Campfire Audio - Holocene

Amazing bright audio

This is my first pair of iem's and with so many choices, mostly from HPZ, it was a daunting task. Was looking at Etymotic (ruled out coz of the intrusive fit) & Final. I had almost zeroed in on Final B3, when the BFCM tempted me to look into what's on offer. Reading reviews extensively on Campfire Audio products, and their comparison with Final, I settled on the Holocene - the CA Mammoth is of same vintage - and was cheaper - but the sound signature (as expressed in reviews) was not to my taste - so Holocene it was.
The unboxing experience was pleasant - the first layer is a gift wrap - then the box with the colorful facia! The carry pouch is a designer's delight - though the 3 "baggies" are a bit overboard. The actual Holocene is a bit of a jewelry - and probably that is the man-space CA and Final are trying to occupy - the "brown" color is a kind of chrome-gold and lovely.
I am also glad the cable came connected, and did not expect a delicate mmcx connection to be the first butterfinger test. The glow in the dark cable ends are not obtrusive, and the wire itself is hmmm - wiry! My only grouse is that the L and R signs are engraved and has to be checked minutely every time. The placement on the ear takes a bit of time to get used to. The choice of tips provided is abundantly confusing. The connect Final E tip was large for me - and I shifted to the smallest of the Final set and bagged the rest. The feel and fit is now perfect.
I put the Holocene on my Apple Music (iPhone 12 mini) - with an Apple converter - and couldn't be sure if the HiRes was passing through - probably not. But there is a zero concern over power - as these 5.4 V IEM's need very little juice to drive a beautiful sound.
I checked out my usual test cases on the iPhone with CCR(Bad Moon Rising), America(Sandman), Tull-Aqualung, Nana Mouskouri(several), Tracy Chapman(Fast Car), Kenny Rogers(Gambler) and then a bit of Jazz from Cannonball. The female vocals were astounding, the instruments clearly separated, male vocal acceptable, Sax was good but lacked the lifting mesmerism.
Deciding that it was not a fair play for these "jewels", with only the iPhone adapter, I took them to a different plane. I connected them onto my Marantz CD6007, and listened to several CD's alternating between the Holocene and BD Amiron Home.
The Holocene batted admirably with an unfair competitor in fray - vindicating their mastery over vocals (both male and female) and handling instruments far better now with standard content and amp. I listened to the same music on CD's as mentioned on the phone, but now added some Bach - which was again handled adroitly - albeit with a very small soundstage. The final test was with my favorite - Monk(Misterioso) Live on CD. Here I came across a very interesting finding - the voices of the audience came through more in my head with the Holocene, as if I was sitting on a table with them. With the Amiron - the voices receded behind me. This foxed me so much, that I then ran this track on my stereo speakers (Dali Z7+SVS2000) - and again the "voices" receded. Is this what the reviewers call "intimate" when they tested the Holecene - probably!