from what i have found on google yes, it looks like the difference is only in the cable. Not sure if it is nice tho, looks like a stiff one. I ordered the "mini" version a few days ago, and i want to test how bad it heats and if it suffers from the "cirrus hump" issue
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from what i have found on google yes, it looks like the difference is only in the cable. Not sure if it is nice tho, looks like a stiff one. I ordered the "mini" version a few days ago, and i want to test how bad it heats and if it suffers from the "cirrus hump" issue
I just received the Moondrop Marigold IEM: a $40 (on sale ~$30) "cable-down" style IEM using a 10mm DD and a non-removeable USB-C cable with integrated DSP. It's all plastic—transparent resine shells, grey plastic faceplates, and a very flexible rubbery cable. The cable is asymmetric, with a long right leg and a shorter left leg with the included inline controls: this allows wearing Marigold with the right cable around your neck—a very nice, convenient design IMO. The USB-C connector is relatively small and should not cause too much stress on the host USB-C port.
Fit was ok: I usually have no fit issues with this style of IEMs. The included tips even seem to work for me (that's more uncommon!).
Sound is... fine. I'm not sure there is much to say when you have an available on-board DSP with 8x PEQ filters: it can sound whatever you like. Distortion measurements would be interesting to see how well it can take EQ.
It supports Moondrop Android Link app and a WebApp (https://hub.moondroplab.tech). I had not used Moondrop WebApp in quite some time, and it's a nice WebApp, with interesting features (AutoEQ...):
My main grip is with the somewhat loud "clicks" when you write the EQ config to the IEM on-board DSP, though it is probably firmware related. In the particular case of Marigold, an option to invert the L & R channels would be nice, enabling an "around-the-ear" use (L/R inverted: Marigold's cable is fixed unlike e.g. Tanchjim One where you can swap both IEMs) but, with the "around-the-neck" cable design, I'm not sure it is necessary.
Compared to the Android app, the current version of Moondrop WebApp (Beta 1.2.10 (25B49)) only supports 5 products: RAYS, FreeDSP-Pro, FreeDSP-Mini, Dawn-Pro2, and Marigold. This kinda of tells me that these 5 devices use the same or a similar USB-B bridge/DSP chip. Moondrop's RAYS marketing showed a SPV6040 chip, Marigold's marketing shows an embedded "NPU" for mic. voice enhancements & noise reduction:
Speculating a little, we may be talking about the same SPV6040 chip for both RAYS and Marigold. The SPV6040 SoC does indeed include a NPU—see https://www.cnx-software.com/2024/0...or-features-a-400-mhz-andes-d25f-risc-v-core/ and https://www.andestech.com/en/2024/0...featuring-the-powerful-risc-v-andescore-d25f/
On Marigold, the chip supports 16, 24, & 32 bits / 44.1, 48, 96,192, & 384kHz. Apparently, 88.2, 176.4, & 352.8 kHz sampling rates are not supported. I doubt it matters much but it could indicate some clock trickery causing different performances to differ between say 44,1 and 48 kHz sampling rates.
These SPVxxx chips from SpaceTouch (https://www.spacetouch.co/, in Chinese but can easily be translated) start to be ubiquitous for on-board PEQ: Moondrop (SPV6040, other?), FiiO (SPV4040, SPV5048), Cayin (SPV5068) and a bunch of OEM's using TTGK modules (custom SPVxxx: CB1200AU, CB1300AU, and CB5100). SpaceTouch has quite extensive information on their developer page (http://8.140.228.49/ also in Chinese): datasheets, a complete SDK (including Andes ISA V5 programming guide and DSP extension spec.), a more recent version of the EQ config tool than the one I had, and many additional details about their eval. boards & corresponding application examples.
Looks serious and open, denoting confidence in their stuff.
All in all, Marigold is an interesting IEM if you value the USB-C interface with an onboard DSP.
Fit was ok: I usually have no fit issues with this style of IEMs. The included tips even seem to work for me (that's more uncommon!).
Sound is... fine. I'm not sure there is much to say when you have an available on-board DSP with 8x PEQ filters: it can sound whatever you like. Distortion measurements would be interesting to see how well it can take EQ.
It supports Moondrop Android Link app and a WebApp (https://hub.moondroplab.tech). I had not used Moondrop WebApp in quite some time, and it's a nice WebApp, with interesting features (AutoEQ...):
My main grip is with the somewhat loud "clicks" when you write the EQ config to the IEM on-board DSP, though it is probably firmware related. In the particular case of Marigold, an option to invert the L & R channels would be nice, enabling an "around-the-ear" use (L/R inverted: Marigold's cable is fixed unlike e.g. Tanchjim One where you can swap both IEMs) but, with the "around-the-neck" cable design, I'm not sure it is necessary.
Compared to the Android app, the current version of Moondrop WebApp (Beta 1.2.10 (25B49)) only supports 5 products: RAYS, FreeDSP-Pro, FreeDSP-Mini, Dawn-Pro2, and Marigold. This kinda of tells me that these 5 devices use the same or a similar USB-B bridge/DSP chip. Moondrop's RAYS marketing showed a SPV6040 chip, Marigold's marketing shows an embedded "NPU" for mic. voice enhancements & noise reduction:
Speculating a little, we may be talking about the same SPV6040 chip for both RAYS and Marigold. The SPV6040 SoC does indeed include a NPU—see https://www.cnx-software.com/2024/0...or-features-a-400-mhz-andes-d25f-risc-v-core/ and https://www.andestech.com/en/2024/0...featuring-the-powerful-risc-v-andescore-d25f/
On Marigold, the chip supports 16, 24, & 32 bits / 44.1, 48, 96,192, & 384kHz. Apparently, 88.2, 176.4, & 352.8 kHz sampling rates are not supported. I doubt it matters much but it could indicate some clock trickery causing different performances to differ between say 44,1 and 48 kHz sampling rates.
These SPVxxx chips from SpaceTouch (https://www.spacetouch.co/, in Chinese but can easily be translated) start to be ubiquitous for on-board PEQ: Moondrop (SPV6040, other?), FiiO (SPV4040, SPV5048), Cayin (SPV5068) and a bunch of OEM's using TTGK modules (custom SPVxxx: CB1200AU, CB1300AU, and CB5100). SpaceTouch has quite extensive information on their developer page (http://8.140.228.49/ also in Chinese): datasheets, a complete SDK (including Andes ISA V5 programming guide and DSP extension spec.), a more recent version of the EQ config tool than the one I had, and many additional details about their eval. boards & corresponding application examples.
Looks serious and open, denoting confidence in their stuff.
All in all, Marigold is an interesting IEM if you value the USB-C interface with an onboard DSP.
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