Are you a teacher or a student?
Aminus hates everything (Or, Aminus rants and reviews stuff)
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Are you a teacher or a student?
Imagine having your work graded by Animus. I think I’d rather just drop out haha...
Reminds me of my university days when my goal was always just to pass the course and anything above that I considered extra. But how much is "passing the course" in context of this thread, maybe 4/10
Student.
I'm just about almost done with my midterms, so there's the possibility that, if I find something interesting to write about, I'll be able to find the time in the near future to try it. But for now, consider this hiatus to still be underway.Ok, alright, probably not too soon is up, where are them new content mate?
Moondrop SSR (Super Spaceship Reference):
Ha, surprise! I said I wasn’t going to write anything but I did anyways. Not that it matters all that much since I’m so late to this particular train.
Let’s see, Moondrop. The B2 wasn’t too bad (as scathing as my review of it might seem). The S8 wasn’t too bad (review pending, I swear). The SSR was released around that timeframe, so I supposed it would not be unreasonable for one without prior knowledge to think it might be up the same alley.
Wrong! The SSR is sort of a return to Moondrop’s old sound, in an almost parodic manner. The VSDF sound of B2 and S8 is what I classify as around neutral with some potential quirks to the upper midrange and treble. This is extremely far from that. Instead, the SSR sounds akin to what would happen if someone was trying to satirize the sound of diffuse field. Not too far off from the ER4, except Etymotic made an actual effort to move to a much more palatable sound with the ER2.
Perhaps the most distinctive aspect of the SSR’s sound is the midrange. It is lean and upper mid forward to the point of being comical. I often use alto male vocals, guitars and keyboards in their upper registers as a reference for upper midrange performance. As one would expect, a generally upper midrange forward or neutral IEM would sound full in these registers, and in the case of the former, fuller in this register than in the lower midrange. The SSR somehow bucks this trend and sounds lean in the upper mids in all but the highest of notes, where it begins unashamedly entering piercing territory. This heavily implies that its peak is so far up in the upper midrange is so high up that it begins to enter the lower treble, which is seemingly fitting given that just about everything else about the SSR’s midrange is equally as excessive. It’s reminiscent of extremely V-shaped IEMs that completely nuke their midrange for the sake of sheer bass and treble response... except without the bass. Granted, given the track record of the aforementioned IEMs, that might be a good thing after all.
Oh yeah, bass. Speaking of it, the SSR’s bass response is kind of... whatever. I mean, it exists. It’s a little midbass emphasized with the cute little hump around 100hz with a Q factor that lifts the whole bass and lower midrange region, which is pretty typical for cheaper stuff. I guess it creates an interesting (?) contrast with the sheer upper midrange emphasis, given that it's actually fairly thick and stays quite far away from being smeared or blunt. Texturing and impact aren't the best, but not much else can be expected from such a cheap and such a bright IEM. There’s not really much that can be said about this since it’s firstly not that exceptional of bass, and secondly it’s really not enough to balance the almost 20dB of pinna the SSR throws in your face.
I’m stuck with a similar lack of things to say about the SSR’s treble as I am with its bass. It’s certainly present (very present, for the matter) but there’s not really much to say about its quality. It’s certainly nothing amazing in regards to textural or transient quality, but its not offensively poor in either department for the price tag either. The most I can say is that it’s fairly linear and does an alright job of descending smoothly from how ridiculously emphasized the upper midrange in general is. I suppose that's sort of a compliment given how jagged treble really can be a dealbreaker on many IEMs.
Now, you see, if the SSR were an extremely calculated practical joke, a humorous satire of a product, it would receive full marks from me. Everything about it is so overblown to the point where I can’t help but laugh. But it’s not. This is a serious product released as a reference sound signature on a budget. I’ll make it clear: absolutely nothing about this IEM is reference. It’s about as reference as the Legend X is, for the exact opposite reasons. Unfortunately for Moondrop, simply being the opposite of being extremely un-reference does not make you extremely “reference”, rather it makes you equally as un-reference for the opposite reasons. I feel ill using the word reference this much. Let’s move on.
Now, $40. This is far from an untapped market space. Right off the bat Moondrop are competing with the T2 and the MDR-AS800, both of which, tonally speaking, are are vastly superior, and quite handily match up in terms of intangibles. That’s just stuff I’ve heard. I’ve heard neither the new T2 Plus or Moondrop’s own rapid follow up to the SSR, the SSP (Super Spaceship Pulse). That’s right, despite this review being only about 4 months late (yeah, “only”), the SSR is already rendered obsolete by Moondrop’s own release. This, I think, speaks volumes about Moondrop’s confidence for their own product.
I suppose it goes without saying that I really can't recommend the SSR at all. I essentially see it as trying too hard to attain some form of neutrality, to the point of looping back around and effectively defeating its own purpose. To this end, I don't really see the point of it, and based on Moondrop's release cycle, it appears that they don't either.
Score: 3/10
Ha, surprise! I said I wasn’t going to write anything but I did anyways. Not that it matters all that much since I’m so late to this particular train.
Let’s see, Moondrop. The B2 wasn’t too bad (as scathing as my review of it might seem). The S8 wasn’t too bad (review pending, I swear). The SSR was released around that timeframe, so I supposed it would not be unreasonable for one without prior knowledge to think it might be up the same alley.
Wrong! The SSR is sort of a return to Moondrop’s old sound, in an almost parodic manner. The VSDF sound of B2 and S8 is what I classify as around neutral with some potential quirks to the upper midrange and treble. This is extremely far from that. Instead, the SSR sounds akin to what would happen if someone was trying to satirize the sound of diffuse field. Not too far off from the ER4, except Etymotic made an actual effort to move to a much more palatable sound with the ER2.
Perhaps the most distinctive aspect of the SSR’s sound is the midrange. It is lean and upper mid forward to the point of being comical. I often use alto male vocals, guitars and keyboards in their upper registers as a reference for upper midrange performance. As one would expect, a generally upper midrange forward or neutral IEM would sound full in these registers, and in the case of the former, fuller in this register than in the lower midrange. The SSR somehow bucks this trend and sounds lean in the upper mids in all but the highest of notes, where it begins unashamedly entering piercing territory. This heavily implies that its peak is so far up in the upper midrange is so high up that it begins to enter the lower treble, which is seemingly fitting given that just about everything else about the SSR’s midrange is equally as excessive. It’s reminiscent of extremely V-shaped IEMs that completely nuke their midrange for the sake of sheer bass and treble response... except without the bass. Granted, given the track record of the aforementioned IEMs, that might be a good thing after all.
Oh yeah, bass. Speaking of it, the SSR’s bass response is kind of... whatever. I mean, it exists. It’s a little midbass emphasized with the cute little hump around 100hz with a Q factor that lifts the whole bass and lower midrange region, which is pretty typical for cheaper stuff. I guess it creates an interesting (?) contrast with the sheer upper midrange emphasis, given that it's actually fairly thick and stays quite far away from being smeared or blunt. Texturing and impact aren't the best, but not much else can be expected from such a cheap and such a bright IEM. There’s not really much that can be said about this since it’s firstly not that exceptional of bass, and secondly it’s really not enough to balance the almost 20dB of pinna the SSR throws in your face.
I’m stuck with a similar lack of things to say about the SSR’s treble as I am with its bass. It’s certainly present (very present, for the matter) but there’s not really much to say about its quality. It’s certainly nothing amazing in regards to textural or transient quality, but its not offensively poor in either department for the price tag either. The most I can say is that it’s fairly linear and does an alright job of descending smoothly from how ridiculously emphasized the upper midrange in general is. I suppose that's sort of a compliment given how jagged treble really can be a dealbreaker on many IEMs.
Now, you see, if the SSR were an extremely calculated practical joke, a humorous satire of a product, it would receive full marks from me. Everything about it is so overblown to the point where I can’t help but laugh. But it’s not. This is a serious product released as a reference sound signature on a budget. I’ll make it clear: absolutely nothing about this IEM is reference. It’s about as reference as the Legend X is, for the exact opposite reasons. Unfortunately for Moondrop, simply being the opposite of being extremely un-reference does not make you extremely “reference”, rather it makes you equally as un-reference for the opposite reasons. I feel ill using the word reference this much. Let’s move on.
Now, $40. This is far from an untapped market space. Right off the bat Moondrop are competing with the T2 and the MDR-AS800, both of which, tonally speaking, are are vastly superior, and quite handily match up in terms of intangibles. That’s just stuff I’ve heard. I’ve heard neither the new T2 Plus or Moondrop’s own rapid follow up to the SSR, the SSP (Super Spaceship Pulse). That’s right, despite this review being only about 4 months late (yeah, “only”), the SSR is already rendered obsolete by Moondrop’s own release. This, I think, speaks volumes about Moondrop’s confidence for their own product.
I suppose it goes without saying that I really can't recommend the SSR at all. I essentially see it as trying too hard to attain some form of neutrality, to the point of looping back around and effectively defeating its own purpose. To this end, I don't really see the point of it, and based on Moondrop's release cycle, it appears that they don't either.
Score: 3/10
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Dynamic Duo: Moondrop SSP (Super Spaceship Pulse) and Illumination:
I keep playing myself. I swore I wasn’t going to write this for a couple weeks and now here I am.
So right off the heels of the less than impressive SSR (Super Spaceship Reference), we have quite an interesting pair. Two single DD IEMs, one a flagship and the other a budget offering and a sequel to an IEM that I didn't like all that much. The Illumination, our dear flagship single DD, is something I've had a particular interest in before it had a name, and was simply referred to as "the Moondrop flagship single DD". Given the context of Moondrop's successes during that period with the B2 and the S8, such a product being in development should by all standards be quite appealing. And it was. Similarly, the SSP promises to rectify the problems that the SSR had, and hopefully out itself as a particularly competitive offering in the $50 budget IEM space. The competition, while stiff, isn't exactly what I'd call amazing either, which leaves the SSP quite a bit of room to work with in terms of differentiating itself from its competitors.
Unfortunately, all the above is just what-ifs and could-have-beens. In theory, both of these IEMs could have been great. In practice, things are not so cheery.
I really don’t know what to think of the SSP as a SSR replacement. The SSR was squarely not a good IEM, and it’s kind of disappointing to say the SSP isn’t much better. The main difference between the two, bass response, sounds heavyhanded and overly midbassy on the SSP compared to the restrained but arguably more tasteful SSR. I guess the best I can say about it is that it slams fairly hard, but it’s not even good slam. It doesn’t have any thickness to attacks, it's not particularly weighty or nuanced, it just doesn’t do anything interesting. It’s really mediocre all things considered. That aside, bass texturing and transients are about the same on the SSP as they are the SSR, that is to say nothing special for a $40 IEM.
And oh dear... the midrange. I mean, I guess it doesn’t sound bad for the same reasons as the SSR, but now it’s a whole nother bag of worms. Unlike the SSR, the SSP no longer sounds as abnormally lean even in alto registers and has embraced a bona fide shout and belt sound. This, unsurprisingly, comes with its own level of harshness that scales the higher up in the upper midrange you go. I’d argue this is even less pleasant than the SSR, which, while obviously absurdly shouty, was more excessively lean throughout the midrange than it was truly harsh. Combine this with the poor bass and its rather middling technicalities and... eugh, this IEM is really not great. I seriously question why this was even made. Bass was the least of the SSR's issues, and not only have they ruined one of the SSR's few redeeming factors but they've also failed to improve on the excessive upper midrange, instead iterating on it, if not arguably making it worse. What a disappointment.
The Illumination, on the other hand, is more strange. At outset, nothing seems wrong with it. The tonality is a bit warm, midbassy and upper mid tilted in a slightly shouty manner. Not a particularly bad start, if a bit milquetoast. But the real issue lies in its intangibles. Transients sound soft and indistinct which lends a real lack of definition to sound. There is a particular lack of cymbal impact that leads to something of a paradox: the Illumination is obviously not a dark IEM, but thanks to the lack of stick impact to give transient cues to cymbals, it gives the impression of being strangely dark without really being dark in any way. It’s similarly undynamic, and in the ever-dreaded downwards compression manner. This leads to the Illumination sounding incredibly boring and dull.
And it’s not like it has the technical ability to back it up either. The Illumination resolves more like the Starfield or Kanas Pro than it does a true $800 IEM. In fact, that's exactly how I'd describe the Illumination: a retuned Kanas Pro or Starfield. Considering I wasn't really fond of either of those IEMs' tunings in the first place, I suppose this isn't an inherently bad thing, until you take into account the fact that neither of those IEMs came close to the $800 Illumination is being billed at. Compared to the competition at its price range, it is sorely outmatched. In the single DD marketplace, way, way cheaper offerings like the ER2 or the FDX1 massively outresolve it on top of having much more engaging intangible performance. There is a very concrete sense of what is the point with the Illumination, which is quite disappointing especially given I was looking forward to the fabled Moondrop single DD flagship for quite a while.
So there you have it. It appears the last 3 offerings from Moondrop have been quite a bit of a swing and a miss, especially given how surprisingly good their run was prior to this. One wonders if they've just lost their footing temporarily or if this is a sign of trends to follow, and I sincerely hope it is not the latter.
Score:
Illumination: 4/10
Super Spaceship Pulse: 2/10
I keep playing myself. I swore I wasn’t going to write this for a couple weeks and now here I am.
So right off the heels of the less than impressive SSR (Super Spaceship Reference), we have quite an interesting pair. Two single DD IEMs, one a flagship and the other a budget offering and a sequel to an IEM that I didn't like all that much. The Illumination, our dear flagship single DD, is something I've had a particular interest in before it had a name, and was simply referred to as "the Moondrop flagship single DD". Given the context of Moondrop's successes during that period with the B2 and the S8, such a product being in development should by all standards be quite appealing. And it was. Similarly, the SSP promises to rectify the problems that the SSR had, and hopefully out itself as a particularly competitive offering in the $50 budget IEM space. The competition, while stiff, isn't exactly what I'd call amazing either, which leaves the SSP quite a bit of room to work with in terms of differentiating itself from its competitors.
Unfortunately, all the above is just what-ifs and could-have-beens. In theory, both of these IEMs could have been great. In practice, things are not so cheery.
I really don’t know what to think of the SSP as a SSR replacement. The SSR was squarely not a good IEM, and it’s kind of disappointing to say the SSP isn’t much better. The main difference between the two, bass response, sounds heavyhanded and overly midbassy on the SSP compared to the restrained but arguably more tasteful SSR. I guess the best I can say about it is that it slams fairly hard, but it’s not even good slam. It doesn’t have any thickness to attacks, it's not particularly weighty or nuanced, it just doesn’t do anything interesting. It’s really mediocre all things considered. That aside, bass texturing and transients are about the same on the SSP as they are the SSR, that is to say nothing special for a $40 IEM.
And oh dear... the midrange. I mean, I guess it doesn’t sound bad for the same reasons as the SSR, but now it’s a whole nother bag of worms. Unlike the SSR, the SSP no longer sounds as abnormally lean even in alto registers and has embraced a bona fide shout and belt sound. This, unsurprisingly, comes with its own level of harshness that scales the higher up in the upper midrange you go. I’d argue this is even less pleasant than the SSR, which, while obviously absurdly shouty, was more excessively lean throughout the midrange than it was truly harsh. Combine this with the poor bass and its rather middling technicalities and... eugh, this IEM is really not great. I seriously question why this was even made. Bass was the least of the SSR's issues, and not only have they ruined one of the SSR's few redeeming factors but they've also failed to improve on the excessive upper midrange, instead iterating on it, if not arguably making it worse. What a disappointment.
The Illumination, on the other hand, is more strange. At outset, nothing seems wrong with it. The tonality is a bit warm, midbassy and upper mid tilted in a slightly shouty manner. Not a particularly bad start, if a bit milquetoast. But the real issue lies in its intangibles. Transients sound soft and indistinct which lends a real lack of definition to sound. There is a particular lack of cymbal impact that leads to something of a paradox: the Illumination is obviously not a dark IEM, but thanks to the lack of stick impact to give transient cues to cymbals, it gives the impression of being strangely dark without really being dark in any way. It’s similarly undynamic, and in the ever-dreaded downwards compression manner. This leads to the Illumination sounding incredibly boring and dull.
And it’s not like it has the technical ability to back it up either. The Illumination resolves more like the Starfield or Kanas Pro than it does a true $800 IEM. In fact, that's exactly how I'd describe the Illumination: a retuned Kanas Pro or Starfield. Considering I wasn't really fond of either of those IEMs' tunings in the first place, I suppose this isn't an inherently bad thing, until you take into account the fact that neither of those IEMs came close to the $800 Illumination is being billed at. Compared to the competition at its price range, it is sorely outmatched. In the single DD marketplace, way, way cheaper offerings like the ER2 or the FDX1 massively outresolve it on top of having much more engaging intangible performance. There is a very concrete sense of what is the point with the Illumination, which is quite disappointing especially given I was looking forward to the fabled Moondrop single DD flagship for quite a while.
So there you have it. It appears the last 3 offerings from Moondrop have been quite a bit of a swing and a miss, especially given how surprisingly good their run was prior to this. One wonders if they've just lost their footing temporarily or if this is a sign of trends to follow, and I sincerely hope it is not the latter.
Score:
Illumination: 4/10
Super Spaceship Pulse: 2/10
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I love the illumination and think it smokes both the er2xr and fdx1 like snoop dogg hotboxing in a phone booth. Given the mixed the impressions so far, I wonder if the vented acoustic chamber functions differently based on people’s ear size/anatomy.
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A (Belated) Christmas Miracle: Moondrop S8:
Oh boy, if this isn’t a review that’s been delayed to hell and back. Throughout the year I’ve tried (and failed) to find time to review the S8, and it’s kind of become a running joke of sorts. But on the very last possible day (because shops are closed on the 31st, duh) I dragged myself out to give it a proper evaluation, complete with comparisons to IEMs the S8 is often mentioned in the same sentence with. I suppose it does no good to delay the already belated review, so best to get right onto it.
Being a full BA, bass on the S8 isn’t exactly a strong suit. I mean, it’s not extremely flabby, and it has decent impact for a BA. But comparison with the much cheaper (and not all that resolving, bass-wise) Blessing 2 shows a pretty severe deficiency in bass texture and decay. It’s probably nitpicking, but something about a cheaper budget model outperforming a model that’s, at the very least, upper midrange, strikes me as off. I would rather Moondrop have placed their hybrid at the S8’s pricepoint and their full BA at the B2’s pricepoint, but I digress. There’s certainly worse in the BA bass department, but this is hardly worthy of standing next to the likes of the Violet or the U12t.
Ah yes... the midrange. Where the music lives, so to speak. The S8’s famed midrange is... pretty good. I mean, it’s a little shouty and a hair too forward for its own good, but that aside, it has a pretty even balance and it doesn’t sound too lean like many other Harman inspired tunings tend to be. Directly against my Viento-B CIEM, I can say that it’s a little more forward, but at the same time perhaps a bit more full bodied. I think the Viento’s frequency balance is more even, and the S8 potentially being too midcentric, but this is hardly a dealbreaker. They’re certainly not identical despite what some may have you believe, but I don’t think they’re too far off from each other. The B2, on the other hand, sounds almost V shaped in comparison to both the S8 and the Viento, though much more so with the S8. It’s not terrible sounding, but it makes it seem unrefined in comparison. To put it in short, the S8’s mids are pretty damn competent.
And now the treble. I previously lambasted the B2’s treble for a perceived level of sharpness in its treble. Graphs don’t really account for it, but upon further review it does feel more like a transient behavior than a frequency one, which makes sense. This is especially apparent with violins, where it sounds more like an overly sharp attack with slightly ringy decay. With cymbals it more sounds like there’s a peak somewhere.
But this review isn’t about the B2. It’s about the S8. The S8’s treble makes a first impression of not being as rough and scratchy as the B2’s, and it’s actually quite nice to listen to all around. Further listening, however, reveals a couple of caveats. Firstly, that there appears to be a similar sort of a treble behavior between the S8 and something like the U12t, except less extreme. By this I mean that there is a mild mid-treble dip with some comparative emphasis past 10khz. Graphs corroborate this. As for whether or not it sounds bad... eh. It could certainly do to be a bit more even, but I don’t find it sibilant or sharp like the B2, or slightly splashy or resonant like the Viento is at times. I think it’s a decent compromise between having a good level of energy and extension while still being smooth.
Intangibles are the downfall of many an IEM, and countless well tuned IEMs have met untimely fates when faced with the categories of dynamics or detail retrieval. Well it’s best to just put it upfront I suppose: the S8 isn’t bad intangibly, but it’s not mindblowing either. I suppose it’s unfair to start off with comparisons to IEMs 2-3x its price, so let’s compare it to the B2. The B2 was kind of in the upper middle of the road in terms of dynamic performance, that is to say, not awful, but not worthy of standing at the top tier either. The S8 is a tier below the B2 in macrodynamic swings and microdynamic delineation, tending towards loudness compression. In particular, on music that I know well from regular listening with the U12t and Utopia, it lacks nuance. The B2 is equally lacking in microdynamism, but performs better in large dynamic swings.
Where the S8 succeeds and the B2 fails, however, is coherence. The B2 had a notable issue with coherency throughout the frequency range; the slightly smoothed over bass was too slow for the slightly recessed BA midrange, which was in turn mismatched with the scratchier and sharper BA treble. The S8 has none of this. It’s overall very coherent from top to bottom; perhaps not as much as the Viento, but enough to give it a run for its money. I can appreciate this a lot. As for detail retrieval, the S8 seems to perform as expected for the price. Certainly behind the Z1R and U12t, but better than the B2 (in part thanks to the clarity that cleaner treble and fuller mids impart) and about on par with the Viento. Microdetail is the main department where it falls behind the U12t, but barely any IEM is good at microdetail anyways so this is effectively a nitpick.
Staging is an interesting one. The B2’s stage was commented by some as feeling more open than other IEMs, somewhat surpassing the sonic wall if you do. On further review, I can hear what they’re saying. I’m not sure if I agree entirely though. It certainly does have a degree of openness and a level of out-of-the-head staging, but I don’t know if this is enough to truly consider it as having surpassed the sonic wall. The S8, on the other hand, is firmly within the sonic wall, and its staging is stuck within the shell. Kind of a shame, but it is what it is. Despite this, I think the S8 layers better than the B2. It’s surprisingly competent in this department and does a good job at capturing stuff in the mix that might otherwise be buried. Interesting how these things work, and certainly a point of merit in the S8’s favor.
But I think the million dollar question is whether or not the S8 has its place with the B2 providing strong competition at a much cheaper price point. And I think... yes, it does. It’s more coherent than the B2, with a cleaner treble response, and better technicalities across the board. These might seem like inconsequential nitpicks, but I think they cover the remaining ground that the B2 lacked in regards to being a true kilobuck competitor. In this sense, the S8 is the flagship competitor IEM that many people hyped the B2 up to be, but I certainly didn’t think was worthy of. What I would really love to hear is a fusion of the S8’s refinement in the treble and coherency with some of the B2’s more oddball characteristics, like the DD bass and the slightly out-of-the-head staging (which I personally suspect might be thanks to the vent on the shell, which is almost definitely for the DD). But I digress.
Of course, it’s double the price, but I think that someone who likes the VSDF sound may be hard pressed to find better elsewhere given Moondrop’s failure to follow up on the S8 and B2. I don’t think the Viento is a true upgrade path, as it accomplishes different things as a whole. To this end, I’m going to say that the S8 is recommended, and deserves to be placed above the B2 in terms of scoring.
All listening was done out of the WM1A’s 3.5mm jack.
Good note to end the year on, I think. I was almost going to cover the new Campfire DDs, but I would rather not end a bad year with a review like that. Best to keep things a little positive and hope that next year will prove better.
Score: 7/10
Oh boy, if this isn’t a review that’s been delayed to hell and back. Throughout the year I’ve tried (and failed) to find time to review the S8, and it’s kind of become a running joke of sorts. But on the very last possible day (because shops are closed on the 31st, duh) I dragged myself out to give it a proper evaluation, complete with comparisons to IEMs the S8 is often mentioned in the same sentence with. I suppose it does no good to delay the already belated review, so best to get right onto it.
Being a full BA, bass on the S8 isn’t exactly a strong suit. I mean, it’s not extremely flabby, and it has decent impact for a BA. But comparison with the much cheaper (and not all that resolving, bass-wise) Blessing 2 shows a pretty severe deficiency in bass texture and decay. It’s probably nitpicking, but something about a cheaper budget model outperforming a model that’s, at the very least, upper midrange, strikes me as off. I would rather Moondrop have placed their hybrid at the S8’s pricepoint and their full BA at the B2’s pricepoint, but I digress. There’s certainly worse in the BA bass department, but this is hardly worthy of standing next to the likes of the Violet or the U12t.
Ah yes... the midrange. Where the music lives, so to speak. The S8’s famed midrange is... pretty good. I mean, it’s a little shouty and a hair too forward for its own good, but that aside, it has a pretty even balance and it doesn’t sound too lean like many other Harman inspired tunings tend to be. Directly against my Viento-B CIEM, I can say that it’s a little more forward, but at the same time perhaps a bit more full bodied. I think the Viento’s frequency balance is more even, and the S8 potentially being too midcentric, but this is hardly a dealbreaker. They’re certainly not identical despite what some may have you believe, but I don’t think they’re too far off from each other. The B2, on the other hand, sounds almost V shaped in comparison to both the S8 and the Viento, though much more so with the S8. It’s not terrible sounding, but it makes it seem unrefined in comparison. To put it in short, the S8’s mids are pretty damn competent.
And now the treble. I previously lambasted the B2’s treble for a perceived level of sharpness in its treble. Graphs don’t really account for it, but upon further review it does feel more like a transient behavior than a frequency one, which makes sense. This is especially apparent with violins, where it sounds more like an overly sharp attack with slightly ringy decay. With cymbals it more sounds like there’s a peak somewhere.
But this review isn’t about the B2. It’s about the S8. The S8’s treble makes a first impression of not being as rough and scratchy as the B2’s, and it’s actually quite nice to listen to all around. Further listening, however, reveals a couple of caveats. Firstly, that there appears to be a similar sort of a treble behavior between the S8 and something like the U12t, except less extreme. By this I mean that there is a mild mid-treble dip with some comparative emphasis past 10khz. Graphs corroborate this. As for whether or not it sounds bad... eh. It could certainly do to be a bit more even, but I don’t find it sibilant or sharp like the B2, or slightly splashy or resonant like the Viento is at times. I think it’s a decent compromise between having a good level of energy and extension while still being smooth.
Intangibles are the downfall of many an IEM, and countless well tuned IEMs have met untimely fates when faced with the categories of dynamics or detail retrieval. Well it’s best to just put it upfront I suppose: the S8 isn’t bad intangibly, but it’s not mindblowing either. I suppose it’s unfair to start off with comparisons to IEMs 2-3x its price, so let’s compare it to the B2. The B2 was kind of in the upper middle of the road in terms of dynamic performance, that is to say, not awful, but not worthy of standing at the top tier either. The S8 is a tier below the B2 in macrodynamic swings and microdynamic delineation, tending towards loudness compression. In particular, on music that I know well from regular listening with the U12t and Utopia, it lacks nuance. The B2 is equally lacking in microdynamism, but performs better in large dynamic swings.
Where the S8 succeeds and the B2 fails, however, is coherence. The B2 had a notable issue with coherency throughout the frequency range; the slightly smoothed over bass was too slow for the slightly recessed BA midrange, which was in turn mismatched with the scratchier and sharper BA treble. The S8 has none of this. It’s overall very coherent from top to bottom; perhaps not as much as the Viento, but enough to give it a run for its money. I can appreciate this a lot. As for detail retrieval, the S8 seems to perform as expected for the price. Certainly behind the Z1R and U12t, but better than the B2 (in part thanks to the clarity that cleaner treble and fuller mids impart) and about on par with the Viento. Microdetail is the main department where it falls behind the U12t, but barely any IEM is good at microdetail anyways so this is effectively a nitpick.
Staging is an interesting one. The B2’s stage was commented by some as feeling more open than other IEMs, somewhat surpassing the sonic wall if you do. On further review, I can hear what they’re saying. I’m not sure if I agree entirely though. It certainly does have a degree of openness and a level of out-of-the-head staging, but I don’t know if this is enough to truly consider it as having surpassed the sonic wall. The S8, on the other hand, is firmly within the sonic wall, and its staging is stuck within the shell. Kind of a shame, but it is what it is. Despite this, I think the S8 layers better than the B2. It’s surprisingly competent in this department and does a good job at capturing stuff in the mix that might otherwise be buried. Interesting how these things work, and certainly a point of merit in the S8’s favor.
But I think the million dollar question is whether or not the S8 has its place with the B2 providing strong competition at a much cheaper price point. And I think... yes, it does. It’s more coherent than the B2, with a cleaner treble response, and better technicalities across the board. These might seem like inconsequential nitpicks, but I think they cover the remaining ground that the B2 lacked in regards to being a true kilobuck competitor. In this sense, the S8 is the flagship competitor IEM that many people hyped the B2 up to be, but I certainly didn’t think was worthy of. What I would really love to hear is a fusion of the S8’s refinement in the treble and coherency with some of the B2’s more oddball characteristics, like the DD bass and the slightly out-of-the-head staging (which I personally suspect might be thanks to the vent on the shell, which is almost definitely for the DD). But I digress.
Of course, it’s double the price, but I think that someone who likes the VSDF sound may be hard pressed to find better elsewhere given Moondrop’s failure to follow up on the S8 and B2. I don’t think the Viento is a true upgrade path, as it accomplishes different things as a whole. To this end, I’m going to say that the S8 is recommended, and deserves to be placed above the B2 in terms of scoring.
All listening was done out of the WM1A’s 3.5mm jack.
Good note to end the year on, I think. I was almost going to cover the new Campfire DDs, but I would rather not end a bad year with a review like that. Best to keep things a little positive and hope that next year will prove better.
Score: 7/10
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hi-fi amateur
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Welcome back Animus. FiiO and Dunu have new single DD iem’s. Maybe you can take a look when you have time.
I agree with the statement that: S8 is still above B2 in terms of technicalities (detail retrieval) and mid-range timbre alone. At first listen, the B2 shines with its bass (although it is slower than S8's BA bass) and very clear separation of instruments. However I don't think B2 competes on the same level as S8 does. I know these tracks well and immediately I notice loss in detail retrieval or difficulty focusing/hearing these little tid bits. For S8 I could distinguish 4-6 lines of music (???) while on B2 I can count about 3-4. That is the amount of "Things Going On" that I could focus my attention on with ease. Also, the mids are a weak point for the B2s. It sounds V-shaped even if graphs do not show it. The S8 wins hands down with the warmish and fully bodied mid range.
Perhaps in the future, Moondrop can marry the benefits of both S8 and B2 and come out with a 8+1 hybrid under the 1k mark. I'd swap out that paper cone DD with a more potent one. Or tweak it in some way to be snappier. It has the quantity and bass volume, but IMO it is a cheap sounding bass like a car stereo bass.
What would you recommend for an S8 owner to be the next upgrade target? Mest? U12T?
Or something that will have price between those two and will call day no matter price models
also could be smaller shell and narrower nozzle or shallower settlement for friendlier use True upgrade paths from the S8? I'm not sure if that exists. There are plenty of IEMs that I would consider overall upgrades, but you would be trading some things off, generally tonality.
- U12t is a good option. Full BA like S8, better dynamics and bass, better detail, timbre, layering and staging all around. The main thing is that the tonality is completely different different, so you may not end up liking what you get into.
- Viento ends up as more of a diagonal-grade with it going more horizontal than vertical. You lose some of the layering ability and treble cleanliness but get slightly better tonal balance and top tier coherence.
- Z1R is a bit of an oddball path up. V-shaped as opposed to midforward, but similar smoothness in the treble and top tier bass with great staging. A lot of S8 owners I know seem to like this path, probably because there's a similar upper midrange tilt on the Z1R as there is the S8.
- If Z1R is too V-shaped, M9 could be good. Great timbre, better detail, overall fairly coherent, main issue is that it's a little too laidback for its own good and its layering is kinda eh. There are people who love that kind of presentation though.
- If you're an absolute stickler for neutrality and don't care that much about dynamics or timbre or the like, VX or PP8 could also be considered. I really don't recommend these that much over Viento or M9 because they sound completely dead to me, but I can see some S8 users liking it.
- MEST... eh. I haven't reviewed it yet, but I'll put a quick note on it here: it's not bad, but it's not really great either. The bass is good, but it lacks character compared to Z1R, CE-5, EX1K, or even cheaper stuff like ER2XR or N3. The midrange seemingly has some variance between units; Crin's unit sounded a little upper midrange forward to me (probably because I can't insert it all the way) and another owner's unit which I was able to fit properly sounded overly thick and upper mid recessed, which matches what a lot of people say about it (though this unit does measure as having less pinna than Crin's). The treble is not particularly noteworthy. I can't for the life of me tell what the bone conduction driver is supposed to be doing. Overall, at $1.5k it's outmatched by even something like the Dawn or Nio. I don't recommend it very much because I think it fails to fit into any real niche, especially given the pricepoint.
TooPoorForHiFi
Previously known as MidNighTempest
REUQEST~! When you get a chance of course
~ MoonDrop Blessing 2: Dusk
~ Acoustune HS1300SS
Both Similar Priced, Curious how they would compare and which one would you personally choose. Hoping to get a present for myself this week.
~ MoonDrop Blessing 2: Dusk
~ Acoustune HS1300SS
Both Similar Priced, Curious how they would compare and which one would you personally choose. Hoping to get a present for myself this week.
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I intend on getting my hands on a Dusk as soon as possible, though I can't say when. The HS1300SS will probably get a writeup the next time I run into one.
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