Objectivist friendly and wallet friendly IEM?

[pk500]

The Starship are the ones I was looking at Last night. The Crinacle website shows them to have the same tonal balance as the ER4XR except they have more bass. If it bothers me, and I doubt it would, filtering it would seem simple enough. I’m glad I found this Moondrop company. I’ve been out of the Audio Loop for a decade really. After I found my ADAM Artist 5 with multi subs and my Sennheiser HD650, the only upgrade I made in a decade was the ER4XR. NOW there are so many great audio products on the cheap!

The Starfields are my first Moondrop purchase. Probably won't be the last, based on the quality of this unit and the rave reviews most of its other products receive.

ChiFi is ridiculously good for the money these days. The Starfields would be priced at $250 if they had a Sennheiser or Master & Dynamic logo on them. I bought a set of Micca bookshelf PC speakers for my office that sound tremendous and are an excellent value for $105.

Sure, quality control still can be an issue with ChiFi. But it also can be a problem with known brands trusted by the audiophile community, such as HiFiMan.

I'm lusting after the Moondrop Blessing 2 Dusk, which are the Blessing 2's with even better tuning provided by Crinacle himself. Moondrop has worked with Crin on two sets of IEMs now. Pretty cool that Moondrop respects probably the leading online expert about IEMs enough to let him enhance the tuning of one of their flagship IEMs.

 

[DanTheMan]

You/this thread has started me really looking into Moondrop, I'm not sure if I'll get the SSP or wait a week or so to grab the starfield. They're a bit cheaper on AliExpress also

It’s absurd how nice and balanced the Spaceship sound for $20. If I had it to do over again I’d probably get the SSP just because the reviews say they are more resolving and I think the housing looks better. That said they are double the price and the Starship may have that ‘Etymotic-like‘ sound. I don’t think you can go wrong and I doubt you’d have regrets no matter what Moondrop you get. No doubt I prefer my ER4XR in every way sound-wise, but they are a radically different financial proposition and I don’t like the deep insertion.

 

[markanini]

ChiFi is ridiculously good for the money these days.

At the same time you do see a tendency toward peaks in the upper mids and treble compared to western brands. It's best to do your research if you are sensitive to that kind of response.

 

[pk500]

At the same time you do see a tendency toward peaks in the upper mids and treble compared to western brands. It's best to do your research if you are sensitive to that kind of response.

Interesting. Good to know, especially since I'm VERY treble-sensitive despite not being a basshead. I prefer balance with a bit of oomph and thump from the low end, but not a bass bomb.

Is that a regional thing? Does the Southeast Asian market prefer treble over bass?

 

[Not Daijoubu]

Interesting. Good to know, especially since I'm VERY treble-sensitive despite not being a basshead. I prefer balance with a bit of oomph and thump from the low end, but not a bass bomb.

Is that a regional thing? Does the Southeast Asian market prefer treble over bass?

Maybe? I do see some asian manufactures tend to tune the upper midrange rather aggressively i.e. Audio Technica and some other ChiFi IEM brands. Personally I find some 2-3kHz emphasis to be pleasing and pretty natural. Maybe music choice has to do with it; I find extra upper mids gives the weeb/EDM music I listen to extra bite that it needs, especially with female vocals.

 

[samwell7]

It’s absurd how nice and balanced the Spaceship sound for $20. If I had it to do over again I’d probably get the SSP just because the reviews say they are more resolving and I think the housing looks better. That said they are double the price and the Starship may have that ‘Etymotic-like‘ sound. I don’t think you can go wrong and I doubt you’d have regrets no matter what Moondrop you get. No doubt I prefer my ER4XR in every way sound-wise, but they are a radically different financial proposition and I don’t like the deep insertion.

This is getting more confusing (when opening up the price range to the starfield point i.e. $150). If I increase the budget up to $150 it basically opens up all the Etymotic ER2 and ER3 options, looking at Crinacles graphs either of the ER3's looks to be the best option.

Maybe I'll just get the cheapest spaceship first and go from there.

 

[bb8]

Got the Blessing 2 Dusks in today. They are superb. The Starfields in comparison are very good though, and if I only had $100, I'd be really happy with them. I think they are both pretty accurate, but the slightly rolled off treble will actually help if you listen to pop music that is not mastered the best. That's more true of the Starfields. The B2 are a little more open sound stage, much better separation, a good deal more resolving. With lots of instruments like orchestral music, individual instruments are much more defined whereas the Starfields would tend to blur. The bass is awesome on the B2 and a nice improvement over the Starfields. It's not that they're more punchy, just a fuller/thicker tone. I thought the bass might be too much for me, but so far I like it a lot. The B2s are really nice. Maybe not wallet friendly depending on your budget, but for $300 man they are pretty damn good. Just one person's subjective opinion.

 

[DanTheMan]

This is getting more confusing (when opening up the price range to the starfield point i.e. $150). If I increase the budget up to $150 it basically opens up all the Etymotic ER2 and ER3 options, looking at Crinacles graphs either of the ER3's looks to be the best option.

Maybe I'll just get the cheapest spaceship first and go from there.

That’s pretty much what I did. I enjoy the Spaceship. They are not endgame IEMs though, they are just a really sweet buy. The SSP look like they are too though. Having a detachable cable could make them last longer and he housing looks sweet in my opinion. If they do indeed sound more detailed, those would hold me off for a long, long time.

 

[DanTheMan]

Got the Blessing 2 Dusks in today. They are superb. The Starfields in comparison are very good though, and if I only had $100, I'd be really happy with them. I think they are both pretty accurate, but the slightly rolled off treble will actually help if you listen to pop music that is not mastered the best. That's more true of the Starfields. The B2 are a little more open sound stage, much better separation, a good deal more resolving. With lots of instruments like orchestral music, individual instruments are much more defined whereas the Starfields would tend to blur. The bass is awesome on the B2 and a nice improvement over the Starfields. It's not that they're more punchy, just a fuller/thicker tone. I thought the bass might be too much for me, but so far I like it a lot. The B2s are really nice. Maybe not wallet friendly depending on your budget, but for $300 man they are pretty damn good. Just one person's subjective opinion.

Any chance you’ve compared them to Etymotic?

 

[bb8]

I haven't listened to Etys in a few years. I remember them being really really flat and accurate, but they were too flat for me. In general I think the Moondrops are going to have a warmer, more Harman curve tilt in the low end. It kind of depends on what music you listen to as well. If you're a die hard classical music fan, maybe the Etymotic will suit you. If you like a variety of things that are not always mastered super well, I suspect the Moondrop will handle them better.

 

[DanTheMan]

I have a set of Etymotic ER4XR, I was just hoping there was a set of Moondrop with a similar amount of detail. I am thinking the Blessing 2 may be just the answer and have a shallow insertion.

 

[samwell7]

That’s pretty much what I did. I enjoy the Spaceship. They are not endgame IEMs though, they are just a really sweet buy. The SSP look like they are too though. Having a detachable cable could make them last longer and he housing looks sweet in my opinion. If they do indeed sound more detailed, those would hold me off for a long, long time.

Yeah I really like the look of the SSP and detachable cables are great.

Looking at the frequency response for the Spaceship and SSP they look identical however the difference in fit may alter the sound.

If you want more detail the SSR (spaceship reference) might be the one for you, moondrop did a similar thing to Etymotic where they have a reference model and a bass-enhanced model.

 

[amanieux]

Under $150, I'd look into the KBEAR Be-lieve.

thanks for the advice but i prefer avoiding single DD, although it makes sense to ignore driver technology, materials, and configuration as long as it produces good sound but if you consider there is a law of diminishing return for each technology (DD,BA,planar magnetic,electrostatic,piezzo), it makes sense to favor hybrid iem over single driver tech iem ( a $100 DD does not sound twice as good as a $50 DD but $50 DD+$50BA should be more interesting sonically for example (99%of speakers are hybrid, they are much older tech than headphones and iem drivers so the law of dimishing return had time to settle ), does my intuitive interpreatation makes sense or am i missing something important in the history of sound drivers ?)

 

[amanieux]

It’s absurd how nice and balanced the Spaceship sound for $20. If I had it to do over again I’d probably get the SSP just because the reviews say they are more resolving and I think the housing looks better. That said they are double the price and the Starship may have that ‘Etymotic-like‘ sound. I don’t think you can go wrong and I doubt you’d have regrets no matter what Moondrop you get. No doubt I prefer my ER4XR in every way sound-wise, but they are a radically different financial proposition and I don’t like the deep insertion.

it seems final e1000 at $30 is also a good contender for those considering small affordable single DD iem (note they focus on tips : swing fit tip design to better fit individual ear canal shape (if you add spinfit tips price to SSP, they are now $50) + 5 tips sizes – SS/S/M/L/LL to better fit individual ear canal size, remember that your left and right ear are dissimetrical ) i also prefer when money and effort are invested in sound rather than on anime drawings on the box

 

[Not Daijoubu]

it seems final e1000 at $30 is also a good contender for those considering small affordable single DD iem (note they focus on tips : swing fit tip design to better fit individual ear canal shape (if you add spinfit tips price to SSP, they are now $50) + 5 tips sizes – SS/S/M/L/LL to better fit individual ear canal size, remember that your left and right ear are dissimetrical ) i also prefer when money and effort are invested in sound rather than on anime drawings on the box

No detachable is kinda a dealbreaker for me (along with Spaceship) since I don't want to have to deal with another non detachable among my headphones if I can help it. Afaik the E4000 isn't all that better than the cheaper ones despite being notably more expensive :/

 

[DanTheMan]

Having detachable cables also allow you to go balanced if you want more available power and add or subtract a microphone/controls. It seems like it would have been worth the extra $20 for the SSP. Of course if you add tips and a cable you are looking at another price category again. Not sure it could be beaten in the new price range.

The Spaceship with mic and controls is only $23. Nothing like this was possible a decade ago. I feel like a guy who just got a time machine.

 

[samwell7]

Having detachable cables also allow you to go balanced if you want more available power and add or subtract a microphone/controls. It seems like it would have been worth the extra $20 for the SSP. Of course if you add tips and a cable you are looking at another price category again. Not sure it could be beaten in the new price range.

The Spaceship with mic and controls is only $23. Nothing like this was possible a decade ago. I feel like a guy who just got a time machine.

It's funny because I'm looking at some of the IEMs I've still got from ~8ish years ago and they're sort of the older equivalents, I've got the Monoprice 9927 which was a bit of a market disruptor at around $6 for a decent sounding dynamic driver IEM and the Rock It Sounds R-50 which is a dual Knowles TWFK balanced armature IEM that was around $120 so was a really high-value proposition back in the day.
I'm still very impressed by the R50, the Monoprice sounds decent but the nozzles are pretty big and the cable is pretty microphonic.

Just looked, and both are still available, the monoprice is now $7.20 if you're in the US (14mm dynamic driver!!) and the R50 are still the around the same price, I'm keen to get one of the new high-value IEMs to see how far the technology has come along.

 

[bb8]

Having detachable cables also allow you to go balanced if you want more available power and add or subtract a microphone/controls. It seems like it would have been worth the extra $20 for the SSP. Of course if you add tips and a cable you are looking at another price category again. Not sure it could be beaten in the new price range.

The Spaceship with mic and controls is only $23. Nothing like this was possible a decade ago. I feel like a guy who just got a time machine.

That's where I'm at. I remember what earbuds/headphones were like in the 90's. For $100 for the Starfield (or even the blon bl03), it's just so above and beyond what we could get even a few years ago. Have to shake my head when people complain about the box artwork and stuff.

 

[pk500]

That's where I'm at. I remember what earbuds/headphones were like in the 90's. For $100 for the Starfield (or even the blon bl03), it's just so above and beyond what we could get even a few years ago. Have to shake my head when people complain about the box artwork and stuff.

No doubt. The ultimate value-quality proposition in headphones under $100-$150 is in IEMs, not over-ears or on-ears. There are SO many Chi-fi companies producing and marketing shockingly good IEMs for the money.

 

[Asylum Seeker]

thanks for the advice but i prefer avoiding single tech iem (single DD, multiple BA), although it makes sense to ignore driver technology, materials, and configuration as long as it produces good sound but if you consider there is a law of diminishing return for each technology (DD,BA,planar magnetic,electrostatic,piezzo), it makes sense to favor hybrid iem over single driver tech iem ( a $100 DD does not sound twice as good as a $50 DD but $50 DD+$50BA should be more interesting sonically for example (99%of speakers are hybrid, they are much older tech than headphones and iem drivers so the law of dimishing return had time to settle ), does my intuitive interpreatation makes sense or am i missing something important in the history of sound drivers ?)

Look into the KINERA Idun (1DD + 2BA) or IKKO OH1 (1DD + 1BA) then...