[ToneDeafMonk]

My beloved Serials have developed a channel imbalance (a friend has confirmed this and reckons one side to be about 6dB off from the other). So I was considering Canons as a replacement if they came up for the right price - they were never too far behind my favorite back when I compared them.

Thankfully they showed up at a great price! Excited to try them with different tips and switches again. I use my wife’s old iPhone SE 2016 as a DAP for most listening now, which should be a good match of SE output and low output impedance.

I think you will like them 010 is still my favorite

 

[burialcloud]

Tips are very personal, there is no one size/shape fits all.
If the stock tips feel and sound great for you, there is no need to look any further.



MEST is quite analytical is extremely fit-dependent.
Probably not worth it for you, unless you are looking for a more analytical sound.

I do a lot of music production work (engineering, mixing, etc.) as well as live performance. An analytical set would be useful to me especially for mix prep, microphone placement, etc.
for general listening I’m not as interested in ultra analytical, but for the mkii I really haven’t seen anyone complain or even mention that they are too analytical. Moreso that that they tamed some of the over the top treble in mki and have amazing technicalities while avoiding harshness. The graph on the mest mkii actually looks like it has a bit less treble than the moonlight where it counts, while retaining a bit more “air” in the ultra high freqs.

Have you tried them? The fit does worry me, but they are much smaller than the mki and many reviews say they are extremely comfortable.

So torn on buying this set. I’m also considering the Aful p5 for performance and going to the gym. If I do go that route the mest mkii will likely be my work horse in the studio and moonlight will be my listening for pleasure set.

 

[BenF]

I do a lot of music production work (engineering, mixing, etc.) as well as live performance. An analytical set would be useful to me especially for mix prep, microphone placement, etc.
for general listening I’m not as interested in ultra analytical, but for the mkii I really haven’t seen anyone complain or even mention that they are too analytical. Moreso that that they tamed some of the over the top treble in mki and have amazing technicalities while avoiding harshness. The graph on the mest mkii actually looks like it has a bit less treble than the moonlight where it counts, while retaining a bit more “air” in the ultra high freqs.

Have you tried them? The fit does worry me, but they are much smaller than the mki and many reviews say they are extremely comfortable.

So torn on buying this set. I’m also considering the Aful p5 for performance and going to the gym. If I do go that route the mest mkii will likely be my work horse in the studio and moonlight will be my listening for pleasure set.

I have MEST JP, which is supposed to be pretty close to II (although not identical).
All MESTs are extremely fit depend - the bone conduction driver won't have any effect without a perfect fit (which doesn't always come with perfect comfort).

If you are looking for a more analytical set, you may actually want to try the Canons, as most people describe Moonlights as the more musical of the two.
When Canon is set to 000, it extracts detail on the MEST JP level, but it still doesn't sound too technical, I enjoy it.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

I do a lot of music production work (engineering, mixing, etc.) as well as live performance. An analytical set would be useful to me especially for mix prep, microphone placement, etc.
for general listening I’m not as interested in ultra analytical, but for the mkii I really haven’t seen anyone complain or even mention that they are too analytical. Moreso that that they tamed some of the over the top treble in mki and have amazing technicalities while avoiding harshness. The graph on the mest mkii actually looks like it has a bit less treble than the moonlight where it counts, while retaining a bit more “air” in the ultra high freqs.

Have you tried them? The fit does worry me, but they are much smaller than the mki and many reviews say they are extremely comfortable.

So torn on buying this set. I’m also considering the Aful p5 for performance and going to the gym. If I do go that route the mest mkii will likely be my work horse in the studio and moonlight will be my listening for pleasure set.

For studio engineer I actually would recommend Truthear HEXA for vocal-oriented neutrality approach, so you wouldn’t add excessive reverbs or miss the microphone placement.

I have Monarch / MEST MKII / qdc Anole VX / DUNU SA6 / AFUL p5 / most of moondrops, and AFUL P5 is indeed instrumen-oriented neutral tuning which is great for mixing purpose as well, however their bass floor is emphasized and despite “speaker”-like resonance that P5 is capable to produce for the sound pressure of bass for entertainment purpose, it’s less analytical and well defined. Unless your primary genre of mixing is rock source, I bet P5 may need some detailed listening session before a blind purchase For mixing reference purpose.

If you find HEXA’s resolving capabilities are not sufficient, then yes MEST MKII is pretty warm-neutral with audiophile grade detail articulation capabilities and the bass range is actually best sounding one that comes with dynamic driver.

Also Yanyin Aladdin has very instrument-focused neutral tuning too.

 

[fendiking]

I adored the Aladdins but Canons step above in “technicalities”

 

[burialcloud]

I’m following up my earlier post asking for tip suggestions as I just tried a bunch and have a lot of thoughts. Please be aware I curse like a sailor in general so there are some expletives.

Spinfit 100+ small
-lacked bass from slightly crappy seal. Interestingly they didn’t feel too small, or maybe just a tiny bit too small. Just like they don’t seal as well due to material and shape. Overall imaging was worse with a upper mid spikey thing. In general they sounded way worse than stock in every aspect.

Spinfit 100+ medium
Too big. Can’t even fit them in without pain.

Smalls we’re too small and mediums were too big. Thanks spinfit.

Clarion tri -Small
First thoughts. Huh these don’t fit very snug over the nozzle. Hm oh well. Lets pop em in! Oh my god these sound amazing. More bass. Treble is less harsh but not diminished. Exactly what I want. Everything coming into my ear is more cohesive. These sound great.
Go to take them out… Wait why is there no tip on that. Oh my god the ****ing tip is still stuck inside my ear canal. What do I do now!
6 minutes of terror later after slowly pulling it out with some tweezers (along with some tiny ear hairs I didn’t know I had)…. Well damn, that can’t happen again.
I may save these for the unique melody mest mkii I plan to grab which has a 1 mm larger diameter nozzle. Perhaps it’ll work on those. Besides coming off INSIDE my ear. These were great. Ultimately they weren’t *that* much better than stock sound wise. But I’ll take even a little better as a big win. The moonlight already sounds SO good with the stock tips that any gains will likely be small. Too bad these don’t fit the nozzle.

Azla crystal - MS (medium/small)
First glance and these look larger than the measurements listed but size actually isn’t the main reason these won’t work at all.

They are extremely shallow and the part that fits around the nozzle is different than normal. So shallow in fact, that it puts the metal mesh opening of the nozzle itself right at the very end of the top of the tip. Which I don’t like because that means ear gunk is gonna get in there and screw up the in ears themselves. No thanks. They sound ok. Not better than stock. Maybe a lil less bass and allow more outside noise in. But they hurt after 5 minutes and overall this is a nope because of the nozzle fitment.
I don’t really understand. The nozzle has a center bump. These either fit around just the toP past the bump and would easily come off. Or you go past the bump and the nozzle end is all the way to the end of the tip and they don’t insert all the way. Unusable and not sure where this would work. Does anyone here use these with moonlights!? How??

Dunu s&s - Medium
Nice packing. Cool shape. They fit on the nozzle and won’t come off in my ear. That’s a start. Pop them in. Hey, isolation and a nice seal. Sweet. But wait. What is that noise. Each time I try to push them in they groan back out and make an old large creaky door or boat sound. After a few minutes in silence while I type this they already start to hurt. Their measurements are a lot different than other tips. I went with a medium after reading many people saying to size up as they fit small. If there was an in between I’d probably be alright. But the sizing info from Dunu shows a substantial difference between small and medium. I don’t see how a small would work.
Turn on DAP.
Ok. These sound great. Almost as good as the clarion. .

I really dislike pressure in my ears after several years of wearing a set of 64 ears that were custom molded for someone else and were ever so slightly too big (they did seal well and the fit actually felt better than many of these tips). Because of this I’m extra sensitive to pressure in my ear canals and don’t wanna deal with that when I know how comfortable it can be.

May try ordering a S but I really doubt it’s gonna seal. Halfway between and I think I’d be into these.


JVC spiral dots - Medium
Measurements posted sounded like I’d want a medium, but again these look larger than the measurements I saw posted. They also don’t fit very snug over the nozzle. More snug than the clarions but I’m worried about a repeat. I guess I’ll go for it tho, at least I’m already experienced at digging a tip outta my ear canal.

Again the low creaking door. Apparently that’s how I know if a tip is too large. These feel huge. Way too big for me. Damn online measurements. I thought I did my due diligence on reading peoples sizing reports and comparing to the stock tip size that works.

Sound. They sound good when I am pushing on them but they are barely in my ears and I can’t get them deep enough for a true seal. Crappy isolation due to poor fit.

These don’t work. Should have tried small.

Dekoni mercury bulletz foam- small

Either I got a bad pair or Dekoni has crappy quality control. While they are *pretty* close in diameter to each other. Not perfect but close enough anyway… One of them is far longer than the other. This has the effect of making that side a bit softer sounding as it has more foam sucking up the highs that pass by. Absolutely not acceptable. Not sure if I should bother trying to order another pair. Even in small these feel a bit too large.
I do enjoy the isolation of foam but I will probably send these back and try comply for a foam set. Hopefully they have something slightly smaller.

Why is this so hard. Back to the stock tips. I may order some different sizes to try on a few of these above that were somewhat close. Really wish the clarion was tighter around the nozzle. That would have probably been the one I’d keep and use all the time if it had actually worked with this iem. Whoever above told me these were good for moonlights? Have you actually tried these together? Because I don’t honestly see how these can work for an iem with this nozzle size (4.5 mm). It literally just doesn’t fit on the nozzle tight enough to not come off. And that’s not an issue with my personal fit but just how these fit the moonlights in general.

Hopefully this info will help someone else figure out what might work for them with the Yanyin Moonlight. I do have small ear canals and it turns out I may be a difficult fit for universal iems. I know I probably sound like Princess and the god damn pea over here. This is definitely making me consider the mest mkii custom rehousing if I end up grabbing a set of those.

 

[ToneDeafMonk]

I’m following up my earlier post asking for tip suggestions as I just tried a bunch and have a lot of thoughts. Please be aware I curse like a sailor in general so there are some expletives.

Spinfit 100+ small
-lacked bass from slightly crappy seal. Interestingly they didn’t feel too small, or maybe just a tiny bit too small. Just like they don’t seal as well due to material and shape. Overall imaging was worse with a upper mid spikey thing. In general they sounded way worse than stock in every aspect.

Spinfit 100+ medium
Too big. Can’t even fit them in without pain.

Smalls we’re too small and mediums were too big. Thanks spinfit.

Clarion tri -Small
First thoughts. Huh these don’t fit very snug over the nozzle. Hm oh well. Lets pop em in! Oh my god these sound amazing. More bass. Treble is less harsh but not diminished. Exactly what I want. Everything coming into my ear is more cohesive. These sound great.
Go to take them out… Wait why is there no tip on that. Oh my god the ****ing tip is still stuck inside my ear canal. What do I do now!
6 minutes of terror later after slowly pulling it out with some tweezers (along with some tiny ear hairs I didn’t know I had)…. Well damn, that can’t happen again.
I may save these for the unique melody mest mkii I plan to grab which has a 1 mm larger diameter nozzle. Perhaps it’ll work on those. Besides coming off INSIDE my ear. These were great. Ultimately they weren’t *that* much better than stock sound wise. But I’ll take even a little better as a big win. The moonlight already sounds SO good with the stock tips that any gains will likely be small. Too bad these don’t fit the nozzle.

Azla crystal - MS (medium/small)
First glance and these look larger than the measurements listed but size actually isn’t the main reason these won’t work at all.

They are extremely shallow and the part that fits around the nozzle is different than normal. So shallow in fact, that it puts the metal mesh opening of the nozzle itself right at the very end of the top of the tip. Which I don’t like because that means ear gunk is gonna get in there and screw up the in ears themselves. No thanks. They sound ok. Not better than stock. Maybe a lil less bass and allow more outside noise in. But they hurt after 5 minutes and overall this is a nope because of the nozzle fitment.
I don’t really understand. The nozzle has a center bump. These either fit around just the toP past the bump and would easily come off. Or you go past the bump and the nozzle end is all the way to the end of the tip and they don’t insert all the way. Unusable and not sure where this would work. Does anyone here use these with moonlights!? How??

Dunu s&s - Medium
Nice packing. Cool shape. They fit on the nozzle and won’t come off in my ear. That’s a start. Pop them in. Hey, isolation and a nice seal. Sweet. But wait. What is that noise. Each time I try to push them in they groan back out and make an old large creaky door or boat sound. After a few minutes in silence while I type this they already start to hurt. Their measurements are a lot different than other tips. I went with a medium after reading many people saying to size up as they fit small. If there was an in between I’d probably be alright. But the sizing info from Dunu shows a substantial difference between small and medium. I don’t see how a small would work.
Turn on DAP.
Ok. These sound great. Almost as good as the clarion. .

I really dislike pressure in my ears after several years of wearing a set of 64 ears that were custom molded for someone else and were ever so slightly too big (they did seal well and the fit actually felt better than many of these tips). Because of this I’m extra sensitive to pressure in my ear canals and don’t wanna deal with that when I know how comfortable it can be.

May try ordering a S but I really doubt it’s gonna seal. Halfway between and I think I’d be into these.


JVC spiral dots - Medium
Measurements posted sounded like I’d want a medium, but again these look larger than the measurements I saw posted. They also don’t fit very snug over the nozzle. More snug than the clarions but I’m worried about a repeat. I guess I’ll go for it tho, at least I’m already experienced at digging a tip outta my ear canal.

Again the low creaking door. Apparently that’s how I know if a tip is too large. These feel huge. Way too big for me. Damn online measurements. I thought I did my due diligence on reading peoples sizing reports and comparing to the stock tip size that works.

Sound. They sound good when I am pushing on them but they are barely in my ears and I can’t get them deep enough for a true seal. Crappy isolation due to poor fit.

These don’t work. Should have tried small.

Dekoni mercury bulletz foam- small

Either I got a bad pair or Dekoni has crappy quality control. While they are *pretty* close in diameter to each other. Not perfect but close enough anyway… One of them is far longer than the other. This has the effect of making that side a bit softer sounding as it has more foam sucking up the highs that pass by. Absolutely not acceptable. Not sure if I should bother trying to order another pair. Even in small these feel a bit too large.
I do enjoy the isolation of foam but I will probably send these back and try comply for a foam set. Hopefully they have something slightly smaller.

Why is this so hard. Back to the stock tips. I may order some different sizes to try on a few of these above that were somewhat close. Really wish the clarion was tighter around the nozzle. That would have probably been the one I’d keep and use all the time if it had actually worked with this iem. Whoever above told me these were good for moonlights? Have you actually tried these together? Because I don’t honestly see how these can work for an iem with this nozzle size (4.5 mm). It literally just doesn’t fit on the nozzle tight enough to not come off. And that’s not an issue with my personal fit but just how these fit the moonlights in general.

Hopefully this info will help someone else figure out what might work for them with the Yanyin Moonlight. I do have small ear canals and it turns out I may be a difficult fit for universal iems. I know I probably sound like Princess and the god damn pea over here. This is definitely making me consider the mest mkii custom rehousing if I end up grabbing a set of those.

 

[ToneDeafMonk]

I would try the BGVP W01 tips that's what's on mine.

 

[Jayden97]

Hi, I recently recieved my yanyin x hbb mahinas and as crazy as this sounds I suspect they're mislabeled moonlights due to the lack of bass, the low end shouldn't sound this thin and gutless, I am comparing it to my moondrop variatioins which I eq'd roughly to the mahinas, and after hearing the real thing I would say I did a decent job at replicating the sound, yet the variations sound absolutely HUGE on the low end in comparison, night and day difference

After suspecting they could be moonlights, I eq'd them to the mahinas target and now they sound spot on with how I'd expect them to sound in the first place, the sub bass is on par with the variations like the measurments show

Could they really have mixed them up like this? it seems so unlikely, I don't know what to think

Does anyone else own both the variations and mahinas and can verify if theirs sounds like this

 

[burialcloud]

Hi, I recently recieved my yanyin x hbb mahinas and as crazy as this sounds I suspect they're mislabeled moonlights due to the lack of bass, the low end shouldn't sound this thin and gutless, I am comparing it to my moondrop variatioins which I eq'd roughly to the mahinas, and after hearing the real thing I would say I did a decent job at replicating the sound, yet the variations sound absolutely HUGE on the low end in comparison, night and day difference

After suspecting they could be moonlights, I eq'd them to the mahinas target and now they sound spot on with how I'd expect them to sound in the first place, the sub bass is on par with the variations like the measurments show

Could they really have mixed them up like this? it seems so unlikely, I don't know what to think

Does anyone else own both the variations and mahinas and can verify if theirs sounds like this

I don’t have either of those but I do have the moonlights and “thin and gutless” is absolutely not how they sound. Even with direct comparisons of the two many reviewers have said the bass difference is extremely subtle and hard to tell.

I’d say it sounds like you have an improper seal more than anything. I’m personally going through a pain trying to find tips that work for me with the moonlights. So far the stock tips sound great and everything else is either sounding thin, or is physically too big, or too small for my ears.

To me it sounds like a fit issue. Id try tip rolling and going with slightly bigger tips than usual to make sure you’re getting a good seal. (Also make sure they are tight around the nozzle as the yanyin has a slightly smaller nozzle than some stuff) If not that then perhaps you just got a bad set? My moonlights have plenty of bass and are very far from “thin” with a proper seal. The mahina has a tiny bit extra sub bass but it’s a very subtle difference from all reviews and info available on the comparisons.

 

[Jayden97]

I don’t have either of those but I do have the moonlights and “thin and gutless” is absolutely not how they sound. Even with direct comparisons of the two many reviewers have said the bass difference is extremely subtle and hard to tell.

I’d say it sounds like you have an improper seal more than anything. I’m personally going through a pain trying to find tips that work for me with the moonlights. So far the stock tips sound great and everything else is either sounding thin, or is physically too big, or too small for my ears.

To me it sounds like a fit issue. Id try tip rolling and going with slightly bigger tips than usual to make sure you’re getting a good seal. (Also make sure they are tight around the nozzle as the yanyin has a slightly smaller nozzle than some stuff) If not that then perhaps you just got a bad set? My moonlights have plenty of bass and are very far from “thin” with a proper seal. The mahina has a tiny bit extra sub bass but it’s a very subtle difference from all reviews and info available on the comparisons.

They honestly have the best seal i've ever experienced if i'm being honest, and if you look at the iem comparison graphs the mahinas do have quite an elevated bass shelf over the moonlights, if I lower my variation bass shelf to the moonlights they sound thin and gutless, so it's definetely very notiecable on the music I listen to

 

[goodvibes]

They honestly have the best seal i've ever experienced if i'm being honest, and if you look at the iem comparison graphs the mahinas do have quite an elevated bass shelf over the moonlights, if I lower my variation bass shelf to the moonlights they sound thin and gutless, so it's definetely very notiecable on the music I listen to

Run them in more and at a good volume.

 

[goodvibes]

For studio engineer I actually would recommend Truthear HEXA for vocal-oriented neutrality approach, so you wouldn’t add excessive reverbs or miss the microphone placement.

I have Monarch / MEST MKII / qdc Anole VX / DUNU SA6 / AFUL p5 / most of moondrops, and AFUL P5 is indeed instrumen-oriented neutral tuning which is great for mixing purpose as well, however their bass floor is emphasized and despite “speaker”-like resonance that P5 is capable to produce for the sound pressure of bass for entertainment purpose, it’s less analytical and well defined. Unless your primary genre of mixing is rock source, I bet P5 may need some detailed listening session before a blind purchase For mixing reference purpose.

If you find HEXA’s resolving capabilities are not sufficient, then yes MEST MKII is pretty warm-neutral with audiophile grade detail articulation capabilities and the bass range is actually best sounding one that comes with dynamic driver.

Also Yanyin Aladdin has very instrument-focused neutral tuning too.

I really like the S8 with the right tips. Either Comply or Mee audio dual flange. Both suppress the Pina region a bit. The Mee dual is a softer silicone than others. Had the Mahina and like those a lot as well but ultimately kept the S8.

 

[Jayden97]

Run them in more and at a good volume.

I highly doubt running them in is going to magically add 3.5db to the sub bass, I can't stress enough how eq'ing the moonlight to mahina bass boost has them sounding exactly in line with what they should

 

[alex24rus]

yanyin preparing something new for the release?