Please give them a couple days of run in before those impressions. I find it takes a few times that before things fully settle in on better products with revealing kit. In this case, I would expect the mid drivers to take quite some time as they are dynamics in a true high pass configuration. Are you getting the stock or upgrade Moon cable?
I didn't really notice much of a change with the Campfire Audio Andromeda or HD800S. The MrSpeakers Aeon is a different story. I didn't like them much at first because of sibilance but they quickly calmed down. They are now my favorite, everyday headphones. I made sure to address this in the disclaimer. If my opinions change, I will be sure to document them by replying to this thread and/or updating this post.
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IMPRESSIONS
I figured I'd write my first impressions post now since it looks like my week is going to be quite busy and I don't know if I'll be able to get to a full write up or not.
Disclaimer: I will be listening to these much more in the coming weeks and as my brain and the drivers burn in, my impressions may change. My personal preferences may not line up with yours so take my opinions regarding the sound with a grain of salt. I have a Vibro Veritas that I've never used and don't know how to use yet so I will not be doing before (burn in) or after (burn in) response curves.
I took some pictures as I opened them up and they can be found here:
http://imgur.com/a/YWwgd
I apologize if they aren't in any particular order nor are they high quality by any means.
I listened to them Friday for less than 10 minutes. Just picked them up now and have been listening to them for about 30 minutes today; will continue listening as I write. So far unimpressed but I'll get into sound after my background info.
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BACKGROUND - My preferences and history.
The headphones I've been listening to the most recently are the new MrSpeakers Aeon which are bright-ish neutral. They have a slight bump in sub bass followed by a tiny dip in the upper bass/lower midrange. Upper midrange sounds ever-so-slightly forward and they have excellent clarity. Treble sounds pretty neutral to me. The other pair I've listened to a good amount recently are the Sennheiser HD800S. My go to portable setup consists of the FLC 8S (red, gray, gold filter combo) combined with an OPPO HA-2SE.
I am fairly sensitive to sibilance and I've returned or sold a few headphones specifically for that reason. My preferred signature is mostly neutral with a very slight bump in sub bass. I hate any form of midrange recession. Give me the sub bass and treble of the Aeon and the midrange of the HD600 and I'd be in heaven.
I have "perfect" hearing in both ears and just had a hearing test mid-2016; thank god since I'm only 24. My dad (57) has mild tinnitus and I'm hoping that it doesn't run in the family; IDK if that's how it works.
As for music preference, my favorite is 2000s punk rock and other variants of modern rock like post-hardcore. I listen to a bit of everything including, pop (mainly female), country, EDM (trap, trance, etc), jazz, and acoustic. This past week I've been listening to a lot of movie soundtracks; a lot of stuff by John Williams and Hans Zimmer (Interstellar, Inception, etc).
I started out as an IEM guy and have listened to many different kinds in all different price ranges from the Fanmusic E6 to the Campfire Audio Andromeda (previously my most expensive IEM). You can view my profile if you're interested in where I've been in my "audiophile" journey.
All files for impressions or reviews are a minimum bitrate of 256kbps AAC or 320kbps MP3. I cannot hear a difference in quality between 256 AAC and 320 MP3 so I consider both to be very good. I do not use EQ.
I did an initial listen using the OPPO to set the bass level I wanted before really listening to music. I found I prefer around 12:15 on the adjustable dials and that's where they'll be set for the remainder of this post.
I started my listening with the standard headphone adapter that came with my iPhone 7 Plus; I find it to be very neutral and surprisingly distortion free and probably the most common or relatable source for most people. Naturally a good place to start. From there I listened to a few songs using iPhone > xDuoo XD-05 and finally moved to the OPPO. Since I already use the OPPO the most, I will likely be using it for most of my listening. I also did not notice any major difference between sources; then again, I also spent very little time with the headphone adapter and the XD-05. From the short time I spent with those, the overall signature of the headphone adapter sounds the same as the OPPO and xDuoo but I will guess that these benefit from the additional power of the amps and the higher quality DACs. I can get a comfortable listening volume from the headphone adapter around 55% of the way up. I heard no discernible difference between the OPPO and xDuoo but for the sake of coherence, I will disregard anything I heard on the xDuoo.
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SOUND - Putting it first since I know that's what all of you care about.
About 2 hours into listening tonight. As I adjust to their sound, they sound a little better. Still for $1600, I'm not impressed. Like I said above, I'm using the OPPO HA-2SE as my DAC/amp. I did not try any of the stock tips but instead, put on my own UE900S tips and have only listened with them. I am using the stock cable.
Bass - good. It can be adjusted from none at all (even less than the RE-400) to way too much. Bassheads will likely not be satisfied, even on the highest setting. In the highest setting it can be way overpowering for someone looking for a neutral signature. It still is BA bass; very tight and accurate but the decay and impact don't match that of a good dynamic driver. A good dynamic driver will sound more realistic. That being said, extension is quite good, even where I have it set. I actually enjoy it quite a bit but there's nothing particularly special about it.
Midrange - oh boy... Where do I start? Midrange is definitely pretty warm. There is a very noticeable bump in the upper bass/lower midrange which can make them sound "thick" in some songs. Guitars sound full and male vocals sound realistic. I really enjoy enjoy these for electric guitars in hard rock; they carry a lot of weight and I feel myself wanting to headbang. Writing On the Walls by Underoath, Mahna Mahna by Cake, and Superstition by Stevie Wonder sound particularly pleasing to me. I have an issue with the upper midrange. The upper midrange sounds like it's been held back a bit and sits behind everything else in the frequency response. Female vocals leave a lot to be desired, frequently sounding weak and slightly veiled. I'm missing the clarity that I love about the Aeons and HD800S, RE400, and even the FLC 8S (which aren't perfect in the midrange either). These sound particularly off to me with acoustic or vocal-centered music (especially female). The midrange is my biggest disappointment with these considering on Moon Audio's description it says "Magic in the Midrange". I hear no magic here.
Treble - I'm a bit torn on this. The treble is very detailed and extended as it should be for having 4 BA drivers. Overall it doesn't hide behind or stick out over anything else in the sound. I would call it mostly neutral. My only issue with it is that it sounds like there is a peak somewhere (I don't listen to frequency sweeps so IDK where) that creates a bit of sibilance. To give a representation of how much I hear, here's a comparison to some other headphones from most sibilance to least (or no) sibilance: HD700 > Jays Q-Jays 2.0 > JH Audio Lola > HD800S > FLC 8S (red, gray gold) > MrSpeakers Aeon > HD600. I actually returned the Q-Jays because of sibilance. Anything on Of Mice and Men's Restoring Force album is incredibly piercing and hurts my ears, even at much lower than normal listening volumes. Maybe the album has some recorded sibilance to it; listen to Would You Still Be There for a good representation. Some other songs I noticed a good amount of sibilance on include, but most certainly not limited to, are The Boys of Summer by The Ataris, Take the Power Back by Rage Against the Machine, Homie by Phoebe Ryan and Come On by Green River Ordinance.
Imaging - Too soon to really say.
Soundstage - For the most part, it sounds like vocals are produced right in the center of my head. The rest of the music sounds like it's coming from just outside my head. I would consider this to be pretty good but nothing to write home about. The soundstage sounds very natural to me; not shockingly close like the HD600 and not "OMG" wide like the HD800S. They're no Andromeda, Havi B3 Pro 1, or FLC 8S all of which have a wider soundstage. Too soon to tell as far as depth and height are concerned.
Conclusion - Overall, these sound alright to me; as of now, not a keeper, and most definitely not worth $1600. My taste may not line up with yours so take this with a grain of salt; this is my opinion, and no more. Nothing stands out to me with these as great; I would expect to hear magic with any headphone or IEM in this price range and it just isn't here. I'm mostly disappointed with the dip in the upper midrange and presence region of the signature resulting in an apparent lack of clarity as compared to more neutral headphones. I also am a bit surprised to hear a good amount of sibilance from these; I was EXPECTING these to be mid-centric with a warm tone and neutral treble. Maybe that was my issue; expectations. My expectations for these were through the roof and I was expecting the midrange to take more of a focus; maybe even sound a lot like the HD650 midrange.
EDIT: Maybe they aren't made for the types of music I usually listen to. Dreams by Fleetwood Mac sounds absolutely beautiful on these. I have not listened to another song with these that made me feel this same way. Maybe there is some magic here after all??? Will update this as I see fit.
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EVERYTHING ELSE:
Accessories - fine. That's about it. Mine came with the stock cable, 3 sizes of foam tips, 3 sizes of silicon tips, cleaning tool, micro flathead screwdriver, quickstart booklet, and a very sturdy metal carrying case. Nothing special with the included accessories but they didn't leave anything out that you may need. The case is probably the most robust I've ever received with a pair of headphones and is held closed with magnets.
Build Quality - They're plastic but do not feel cheap in any way. I love the solid copper logos on the outside of them; very cool. They feel like I could throw them into my pocket and forget about them without having to worry. Obviously, there's no way I'm going to do that and obviously, they're no Andromeda, but still, build quality seems good.
Ergonomics - Comfort is good (I've now had them in for 2 and a half hours with no complaints) and they do not feel too heavy in my ears. They are however, VERY large. There is a picture in the album showing how far they stick out of my ears. Due to the length of the nozzle, these really need to be inserted fairly deeply. I do have an issue where I have to keep re-seating them because they keep sliding out over time. The nozzle is the only thing I hate about these physically - THERE'S NO LIP. The nozzle has no lip to hold tips in place so they can freely slide around. This is incredibly annoying when trying to put them in the same spot for both ears and figuring out insertion depth. Tips can be pushed way too far on, resulting in the nozzle sticking out quite a bit past them. Surprisingly, I've not yet had a tip get stuck in my ear. I assume it's only a matter of time.
EDIT: Isolation - Pretty good. There is no visible port in the shell. Because of this, I feel the noise isolation is a little above average for a universal IEM.
Cable - I actually really like this able; it bends very easily and does not retain any shape but it also feels very durable. I see no need to upgrade the cable. It is the perfect length for portability and it is not too heavy. My only issue, and I'm nitpicking here, is that the chin slider is very tight and requires the use of both hands to move; one to move the slider and the other to hold the cable in place while you move the slider. Microphonics are below average in quantity so that's another plus; they are still fairly noticeable however.
EDIT: I LOVE the 4-pin, locking connectors. This is by far the best IEM-to-cable connection type I've come across. Second would be the twist-on Jays Q-Jays style.
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Other thoughts - My box came damaged (see pictures) which I am a little upset about. For shipping, they were packaged in a cardboard box which was inside of a padded envelope which leads me to believe it would have been impossible to have been damaged in shipping; the shipping box was not crushed at all. This means it either happened at JH Audio or at Moon Audio and I wish it had been caught before being shipped out to me (or any consumer for that matter). The Lolas themselves were not damaged so I'll take that as a positive.
I also wish Moon Audio or JH Audio had given us updates on the delays and given us a more strict timeline on when they would have been shipped. I hated hearing nothing from them throughout the pre-order process. I expect that from a Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign with limited resources, not well-established companies selling high end audio equipment. This isn't really a complaint, but rather an observation and expectation of how I would normally expect to be treated when pre-ordering headphones (or any product) in this price range. In comparison, Dan from MrSpeakers was posting here on Headfi daily when the Aeons were delayed, giving us a rundown of what was going on as well as answering any questions.
Feel free to ask any questions. This is only my second write up on any IEM or headphone, the first being a first impressions post about the Aeon so don't be too harsh on me. I will graciously accept any constructive criticism on how I wrote this. Keep in mind this is basically a draft and I have not really gone over it too thoroughly nor have I cleaned it up to look like a full review.
