[RikudouGoku]

variations measurments looks better than what Moondrop posted earlier. Is this the lowest priced iem that includes EST?

The ISN EST50 (1 dd + 2 ba + 2 est) at 460 usd is the cheapest tribrid, cheaper than the EST112 (1 dd + 1 ba + 2 est) at 490 usd.

 

[TheVortex]

The ISN EST50 (1 dd + 2 ba + 2 est) at 460 usd is the cheapest tribrid, cheaper than the EST112 (1 dd + 1 ba + 2 est) at 490 usd.

I want to see people's impressions of the EST50 when folks get them.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

What do you mean by V-tuning? I'm not a fan of V tunings. Especially when vocals start to sound recessed and I don't like elevated bass especially when it starts to get muddy or bleed in the mids, especially with faster music. (as an example I did not enjoy the blon bl 03, bass too elevated for anything imho)

I prefer my SSR over the Aria. (both have been burned in well btw almost 100 hours if not more)

The Aria is just there for the wider soundstage (altho sometimes I find it kind of a faux width extension and imaging isn't as precise as the SSR). Instruments really suffer with the Aria when there's a singer in the very center image as I feel the Aria is tuned for the vocal intimacy as it really excels by separating the vocals from the mix (a little too much sometimes). Hence the sense of thinness in the mix when listening to the Aria.

But with less busy tracks, such as violins or pianos and acoustic instruments, the Aria seems to be okay for those kinds of timbres. Also for certain tracks like Rage Against the Machine (self titled album), the Aria gives a better sense of space and is more enggaging while the SSR just flattens the stage of the mix. But for the most part I still prefer the tuning and presentation of the SSR most of the time as it just is a more cohesive with the mix as a whole.

The Starfield with its warmth would have been nice if it wasn't smeared with the details and slower and muddier bass. I'm still interested in the KXXS, but maybe I should check out something else more different and cheaper first to widen my options (rather than a sister of the Aria) like the HZSound Heart Mirror which I heard has good mids, controlled bass and pretty much neutral with a slightly less bright presentation compared to the SSR). and apologies if it's inappropriate to mention another brand in this thread.
Or maybe I should start with some cable upgrades first? any suggestions on what kind of specs or even brands to look out for?

I removed the iron grill but not the mesh underneath. I think I read it somewhere on a youtube comment or here somewhere, not sure if it was from you that it was just out of control with both filters out. Anyways, I'll try to give it another go sometime to see what happens with other genres. Last night was just a quick test for me with prog metal tracks, coldplay, and kurt elling.

Aria original tuning is V type, well all harman curve are slightly toward v shape too, there is no surprise.

 

[SemiAudiophile]

Looks like Dusk V2.0. Slightly more V-shaped than its earlier brethren.

Bass is about 2-3dB higher than usual. A little more than Dusk. I hope the bass has good timbre.

At around 200hz which is where vocals would be... I would be a little worried about vocal thinness. Which was already an issue with B2 / B2Dusk.

I think all in all it depends whether fans would enjoy the 3khz and 6khz peaks. It can be said that 4khz-8khz to be the Moondrop house sound and their "Diffused-field tuning" on top of their presentation of the Harmon Standard. If we took out the 3/6 peaks we would arrive at something like a QDC tuning, which I'm fond of as well. Probably getting into the realms of "Total Inoffensiveness". Of course there are well established opponents in this arena: Andromeda / QDC Anole VX / Dunu SA6.

Eventually I would like to see Moondrop release a TOTL iem with those peaks removed. Slap a better DD and cable in there. I would then order a custom and retire from the hobby forever.

I'm expecting it to sound like the Dusk with a little more sub bass and more treble extension. Hopefully, they improved the soundstage too. The only faults I could find on the Dusk really...bass was more than enough but I guess even moar bass couldn't hurt right?

Anyone have a graph comparison with the S8? I thought that was supposed to be the older brother to the Dusk, so might be a better comparison to the Variations.

I just received the Oracle, so just waiting on the Variations now to complete the Trifecta...then we can finally get a "Tribrid Battle Of The Ages" between EST 112, Oracle, and Variations.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Crinacle’s impression on Variations is up. As well as measurements.

upper mid tuning: close to D

Upper mid& Treble tuning: close to RSV

higher treble & air; close to Solis

Overall tuming : close to Monarch except upper mid gain speak( Monarch 2.5khz typical harman peak vs 3khz Variations /Dusk/RSV), Variations is forward leaned mod of Monarch for upper mid& mid bass, which perfectly aligned with my desired tweaks

Variations & Oracle: roughly close but upper mid focus is different, treble is smoothed out on Oracle, a bit mid bass elevated on Oracle

my variations arrived at neaby Airport, should receive on Monday.

 

[SteveK27]

Crinacle’s impression on Variations is up. As well as measurements.

upper mid tuning: close to D




Upper mid& Treble tuning: close to RSV


higher treble & air; close to Solis


Overall tuming : close to Monarch except upper mid gain speak( Monarch 2.5khz typical harman peak vs 3khz Variations /Dusk/RSV)


Variations & Oracle: roughly close but upper mid focus is different, treble is smoothed out on Oracle, a bit mid bass elevated on Oracle


my variations arrived at neaby Airport, should receive on Monday.

Thanks the in-depth breakdown of the frequency response. Honestly I'm most curious about your impression haha

Let us know when you get a chance to listen

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Looks like Dusk V2.0. Slightly more V-shaped than its earlier brethren.

Bass is about 2-3dB higher than usual. A little more than Dusk. I hope the bass has good timbre.

At around 200hz which is where vocals would be... I would be a little worried about vocal thinness. Which was already an issue with B2 / B2Dusk.

I think all in all it depends whether fans would enjoy the 3khz and 6khz peaks. It can be said that 4khz-8khz to be the Moondrop house sound and their "Diffused-field tuning" on top of their presentation of the Harmon Standard. If we took out the 3/6 peaks we would arrive at something like a QDC tuning, which I'm fond of as well. Probably getting into the realms of "Total Inoffensiveness". Of course there are well established opponents in this arena: Andromeda / QDC Anole VX / Dunu SA6.

Eventually I would like to see Moondrop release a TOTL iem with those peaks removed. Slap a better DD and cable in there. I would then order a custom and retire from the hobby forever.

As far as I know Moondrop / Softears is gain spot hitter, with target pinna gain originally set around 2.5-2.8khz to old Harman curve, then gradually shifting toward 3khz(RSV>Dusk>Sparks>Variations). 6khz concha gain seemed very persistent too, while they removed that peak on high-end series (Softears RSV) which is also my target curve visualized( i noticed BGGAR also mentioned his favorite is RSV and he only hoped it to be dynamic driver based)


I also hoped Moondrop to take care of that 6khz tuning which directly affects vocal/instrument’s harshness. which they did for Variations (6khz dusk vs 6khz Yume) while other tuning except super tweeter remained very close)

See Audio took that approach and made 6khz concha gain peak smoothed.

If there is Variations minor model change, I may hope to tone down 8khz. Like to RSV or Oracle level.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Variations arrived: burning-in per instructions enclosed (at least 10 hours, and preferably 100+ hours)

Cross review incoming

Love the case!

Size comparison vs blessing2 sisters:

TLDL; Variations is a dope IEM. Monarch/Aria-inspired Dusk on crack.
-Gain spot hitter for bass/upper mid, this is the first one and the only IEM that could hit both gain spots. Aria/MEST MKII could hit bass spot, Dusk/RSV could hit upper mid spot. Variations could hit both.

Out of the box comment:
-RSV’s 3khz is present. Upper-mid S-tier tuning. Well they use same Softears-MID, with same tuning, so not a surprise but it sounds RSV’s upper-mid just a like, coordination positioning very high. HRTF

-Monarch’s bass is a thing of the past now..LCP bass with sub-bass focus and yet not lacking critical “beef” for mid-bass OOTB it’s still slow sounding like Aria’s out of the box performance, from my experience LCP drivers takes around 30hours to get first phase of burn-in, and gradually matures and getting speed toward 100 hours. This is a good sign that Variations indeed is LCP driver bass!

-Treble resembles to Monarch’s “out of the box” tuning, Probably need first 10 hours to get stable. Crash cymbals right now sounds a bit too loose, which is same impression I felt with Monarch’s, it will get stabilized as burn-in kicks in. Thanks to fine tuned 6khz, no signs of harshness.

-confirmed Stock cable is same one I have: 6N OCC single crystal copper coaxial pure copper cable, with modulated 2.5mm balanced, 3.5mm SE, 4.4mm balanced. This is exactly what I needed, becuase original Blessing2 were 3.5mm SE only and they didn’t like other cables; the original tuning is perfect. Now the perfect tuning is already there, and now I have 4.4mm balanced to run! And swapping to 3.5mm for ipad dongle for letting it burn-in during nights without damaging IEM pin parts

-overall: from expected incoming burn-in finish, I can say Variations is the penta driver tribrid maturity. S+ tuning, S- technicalities. With $520 and no need to purchase additional cables/ear tips, I can see Variations is highest price to value benchmark to beat.

-Only nitpick for me is that I wanted to have quad driver mid, like Sonion-quad Mid equipped Mangird Tea

-This high praise does not guarantee a magic. Variations is not one IEM to beat all, one thing Variations is not capable of is 10BA+ class super layering, resolution is top notch, just the separation which some IEM like qdc Anole VX is capable of

 

[pomegren8]

Aria original tuning is V type, well all harman curve are slightly toward v shape too, there is no surprise.

Yup i'm aware that the Aria is V shaped. And is also another reason why I prefer the SSR over the Aria in most cases because I do prefer the neutral tuning.

 

[SteveK27]

Variations arrived: burning-in per instructions enclosed (at least 10 hours, and preferably 100+ hours)


Cross review incoming


Love the case!

Size comparison vs blessing2 sisters:


One last comment: Monarch’s bass is a thing of the past now..LCP bass with sub-bass focus and yet not lacking critical “beef” for mid-bass

Super excited about this!!!

 

[Capo Dei Capi]

Does anybody know anything about the Aurora?

 

[SemiAudiophile]

Variations arrived: burning-in per instructions enclosed (at least 10 hours, and preferably 100+ hours)


Cross review incoming


Love the case!

Size comparison vs blessing2 sisters:


One last comment:
-RSV’s 3khz is present. Upper-mid S-tier tuning. Well they use same Softears-MID, with same tuning, so not a surprise but it sounds RSV’s upper-mid just a like, coordination positioning very high. HRTF

-Monarch’s bass is a thing of the past now..LCP bass with sub-bass focus and yet not lacking critical “beef” for mid-bass OOTB it’s still slow sounding like Aria’s out of the box performance, from my experience LCP drivers takes around 30hours to get first phase of burn-in, and gradually matures and getting speed toward 100 hours. This is a good sign that Variations indeed is LCP driver bass!

-Treble resembles to Monarch’s “out of the box” tuning, Probably need first 10 hours to get stable. Crash cymbals right now sounds a bit too loose, which is same impression I felt with Monarch’s, it will get stabilized as burn-in kicks in

-confirmed Stock cable is same one I have: 6N OCC single crystal copper coaxial pure copper cable, with modulated 2.5mm balanced, 3.5mm SE, 4.4mm balanced. This is exactly what I needed, becuase original Blessing2 were 3.5mm SE only and they didn’t like other cables; the original tuning is perfect. Now the perfect tuning is already there, and now I have 4.4mm balanced to run! And swapping to 3.5mm for ipad dongle for letting it burn-in during nights without damaging IEM pin parts

Are those stock tips on the Variations? They look a little different than the ones that come with Blessing 2.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Are those stock tips on the Variations? They look a little different than the ones that come with Blessing 2.

Yea it’s stock tip, they have wider opening bore compared to stock tips of Blessing2.

 

[voicemaster]

Guess I will have mine today. Just got notification that it was out for delivery.

 

[voicemaster]

So, it doesn't take long for DHL to deliver my package. I was driving home and passed a DHL van, so I was hopeful that he/she just delivered my package. True enough it was my Moondrop Variations .