Has anyone tried the Moondrop Aria?

[Phosphenetre]

I think what you might be hearing is the (in my opinion and also apparently Crinacle's) exaggerated 1.5 kHz region baked into both the Harman IE target and the Etymotic target. I hear that slightly excessive honk (some might say shout, but it's more a honk than the 2.5 kHz-ish shout to my ears) in my Etymotic ER-2XR and all the Moondrops I've tried except the Crescent - which notably, does not have that same 1.5 kHz prominence.

You'll notice that Crinacle's own target (IEF target) is more subdued in that 1.5 kHz range.

 

[half_dog]

Hi guys! I just received my Katos but they came with a little mismatch between the sides. The mismatch per se is audible only in a few situations/contents. But what is really bothering me is this brings a kind of "fuzziness" to the sound. And for earphone which is praised by its soundstage/image is... frustrating. I'm talking to Moondrop but they doesn´t seem in the mood to replace it though - I even have suggested to destroy/damage the shells and they would send a new pair without accessories, nozzles, tips...
The pics display a few measurements that I did yesterday of Kato and Starfield. Aria was measured in August. Usually a 2dB of mismatch is okay for a narrow band, but maybe the region (5 to 7 kHz) and its bandwidth made it noticable.
Their distortion is low as any earphone of its "family", but the driver with strange behavior has a bump at 500Hz. My last resource is to ask for a refund from Shenzhen Audio Store...

 

[Fregly]

I am on the fence on getting the Kato. The bass side of the graph indicates too much for me as an Ety guy.

 

[Matias]

I am on the fence on getting the Kato. The bass side of the graph indicates too much for me as an Ety guy.

Kato bass hump is the lowest compared to Aria and Starfield, you should be good.

 

[Ashimaru]

I am on the fence on getting the Kato. The bass side of the graph indicates too much for me as an Ety guy.

I'm also Ety guy. No problems with the KATO bass. Looking at the graph at first I thought the bass would be too much. When I tried it I was quite surprised because the bass was not as too much as I expected.

 

[half_dog]

I am on the fence on getting the Kato. The bass side of the graph indicates too much for me as an Ety guy.

I was expecting something like Starfield but Kato has a little less mid bass hump than his "siblings" and more sub bass extension without leaking to mids. It is quite neutral but when the music has sub bass information Kato has no problem to play it. Sadly I'm returning this unit, probably gonna take another one as soon as the refund be deposited.

 

[swamps]

I am on the fence on getting the Kato. The bass side of the graph indicates too much for me as an Ety guy.

I don't see the big deal about this amount of boosted bass, it can be easily EQ'd out. I wish I could say the same about the generic IEM resonance treble peak.
I only use the Quarks because I really shove it in Ety style to get rid of the pesky resonance peak, too much variation when EQ'd with a shallow fit.
Having a decently extended high frequency without being a peaky mess is top priority for me, which is why I settled with my Ety. Still curious about the Kato even tho I've no use for another wired IEM.

 

[phoenixsong]

Hi guys! I just received my Katos but they came with a little mismatch between the sides. The mismatch per se is audible only in a few situations/contents. But what is really bothering me is this brings a kind of "fuzziness" to the sound. And for earphone which is praised by its soundstage/image is... frustrating. I'm talking to Moondrop but they doesn´t seem in the mood to replace it though - I even have suggested to destroy/damage the shells and they would send a new pair without accessories, nozzles, tips...
The pics display a few measurements that I did yesterday of Kato and Starfield. Aria was measured in August. Usually a 2dB of mismatch is okay for a narrow band, but maybe the region (5 to 7 kHz) and its bandwidth made it noticable.
Their distortion is low as any earphone of its "family", but the driver with strange behavior has a bump at 500Hz. My last resource is to ask for a refund from Shenzhen Audio Store...

Nice measurements! I did hear of the mismatch problem, they said it is due to difficulties in ensuring tight variance control over the production of the swappable tuning nozzles, which is an extra problem not present with the Aria and Starfield

 

[half_dog]

Nice measurements! I did hear of the mismatch problem, they said it is due to difficulties in ensuring tight variance control over the production of the swappable tuning nozzles, which is an extra problem not present with the Aria and Starfield

I see and that's understandable but in my case the mismatch didn't seem related to nozzles, tips or cable. I swapped them and it didn't change, the mismatch and distortion kept there.

 

[Ashimaru]

I don't see the big deal about this amount of boosted bass, it can be easily EQ'd out. I wish I could say the same about the generic IEM resonance treble peak.
I only use the Quarks because I really shove it in Ety style to get rid of the pesky resonance peak, too much variation when EQ'd with a shallow fit.
Having a decently extended high frequency without being a peaky mess is top priority for me, which is why I settled with my Ety. Still curious about the Kato even tho I've no use for another wired IEM.

I agree, Ety with its deep insertion has the advantage of being free of resonance peaks.
KATO with brass nozzle is also resonance peak free. I was very surprised to find the resonance peak at 7kHz disappeared when replacing the steel nozzle to a brass nozzle.
But about linearity Ety will be superior. With the Ety I can hear 7k-14kHz which is very linear and peak/dip free. At KATO, I still find a dip of around 8k-9kHz even though it's peak-free with the brass nozzle.

 

[phoenixsong]

I see and that's understandable but in my case the mismatch didn't seem related to nozzles, tips or cable. I swapped them and it didn't change, the mismatch and distortion kept there.

It's great to have measurements to refer to

On that note, do you have any measurements of the Aria with the Kato's Spring Tips? The Spring Tips (M) just arrived and I'm not sure I'm liking it on my Aria compared to the CP100+. It seems overly thick somewhere in the bass/lower mid frequencies to my ears in this configuration *(a reduction in upper mid/treble frequencies can lead to this sense of imbalance too)

 

[half_dog]

It's great to have measurements to refer to

On that note, do you have any measurements of the Aria with the Kato's Spring Tips? The Spring Tips (M) just arrived and I'm not sure I'm liking it on my Aria compared to the CP100+. It seems overly thick somewhere in the bass/lower mid frequencies to my ears in this configuration *(a reduction in upper mid/treble frequencies can lead to this sense of imbalance too)

Sorry, I've already sent them back :/
But if I tell that I couldn't measure with the spring tips because its softness... That was too hard to keep consistent measurements with them - for those measurements above the ordinary Moondrop tips were used on the earhpones. I'm waiting a second pair (Kato) and I may give the spring tips a try. What I can tell based on the measurements that there was little an attenuation around 4 to 7 kHz, 1 dB at most... Maybe that's enough to bring this change that you are perceiving.

 

[phoenixsong]

Sorry, I've already sent them back :/
But if I tell that I couldn't measure with the spring tips because its softness... That was too hard to keep consistent measurements with them - for those measurements above the ordinary Moondrop tips were used on the earhpones. I'm waiting a second pair (Kato) and I may give the spring tips a try. What I can tell based on the measurements that there was little an attenuation around 4 to 7 kHz, 1 dB at most... Maybe that's enough to bring this change that you are perceiving.

Yeah my thoughts exactly! It feels like the Spiral Dot ++ tips but with the dirt attracting properties of the Azla Crystal tips (not as bad as Xelastecs). I think... if what I'm hearing is the effect of having the attenuated treble of the Kato with the bass of the Aria, I understand why they would lower the bass on the Kato to better balance the frequency response

 

[Fregly]

I agree, Ety with its deep insertion has the advantage of being free of resonance peaks.
KATO with brass nozzle is also resonance peak free. I was very surprised to find the resonance peak at 7kHz disappeared when replacing the steel nozzle to a brass nozzle.
But about linearity Ety will be superior. With the Ety I can hear 7k-14kHz which is very linear and peak/dip free. At KATO, I still find a dip of around 8k-9kHz even though it's peak-free with the brass nozzle.

I understood the steel nozzle was the non peaky balance.

 

[Fregly]

A more detailed comparison between the regular flat Etys and the Kato would be much appreciated for those who have both

 

[FTB]

I think what you might be hearing is the (in my opinion and also apparently Crinacle's) exaggerated 1.5 kHz region baked into both the Harman IE target and the Etymotic target. I hear that slightly excessive honk (some might say shout, but it's more a honk than the 2.5 kHz-ish shout to my ears) in my Etymotic ER-2XR and all the Moondrops I've tried except the Crescent - which notably, does not have that same 1.5 kHz prominence.

You'll notice that Crinacle's own target (IEF target) is more subdued in that 1.5 kHz range.

I agree. I read the measurement graph before buying Starfield/Aria but not attentively enough to be aware of this a bit elevated 1k-2k range.
With experience I can feel it's not to my taste.

I find the work around Harman target more and more interesting. After some tests I know now that anything with a peak above Harman curve is a no.
Among the headphones measured by Amir, I tried the HD560s, very fatiguing upper mids peak, Philips X2HR, big peak at 5k, coloration like metallic sound, ATH-M50x, sibilances, peak around 4k...
As same as the HD6xx, fatiguing (by the way I don't believe HD6xx are the same headphones as the HD650. I had 650 in the past, no memories of harsh sound. Rtings measured the HD6xx/HD650 differently and the HD6xx measurements shows peaks.)

I daily use the HD58X jubilee, no peaks, no fatigue, no excessive coloration spotted. The K371 is a bit fatiguing in the treble with little 8k peak but globally pleasant, only the exaggerated 4k dip is too important (lacks presence).

Apart from this aside on headphones, I went back to the M silicon tips for Aria. In my ears it's still the best compromise, the S ones reduce a bit the elevated mids but it lacks something elsewhere.
On Oratory there are EQ settings for Starfield according to Crinacle target, it's way more relax this way but it lacks bass

I tried the E2XR for some days, I wonder about their popularity because yeah, mids are a bit "tough", no ? And recessed highs, it sounded a bit like an old radio with only medium.

Gonna give a try to the budget Blon BL01 (risk of bloated bass) and then maybe the Audiosense DT200 (no peaks at all according to Harman target but a bit recessed high mids)

 

[FTB]

I was expecting something like Starfield but Kato has a little less mid bass hump than his "siblings" and more sub bass extension without leaking to mids. It is quite neutral but when the music has sub bass information Kato has no problem to play it. Sadly I'm returning this unit, probably gonna take another one as soon as the refund be deposited.

Hello,

Thank you for your measurements.
It's interesting because Crinacle measurements (and others) don't show no such differences between Aria (or Starfield) or Kato (this is not a critic, I try to understand).

For example :

Do you have an idea why ?
What is you measurement setup ?

Thanks

 

[half_dog]

Hello,

Thank you for your measurements.
It's interesting because Crinacle measurements (and others) don't show no such differences between Aria (or Starfield) or Kato (this is not a critic, I try to understand).

For example :

View attachment 177483

Do you have an idea why ?
What is you measurement setup ?

Thanks

Thanks! But about Crinacle's measurements sadly there are some graphs there that are not "good". Maybe something happened during the measurement session and generated a "wrong" graph. If you check at https://squig.link/?share=Super_Review_Target,Moondrop_Kato,Moondrop_Aria,Moondrop_Starfield
the differences are more similar, at the bass Aria has a little more above the others and Kato has a better sub bass extension (but the graph is limited to 20Hz for the lower limit, mine goes down to 10Hz and hence the bass extension difference is observable). More, the treble from Kato rolls off more after the 13kHz peak. These two observations are on the graph from my measurements. A very important point about these is that a different coupling from Crinacle and SquigLink was used, so my measurements can't be compared directly to their. But a relative comparison is possible as you did - when there is more than one known earphone curve.

 

[Ashimaru]

Hello,

Thank you for your measurements.
It's interesting because Crinacle measurements (and others) don't show no such differences between Aria (or Starfield) or Kato (this is not a critic, I try to understand).

For example :

View attachment 177483

Do you have an idea why ?
What is you measurement setup ?

Thanks

The coupler used by Crinacle is less accurate in the treble area.
For Aria vs Starfield I would trust the measurements from Ear-Fi more (Starfield=blue, Aria=black). Listening to it in the real world, Starfield was indeed a bit brighter than Aria.

 

[Earfonia]

Hi guys! I just received my Katos but they came with a little mismatch between the sides. The mismatch per se is audible only in a few situations/contents. But what is really bothering me is this brings a kind of "fuzziness" to the sound. And for earphone which is praised by its soundstage/image is... frustrating. I'm talking to Moondrop but they doesn´t seem in the mood to replace it though - I even have suggested to destroy/damage the shells and they would send a new pair without accessories, nozzles, tips...
The pics display a few measurements that I did yesterday of Kato and Starfield. Aria was measured in August. Usually a 2dB of mismatch is okay for a narrow band, but maybe the region (5 to 7 kHz) and its bandwidth made it noticable.
Their distortion is low as any earphone of its "family", but the driver with strange behavior has a bump at 500Hz. My last resource is to ask for a refund from Shenzhen Audio Store...

My Kato has similar issue on the distortion measurement. The right driver has awkward distortion peak at 550Hz. But it is still quite low, so kind of acceptable. but that gives me a little doubt on the Moondrop quality control.

Left Driver:

Right driver: