The discovery thread!

[o0genesis0o]

Right, I totally agree with first impressions. But you have to understand I get these boxes in the mail and I have to photograph an unboxing. With the Stellaris, they had put the cable and ear-tips away in-a-box which seemed like something fragile to open. So I naturally went for my cable of choice, the 4.4mm OCC Hansound, so as to not disturb the packaging. Remember too, the Sony 1Z is dark DAP due to bass but also has an accented treble. I did all my impressions this way. When I started to read the differences in opinion, I quickly gave a listen after the unboxing with the included cable.

So that's how I came up with this cable theory.

But I'm with you totally......as this hobby is just about subjective as anything. Also age and hearing loss is a huge thing, as an IEM can (if tuned right) replace that loss of high tone, where it would be too much for youngsters.

Cheers!

The unboxing experience looks good. The cable seems unbearable though (from handling point of view).

13db ear-gain is certainly pain, but if Moondrop thinks that it is a good idea, then good for them. Perhaps there is a big market for that kind of tuning in China. Maybe this is for SSR / SSP fans? After all, Smabat (another Chi-Fi specialised in flathead earbuds) has a house sound with 20db ear-gain and they seem to sell well enough to keep tuning their buds like that. I wouldn’t dwell too much on these IEMs as I’m not going to buy them for myself or for writing a review.

I admit I don’t quite understand Red’s review most of the time, nor his strong belief that cable can make such drastic changes. But still, writing reviews is harder than it looks, especially for the kind of review Red writes, so I wouldn’t pick on him.

 

[Redcarmoose]

The unboxing experience looks good. The cable seems unbearable though (from handling point of view).

13db ear-gain is certainly pain, but if Moondrop thinks that it is a good idea, then good for them. Perhaps there is a big market for that kind of tuning in China. Maybe this is for SSR / SSP fans? After all, Smabat (another Chi-Fi specialised in flathead earbuds) has a house sound with 20db ear-gain and they seem to sell well enough to keep tuning their buds like that. I wouldn’t dwell too much on these IEMs as I’m not going to buy them for myself or for writing a review.

I admit I don’t quite understand Red’s review most of the time, nor his strong belief that cable can make such drastic changes. But still, writing reviews is harder than it looks, especially for the kind of review Red writes, so I wouldn’t pick on him.

Remember this is only an IEM at the end of the day.........something we are suppose to have fun with. All of us are really close brothers in this sound endeavor!

 

[DynamicEars]

The unboxing experience looks good. The cable seems unbearable though (from handling point of view).

13db ear-gain is certainly pain, but if Moondrop thinks that it is a good idea, then good for them. Perhaps there is a big market for that kind of tuning in China. Maybe this is for SSR / SSP fans? After all, Smabat (another Chi-Fi specialised in flathead earbuds) has a house sound with 20db ear-gain and they seem to sell well enough to keep tuning their buds like that. I wouldn’t dwell too much on these IEMs as I’m not going to buy them for myself or for writing a review.

I admit I don’t quite understand Red’s review most of the time, nor his strong belief that cable can make such drastic changes. But still, writing reviews is harder than it looks, especially for the kind of review Red writes, so I wouldn’t pick on him.

He just never say any IEMs bad that's all, perhaps quite confusing which one is real good, good, overall good, quite good, good with this, good with that. But for sure, his photos are great.

the 13db increment from neutral point definitely shouty without hearing it. I know graph doesn't tell the full story but for experienced graph reader or grapher moreover, they can compare the graph with his/her reference IEM, and roughly know what the sound like, with note if some one really know how roughly every hz sound like.
One easiest method to learn this is using equalizer, pull up extremely 1 by 1 every frequencies, and hear the differences, use the most familiar/favorite song, from there someone can learn what that frequency region covers.

 

[Carpet]

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Then the bulb blew after twelve hours and it was dark until morning, which was the earliest they could get an electrician to come round and fix the shoddy wiring!

 

[o0genesis0o]

the 13db increment from neutral point definitely shouty without hearing it. I know graph doesn't tell the full story but for experienced graph reader or grapher moreover, they can compare the graph with his/her reference IEM, and roughly know what the sound like, with note if some one really know how roughly every hz sound like.

Oh yeah. After looking at many graphs and measuring your stuffs, you would start to align graphs to listening experience. The caveat is that we are looking at graphs from IEC 711 coupler / standard. Some rigs look way different.

Some might like 13db ear-gain though. Just like there are big fans of midrange of CFA Solaris series and IE900. Not for me. Please give me sensible 8db ear gain.

But seriously, Red, I cannot understand how IEMs compare with each other by reading your reviews

 

[DynamicEars]

Oh yeah. After looking at many graphs and measuring your stuffs, you would start to align graphs to listening experience. The caveat is that we are looking at graphs from IEC 711 coupler / standard. Some rigs look way different.

Some might like 13db ear-gain though. Just like there are big fans of midrange of CFA Solaris series and IE900. Not for me. Please give me sensible 8db ear gain.

But seriously, Red, I cannot understand how IEMs compare with each other by reading your reviews

Right sir, and we can only compare graph with similar coupler that using same standard. Luckily these IEC 711 coupler and the copies are quite common nowadays among reviewers and users. I know they are not high end manufacturer standard at first place but at least with so many reviewers and users using similar coupler, they become "standard" or as cue FR. Be aware though similar coupler doesn't mean have exact same standard, they may have unit variations too, some on bass, some on mids, some on highs even usually only 1-2 db differences among others, but it easily recognizable through comparing same IEM between 2 graphers. The apple dongles used for connectors, and the splitter also may affecting little bit db.

 

[Redcarmoose]

Oh yeah. After looking at many graphs and measuring your stuffs, you would start to align graphs to listening experience. The caveat is that we are looking at graphs from IEC 711 coupler / standard. Some rigs look way different.

Some might like 13db ear-gain though. Just like there are big fans of midrange of CFA Solaris series and IE900. Not for me. Please give me sensible 8db ear gain.

But seriously, Red, I cannot understand how IEMs compare with each other by reading your reviews

That's ok, you need to find a reviewer which you relate with. Also remember my takes are simply a (single) opinion in a moment of time.........gone almost as fast as when the fingers hits the keyboard. All this is perception, and it's fickle, even though we hold any objective "truth" dearly. Hopefully you will get something else out of my reviews. I'm only human, I could absolutely be wrong at times, maybe a lot of times?

 

[Redcarmoose]

Then the bulb blew after twelve hours and it was dark until morning, which was the earliest they could get an electrician to come round and fix the shoddy wiring!

TANGZU Zetian Wu is truly the safe bet! I can't wait to read your impressions.

 

[DynamicEars]

That's ok, you need to find a reviewer which you relate with. Also remember my takes are simply a (single) opinion in a moment of time.........gone almost as fast as when the fingers hits the keyboard. All this is perception, and it's fickle, even though we hold any objective "truth" dearly. Hopefully you will get something else out of my reviews. I'm only human, I could absolutely be wrong at times, maybe a lot of times?

Frankly speaking, with no hard feeling, I can't take your reviews as my personal reference since maybe you are too polite to say something harsh, or just to please manufacturers.
Again no hard feeling, just my honest 2 cents but I do appreciate your hardworks writing your long reviews, taking up your time diligently and your efforts to take great photos, always impressive. And for your bold statement up there, that is a gentleman move, not easy to type something like that. Appreciate that.

 

[Redcarmoose]

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/mo...ver-in-ear-monitor.26101/reviews#review-29356

 

[o0genesis0o]

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/mo...ver-in-ear-monitor.26101/reviews#review-29356

Boy you know how to convince. Now I want to try the Stellaris

 

[Redcarmoose]

Boy you know how to convince. Now I want to try the Stellaris

 

[KokushiTsumo]

New Yume apparently lol

 

[BigGearHunter]

New Yume apparently lol

That is so weird, I had a Yume already earmarked for 11-11 but now I'm wondering about the sequel

 

[JAnonymous5150]

Boy you know how to convince. Now I want to try the Stellaris

Just a heads up, I listened to the pair that my guitarist ordered and I think they're pretty bad. Even the owner, who's a Moondrop fanboy and has been looking forward to these ever since he heard about them, agreed. You know that I'm not particularly sensitive to pinna gain, but the Stellaris are a shouty and sometimes painfully aggressive mess.

Comparing them side by side with the S12s I had on hand, it was immediately clear that the two IEMs are really operating in different leagues. Stellaris also doesn't have that nice deep reaching fast bass which is one of the things I love most about the S12s and planar based transducer mediums in general. Without going into a ton of detail, the whole tuning on the Stellaris sounds wonky/off, for a planar I thought the technicalities were pretty average although they do have a big soundstage, and timbre on both vocals and instruments was largely inaccurate.

This is just my opinion from spending 1.5 to 2 hours killing time with the Stellaris (and the S12s for comparison). I did some tip rolling and I tried multiple cables just in case @Redcarmoose was on to something with the cable thing. I didn't hear any appreciable changes from the cables (tried 16 core single crystal oxygen free copper, 16 core silver plated copper and 8 core pure silver).

For tips I tried spinfits, xelastecs, and 3 different types of foam which were all the tips my guitarist and I had on us. The tips were able to make a difference, but none of the tips we had were able to reign in that upper mid, lower treble shoutiness. They didn't even come close so, IMO, the Stellaris are an IEM that requires EQ to be usable. I'm glad my guitarist bought these and not me because I was curious to try them, but I would have been burnt if I had spent my money on these.