pair of Meze Audio ADVARs (£499, though discontinued now), I had an audiophile experience. Here I have convenience, at nowhere near the price, and I have to say I have started to default to having these in my pocket most of the time, they’re great with a random YouTube video and the like.

Having recently received the Meze ALBAs (£159) with its slim dongle with the USB DAC, there is a more analytical sound that some may prefer. I have to say, the AXION is in my pocket as I write, and it will remain there until I start on the premium Campfire Audio Alien Brain review in the coming weeks.

Overall

An excellent and convenient USB C option for the lazy everyday audiophile. There’s a warmth here that’s hard not to like, and the carry options are very easy to live with.