Has anyone tried the Moondrop Aria?

[half_dog]

Yeah, their QC are awesome! About unit variance... maybe they allowed a higher tolerance for Aria compared to pricey models. I had the opportunity to measured 3 Starfields from different batches and their curves had less than +/-0.5 deviation in a 20-20kHz interval. This is really impressive! I have had others even more expensive headphones (HD650) from closer batches (two headphones manufactured a month apart from each other) and there was a noticeable and measurable difference between their sound...
Could you post a link or talk a little more about those filter mods, I'm lost about it...

 

[phoenixsong]

Yeah, their QC are awesome! About unit variance... maybe they allowed a higher tolerance for Aria compared to pricey models. I had the opportunity to measured 3 Starfields from different batches and their curves had less than +/-0.5 deviation in a 20-20kHz interval. This is really impressive! I have had others even more expensive headphones (HD650) from closer batches (two headphones manufactured a month apart from each other) and there was a noticeable and measurable difference between their sound...
Could you post a link or talk a little more about those filter mods, I'm lost about it...

Headphones are expected to have more variances though, because of the nature of their pads (can be compressed unlike silicone tips)

For the filter mods either remove the clear adhesives behind the metal wax guard, or use KXXS filters. The main reason is because the clear adhesive ring behind the Aria's metal wax guard seems to have a slightly narrower diameter which chokes the airflow somewhat

Different tips offer slightly different sound variations, I could give some impressions if you'd like

 

[half_dog]

Headphones are expected to have more variances though, because of the nature of their pads (can be compressed unlike silicone tips)

Yeah, I know it! When I measured those HD650, I used the exact same ear pad and cable side for each measurements and the differences was always there...

For the filter mods either remove the clear adhesives behind the metal wax guard, or use KXXS filters. The main reason is because the clear adhesive ring behind the Aria's metal wax guard seems to have a slightly narrower diameter which chokes the airflow somewhat

Huuum Interesting, I had no idea about these mods.

I could give some impressions if you'd like

Please! BTW, these days I was testing different tips (stock, spinfit and some from AKG) looking for a better comfort, at end I went back to the stock ones...
Talking about Aria, I re-measured Aria and Starfield and I need to correct what I have said about distortion. Both headphones can stand distortion "masterfully" but Aria seems to handle distortion (attention to thrid harmonic and above) even better than Starfield except around ~900Hz, there is this peak that shows up on both drivers.... (ignore the peaks at 27Hz, 45Hz and/or 55Hz, those are from external noise.

 

[phoenixsong]

Yeah, I know it! When I measured those HD650, I used the exact same ear pad and cable side for each measurements and the differences was always there...


Huuum Interesting, I had no idea about these mods.


Please! BTW, these days I was testing different tips (stock, spinfit and some from AKG) looking for a better comfort, at end I went back to the stock ones...
Talking about Aria, I re-measured Aria and Starfield and I need to correct what I have said about distortion. Both headphones can stand distortion "masterfully" but Aria seems to handle distortion (attention to thrid harmonic and above) even better than Starfield except around ~900Hz, there is this peak that shows up on both drivers.... (ignore the peaks at 27Hz, 45Hz and/or 55Hz, those are from external noise.

Interesting! Moondrop's distortion graph of the Aria shows a similar peak too

 

[phoenixsong]

Yeah, I know it! When I measured those HD650, I used the exact same ear pad and cable side for each measurements and the differences was always there...


Huuum Interesting, I had no idea about these mods.


Please! BTW, these days I was testing different tips (stock, spinfit and some from AKG) looking for a better comfort, at end I went back to the stock ones...
Talking about Aria, I re-measured Aria and Starfield and I need to correct what I have said about distortion. Both headphones can stand distortion "masterfully" but Aria seems to handle distortion (attention to thrid harmonic and above) even better than Starfield except around ~900Hz, there is this peak that shows up on both drivers.... (ignore the peaks at 27Hz, 45Hz and/or 55Hz, those are from external noise.

It would be cool if you could measure the Aria's distortion post modding and using the A07 tips. Btw, what tips sizes do you use?

 

[FTB]

Hey,

I had Starfield, I will receive Aria soon.
So it seems with the graph here Aria has more bass, about 10 dB so closest to Harman curve (which require +8 dB bass) than Starfield, a bit bass short.
I'm about to receive Moondrop foam tips too. I always achieved better seal so better bass response with foams, and more confort and noise isolation.

The 13 Khz peak is audible and a bit annoying on cymbals, apart from that they are perfect IEMs at low budget, very linear with no major peaks or dips, highly recommendable.

I like AKG K371 as headphones but there's still an audible dip at 4 Khz. These IEMs has no major accidents !

Plus I guess a unique dynamic driver is simplest and a better solution. In multiple drivers IEMs there should be some phase problems because of physical gap of sound sources, no ?
The only multiple drivers IEMs that give me chills about their FR curve are the Softears RSV, but highly priced.

Spaceship are bad, bass short and too much mids, tough listening on voices. At 5 € you can have Sony MH755 on ebay which follow closely Harman curve with a bit more bass : https://www.dropbox.com/s/0qoikjmuisvcgp4/Sony MH755.pdf?dl=0

Etymotic ER2XR as another budget IEMs are, to me, too elevated in mids and trebles too recessed.

Whatever, we can only be happy with Moondrops KXXS, Kanas Pro, Starfield or Aria at low-cost.

 

[FTB]

It turns out I received the Aria today with 3 pairs of Moondrop MISTip foams (S/M/L).

I think the cable is of better quality on Aria than Starfield, with the textile sleeve there is less chances to tear it out accidentally.

The drivers seems a little bit more lightweight but I'm not sure of that, I read they are 9g both and I don't have a scale to weigh.

I use M silicone tips and the L foam tips works well here, best seal so best bass response, even better than silicone tips with deep and solid bass which don't overblow mids.

Also the 13/14 KHz peak sounds less elevated but I don't have any measurement tools to check that, it's only a subjective impression. Maybe it's the better bass response hiding the peak.

But, but, but... there's this constructor graph inside the foams boxes :

I don't read Chinese.

So I'm among the ones thinking there isn't a lot of differences between Starfield/Aria, better go with the cheaper ones.

There is more differences between silicone/foam tips.

I'm definitively going with the Aria and the L foams, best combination here.

At 70€ the Aria + 5€ the pair of foams on ShenzenAudio I don't see any competitors.

The 1more Triple Driver has an important and large dip from 5 to 8 Khz, the TinAudio T2has an important 8K peak...

Plus the Moondrop with around-the-ear cable are usable on stage ! (or for sports)

These Moondrops IEMs are linear killers.

 

[Skies]

@Florian_T hi. I don't have the Starfields with me anymore, but from memory the Aryas gave me the impression of a slightly better transient response and speed. Can you confirm or deny since you have both available for direct comparison?

 

[fieldcar]

@Florian_T hi. I don't have the Starfields with me anymore, but from memory the Aryas gave me the impression of a slightly better transient response and speed. Can you confirm or deny since you have both available for direct comparison?

Transient response IS frequency response. A fast transient with minimal THD/slew rate means a driver can reproduce high frequencies. As for the Starfields vs aria's, they are essentially within margin of error for measurement and unit variation.


More info on why transients = FR

 

[FTB]

@Florian_T hi. I don't have the Starfields with me anymore, but from memory the Aryas gave me the impression of a slightly better transient response and speed. Can you confirm or deny since you have both available for direct comparison?

Hello,

I sent back the Starfield too. For sure they're similarly-rooted IEMs, they're not different IEM from scratch. The 13/14 KHz peak is audible for both.
Maybe bass of the Aria a bit tighter, IDK. I went back to silicone tips after some trying (will write about that), for what I remember the Starfield with silicone tips seemed a bit bass-short, not the Aria.
Please be aware I write this with no direct comparison this time.

 

[Sharur]

 

[FTB]

Yeah but who agree with Etymotic Target ?
I had ER4XR in the past, way not enough bass, I prefer the Harman curve.
As said, still better than 99% IEM in this price range I think, Ety ER2XR are not as good following the target.

 

[Chyżwar]

Yeah but who agree with Etymotic Target ?

People who want neutral sounding headphones.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Yeah but who agree with Etymotic Target ?
I had ER4XR in the past, way not enough bass, I prefer the Harman curve.
As said, still better than 99% IEM in this price range I think, Ety ER2XR are not as good following the target.

Wrong arguments... None of the XRs follows the etymotic target, in the bass. If er4xr and er2xr don't have enough bass for you, you either don't wear them properly, or harman target wouldn't satisfy you either.

 

[FTB]

People who want neutral sounding headphones.

And why Etymotic curve is more neutral than Harman ?
It's not a critic, just a curiosity.
I wasn't convinced by IEMs close to Ety curve. The ER4XR has a bit more bass than Ety curve but not enough to me and I'm not a basshead.

ER4S are the closest to Etymotic curve it seems :

Wrong arguments... None of the XRs follows the etymotic target, in the bass. If er4xr and er2xr don't have enough bass for you, you either don't wear them properly, or harman target wouldn't satisfy you either.

Yes, ER4XR have more bass than Etymotic curve but less bass than Harman curve.
ER2XR have more bass than ER4XR and follow the Harman curve in the bass :

I wrote that ER4XR haven't enough bass to my taste, not the ER2XR.
ER2XR have enough bass but I was dissapointed by the 1k-3k area a bit too high and the recessed trebles.
The bass level of Harman curve is good to me.

 

[Sharur]

And why Etymotic curve is more neutral than Harman ?
It's not a critic, just a curiosity.
I wasn't convinced by IEMs close to Ety curve. The ER4XR has a bit more bass than Ety curve but not enough to me and I'm not a basshead.

ER4S are the closest to Etymotic curve it seems :

View attachment 151409



Yes, ER4XR have more bass than Etymotic curve but less bass than Harman curve.
ER2XR have more bass than ER4XR and follow the Harman curve in the bass :

View attachment 151410

I wrote that ER4XR haven't enough bass to my taste, not the ER2XR.
ER2XR have enough bass but I was dissapointed by the 1k-3k area a bit too high and the recessed trebles.
The bass level of Harman curve is good to me.

"
People taking Harman Target as god's message is hilarious. Their direction is correct but there are flaws.
There are things you need to know about Harman Target.
1, Harman Target does not represent flat speakers in a treated room. It's not the goal and only the first step that's remotely related to the idea. And it's eq'd flat in room not flat then put in a treated room. The approach is simply different. It only uses flat in room as a starting point then use full subjective approach to seek the preferred response.
2, The flat in room response is questionable. It is too smooth to be a in room response even after eq. The high frequency response does not lie in between diffuse field response and free field response. The high frequency roll off is very questionable and led to all the errors we see later.
3, Selection of 200hz as bass to mid transition frequency is arbitrary/artificial. There's no support from any documentation that a bass compensation should happen at that frequency. Thus causing the difficulty in implementing in real headphones later on. It also caused the insane uplift in that region for the IE target. Because you don't get a increase at 300-500hz in tuning this way.
4, The choice of having everything after 2khz to be tuned up and down the same level is also arbitrary and artificial. This along with the questioned flat in room response caused too much 3-6khz and too much high frequency extension roll off after 10khz.
5, The other targets that were compared to are simply unlistenable which are the raw diffuse field response (like er4b) and raw free field response (not as bright but less preferred due to lack of bass boost). Harman target basically is taking the advantage of having a boosted bass and choosing the weak opponent to compare. Of course people are choosing the harman target. Even then not all people prefer Harman Target. It only wins by roughly 20%. Simply ignored all other approaches from Goldenears, Etymotic research etc.

Yes it is a big shift for us, which is good. It kick-started the wave of wanting to match to a target. Remember Harman tweaked the response a few times and their own products are far and away from matching the target. So you should get the idea of how non-accurate the target was and is going to be. And yes anything without the 3k hump is going to sound very bad. But the IE Harman target? Is it really better. It's equally bad. There are more to talk about the measurement equipments. I have used B&k 4128c, Gras ra0045 and other couplers."
-JohnYang1997
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...d-wallet-friendly-iem.8095/page-3#post-329093

 

[someguyontheinternet]

[...]

That's an assessment of why the Harman target is not perfect, but doesn't address the question of why you think the Etymotic target to be closer to neutral.

 

[Sharur]

That's an assessment of why the Harman target is not perfect, but doesn't address the question of why you think the Etymotic target to be closer to neutral.

Since neutral = flat, the fact that the Etymotic target doesn't have an artificial bass shelf makes it closer to neutral.

 

[jae]

I am not too familiar with IEMs, never liked using them when I was younger but considering getting a pair for light travel or overnight stays in the hospital as I don't really care much for my BT headphones (Momentum 3 Wireless) and all my proper headphones are in storage overseas. Have been looking into the Moonsdrop Starfield ($179 AUD) or SSP ($65 AUD). I was considering getting the Starfield but I think I will go with the Aria ($115 AUD) based on this thread. Now I just need to decide if I am getting the Aria or something from Etymotic. If I go with the Etys, there is a chance I may be able to get the cost subsidized from work/insurance (since I could get them from an Audiologist) and I may even be able to get impressions for a custom silicone tip.

It turns out I received the Aria today with 3 pairs of Moondrop MISTip foams (S/M/L).

I think the cable is of better quality on Aria than Starfield, with the textile sleeve there is less chances to tear it out accidentally.

The drivers seems a little bit more lightweight but I'm not sure of that, I read they are 9g both and I don't have a scale to weigh.

I use M silicone tips and the L foam tips works well here, best seal so best bass response, even better than silicone tips with deep and solid bass which don't overblow mids.

Also the 13/14 KHz peak sounds less elevated but I don't have any measurement tools to check that, it's only a subjective impression. Maybe it's the better bass response hiding the peak.

But, but, but... there's this constructor graph inside the foams boxes :

View attachment 150711

I don't read Chinese.

So I'm among the ones thinking there isn't a lot of differences between Starfield/Aria, better go with the cheaper ones.

There is more differences between silicone/foam tips.

I'm definitively going with the Aria and the L foams, best combination here.

At 70€ the Aria + 5€ the pair of foams on ShenzenAudio I don't see any competitors.

The 1more Triple Driver has an important and large dip from 5 to 8 Khz, the TinAudio T2has an important 8K peak...

Plus the Moondrop with around-the-ear cable are usable on stage ! (or for sports)

These Moondrops IEMs are linear killers.

[M～Tip]惰性海绵耳塞套
使用方法：
请将其套在耳塞导管处，在揉捏之后塞人耳道，待其自然膨胀填充耳道，
请使用适合自己耳道大小的尺寸，为了您的耳道健康请定期更换耳塞套，本耳塞
套亦可用水清洗，清洗后可能产生性能的少许变化。
产品特性：
M～Tip系列惰性海绵耳塞套，选用进口记忆海绵材料，经多次筛选测试实验验
证，能够通过其材料表面特性有效吸收声波在耳道中产生的谐振，从可测量的频
幅特性上减少中高频和高频的谐振，减少听感中的毛刺感，提升音质表现。

Put in translator if you are curious!

 

[Chyżwar]

And why Etymotic curve is more neutral than Harman ?

It's closest to what I hear from studio monitors. I also have the Samsung Buds+ (very close to Harman IE 2019), and I think they sound weird.