Introduction

Campfire Audio has been on a bit of a roll lately, with two twin releases to get the brand's least expensive set of IEMs out first in the form of the Satsuma and Honeydew. The Honeydew in particular did well in meeting expectations set forth by the company's marketing spiel, and then I saw news of a second set of twin releases in a slightly higher price segment. This time around, things were going bigger, brasher, bolder, and hippier! Enter the Mammoth and Holocene, and we now take a look at the Campfire Audio Mammoth IEMs courtesy a review sample arranged from the brand!


The Satsuma and Honeydew were clearly named and colored based on the fruits, so when I heard of the Mammoth, I was expecting something larger and brown in color perhaps. Instead, we have brown reserved for the Holocene, which we will get to shortly enough, and the Mammoth uses a dark blue color Campfire Audio named based on the frozen tundra itself, which I suppose gets back to the name even if the tundra is a lot lighter blue. But the name actually refers to the promised "huge sound," which in itself is ambiguous and intriguing simultaneously, and going by the backdrop, there are certainly more colors here than just blue. Let's go through all this and more in the review which begins with a look at the specifications in the table below.

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

Based on the first two Campfire Audio IEM reviews, I knew going in this time that the packaging would be similar in size and design. The product box for the Campfire Audio Mammoth comes sealed in plastic, and we then see a very colorful front with a render of the earphones in the middle of a fairly unique pattern featuring the all-seeing eye. Campfire Audio is based out of Portland, OR, so I can see the hippy lifestyle from the region inspiring some of the design for sure. There's contact information alongside some marketing features on the side, and a seal on the back over what we now find out is more of a gift-box style wrapper which unfurls to reveal the actual product box.


The box is a similar blue as the earphone buds, with the Campfire Audio logo in shiny gold lettering and what looks to be a depiction of a starry night over a mountain and trees, perhaps to depict the Portland area again native to the brand. More of the gold speckles are seen all over the box, which you need to see in person to better appreciate. That will hold your attention for just long enough to realize you need to now go ahead and open the box, which congratulates you on a job nicely done. Everything relevant to the user experience is packed inside two containers, which makes for highly space-efficient packaging. There is also some paperwork underneath, including a user manual going over the do's and don'ts of the Mammoth as it pertains to the cable with MMCX connectors and fitting them in your ears. Rounding things off is a customer service card for you to jot down the serial number for any warranty-related issues, and both have the same design on the outer surface as the packaging wrapper.


The accessory box is made out of cardboard similar to the product box and has the same color and design scheme, just with a truncated logo. It opens up to reveal two drawstring fabric pouches, each of which has two compartments, a cleaning tool, as well as a note about one of the ear tip sets being from final audio, which we have separately seen elsewhere but also included with the Campfire Audio Satsuma and Honeydew from before.


One of these pouches contains a set of soft-flange, wider bore silicone ear tips in sizes S/M/L and memory foam ear tips in sizes S/L, so size M is presumably pre-installed on the IEMs, and the other pouch contains a set of the aforementioned smaller bore, stiffer flange final audio Type-E silicone ear tips as well as a metal lapel pin with the truncated Campfire Audio logo. It is harder than it needs to be to get these things out of those tiny compartments, and I don't even have large hands to begin with. There are going to be fabric shavings all over your desk, or wherever else you unbox, and any static electricity in the area will multiply by a few orders of magnitude once these are on your hands. The unboxing is thus not very practical, but there's no denying the ample supply of ear tips provided for users to try out.


It was not until I saw the case in person that I became convinced about the design language employed here. Look at that thing—it's bold, brash, and, most importantly, fun. It's not for everyone, and can even get some people donning on their tinfoil hats when they see the all-seeing eye on the case, while others may complain about the religious aspect of the symbol. I personally see it as a nice, colorful hippy design for what is otherwise a utilitarian carry/storage case. But there's more going on here with Campfire Audio partnering with the SEAQUAL INITIAVE to have up-cycled marine plastic waste spun into yarn which in turn makes up the outer layer on this zipper case. The yarn and sheets are thus going to turn into one-of-a-kind cases with different colors and patterns on every individual case. Functionally, the stitching is nicely done, and there is a good-sized zipper that goes around the top to open the case, which we also see has the logo on the front and soft lining all around the inner surface of the case.


Inside is one more of those drawstring bags, removing which we see a soft lining all around the inner surface of the case. This bag holds the IEM buds and cable, which are connected out of the box with the cable held on the outside with the same hook-and-loop connectors that keep the cable tidied up. The cable is connected to the IEM buds via MMCX connectors, which need to be carefully pulled out for a closer examination of the cable and IEM buds separately, which we will do on the next page.