[AmericanSpirit]

huh, i thought most people thought b2/s8 is the more so-called "eastern" tuning (more emphasis on mids/highs and less bass) vs the more bassy/v-curved "western"?

V-shape is especially welcomed in Japanese audio maker, Sony, Audiotechnica has many V-tuned series across their line.
Traditional Harman target curve, is studied based on western preference, AKG curve in the other way.

Samsung acquired Harman (parent of AKG), and we can see their galaxy series has very high fidelity with traditional Harman curve.

Western : prefers “meaty” mid-bass
Eastern : prefers less “mid-bass bleeding”

if over polarized:
western: muscling presentation: “powerful and impactful”
Eastern: feminine presentation : “clean and fast”

instrumental focusing priority:
Blessing2:
Low Tom> Floor Tom> High Tom> Guitar = Bass guitar > Male Vocal = hihats = Piano = crash cymbals =Synthesizer > bass drum / ride cymbals> female vocals = snare drum > keyboard bgm

Dusk:
Female Vocal > Floor tom = bass drum = snare drums > ride cymbals = synthesizer > Guitar = Piano> Male Vocal > crash cymbals =
keyboard bgm> High Tom > Low Tom > Bass Guitar

Which I prefer?
For J-Pop/K-pop, EDM/Trance, Jazz with extreme drum focus(i.e. Dave Weckl band), Violin/Viola/Piccolo/flute focus classical and anything with higher pitched vocals: Dusk

For American Rock/Metal, American Pops, instrumentals, Post-rocks, Jazz with male vocals and wood bass, anything with Piano focused. Full orchestral: Original Blessing2

 

[pomegren8]

With the Tri SPC cable>Moondrop Aria w/ adhesive removed from hex guards>BGVP A07 tips configuration, the midrange and treble is perfection to me. I only wish the bass were about 2dB stronger but Moondrop said they were not considering a slightly bass-boosted Aria when I asked them just now unlike what they did for the KXXX

arent the kanas pros the bassier Aria haha? KXXX looks sleek with the plain matte black. was that only a limited run?

forgot to mention. removing the adhesive ring from the Aria grill makes the grill more brittle and easy to snap into two pieces... um. dont ask me how I know that.

 

[Barusu Lamperouge]

hey folks. finally received my variations..

some quick notes on it..

when I first received it, sound quite thin mids and distant.. little mid bass and more sub bass.. treble sounded good but a bit of grain.


after about 10 hrs of burn in I find the mid bass is a bit better.. mids not so distant and treble smoothing out but still detailed.

they are growing on me..but still not as good as my st7

soundstage seems about average.

build quality is okay (one of the filter fell off but they sent a pack) .. fits big but well and wears a bit heavy.

cable seems good .. not amazing but good enough for me not wanting to upgrade it.

It seems your set is out of phase or has some issues with it. Maybe you should check them once and try with a different cable to see if the issues aren't with stock cable pins.

 

[430633]

arent the kanas pros the bassier Aria haha? KXXX looks sleek with the plain matte black. was that only a limited run?

forgot to mention. removing the adhesive ring from the Aria grill makes the grill more brittle and easy to snap into two pieces... um. dont ask me how I know that.

KXXX is a (Mass)Drop collab edition which has mildly boosted bass. Still appears on the site from time to time.

How did you manage to snap the grill??

Oh btw the Kanas Pros are tuned differently from the trio. I want to retain the exact same mids and highs so they are a no-go in that sense
https://reference-audio-analyzer.pro/en/report/hp/moondrop-kanas-pro.php#gsc.tab=0
https://reference-audio-analyzer.pro/en/report/hp/moondrop-kxxs.php#gsc.tab=0

 

[blacksesame]

I think with those large bore Azla tips you may be missing out on a decent amount of low end. I tried a pair of Spinfit CP155's which aren't wide bore tips but are wider than the stock silicones and was surprised how much of the low end that was lost. I expected some but not as much as I heard. Of course the 155's make for deeper insertion which probably played a role too. That said, I haven't tried the Azla's. Were you able to get them onto the stems without losing the adhesive filters? I think that any tip that has to be stretched a fair amount to slide onto the stem is going to risk pulling off those filters. I was tempted to try a Spinfit CP145 as well (smaller bore and not as long as the CP155) but the stock tips are comfortable and seal well for me so I didn't bother (yet, anyway).

Variations are more focused on subbass but I'm not really finding the midbass to be lacking. I think one reviewer mentioned 4 string bass being buried but I haven't found that to be the case. I'm finding that the low end tuning strikes a pretty good balance between midbass energy and clarity. The "cost" may be a bit less body in the lower mids but personally, I'm liking the tuning.

thanks I'll look into the narrow bore tips. hopefully that doesn't boost the sub bass? it's already borderline too much for me.

 

[blacksesame]

It seems your set is out of phase or has some issues with it. Maybe you should check them once and try with a different cable to see if the issues aren't with stock cable pins.

I did switch to the older moondrop cable I got from Kanas pro and it does sound better... im afraid to switch the cable back and forth for a comparison..its pretty tight

 

[pomegren8]

If you arw forgiving for rather small sound stage, Tea has quad Sonion mid driver which produces very nice mid

Is the Tea one of those iems that just make the mids tasteful and any recording sound good? or are they unapologetic if something is not mastered properly? I'd rather have something unapologetic if the mixing or recoding isn't on point. Basically something that could take the place of the Sundara for serious listening when I don't feel like wearing a headphone (and it gets hot in the summer here, main reason why I entered the IEM world this year haha!)

I wonder if the B2/Variations are more revealing in that sense compared to the Tea. Is the harshness of the treble on the B2 considered grainy on harsh recordings while the Variations smooths things out for a natural timbre? or is it totally something else?
I don't really want something that just smooths things out for pleasure. I'd rather have pleasure when something is mastered right and if it isn't I want the headphone to be honest about it as well. But I also don't want harshness when something is mastered right as well and that's really what I'm after and looking for.

edit: dont get me wrong though, pleasure iems are welcome and can come after I already have an analytical iem in that sense. My priority is to own more revealing sets first and then I can have stuff that's soothing after.

 

[pomegren8]

KXXX is a (Mass)Drop collab edition which has mildly boosted bass. Still appears on the site from time to time.

How did you manage to snap the grill??

Oh btw the Kanas Pros are tuned differently from the trio. I want to retain the exact same mids and highs so they are a no-go in that sense
https://reference-audio-analyzer.pro/en/report/hp/moondrop-kanas-pro.php#gsc.tab=0
https://reference-audio-analyzer.pro/en/report/hp/moondrop-kxxs.php#gsc.tab=0

Those are some serious graphs in those links! a lot of which I'm not familiar with yet. what an interesting database!
Didn't know the kanas pros were tuned differently enough to the Trio to be considered something else. haha do you have one? how does it differ from the Aria?

It gets quite tricky sometimes to remove the grill and I wanna say it barely bended and it just snapped instantly. I must've went too fast on it while removing the grill after my mod comparisons the other night.

 

[430633]

Those are some serious graphs in those links! a lot of which I'm not familiar with yet. what an interesting database!
Didn't know the kanas pros were tuned differently enough to the Trio to be considered something else. haha do you have one? how does it differ from the Aria?

It gets quite tricky sometimes to remove the grill and I wanna say it barely bended and it just snapped instantly. I must've went too fast on it while removing the grill after my mod comparisons the other night.

I did not have the privilege to own one, no- although my interest in that series blossomed really early, the Aria is my first venture into it

Ikr! I wish the grills would be more easily non-destructively removed. As of now, my method employed is to use a fine needle, target one of the corner-most holes of the hex, and lift it out from that corner

 

[Rockshit]

moondrop variations vs s8 which one sounds better? Which model to buy?

 

[Ufanco]

Any suggestions on ear tips for variations that might improve sound?

 

[Iron-Buddha]

Any suggestions on ear tips for variations that might improve sound?

My first Moondrop and the large bore means most tips I have don't fit. I'm using small Spinfits at the moment. Deeper insertion, better isolation that stock silicon.

 

[Tomm11]

thanks I'll look into the narrow bore tips. hopefully that doesn't boost the sub bass? it's already borderline too much for me.

It may boost the sub bass some. Sorry if I missed where you stated that they had too much sub bass for your liking.
At any rate, you'd just have to try different tips to see what you like. The only issue with Variations and other Moondrop iems that use those stick on screens/filters is that you risk dislodging the screens when installing and removing tips. Especially if the tips need to be stretched a good bit to install on the stem.

 

[Tomm11]

Any suggestions on ear tips for variations that might improve sound?

I'm good with the stock silicones but I can tell you that Spinfit CP155's reduce the bass by a pretty good clip (at least, they did for me). Aside from that, they are a couple mm longer and were very uncomfortable for me but they do fit the stem very well. I did try the CP145's and it doesn't take much effort to get them on to the stem. I managed to do so without dislodging the adhesive screens. However, I didn't spend much time with them, it was more an experiment with fit. Initial impression was that they sounded ok but again, not enough time to analyze other than to say that they definitely didn't cut the bass like the CP155's did. I didn't try anything else but I think the Epro's with the wider 4.7mm center tube would fit although they'd probably be pretty short. I have some Acoustune AET07's that look like they would fit without a big fight but I haven't tried them. I also have some Symbio's that I think would fit but no plans on trying those ( I find them uncomfortable as hell).

Probably not much help to you seeing how I didn't listen to these tips on the Variations but maybe give you some ideas for what would fit without too much effort and so with less risk of dislodging the screens.

 

[blacksesame]

It may boost the sub bass some. Sorry if I missed where you stated that they had too much sub bass for your liking.
At any rate, you'd just have to try different tips to see what you like. The only issue with Variations and other Moondrop iems that use those stick on screens/filters is that you risk dislodging the screens when installing and removing tips. Especially if the tips need to be stretched a good bit to install on the stem.

yeah.. mine came with one of the filters already off..so I've just removed the other one and using it without the filter.