Moondrop Chu II IEM Review

[markanini]

Sorry that's not a fix but at best a bandaid solution, they should be right for music lovers from the get go.

Cheers George

What do you have to lose, five minutes of work? If you know better than the manufacturer go ahead an make the product better for you. The manufacturer assumes that the customer of $25 will value higher sensitivity over perfect tonality. We established this is not you. Feeling empowered is better than feeling disenfranchised, be honest. How many chances does life give to change fate?

I could tell about experts an technicians that routinely do mods like this to off the shellf products, even paid work for others. But we both know that's beside the point.

 

[georgehifi]

What do you have to lose, five minutes of work? I

You muffle up the mids and highs just so you increase the bass?? I think not. And they are already inefficient as they are, and doing this would make them even more so.
Like I said they probably sound great for the online video gamers, but not for me to use with mainly un-synthesized music.
Cheers George

 

[b7676]

Maybe the driver is not yet broken in properly? Do some more 100 hours of listening......

Chu 2 break-in was a long time. Over 150 hours imo.
@georgehifi mids are uninteresting here. V pinna gain + low distortion = no mud monitor.
Are your recordings even using 16 bits of depth?

 

[DanTheMan]

You muffle up the mids and highs just so you increase the bass?? I think not. And they are already inefficient as they are, and doing this would make them even more so.
Like I said they probably sound great for the online video gamers, but not for me to use with mainly un-synthesized music.
Cheers George

You don’t listen to earbuds with foam over them?

 

[Jeromeof]

Thanks for the heads up on Jade JA11. I like that you can use any analogue cable you already own.

I bought one but it hasn't arrived yet - I also like that it can potentially be used for headphones, though it only looks as powerful as the Apple USB-C Dongle, so with EQ Pre-Gain applied it might not get loud enough for lots of headphones that need EQ.

 

[georgehifi]

You don’t listen to earbuds with foam over them?

No they fit perfect without them.

Cheers George

 

[Honken]

No they fit perfect without them.

Cheers George

This I can agree with, earbuds of that shape are very comfortable without foam on them to me (like the Vido).

Anyway, since pinna gain is so different from person to person it is literally impossible to create a response that sounds neutral to everyone. There is a general response that fits most, and the Chu follows this somewhat. If you want to change the response to fit your ears, just do EQ.

If you don't want to try EQ, maybe it is time to just say that these are not for you and stop derailing the thread? Seems like just about everything has been suggested at this point, and you have turned every suggestion down. If you're happy with your buds, just use those instead.

 

[georgehifi]

This I can agree with, earbuds of that shape are very comfortable without foam on them to me

Yes and quick to fit.

If you don't want to try EQ, maybe it is time to just say that these are not for you

I bought these with the notion from the test measurements that they were going to be a great tonal balance without any EQ'ing, that was a mistake.

https://tinyurl.com/233ylj45

https://tinyurl.com/2dfz75dh

Cheers George

 

[Blorg]

I bought these with the notion from the test measurements that they were going to be a great tonal balance without any EQ'ing, that was a mistake.

https://tinyurl.com/233ylj45

https://tinyurl.com/2dfz75dh

They are a great tonal balance, in that they are a good match to the Harman in-ear target. But it seems you don't like what the research has determined to be a great tonal balance, you prefer more mid-bass and a warmer mid-range, with less emphasis/clarity in the ear gain region. A generally more smoothed over warmer sound, that you would call more "musical".

Which is fine, it's a preference, but if you do have a seal, you should take from this that you will not like ANY IEM that gets a good score on ASR because they are all going to have this sub-bass emphasis with scooped out mid-bass, lean lower mids and a quite forward pinna gain region. That's Harman, and that's what is being scored against here.

I'm not totally on board with Harman in-ear myself, I feel it could have a smidge more mid-bass but a little less pinna gain but these IEMs actually already have that, they already have a bit more mid-bass than Harman IE does, and a bit less in the 5-8kHz region. IEMs that are closer to Harman have even less mid-bass and are even more thin and lean sounding, this IEM already sounds mid-bassier and richer than a full Harman IEM. Chu 2 is pretty close, but bang on Harman is definitely a thinner, leaner, less warm, less rich sound than this is, I have several IEMs that are closer to Harman than this one and that's the direction it goes in.

You don't like that, and that's fine, but this is more about your personal preference and what you are used to, than a problem with the IEM.

 

[DanTheMan]

No they fit perfect without them.

Cheers George

Then you are a rare bird indeed. Seems like you’ve found your nirvana and nothing else will satisfy.

 

[georgehifi]

Just for the couple here who don't belive to what I'm hearing with these
I queried to Amirm that maybe my source was not up to driving (current) the low 18ohm load that these Chu II's present, and he did say that his test source would have far better load tolerance than what I was using.
So last night just to take this out of the above listening equation I have done with them thus far. I made up an adapter and hooked them up direct to the output of my MSB discrete R2R dac that has a very high 8v variable output level from a dc> very low .5ohm output impedance. And yes everything was far better sounding than what I heard before, except the tonal balance remained exactly the same, slightly on light side in the bass.
Not for me with non-synthesized music where timbral quality is very important, like I said maybe fine for on line gamers or those that use eq.

Cheers George

 

[herr.jemine]

your MSB discrete R2R dac only costs around 11,940 euros or £9,950, I don't know how much it costs in the states, just buy suitable headphones and flush the chu's down the toilet

 

[GD Fan]

Just took delivery of the Chu II, having been happy with the original Chu and finding myself in need of one more IEM for travel. As others mentioned, way back on page 1, the fit was odd for me (my problem) and the sound very wonky right out of the box. Naturally this review was immediately sought out to investigate the sound issue.

And what a mess I found. The bickering / challenging began by page 2 and rendered the entire thing basically useless. Because who wants to wade through 11 pages of that.

So, the Chu II is going back to Amazon. Very happy with their easy return policy.

 

[georgehifi]

So, the Chu II is going back to Amazon. Very happy with their easy return policy.

Dito, or I'll give them away to one of my sons gamer friends, or someone that likes to EQ things, more added stuff in the signal chain (not for me)

Cheers George

 

[mc.god]

your MSB discrete R2R dac only costs around 11,940 euros or £9,950, I don't know how much it costs in the states, just buy suitable headphones and flush the chu's down the toilet

This should be ok
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/abyss-diana-v2-review-headphone.19291/

 

[Talisman]

When I hear certain discussions about three-dimensionality, soundstage, congestion etc. etc. I suddenly feel like I'm going back a few years, when, before knowing this site, I listened to DACs of very different prices and I couldn't hear anything different where others heard differences day and night, and I felt almost embarrassed saying "but they look about the same to me" and promptly being laughed at for my donkey ears.
Then I discovered this site and it seems that they weren't my donkey ears....
I own the chu og, the 7hz zero 2, the thrutear zero blu, the hidisz MP145....
now I listen to headphones costing 174 euros and they don't seem in any way better than headphones costing 20, the first comment I received was about my supposedly bad hearing, this was very frustrating and made me quite nervous. Neither the chus nor the salnotes seem in any way congested compared to the MP145, not even in the most difficult musical passages, and both sound exactly like any other IEM only inside my head, the sound does not move even 5cm from my skull.
Clearly listening with headphones, unlike a DAC, also depends intimately on the interaction between the IEM and the ear, this effectively makes two different experiences both absolutely possible even if opposite, and what everyone says is true but only for the person making the statement.

 

[Andreas007]

Have I already mentioned that the soundstage and fidelity of all my headphones and speakers improve dramatically when emptying a bottle of good red wine?

 

[herr.jemine]

When I hear certain discussions about three-dimensionality,blabla blah

That may be true for you, since you have already proven that you are hard of hearing, these blanket statements are blatant

 

[posvibes]

I am not keen on the word "soundstage", I prefer soundscape, where there are illusional elements of distance and direction, depth and height, I like the artifice of a virtual three dimensional space.

I can't remember the name of the song, but there is ballad on acoustic guitar on Paul Simon's "songs from the capeman" the guitar is huge, and you can hear his leather shoulder strap squeaking, creaking and swinging with the wood of the neck of his guitar (or so I imagine it), on headphones it sounds as if you are standing right next to him in the studio.

 

[Talisman]

That may be true for you, since you have already proven that you are hard of hearing, these blanket statements are blatant

I think I'll start ignoring you, I'm tired of these statements. I don't have any hearing problems, and as I wrote later in my post, the statements about headphones are certainly valid for anyone who makes them, being a totally subjective experience.
In all honesty it seems much more brazen to me to say that I can hear who knows what sound stage with earphones, if we really want to be honest