Review: Campfire Audio x Alessandro Cortini’s ‘Clara’

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the brilliant team at Campfire Audio (Ken and Chris, take a bow), and also to the generosity and good nature of Alessandro Cortini, for giving me a slice of his time during a very busy touring schedule to help out with this review. None of this would be possible without all of you, so thank you. 

For some reason, many enthusiasts have a love/hate relationship with Campfire Audio. There’s no question the company is still basking in the glow of the original Andromeda, all these years later, an IEM that put Campfire on the map and in some ways continues to do so. 

But it’s also had some controversial, genre-bending, exciting-but-divisive releases in the interim that have arguably ruffled some of the plentiful good will that Andromeda left in its wake.

It’s no coincidence then that Campfire’s latest invention, Clara, has been compared to Andromeda, as much for its broader appeal than any actual resemblance. ‘Andromeda with bass’ is how I first heard it described, although whether or not I agree with that moniker is another matter entirely. 

It’s also the latest member of Campfire’s ‘hybrid IEM’ lineage that was preceded by, and evolved from, Bonneville, and is thus a very worthy upgrade for ‘Bonny’ fans. 

What makes the $1,999 Clara unique, however, is that it’s not entirely Campfire; instead, it’s the first Campfire IEM (that I know of) that was tuned and created in collaboration with a working artist and performer, Alessandro Cortini (of Nine Inch Nails fame).

Allesandro, who’s also built a successful solo production and performance career for himself, was introduced to Ken Ball (Campfire founder, chief architect and CEO) through a mutual friend, John Darko (if you’ve seen any of the excellent Darko.Audio reviews, it’s that guy). In Ken’s words:

“We became quick pals as we bonded over similar tastes in our personal music. I am a big fan of electronic music, down tempo stuff, so Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin, Soma FM, Groove Salad. I’m also a fan of Alessandro’s solo work, so we kind of hit it off personally, and from there he suggested we do a collaboration.”

Ken sent Alessandro a ‘concept IEM’ he’d been working on, and over the course of several months, Alessandro helped shape the tuning direction based on his personal preferences – including what he felt would be optimal for his stage performances. 

“There were more or less a dozen back-and-forth iterations in the form of differently-tuned IEMs,” Alessandro recalls. “I would make notes for Ken on what I felt worked and what didn’t, to my ears, and the next revision would address those points, or at times lead to an altogether different result. Subsequently we collaborated on the design and accessory complement.”

And so, Clara was born. Named after Alessandro’s daughter, Luna Clara, this is very much a blend of Campfire’s traditional strengths – design, fit, build quality, impeccable presentation – heavily spiced with a new tuning direction informed by Alessandro’s more chilled, treble-sensitive sensibilities.

Indeed, Clara eschews the wild, on-the-edge, peaks-and-troughs nature of some of Campfire’s recent creations, like Trifecta and Astrolith, for a far smoother, more polite, more agreeable tuning, without shirking the excellent technical foundations of Ken’s creations. 

If critical reception is anything to go by, we’ll be seeing far more love flowing Campfire’s way in Clara’s wake. 

Packaging and accessories

Before we get into the meat of this review, let’s consider the sides. Campfire has always been generous when it comes to accessories, and even when they made you pay for a few extras (a-la the Deluxe edition of the Chromatic Series IEMs), these were always good value and not particularly expensive.

Clara takes the accessories haul to a new level. For starters, in place of the colourful but rather basic recycled cardboard packaging of recent releases you get a plasticated, silk-screened, magnetic-latched box, finished in a classy metallic-blue colourway that ties in with Clara’s physical design (more on this shortly). 

Opening the box reveals something entirely new (for Campfire): a Pelican-like hard-shell, presumably waterproof case, no doubt inspired by Alessandro’s experience and requirements as a performing stage artist. 

Inside the case you’ll find all the accessories typically included in the Chromatic Deluxe package, including a variation of the leather Dimensional Folding Case (that holds the Clara earpieces), a Breezy Bag Jr mesh zipper case in charcoal, a Breezy Bag Micro two-pocket IEM pouch in charcoal, a microfiber cleaning cloth, assorted eartips (foam, silicone and, harking back to Campfire accessories of old, a set of Final Type-E tips), an IEM cleaning tool and a Campfire lapel pin. 

Two cables are included: a 3.5mm single-ended and 4.4mm balanced version of the new Time Stream Duet, which I’ll contrast and compare to another new Time Stream variant later on in this review. 

Finally, you also get Campfire’s ALO Pilot II dongle/DAC, an upgrade to your standard smartphone sound that also lets you use the 4.4mm cables for versatility. 

Says Alessandro: “It was important to me to include a dongle as I felt it would be great for anyone who would choose Clara as their first IEM should be able to experience it right away, from their phone.”

In a market where most smartphones lack audio jacks, there’s practical logic to that sentiment. 

In fact, what strikes me about the Clara accessory package is its practicality. Even though these are premium accessories, every item, down to the separate bags for the IEM shells and cables, makes practical sense for portable use, and the hard-shell case is a really nice touch for longer term storage (and travel). 

For me it sets Clara apart from the size and pomp of Trifecta’s wooden accessory box, for example, which was more about show than any practical use anyway, and sets the tone for Clara as a whole, in my opinion.   

Continue to design and fit…