[glivano]

Heyyy, after a long time considering a lot of IEM brand i think i decide to go get Moondrop starfield but the problem is, can it drive with my samsung galaxy S10+ or HP omen gaming laptop? And i don't really get the "harman neutral tuning" means, can someone explain to me pleaseee

 

[IEMusic]

Heyyy, after a long time considering a lot of IEM brand i think i decide to go get Moondrop starfield but the problem is, can it drive with my samsung galaxy S10+ or HP omen gaming laptop? And i don't really get the "harman neutral tuning" means, can someone explain to me pleaseee

Yes, you should be able drive the Moondrop Starfield from your S10+ easily.

The Harman company, via research, developed a frequency response curve that they consider ideal. In this case, for IEMs. Many IEM developers have used the Harman curve as a target, for tuning their IEMs. Moondrop is one such company, however, they actually have their own target curves, but many are similar to the Harman curve. Below is a graph from the 2017 Harman curve, and also the FR curve of the Starfield. Note, while the Harman curve is liked by many, there are plenty of people who do not like that tuning as is. It is not the end-all, and it is not actually neutral.

 

[surfgeorge]

Maybe to add how they arrive at the Harman target - this is based on the subjective preference of listeners, basically what the average music consumer likes. It has 2 main features, the elevated upper mids, which give it clarity, and the boosted bass with a focus on sub bass.
The potential drawback is a slightly cool midrange, with a little less body to the lower midrange notes like Cello or bass guitar, but that is a matter of preference.
I used to have the „grandfather“ of the Starfield, the Kanas Pro, and it was a revelation to hear the smooth clarity and powerful yet clean low registers. From all that‘s been written the Starfield improves on the Kanas Pro, and should be a very safe pick as long as you don’t look for a warm sound or boosted mid bass.

PS: If you want to get the best out of them, consider adding a DAC to your phone like for example a Tempotec Sonata HD pro from Aliexpress. For $45 this is a nice upgrade to the sound quality (much better than my iPhone SE)

 

[glivano]

Maybe to add how they arrive at the Harman target - this is based on the subjective preference of listeners, basically what the average music consumer likes. It has 2 main features, the elevated upper mids, which give it clarity, and the boosted bass with a focus on sub bass.
The potential drawback is a slightly cool midrange, with a little less body to the lower midrange notes like Cello or bass guitar, but that is a matter of preference.
I used to have the „grandfather“ of the Starfield, the Kanas Pro, and it was a revelation to hear the smooth clarity and powerful yet clean low registers. From all that‘s been written the Starfield improves on the Kanas Pro, and should be a very safe pick as long as you don’t look for a warm sound or boosted mid bass.

PS: If you want to get the best out of them, consider adding a DAC to your phone like for example a Tempotec Sonata HD pro from Aliexpress. For $45 this is a nice upgrade to the sound quality (much better than my iPhone SE)

Besides tempotec can i use DAC from ibasso? Which one is the best?

 

[glivano]

Yes, you should be able drive the Moondrop Starfield from your S10+ easily.

The Harman company, via research, developed a frequency response curve that they consider ideal. In this case, for IEMs. Many IEM developers have used the Harman curve as a target, for tuning their IEMs. Moondrop is one such company, however, they actually have their own target curves, but many are similar to the Harman curve. Below is a graph from the 2017 Harman curve, and also the FR curve of the Starfield. Note, while the Harman curve is liked by many, there are plenty of people who do not like that tuning as is. It is not the end-all, and it is not actually neutral.

Thankkk you for the graph and explanation !!!! I get it now

 

[surfgeorge]

Besides tempotec can i use DAC from ibasso? Which one is the best?

Of course you can use another DAC!
I only mentioned the Tempotec because that's what I came up with after looking for a dongle to my iPhone XR, and because it holds up quite well to my other DAC, the CHORD Mojo. That means it is significantly better than my iPhone SE and I an listen to it without missing the Mojo too much, which is high praise.
Compared to the iPhone SE it is cleaner, actually provides a soundstage, has more detail. Just overall a clear improvement.

 

[PhantomNyan]

I might be the only one but my starfields have massive channel imbalance (and it stated like a week after I started using them) it was on my phone too so I doubt i blew up the driver and since I live lightyears away from anywhere I now have a good looking dropling on my desk

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Heyyy, after a long time considering a lot of IEM brand i think i decide to go get Moondrop starfield but the problem is, can it drive with my samsung galaxy S10+...

My Snapdragon S9 (not as good as the Exynos units with Wolfson chips as this has the DAC in the chipset) does fine with a 105dB/1mW KZ, so a slightly higher sensitivity IEM like the Moondrop would fare better.

...or HP omen gaming laptop?

Should have more power but in terms of output impedance vis a vis damping factor, distortion, noise, etc, I won't be surprised if the S10+ sounds better.

And i don't really get the "harman neutral tuning" means, can someone explain to me pleaseee

It means it compensates for the average imbalance in human hearing. Human hearing tends to be progressively weaker in either direction from 1,000hz, so the Harman Curve boosts either end.

The problem with this is some people - physiologically or psychologically - can have a different hearing response imbalance. If you're the sort of person who wants to jump up and offer Blood to the Blood God whenever somebody scratches a blackboard wrong, no amount of boosting the low end can prevent the treble getting out of hand if the treble is also getting boosted.