The following is a screenshot of feedback left to us on our CanJam questionnaire by a show attendee; hope it helps as another point of reference.
Ah, it doesn’t come with a wooden box, at least not for me : ). The box is pretty freaking cool though.
I found the Luna to be more revealing of source, source characteristics, and source quality than the A8000; note this is source hardware I’m referring to, and not the music itself necessarily. I think I’d probably agree the Luna might be more forgiving with music than the A8000 but I honestly wasn’t testing for that when I compared them so I look forward to other people’s thoughts on this.
I agree with the above review, except 2 things, one of which I find funny because it’s completely the opposite! So I’ll offer my opinion too, for whatever that’s worth : )
Pop/pop with vocals: So before listening to the Luna I literally listened to 0 pop music; can’t remember the last time I was into pop. Seriously. I had zero pop. I thought I actually didn’t like pop. At all. I’m not trying to be dramatic; I just literally didn’t like it or listen.
After listening to the Luna, funny thing is that I’ve tried some pop songs now, and to be honest, I’m really appreciating a genre that I haven’t spent time with in a long time maybe since I was a little kid, I dunno.
Vocals in general: I initially had 1-3 days where I thought the vocals might be cold, so I could understand this impression. However, for me, I think narrowed it down to source (it was the iPhone stock dongle I had rotated in during testing).
The stock apple dongle sounds good for what it is and for the price; however, the Luna I think is a bit revealing of source and source characteristics (a characteristic itself which I totally nerd out over and love).
The included DAC pairs well with the sonic signature of the Luna, and adds a bit of midrange maybe, while losing a bit of detail (though to be honest, I haven’t spent much time with this little DAC, so my testing with it so far has been about 2-4 days at 1-2 hrs each, so...2-8 hrs max over a period of days). Seemed to sound better out of computer than iPhone but maybe that was just in my head. If anyone is interested I’ll add that DAC to my next review post which I’m nearly at a final draft for
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For slight comparison of similar dongles: I tried the earstudio HUD100 little DAC/amp at CanJam and it rocked the Luna’s socks off, neat sound quality, and a great option (Especially if it was cheaper, or if you have nothing source-wise and are set with just a mobile setup and want things simple and easy).
With regards to other sources: I liked nearly all other sources I’ve tried with the Luna, except perhaps the Lootoo paw 6000 - and that I only didn’t like because I don’t quite 100% agree with the DAPs sonic signature (for my ears). I look forward to
@davidmolliere thoughts when he gets the Luna. IIRC he seems to enjoy the 6000. Curious to hear what he thinks.
Some other various sources I’ve tried and my impressions with the Luna.
Cayin N6ii; sounds excellent; all modules. Prefer A01 and E01. My daily go-to; otherwise dongle time, see below.
Cayin N8: same as above; tried at CanJam, so not my daily.
Fender lightning dongle: sounds smooth while sacrificing a small bit of detail; but good for a phone. (But now the HUD100...that beats it. With a small loss in portability.).
Chord lightning dongle: also nice; has more a little treble emphasis and detail than the fender, with slight sacrifice in smoothness.
QLS-QA390: sounds nice with Luna. Really nice. Not sure if worth the price. But damn, maybe. Quite nice...still undecided on value.
Fidelice gear: I want all of these things and they all sound wonderful.
The new Cayin tube amp at canjam: sounds really nice; but I think too expensive for the SQ of the amp personally. Maybe better when non stock preamp tubes are used.
Sony DMP-Z1: ”this thing costs $8000? 10k? I forget. Whatever it costs...just no. I think?” It is so “meh” sounding to me; cool gold volume knob though. Was anyone seriously going to listen to this IEM everyday with that anyways? : ). Sorry; I think it was nice but loaded stock music on it made it - bit difficult to tell what’s what. Also, it’s, like, $8k...Jesus. Not for me.
Benchmark’s stuff sounded great too; wish I could A/B Benchmark with Fidelice gear ...
There are a ton of other sources that sounded good, 99% really? I’m sure I missed quite a few. But those above stuck out to me in particular and were ones I got to listen to. Apologies for the ones I have missed - I’ll get back to you at the next CanJam!
Anyways, sorry for my long-winded reply; I hope this helps.
I love that someone didn’t like it with pop, while I thought it made me nearly love pop.
To each their own, seriously. Part of what I love about this hobby.
TLDR; IMO, Luna is a bit revealing of source hardware, I think. This is a good thing. A great thing.
Detailed music retrieval. But manages to do so without coming off as analytical at all; and in fact, comes off as downright pleasurable.
Also, try the new Spinfit XL tips as they work well with Luna for larger ear canals; as do the DK-2001 tips.
edit: additional details. Excuse any typos etc...I wrote this on my phone. My auto correct has completely betrayed me. I’ll write from my laptop from now on
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Hope this helped - long day over here, but I just think the Luna is pretty unique so I love talking about it.
