Moondrop Stellaris

https://apos.audio/products/moondrop-stellaris-iems
I would like to thank Apos audio for letting me try this interesting IEM. My opinion is my own. No affiliate links, non-influenced , non-biased. Just my honest opinion and experiences.

Technical Specifications:
>Impedance: 36Ω±15%.
>Sensitivity: 117dB.
>Frequency response: 10Hz-50kHz.
>Effective Frequency response: 20Hz-20kHz.
>Connectors: Standard 0.78mm 2-pin connectors.
Features:
>Newly-Developed 14.5mm Planar Magnetic Driver.
>High-precision miniature-grade Magnetic array.
>Sub-Nanometer Diaphragm.
>Exquisite Design with Iridescent Shells.
>Premium Softears Ultra-Clear Eartips.
>High-quality Mis-Tip Foam ear tips.
>Professional tuning following VDSF target response.
>Ergonomic and Comfortable.

Packaging is well done, it's a large enough well decorated box to let you know something inside is good. Inside is the very beautiful MD Stellaris, a nice cable similar to the LAN or at least in look. The case is the KATO case, and it fits them well. The Tips are non-standard for MoonDrop, kind of a longer SednaEarfit Crystal in materials but there is also Foam ones in different sizes. The shell is oblong and has that Starfield paint and design look. So, these take many cues from other well liked MoonDrop IEM. Build is very solid with some heft. Once in you won't notice it much. The Nozzles are big and extend deep into the ear, because of this isolation is superb.



Sound:
Bass:
The Lower end on the MoonDrop Stellaris is more of a quality over quantity kind of Bass. There is a good detail and Mid-Bass still has kick when called on, and Sub-Bass shows good depth at times but nothing too deep, this is insertion and tip dependent. Bass has good speed and details overall.

Midrange:
The Mids are clearly a strong point of the Stellaris. The mids present with good energy, they are both open and well textured. Somewhat just shy of transparent and Neutral with separation, and front and center vocals, both male and female are equal in body, quality and details.

Treble:
The Highs are energetic and bright with good details. For certain music and warm sources, they sound very natural and open. The treble has excellent speed and is revealing to a fault with somewhat good microdetails, and while I found the highs pleasant enough on most recording it can be unforgiving on brighter ones. Treble is spiky at some points and combined with upper treble can be harsh at times. Easily fixed with the included foam tips, or use of hybrid ones, and of course EQ. Honestly, I don't like to do ever.

Soundstage:
Its open and has a wide field with good depth and high too, above average in this. The Stellaris also has a fair amount of separation. Imaging is very accurate, and it could do some gaming but it's not holographic, 3D or any other catchphrase.

Afterthoughts:
The MoonDrop Stellaris is a unique tuned IEM planar IEM, not for everyone. It has many good traits, and it should be noted this needs power! I used the ifi Gryphon for the majority of the review with the Questyle M15 and Periodic Neon at times. Its not small either but for me after the right tips it was all just a pleasant experience.

Hello Head-Fiers,

First off I want to take a moment just to clarify where this review is coming from. I am a normal, everyday, down to earth person, with no sponsorships, affiliations, followers on social media (I mean literally zero), etc. I purchased these IEMs with my own money and no one is asking me to do this review. Probably nobody needs me to do this review. Why am I doing this? Wait. Where am I?
Okay now that we’ve cleared that up, here goes:

Right now I am listening to “The Wolf is Loose” The opening track on Mastodon’s Blood Mountain. I am running on a balanced 4.4mm Zonie cable through an iFi hipdac2 with neither the power match or bass boost engaged. My source is an iPhone 13 Pro Max.

It’s impressive. There is just so much definition and detail with these. Would I like a little more sub bass and mid bass? Yes. But it’s definitely there and it’s pretty clean and punchy too. The mids, upper mids and treble are really fantastic here. And I know if I hit that bass boost… I’m just truly attempting to describe these without too much additional coloring, but as you probably know, the hip dac2 is a bit warm. The Stellaris needs that. Trust me. The $10 iphone dongle does not cut it with these. Don’t even bother trying it.

With John Coltrane’s epic and legendary (and finally platinum almost 60 years gone by) A Love Supreme, it’s like you’re sitting in the studio with them (or bar in the case of the live Seattle recording). They almost rival my Focal Elegias in that respect. Almost. Keep in mind we are talking about a 14.5mm planar magnetic driver in a $100 IEM. Like I said, impressive.

Back to the metal genre, my favorite band of late is Spiritbox. Courtney LaPlante and the boys lay down some seriously complex tracks; from super heavy to light and melodic; much of the time in the same song. It takes a very detailed IEM to retrieve all of the layers in a coherent fashion and the Stellaris accomplishes just that.

Chris Stapleton’s gritty, soulful and engaging baritone sounds fantastic as does Ana Netrebko singing “Dido’s Lament” and the like. Yes, they’re versatile as well.

So what exactly is wrong with them? Well let me tell you. First, I had to do some serious tip rolling in order to find the “best” sound. It ended up being the Zeos Render tips for me, but you may prefer something else.

Second, a fairly deep insertion is required, or these things are going to sound thin, metallic and hollow. You absolutely have to get this part right.

C (just making sure you’re still paying attention) they’re bulky and heavy. It’s not a big problem once you have them settled, but getting them there takes some effort.

Fourthly (lol) think of it like being used to drinking a nice smooth buttery California Chardonnay (most decent $100 IEMs) and having someone switch you to an Austrian Gruner Veltliner with crazy crisp high acidity without telling you. Yes, it still has wonderful flavors, but the texture is going to make you go “What the actual ____ is that?!?!?”

So do I recommend them? YES! But only if you’re ready for something different. The qualities are fabulous, but the presentation is, well, out there… The strange and beautiful Stellaris.

Intro:
Basic introduction before I start I got these moondrop Stellaris along with the 7hz timeless on sale during black Friday I have tested many closed-back headphones 50+ I only own 7 though and some open-back headphones 20+ own 1 I have however only tested 6 IEMs all of which I own except the moondrop chu's that seemed to break. as I am new to head-fi and reviewing IEM's I might do things a little differently. But with that being said lets begin.

The Good:
I gotta start off by saying I love these IEMs honestly I do, I like the way they sound when they have been eq'ed and honestly I think they sound alright uneq'ed(as long as you are ok with slight shrapnel in your ears) these IEM's have shown me something I didn't know I wanted or needed. what was that thing? well, it was detail.let me first say that my musical taste is certainly not normal I listen to music based on the feeling and texture of the music or even how the music subjectively "tastes" to me. for example, I like a lot of music by snails house because "his music sounds how sour tastes" the noise is an adhd filled noise scape a lot of the time and this extends to a lot of Vocaloid music I listen to and the jazz I like. This is to say that a lot of music I listen to has lots of noise like a lot of noise that mixes together and you can't actually tell one thing apart from another. why is this important to tell you this is because this IEM makes that chaos sound so clean and beautiful that I cannot explain to you the emotion I felt when I heard a song that had been missing its nuance or in other words detail for the first time.

these IEMs made me cry like literally cry because for once in my life I felt like I could hear the whole song. the vast majority of my library of music is extremely cheerful but there are others that are not when I listened to the album "Unhappy refrain" by wowaka on these I literally cried I could feel the deep emotions he must have had in mind when he made something so messy and disorienting. it's something personal when the music touches you and really connects with you with something that you really understand firsthand and when I listened to it again I reconnected with the album again immediately I instantly got taken back to when I first was exposed to his music when I was in a deep depression using the Audio Technica m50, not to get too personal and not to just pour out my heart in a random online review. basically, the Stellaris brought me so much closer to some of the music I listen to. would it have happened without the Stellaris I don't know should I have gotten the variations instead of buying 2 iems I will never know but I certainly understand detail now.

I honestly find it difficult to articulate how that's something that's so strange sounding that these IEM's are for sure not the best audio equipment I have had, that I think the soundstage needs improvement, that the fit is terrible, that if you use the foam tip the soundstage and imaging go blurry. this iem kinda sucks but with just a little refinement you can really make it that diamond in the rough, getting that experience eq'ing because you need to but because you want to, changing the tips to find that perfect fit that makes the IEM really shine, I have to say it after listening to these I think they are not good enough these are the kind of IEM that MAKES you want to get another pair, and then another, and then when its all done you come back to these and listen just to compare.

like the second I turn on my happy songs or any song with strings that wants room in the soundstage instantly turns off don't care the sound is whatever if I wanted to listen to a soundscape I could grab my old akg k701 or even any of my closed back headphone almost any of them would beat the soundstage on this.

I grab these if I want to listen to a soundhell, a bunch of noises that give the song texture and weight.

ok so now that I have over-explained in 6 paragraphs what the single thing these IEM's are good at let me tell you why you might not want one

The Bad:
Honesty I don't know where to start, I swear most of the first part were actually bad things that via sunk cost fallacy have made me think are good. it's crazy they made something with this much technical detail under the layers and layers of less-than-ideal things.

Maybe we start with probably the worst part in my opinion the fit, they do not fit in my ears my ear canals are kind of too small but they are passable. this was a major pain point since I had trouble with listening and after hours of fiddling and finding out which tip let the sound really come out of the Stellaris and I eventually surpassed its major design flaw. the deep fit is awful and I don't think they can't get much worse than this but obviously, I don't have that much experience with IEMs so maybe it can be worse. the next part of this is that the shells are heavy they are possibly heavier than most over-ears headphones comfort is something that drove me to over-ears, to begin with, and that ended with me wanting something lighter, not heavier.

Ok, the next problem to talk about these actually needs some power to use, on other peoples recommendation I got the apple dongle but for USB c at max volume, it sounds just fine enough but I would really like the option for more sound but that's fine that's what my portable dac/amp is for great now I have to connect to a dongle into the amp into the IEM. wow how convenient and not cumbersome.

alright so at this point you have the IEM and yeah you carry the amp with you they are heavy on your ears and fatiguing in two different ways let's talk about The 2k spike I am by no means an eq master or tuning manic I literally think the tuning craze that people are on to usually be unjustified but the spike here is meaningless I cannot tell why it exists I cannot tell what it makes sound better I can't why is it there alright so in addition to the other stuff you have to either add a physical filter or eq

ok so you fix all of this it's perfectly tuned now you have all the gear you need to really drive this thing you have everything you would want and you listen to them and compare them to 7hz timeless or compare them to literally anything with better soundstage and you realize how the soundstage is only marginally better than the 20$ iems and you think wow I want a slight upgrade it would be nice if it was just a tiny bit better, I say this in my timeless review but the soundstage sounds roughly 2cm away from my head side to side and about 8cm in height but you might read my timeless review and say but the timeless is only 2cm more than this that's only a tiny amount 2cm is almost an inch don't tell me an inch is meaningless, lest an inch be taken from you.

after all that I don't think there are that many other negatives overall if none of that dissuades you, I'm telling you absolutely get one just to try it out it's your money but I absolutely got my money's worth a nice mention is they came with the tips I now also use on the timeless.
Tuning:
It's alright I guess some extra boost in the low end would be nice as well but honestly, everyone likes it a little differently realistically your perfect sound exists but honestly, I don't feel like stock tuning has stopped me before even the stock 2k spike is alright in my opinion, even perfectly flat is fine with me.


I'll let someone way more qualified or knowledgeable talk about this I read a lot of reviews before buying so I knew what I was getting into I honestly don't care about the tuning too much.

Technicals:

Other people often talk about tuning when talking about an IEM I think although its something important I don't think any person actually thinks tuning is more important than technicals, despite these most reviewers spend over 80% of the review on the tuning and only 20% on what in my opinion what they should care about why would you buy a 2000$ IEM if only tuning mattered just eq a lesser but similar set. it makes no sense to me and they don't even separate out the different categories alot of the time, for me the 2 I have learned to distinguish well, especially between the timeless and Stellaris are detail and stage.

So let's talk about the "star" of the show

Detail:

detail is amazing on the Stellaris even when two distortion guitars are playing you can hear them strum and hear all of the resonance of the distortion it's amazing frankly this is probably going to be the basis at which I judge detail and let me tell you I do not think thing are going to pass after this their detail is significantly better than every on-ear with tiny exceptions I don't even need to compare them to the timeless I came into this thinking the timeless would beat the Stellaris slightly in every category its more expensive after all but the detail does not even come close what sounds like just distortion on the timeless has full body and detail meaning a distortion sound effect becomes a full guitar strumming fading notes become bright drops of light, plucks of the string and more are made fully present. this is only present in incredibly messy mixes something that isn't exactly common

youtube music

youtube

some of the songs used to test the detail others were part of "unhappy refrain" by wowaka flac that I have on pc and various Vocaloid songs artists like kikuo even songs you don't expect to have huge detail have moments where you cannot believe the detail that is presented to you, it's not always clear which means there is room to go for detail for sure but I'm not sure where the price tag for something like that would sit compared to this

Soundstage and imaging:

This is where the Stellaris suffers the most compared to the timeless and its lower-cost siblings don't get me wrong it's better than most of the lower-cost IEM's it just does not blow me away honestly though if both the details went up and the soundstage was fixed this would easily be a blind buy even with its flaws honestly the price I would pay for something with a stellar soundstage on par with the closed backs I use and the detail without the fit and heft would be crazy I tend not to spend more than 400$ on audio gear the diminishing returns are extreme past a certain point but a few tweaks and improvements to soundstage maybe the Stellaris 2 can be my "endgame" as some would call it. my testing music is linked below

YouTube music

Youtube

Conclusion:
Even with all its flaws I can't help but love this IEM, do I think you should go out and buy one? probably not if you don't listen to chaotic mixes, but for people who do? they know what they should do. make sure they fit well or the soundstage is terrible and suffers, even more, I don't recommend the foam tips honestly. anyways I think I've said everything I really can about these wonderful detail monsters. note that everything I say is subjective if you have a 500$ IEM my review probably doesn't apply to you anyways.

thanks for reading, wishing all a happy holidays

A real unexpected adventure from this box