I recently won a pair of the Emotiva Airmotiv GR-1in an Instagram contest. I am familiar with Emotiva and have their speakers as my LCR in my living room. Because I was familiar with the brand I was intrigued when they released their first headphones, but hadn't had an opportunity to try them until I won this pair. I won't go over their specs other than to mention they utilize a dynamic driver that has some Graphene in it. I was disappointed that Emotiva did not choose to utilize some form of their AMT in the headphones, since it is present on all of their speakers. Just to give you a sense of where I'm coming from in my review, all of the headphones I currently own are Planar's- the Hifiman Edition XS, Audeze LCD-GX and the Drop x DCA Aeon Closed X. I've owned and sold the Focal Elegia as well, which I will compare these to later.

Packaging/Accessories/Build

The box these come in is fairly large given how small the headphones are. Inside the box the headphones are contained in a nice hard-shell case.


The headphones are solid. The cups are made of wood and have a very dark finish. It is hard to tell that they are wood in certain light. Despite feeling very solid, the headphones feel light in the hand. The headband and ear pads are both made of synthetic leather. The pads are solid on the inside but perforated on the surface. The headband is also perforated. The cable has a very nice feeling to it, similar to what I've seen from Hart Audio. The design on the outside of the cups is nice and leads to a semi-open (more open than not) design. They don't leak as much as my Audeze or Hifiman, but definitely aren't suitable for an office environment. The cups don't have much swivel to them. The biggest issue with the build is that the ear cups are comically small. I have large ears and finding headphones that are truly over-ear has been a challenge. These aren't even close. The height, width, and depth are all on the small side. The pads do angle a bit so the back is deeper than the front. The pads are on the soft side. The synthetic leather is okay to the touch. I do get a bit of a hot spot on the top of my head when wearing them. The only other gripe I have is with the included 1/4" adapter. The way it fits on the 3.5mm plug just looks silly.


Sound Impressions

All listening has been done through an SMS SU-6 feeding an SMSL SH-9. I listened to a variety of music via Tidal on Windows. Stock sound is nice. There's more of a sub-bass roll off than I'd prefer, but the sound is inoffensive and suitable for a variety of music. Mid-bass is the most prominent to me, but it doesn't bleed into the mids. The sound is not boomy. These are definitely on the warmer side of neutral. The midrange is present when called for and the treble is inoffensive. While these are definitely not "neutral" it's hard to identify any part of the spectrum that stands out more than the others. Detail retrieval is good. Imaging is okay. I can enjoy these out of the box, without EQ (though prefer them after some light EQ). This was not the case with the Focal Elegia's, which seemed tonally off to me without some heavy EQ. At the same price point, I would take these over the Elegia's any day (the Elegia's also had fit issues for me).

Conclusion
I really like the sound of the GR-1. I'm ultimately not going to keep them, however, because the fit is just awful. For someone with small ears these would be a great choice in the $300 price range- they are good all-rounders and are easy enough to drive. I hope Emotiva expands their headphone line. I would love to see them bring the manufacturing in-house and incorporate some of their speaker technology on a smaller-scale.

I feel the Moondrop Starfield needs no introduction at this point. The Starfield is easily one of the most hyped ~$100 IEMs this year. While I think it offers a decent price/performance ratio, after having spent a couple of months with the Starfield I feel it has been overhyped.



Packaging / Accessories


The packaging is nice and pretty minimal. There's an exploded diagram of the shell/driver on the back of the box. Inside you'll find the shells, cable, ear tips, carrying case, tweezers and extra screens. One of the screens on my shells came really out of place.



The accessories themselves were disappointing. At this price range many competitors offer much nicer carrying cases, cables and even ear tips. The KBEAR Diamond and the Simgot EN700Pro both come with nicer accessories (and the Diamond can regularly be found for at least $30 less than the Starfield). The cable is okay. It is very soft and kind of sticky. The left/right markers are also very difficult to see. The divider is nicely made, as is the 3.5mm right angle connector. I did not get any microphonics from the stock cable. I found the stock ear tips to be awful- No matter which size I tried I could not get a proper seal. I actually almost gave up on these very early on because the sound, especially the bass, was just not very good. When I listened to Aqueous Transmission by Incubus, the usual warmth that comes with the bass kicking in right around the 25 second mark was completely absent with all of the stock tips. I feel like IEMs in the $100 and up bracket should come with ear tips that are at least usable.

SCORE: 2/5

BUILD / FIT



The shells are on the heavier side and feel super solid. There is a seam where the faceplate and shell meet. I haven't had any issues with the seam but I could see lint/debris getting stuck in there if you put these in your pocket regularly. The 2 Pin socket is recessed and cables feel solid when connected. The paint definitely steals the show with these IEMs and are for many, as it was for me, a big draw to the IEM since it looks so different than many of the other models.

One issue that I find myself still struggling with are the fit with these shells. Even with aftermarket ear tips it is difficult for me to get a good seal with these. I find myself wishing they would insert deeper and I have to constantly re-adjust these while wearing them. I haven't seen too many others complain about this issue but I've never had this much of an issue with fit.

SCORE: 3.5/5

SOUND

The Starfield's feature a single dynamic driver with a 10mm CNT diaphragm. They are tuned to Moondrop's own harmanish tuning. Thanks to the DD timbre is excellent

Bass: Probably my biggest gripe with the Starfield's are with their bass. At least part of this is due to the ear tip/fit issues I mentioned above. The Starfield's bass lacks authority and while it has decent extension, mid-bass is much more present than sub-bass. Out of the box, tracks with sub-bass just seem to be missing something. There isn't much rumble and there's a bit of bass bleed into the mids. Bass is present but lacks density and leaves me wanting more.

Mids: Mids on the Starfield are probably where they shine most, specifically with vocals. Vocals sound great and are a bit more forward, often stealing the show from instruments. Both male and female vocals sound great. Outside of vocals, the mids are a bit less exciting and, similar to the bass, just a bit dull.

Treble: I'm pretty sensitive to treble and the Starfield's treble isn't harsh at all. Treble is a bit rolled off and while it doesn't ever get harsh it also lacks sparkle/excitement. The treble is very smooth but will likely be too recessed for those who listen to treble-heavy music or who prefer to have more sparkle in their treble. Again, it's just kind of dull.

Notes: The Starfield's do a lot good enough but are overall dull and uninspired sounding. Music isn't as fun as it should be. Soundstage has decent width for IEMs but lacks depth and height. Details are present but these IEMS haven't pulled anything new out of the music for me. I did not note any sibilance while listening. After trying foam ear tips I gave the Spinfit CP240s a shot and so far those have been great. Improved bass quite a bit and are fairly comfortable. They extend a bit longer as well, which I prefer. The Starfield's do look a bit ridiculous with them on though. The Starfield's do respond well to EQ.

SCORE: 3.75/5


CLOSING
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Overall the Starfield's are a beautiful looking, dull sounding IEM. I REALLY wanted to like these, but in the ~$100 price range there is just too much competition for these to have the amount of praise they've received. Are they good? Absolutely. Are they great? Not so much. I think the accessories, especially the ear tips, Moondrop included are very subpar when you look at what the competition is offering. Both the bass and the treble feel life-less and are just kind of dull. The Moondrop Starfield's really feel like a jack of all trades- master of none.