Closer Examination

We saw before that the Campfire Audio Honeydew ships ready to go with the cable already attached to the ear buds, and the company is using MMCX for the connection. This is a locking connector you need to be careful with when installing and removing, and certainly don't tug on the cable to remove it lest you rip the wiring off the connector. I like the use of the 90° angled housing for the 3.5 mm TRS plug, which will play better with some portable audio sources or combinations. The cable included here is effectively a streamlined version of the Campfire Audio Smoky Litz cable, so much so that the company calls this the "Smoky Lite" because it has a smoky gray jacket over the actual wiring inside, which consists of four individually silver-plated copper conductors braided together. Rather than use memory wire like most brands, the four cables split into two midway and then go to molded ear-hooks at the ends. There is also a hybrid beryllium and copper MMCX connector on each end, rated for increased longevity and durability to connects/disconnects, and we see blue/red dots on the end, along with L/R markings to again indicate which ear bud each cable goes to.


Removing the cable involves using either your nails between the male and female ends of the MMCX connectors or carefully pulling on the housing of the connector on the cable while keeping the ear buds parallel to avoid rotary forces. Nice would have been the inclusion of a tool to help remove the connector, which that multi-tool from before doesn't really do. I've had hands on a fair few IEMs recently which are all designed with portability in mind to where they have to be light throughout. Some, such as the Ikko OH10, buck the trend somewhat by going with a heavy copper shell. Others aim to cut down on the weight by adopting a smaller form factor or going with lighter materials, such as resin and aluminium. With the Honeydew, as with the Satsuma, Campfire Audio combines both factors by not only having a lighter cable than average, but also a smaller footprint for the ear buds, which in turn have an ABS plastic construction. Indeed, at just over 6 g each and really testing my weighing balance, these are some of the lightest IEMs I've tested to date. We also see that these indeed ship with the size M memory foam tips pre-installed.


The Campfire Audio Honeydew is named after the fruit of the same name, which explains the dark yellow color adopted for the 3D printed ABS plastic shell. This contrasts slightly with the orange of the Satsuma, also complying with the fruit theme. The design itself is based on knowledge gained from all the custom fit IEMs the company made, which then gets tuned further into what it calls the Tuned Acoustic Expansion Chamber™ (T.A.E.C.). This acoustic chamber, effectively the shell here, dictates the frequency response of the hardware inside, which is all the more important given there is a single balanced armature driver here. The 3D print quality is plenty fine and smooth, but there remain telltale signs of where the print job began and ended in order to accommodate the items inside the chamber.

We get more rounded corners than actual curves too, which has the Honeydew look different enough from the average IEM. There is still a clear ergonomic design in place, just not as obviously as with some others. The truncated company logo is printed on the bottom of the outer surface for branding purposes, and we see the MMCX connector poking through the ABS housing surrounding it. There is again a single vent on the outer surface, which should help keep things cool, but not at the expense of isolation. Campfire Audio's signature steel spout nozzle makes a return, but again reduced in size to where smaller ears should not have any issues, either. The holes cut into the nozzle are larger than I'd like, but will do the job of blocking out most, if not all, contaminants from entering the acoustic chamber.


Fitting the other tips is trivial since there is a notch on the spout to hold them in place. Seen above are the Campfire Audio silicone tip (right) and final Type-E silicone tip (left), both in size M. The Type-E tip sits closer to the acoustic chamber and thus also has the nozzle of the spout peeking through the tip core more than with the usual style of silicone tips, including the unbranded ones Campfire Audio included. Depending on which of the three types of tips you go with, the next step is to re-connect the cable by carefully pushing the MMCX connector back in place. The right-angled TRS connector then goes to your source. I know there are many who prefer to use IEMs throughout, but I like to use over-ear headphones when sitting down and IEMs/TWS earbuds on the go. As such, in the absence of other options at this time, I chose to use them primarily with my trusty FiiO E17.