[Leonarfd]

Man I’ve wanted to try the serial for a while but didn’t get a chance

Do you think the moonlight is worth spending on as an upgrade ? Or should I just get the canon/serial ?

Depends, they are different animals. I do think the Moonlight is better than Canon and worth the upgrade. Still there is lots of alternatives to the Moonlight. Personally the extra low end in the Mahina would please me more to make it more similar to the Serial low end.

The Moonlight has a very smooth and relaxed treble that's also detailed, I like this approach.

If you want to tinker with switches the Canon is best for versatility, but the serial is a allrounder that is near perfect for (me), also I have no need for EQ with it.

Personally I would get a good Hybrid/tribrid together with Serial and call it a day.

 

[donkashyap]

Depends, they are different animals. I do think the Moonlight is better than Canon and worth the upgrade. Still there is lots of alternatives to the Moonlight. Personally the extra low end in the Mahina would please me more to make it more similar to the Serial low end.

The Moonlight has a very smooth and relaxed treble that's also detailed, I like this approach.

If you want to tinker with switches the Canon is best for versatility, but the serial is a allrounder that is near perfect for (me), also I ha e no need for EQ with it.

Personally I would get a good Hybrid/tribrid together with Serial and call it a day.

I’m looking to get mahina most for now the other set ( more expensive though) I’m looking at is the szalayi let’s see what I end up getting

The serial is interesting I’ll cope a unit if I see one for a good price locally

 

[Leonarfd]

Don't think you will get disappointed with Mahina, safe but fun tuning.

I’m looking to get mahina most for now the other set ( more expensive though) I’m looking at is the szalayi let’s see what I end up getting

The serial is interesting I’ll cope a unit if I see one for a good price locally

 

[Norm5958]

Had both moonlight and mahina prefer mahina

 

[donkashyap]

Don't think you will get disappointed with Mahina, safe but fun tuning.

Just saw you have neon pro coming in share yours views when they come bro

That and the symphonium meteor are also looking good though i want to go for tribrids more ATM ( unless I get to try one of them and fall in love )

 

[Leonarfd]

Going to probably write some in a few threads, still probably a month away since they are only two people making the IEMs by themselves. And there a small backlog now of orders.


For me it will be an improved SA6, specially sine the ultra will never get re released.

Aür seems like really nice people from my talk with them, always fun to support smaller upcoming brands.

Just saw you have neon pro coming in share yours views when they come bro

That and the symphonium meteor are also looking good though i want to go for tribrids more ATM ( unless I get to try one of them and fall in love )

 

[donkashyap]

Going to probably write some in a few threads, still probably a month away since they are only two people making the IEMs by themselves. And there a small backlog now of orders.


For me it will be an improved SA6, specially sine the ultra will never get re released.

Aür seems like really nice people from my talk with them, always fun to support smaller upcoming brands.

Yeah I’m in their FB group nice guys had some chat with Nicholas I was waiting for their est set sadly it’s price is nearly 2000$ so not feasible for me

 

[Leonarfd]

Yeah that's alot, from what I understand the internal drivers they use is quite high end in all their models, with not that high of a profit per IEM.

Tony who are Akros on youtube like Aür alot. He also have a review of the Rosemary from this week, might be interesting for folks in this thread.

 

[DenverW]

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

Sounds like you have a strong feeling on how they should sound and they’re not to your taste. I also have a pair of moonlights and the bass is quite well defined on mine.

There are some great iems with thicker bass; perhaps a nice pair of beats?

 

[donkashyap]

Had some time to use the Aladdin and I agree with the views people had earlier. A set with nothing to fault at and good for most genres.

Makes me even more excited for both the mahina and the serial as more than a few people have praised it.

 

[donkashyap]

I would still like some tips suggestion if someone thinks they can be even better

 

[Dron86]

Hi! what do you think of Ibasso DX320 + Moonlight? Will I face lack of bass or extra brightness of high frequency? Has anybody had such an experience?

 

[The-One]

I would still like some tips suggestion if someone thinks they can be even better

I don't think complys get enough love. I have always hated silicon tips. Love expanding foam. The complys doesnt expand as much as the old yellow Shure foam but is still good.

 

[burialcloud]

Moonlight vs Mest mkii

So I bought the Mest mkii as an upgrade to my Yanyin Moonlights. The set I bought was used/burned in, but still pretty new. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but so far I actually prefer the Moonlight.

I was immediately blown away by how similar they were. For that much extra $$$ I was expecting a leap in quality and didn’t get it. On the first few hours of listening the differences were so minimal that any small benefit already seemed not worth the extra money. Both sounded better on 3.5 than balanced. And also sounded better with my aftermarket kbear hazy and Nicehck spacecloud cables. (both iems came with balanced cables which I honestly don’t think sound as good with either set).

With more listening. I’ll concede that the slight edge the Mest has is in the bass. Tighter, a touch more depth, and an overall coherency in the lows through mids in general. But the gains are very minimal and come at the cost of a slightly smaller soundstage, less note weight, and most important less detail and coherency in the mids AND treble. Surprising. The mest seems to dip right in the sweet spot for guitars (especially distorted heavier guitars) and hi hats. It almost has a “scooped mids” feel in comparison to how rich and full the mids in the moonlight are. Certain vocals also sounded thinner and this “scoop” loses the coherency in the mids and treble compared to the moonlight. Almost feels like the est and ba’s are fighting a bit, but it’s probably more the tuning.

I ended up using the squiglink auto eq function from 0-200hz and making the adjustments with the PEQ in poweramp to replicate the mest’s bass response on the moonlight (only up to 200hz) and now they’re a mest mkii killer.

I was honestly so excited for this set but I’m a bit disappointed. Glad I was able to test and make an informed decision. I’ll probably let a few weeks go by and see where I land. But I really don’t see much changing.

Just for a reference on where I’m coming from, I’m an audio engineer and do work producing/mixing music (especially heavier music, metal, hardcore, emo, shoegaze, etc but I listen to a wide range of music). Also a touring musician. I was intending for the mest mkii to become my studio set for engineering and production work, and also for listening at home for pleasure. I assumed the moonlight would become my live performance set. Weirdly enough I’m likely sticking with the moonlight for all of it and might just pickup the Aful performer5 for live performance and the gym.

The moonlight is such a slept on iem. Would love to hear from anyone else who has tried both the mest mkii and moonlight. Or mahina.

Quick note on the Mahina, I had previously tried wavelet to replicate mahina’s bass on my moonlights and the results weren’t nearly as good as using the mest mkii for my bass shape template up to 200hz. Maybe that’s more of a wavelet vs poweramp PEQ issue but I sorta doubt that? Would love to hear a direct comparison of the mahina and mest mkii to compare the bass.

Just to clarify, the moonlight has plenty of bass. But after hearing the mest’s specific bass tuning, I did miss it. The differences are subtle and not exactly just a simple boost like the mahina. Luckily PEQ works incredibly well at dialing in the low end. I wouldn’t use it for anything beyond 500hz though because you start fighting the natural tuning of the shell, crossover, drivers, etc. luckily for me I much prefer the moonlights mids and highs.

One last thing… the mest really hurts my ears. The moonlight is so small and fits perfectly. It’s so comfy that I can wear it all day. I can’t wear the mest mkii for more than an hour without it becoming unbearable. The nozzle is too wide and my ears ache after only a short period. It also seems to hit a spot on the outside of my ear that hurts. This is more of a personal fitment issue. But if you have small ear canals like me, the Mest may not work for you. I’ve seen many used sets for sale because people had trouble with the fit. Count me among them.

Also the driver flex on the mest was baaaaad. My moonlight has a little on the left ear but the mest was worse and in both. It seems to be a common mest issue.

 

[BrokenHill]

Moonlight vs Mest mkii

So I bought the Mest mkii as an upgrade to my Yanyin Moonlights. The set I bought was used/burned in, but still pretty new. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but so far I actually prefer the Moonlight.

I was immediately blown away by how similar they were. For that much extra $$$ I was expecting a leap in quality and didn’t get it. On the first few hours of listening the differences were so minimal that any small benefit already seemed not worth the extra money. Both sounded better on 3.5 than balanced. And also sounded better with my aftermarket kbear hazy and Nicehck spacecloud cables. (both iems came with balanced cables which I honestly don’t think sound as good with either set).

With more listening. I’ll concede that the slight edge the Mest has is in the bass. Tighter, a touch more depth, and an overall coherency in the lows through mids in general. But the gains are very minimal and come at the cost of a slightly smaller soundstage, less note weight, and most important less detail and coherency in the mids AND treble. Surprising. The mest seems to dip right in the sweet spot for guitars (especially distorted heavier guitars) and hi hats. It almost has a “scooped mids” feel in comparison to how rich and full the mids in the moonlight are. Certain vocals also sounded thinner and this “scoop” loses the coherency in the mids and treble compared to the moonlight. Almost feels like the est and ba’s are fighting a bit, but it’s probably more the tuning.

I ended up using the squiglink auto eq function from 0-200hz and making the adjustments with the PEQ in poweramp to replicate the mest’s bass response on the moonlight (only up to 200hz) and now they’re a mest mkii killer.

I was honestly so excited for this set but I’m a bit disappointed. Glad I was able to test and make an informed decision. I’ll probably let a few weeks go by and see where I land. But I really don’t see much changing.

Just for a reference on where I’m coming from, I’m an audio engineer and do work producing/mixing music (especially heavier music, metal, hardcore, emo, shoegaze, etc but I listen to a wide range of music). Also a touring musician. I was intending for the mest mkii to become my studio set for engineering and production work, and also for listening at home for pleasure. I assumed the moonlight would become my live performance set. Weirdly enough I’m likely sticking with the moonlight for all of it and might just pickup the Aful performer5 for live performance and the gym.

The moonlight is such a slept on iem. Would love to hear from anyone else who has tried both the mest mkii and moonlight. Or mahina.

Quick note on the Mahina, I had previously tried wavelet to replicate mahina’s bass on my moonlights and the results weren’t nearly as good as using the mest mkii for my bass shape template up to 200hz. Maybe that’s more of a wavelet vs poweramp PEQ issue but I sorta doubt that? Would love to hear a direct comparison of the mahina and mest mkii to compare the bass.

Just to clarify, the moonlight has plenty of bass. But after hearing the mest’s specific bass tuning, I did miss it. The differences are subtle and not exactly just a simple boost like the mahina. Luckily PEQ works incredibly well at dialing in the low end. I wouldn’t use it for anything beyond 500hz though because you start fighting the natural tuning of the shell, crossover, drivers, etc. luckily for me I much prefer the moonlights mids and highs.

One last thing… the mest really hurts my ears. The moonlight is so small and fits perfectly. It’s so comfy that I can wear it all day. I can’t wear the mest mkii for more than an hour without it becoming unbearable. The nozzle is too wide and my ears ache after only a short period. It also seems to hit a spot on the outside of my ear that hurts. This is more of a personal fitment issue. But if you have small ear canals like me, the Mest may not work for you. I’ve seen many used sets for sale because people had trouble with the fit. Count me among them.

Also the driver flex on the mest was baaaaad. My moonlight has a little on the left ear but the mest was worse and in both. It seems to be a common mest issue.

Interesting read. Out of curiosity, can you share your PEQ settings? For me, the Moonlight has enough bass and I have not been tempted to equalize it to the Mahina, but nothing is lost to try, and your test is interesting!