Moondrop - Aria

I would stay away from KZ, probably most of their products in general. Not sure if they have changed, but a few years ago, KZ was just pumping out the same stuff over and over again, putting fake drivers, listing it under different names, specs, and prices. But all sounding the same, as in almost exact FR graphs! I bought the KZ ZS10 Pro X years ago; they are very sensitive, so they have a terrible noise floor (constant low white noise when no audio is playing), which can be really annoying, even for the average person, maybe unusable depending on how sensitive your ears are. The seller gave me 2 replacements, and they were all the same. Thought it was my hardware, tried a range of setups, from balanced out to standard output Apple dongle, Fiio DAC/amp, high end desktop DAC/amp, it's still present and noticeable. I remember the noise floor is significantly better on my high-end desktop dac/amp with balanced out. But what's the point of buying a cheapo IEM but needing an expensive dac/amp to use it lol I have the Moondrop Arias, heaps better than the KZ, no annoying noise floor, and they are great, not sure about the Chu's, but i have only heard of good things about it. Also, if you're in Auckland and into IEM, addicted to audio is fantastic; they have a store in Newmarket, "that you can sample."

V1 arias, but I rarely use them nowadays. Rocking the let shoeur s12 past few years

My first iems were the moondrop aria (the original) and I used them until they literally fell apart, there are much better iems now at better prices now but I still have a soft spot for the arias, and I still think they are the most beautiful iems ever made, I'm a sucker for black and gold.

Call me simple, but I think there hasn't been a single iem that has been able to compete with the subtle sophistication and understated elegance of the original moondrop arias (paint chipping not withstanding)

Moondrop Aria 1, 4 years strong and I fear the day they die on me because I don’t know what I’m going to do.

I've heard a lot of good things about the Aful P5+2 and the Kiwi Ears Astral is doing a lot of rounds as well. I don't own any 80-300 dollar iem so i cant say for certain how they are, but people i trust said good things about them so i'd take their word. I've bought the Moondrop Aria (2021) and the Moondrop DUSK based on their reviews/impressions and i have no regrets. I wrote some things about the DUSK in another comment below and im going to copy and paste from there : "Though i must say it's completely worth it as a dusk user myself. For 2 reasons : 1.) DSP, not the cable but rather the presets, you can choose to buy the Moondrop FreeDSP Mini OR just input the data into your fav eq and get the same thing, allowing you to experience manufacturer approved edits to the sound, letting you experience some nice flavours if you want to try different stuff out. 2.) most important for me, the comfort. The shell isn't the most comfortable out there i think but the lightness is uncanny for me. So many drivers, such a big shell yet oh so light. It's kind of annoying actually, after an hour i forget they are there and i must make sure to check my ears so that i dont pull on em when getting up and stuff lol For me this is IEM Endgame till i get my whole audio setup up and running with speakers and headphones. Unlike a lot of others, i love both the default AND analog tunings, different flavours for me." These are just 2 EXTRA features that i was talking about. I didnt even delve into the sound. To me, it sounds ethereal. It's quite annoying to listen to with my eyes open, because when i close my eyes, all my brain power goes into listening and i feel like i can point out most things in a really nice manner, the one example that absolutely stood out to me is the rhythm guitar of any song. They're panned left and right with different audio sources and usually they blend together but on my DUSK i can not just feel the difference but HEAR it. Though i must say i only get to hear all that with my eyes closed, with my eyes open it gets a little busy imo. It might be weird to you, and trust me it is a bit weird to me too, but ig that's the ceiling of a \~400 dollar iem and that's where more expensive stuff shine, allowing you to analyse stuff with less effort. But I'm 90% sure that the DUSK are gonna be an upgrade over your 560s in all but soundstage and tonality, I think Sennheiser's tuning and the open back nature are gonna be hard to beat. But in imaging and especially bass im sure it'll be at least on par. Honestly tho, apart from the bass, i dont see the point of using them for movies/story-driven games (they're both the same nowadays imo lmao). I think headphones would be better for that purpose. But by itself, i find little flaws with the Moondrop DUSK. But there are flaws ofc, the price being one (imo), the packaging is lackluster compared to the competition i think and most importantly, Moondrop QC is said to be shoddy. As you're using a German made Sennheiser, you should be ready for proper quality for years to come but i think iems, especially chi fi stuff, arent going to last as long. That's just how it is, you trade longevity/reliability for sound quality at a lower price. For example, there's a black paint on the DUSK near where the side and backplate of the iems meet, and my hands get a little sweaty at times and i noticed the paint coming off. So yeah, just little things like that. So if you're ok with returning it OR you're ok with being a bit more careful than usual, then the DUSK is an absolute win, despite its high price.

Depends on what you consider "worth". For me a jump from an 80 dollar Moondrop Aria to the Moondrop DUSK was worth it, if i made a smaller upgrade like to a 200 dollar one i'd have been disappointed. People have made smaller jumps, like from 50 dollar to 80 dollar iems and called it "worth it", all a personal thing honestly. If you're able to return your Tea Pro and get the Top Pro, then yeah go for it. But if you have to sell your Tea Pro to get the Top Pro, meaning you're having to pay more, then i wouldn't really suggest it. Imo not worth the hassle. Maybe also think about other iems unless you're super duper careful as the Xenns Pro iems seem to be quite frail from what i've seen. They break easily.

i dont really know what my first iems were, assuming you're counting stuff like earphones/in earphones. But something i can talk is the samsung S series freebie bud. I really liked them. And then the akg freebies were exceptional. Thick juicy sound, looked great, was comfy. My first actual iems were the Moondrop Aria. And i would not change anything. Inoffensive? Yes. Did i love it to bits? Absolutely. I don't like too much excited sounds, perhaps a little if the whole region is slightly excited like 1k-3k region but if there are random spikes in loudness in the high frequencies or upper mids i find em uncomfy. So i really prefer inoffensive "neutral" type stuff with bass boosts. I'll never be able to listen to true neutral. I need muh bass. If i would start again, i'd still choose the moondrop aria. And since now you can get the better, Moondrop May, with a usb-c dsp cable, i'd absolutely go for that. But the 20 dollar stuff like the Moondrop Chu 2 is looking really nice as well. I'd go with moondrop cus i love their sound, huge fan. But you can also look at the Tangzu waner or 7hz zero 2.

go for a \~50 dollar IEM if you want to upgrade and ideally an 80-90 dollar one like the Truthear Hexa. For most people's use cases this is good enough and if you want an upgrade path after that i'd say you can choose whatever but stop at \~450 dollars. Imo it goes like this : You pay triple to quadruple the money for a game changing difference or at least an easily noticeable difference in quality I went from freebie Samsung AKG earphones to Moondrop Aria to Moondrop DUSK and i dont really want anything else. The Aria, for me, was exceptional and for the money i paid at the time there just wasnt much like it. And i had to pay SO much more for the DUSK to get the same difference in sound quality as found between the Moondrop Space Travel and the Aria. So that's how i came up with this pricing thing lol.

moondrop iems have been very relaxed/balanced/nice to listen to for me. If you want something that just does its job, the Moondrop May is for you. Not gonna wow you but is gonna sound great due to its good tuning. I had the Moondrop Aria and my friends and family all liked those, myself included. If you don't want dsp/usb-c functionality (cus you have a pc and only need 3.5mm) get the truthear zero red, cheaper.

exactly what im saying my friend. I had the Moondrop Aria and I had to spend 4.5x more to get the Moondrop x Crinacle DUSK. It was an absolutely monumental upgrade, just like the upgrade from my Space Travel 2 to the Aria was, but that's what im saying. IEMs see changes really fast and prices of good iems drop fast and all that, but it's really tough finding a proper upgrade. Like, the price difference is massive and it feels bad but the sound is so good I can kind of justify the move to the DUSK. But if i had spent 300 dollars and gotten a far less technical IEM, I'd have been felt like I was ripped off. That's why I'm saying try to either enjoy your set, look for different styles of tunings with similar technicalities or make sure to have a big jump. Your set is already an excellent one. That's the problem with buying great products, they're so good it's hard to replace them with a decent upgrade. I mean my Aria was hard to replace and your Hexa replaced my Aria for most people, it's more technical! And since you weren't wow'd by the Origin, just hold off my friend.

yap session incoming : yeah the DUSK has really good amounts of bass and so did the moondrop aria! Crin's recommendations were great for me! I also got the M40x based on his ranking and was absolutely friggin happy haha! And i DID use the Samsung x akg freebies, which were my main before the m40x and crin talked good about them as well! So yeah safe to say i trust crin's judgement haha, and super reviews praised the HECK out of the DUSK, even though it was only the analog tuning! Everyone dunked on this, saying the analog tuning sucks and stuff and i was concerned but i personally love both because the tech is great. And the one thing super review mentioned that stuck with me was bass quality, he said the bass of this is exceptional and he compares everything up to 500 dollars to this and this nearly always came out on top for him and no kidding, the bass on this, even in the analog mode with low quantity, is super high quality (for me) and quite addicting! And although he's bass shy, he's a proponent of good quality bass AND has similar tastes to me as well in terms of timbre ig, it's just that i like more bass and he likes more mids. The DUSK has been called analytical and a little sibilant by some, i didnt even think about it till i read about it lol, it's absolutely amazing for me. Whatever the case, these 2 guys just go over things in a nice manner and i trust em cus after buying their recs im thoroughly satisfied! And like, super reviews does his reviews after using them for a long time, that's quite an important factor for me, apart from crin, i dont really trust anyone who "tries" an iem out with some tests. It took me 5 days to properly get the fit down and to get used to the sound of my iems. Anyways sorry for the yap session lol And dang, wish i coulda helped you mess around with eq or something but admittedly, i hate eq'ing audio gear cus it's super hard compared to eq'ing when mixing for example, which i absolutely adore. Basically, i hate the eq process on audio gear but LOVE the end result, thanks for the duc recommendation, seems like a cool guy! hmm im talking about bass quality, yk speed/texture, those seem like they're good bass but LOTS of bass, i was also looking at the Europa but at that price i'd rather go for the Z1R, saving up for that one rn ahah, cant wait to experience dat bass yeah, it's just me, i just dont feel like spending that much money on used iems, different philosophies. Nope, the Maestro SE is at the price class of the Z1R and i'd rather go for the Sony, the complaints about fatfreq are also quite concerning to say the least but i think the sony is gonna be either more balanced or would have better staging, everyone comments on that and dang it im so interested now lol

for comfort, single dd iems. Tanchjim Fission is what i was looking at. Bigger iems are comfortable to wear as well dont get me wrong but single dd ones are just far smaller and can fit in most ears fairly easily. My Moondrop DUSK just falls out and i have to readjust every 20-30 mins and also maintain a very tight y-split. My Moondrop Aria, despite the metal and heavier shell, was far comfier and just disappeared in my ears for like half the day.

i was having an amazing time with my 80 dollar moondrop aria, just having fun and then eq'd it into a lot of different stuff. I had FOMO ofc when newer stuff came out or when seeing more expensive stuff but after a hard day, when i just sat down to listen to songs, even this little, not too expensive thing, gave me immense joy. It started distorting in the left channel and a little on the right channel after 2-3 years so i decided to upgrade, that's it. I was saving up and got myself the moondrop dusk, really happy with it and my endgame iem basically. All i wanna do is get a pair of speakers and a pair of headphones and im gonna be done. One of each. After that, maybe i'll go for a higher end iem or some different type of speakers but that's it. For me these 350 dollar IEMs are so good, apart from a reduction in comfort compared to my previous one, i just dont see much reason to get something else lol. Curiosity about more expensive stuff? Sure, but i dont think i even want all that cus this is exceptional for me. Just go on random listening sessions, close your eyes and have fun with the music. That helps for me.

I went from Moondrop to Moondrop, OG Aria to Variations. Was quite the experience, and they remained the most quality audio thing I owned up until I got my Ananda Stealths. The most noticeable thing was the treble; it was vastly more detailed without being harsh. It really opened my eyes to what the high end of audio can bring to the table and I love them to this day even if I prefer the sound signature of my Kiwi Ears Astrals better.

Unsure if it's Aria1 or pre-Crin Blessing? The shell does look like Aria1 (I have Aria1 tho)

My OG Arias served me very well for years as it led me to newer experiences with the Binary x Gizaudio Chopin.

Yeah the Aria "Elven Maiden" Funnily enough a local store has some on stock

This is true, I have one, I believe Timmy from --gizaudio-- hangout has one too. It's based on the og moondrop arias.

Moondrop Aria Elven Maiden is pure peak

Save up $100 and buy etymotic. Don’t put that cheap shit in your ears. I did chi fi one time (Arya Moondrop) and when the paint started chipping off in my ear, that was a wrap for me. Name brand only.