Select comparisons
Campfire Audio Clara ($1,999, reviewed here)
While I love Clara’s build quality and styling, Zeta II is one step above, with a beautiful titanium alloy build and a shallower – and thus more comfortable – fit.
Tonally, both prioritise a warmer music delivery over a cold or analytical presentation, but Zeta II leans in slightly more to the technical, with a cleaner, more spacious stage and overall better sense of imaging and separation. Clara is all about emotional connection, with thicker notes and less space between the different elements, and is also a more analogue-style listen.
Tonally, Clara is stronger down low, with a bass delivery that digs deeper and has more texture, albeit coming off as slightly slower than Zeta II with longer sustain and decay in the notes. It also pushes vocals more forward, which, depending on the music, can be comforting or confronting.
Both IEMs have a more relaxed treble presentation, with Clara having a touch more mid-treble bite, and Zeta II delivering an airier, more sparkly and detailed treble without any hint of sibilance or zing.
Nina Nesbitt’s The Best You Had highlights these differences nicely. On Clara, her voice is more intimate and forward, with a warmer, thicker presentation that draws you in emotionally. Switch to Zeta II and the presentation opens up – there’s more air around her voice, better separation between the vocal and instrumental layers, and a touch more sparkle in the higher frequencies.
I’d pick Clara for vocal-driven acoustic music and classic rock, and Zeta II for faster-paced electronic or modern pop, but both are accomplished all-rounders that should really play well with any genre.
PMG Audio Apx ME ($7,000, reviewed here)
Of course this isn’t a fair comparison, as I’ve alluded to earlier in the review, but I still think there’s merit in offering some comparative notes between these two IEMs which I find, tonally at least, fairly similar.
From a build and design perspective, both feature titanium alloy shells, but Zeta II is arguably the better looking of the two, with Apx ME going for an understated, almost purposefully plain, matte appearance.
But as different as they look, sonically they overlap in many areas. Both can be said to be bass-driven but balanced, meaning bass is of really high quality and prominent when called for, but doesn’t overstay its welcome. Apx ME, as would be expected, has a more detailed, dynamic, agile and textured bass, but Zeta II can bring just as much slam when called for.
Apx ME is more forward vocally, and if you have female (or high-pitched male) vocalists that tend to be shouty or aggressive, they’ll sound even more so with ME than Zeta II, which is comparatively polite. Zeta II is less detailed in the middle, and ME separates midrange elements better too, but that’s not to say Zeta II is poor in any of these metrics – it’s actually very good, but not quite summit.
Treble is a toss-up for me, both tuned with a more relaxed lower treble and some sparkle further up top. Zeta II is more prominent with cymbals and snares, while Apx ME has better grip on strings and guitars. I don’t hear either of these IEMs as having recessed treble – it’s just not as forward as many IEMs tend to be today.
Technically, while Zeta II hangs with its own, Apx ME is a step or three above in most metrics. Staging is of similar size but better defined in all three axes, and imaging, layering and separation are all world-class compared to Zeta II’s ‘very good’ scorecard in each of these.
Charlotte Lawrence’s Why Do You Love Me makes these differences clear. Apx ME presents the track with more sophistication and precision – the synths have more texture, the bass is tighter and more controlled, and there’s better layering throughout. Zeta II delivers the same enjoyable presentation but with slightly less refinement, particularly in how it handles the busier sections where multiple elements compete for attention.
Apx ME is also more resolving and detailed, but like Zeta II, doesn’t push these details forward as much as some summit IEMs, so you’re left to listen out for them yourself. In that regard, both of these IEMs present similarly, but you can just hear the improvements in sophistication and precision with Apx ME, especially when playing more complex, busy music.
Continue to closing thoughts…
