Moondrop - MAY

My personal rankings for stuff I've heard. I'm a neutral/neutral bright guy. (My post on reddit goes somewhat in depth on all of these, sadly I'm not very technical in my language) Kotori Audio Zephyr (Duh) Truthear Hexa Tangzu Yu Xuan Ji (might be too bright for some but easily looks the prettiest by a *BIG* margin) Truthear Gate (My current set, would upgrade to one of the options in the list in a few months) Tanchjim 4u (Bang for buck) Truthear x Crinacle blue 2 (tachjim 4u has better value) Aful Magicone (very similar to hexa) Moondrop May (A default starter set for almost everyone regardless of taste.) Letshouer s08 (not my taste, great value, premium for the price) Letshouer dz4 (not my taste, great value) Moondrop Chu 2 (My previous set that are lying around somewhere) Tangzu x hbb Xuan Nv (just because of the fit) Kotori Audio Vampire I'll check out your YouTube!

I have a curse with IEM faceplate, first Moondrop May then the U4s :((

Bro buy moondrop May (unboxed) at headphonezone which cost you 5k. I have one. Good IEM.

I have been in this hobby for more than 1 year. I live in a country where products from China are quite cheaper due to low shipping fees and taxes, which are already cheaper compared to audio products from well-known brands like Sony, Sennheiser, etc. I started looking for an IEM to begin with, and Moondrop May and Truthear Hexa caught my eyes. They are beautiful and cheap, yet got tons of good reviews and recommendations. I bought both. I still remember how impressive the first listening experience was. I was shocked by the sound. I can’t comment much about it now since it was a long time ago. Before that, I often used my AirPods Pro 1 for music. I won’t say the sound quality is better, but I think overall they are different things. It was a new breeze to my ears in a good way. Maybe because I was too familiar with the V-shape sound from mainstream audio products, while these IEMs have totally different tuning and hybrid driver sound as well. I then watched tons of review videos and of course found Crin, learned about how the audio chain works — DAC, amp, dongle, DAP, etc. I won’t mention them in this thread, but I bought and sold a lot just to experience. I found Variations, which is shilled so much by Crin and other reviewers. Luckily, there was a sale deal for a brand new Variations at $300. I bought it and sold my May and Hexa. Thought it was going to be my endgame IEM. And once again, I got shocked by its sound. Due to my limited experience and hearing skills, I won’t comment much about its sound quality, but this set sounds totally different than anything else before, considering May and Hexa already brought me a new world. I was wrong thinking it would be my end game :D though I still keep it till now. I think Crin’s IEM guide, at some point, is really helpful for beginners like me who are seeking something new and can easily get overwhelmed. I stuck with Variations for a long time. It sounds great with most music genres I often listen to, especially pop, EDM, rap, but not old-school hip-hop and R&B. At some point, I gained more knowledge about IEMs and how they are tuned. I realized no IEM or tuning style can fit all. Some shine in modern pop music, some shine in classical, jazz, etc. It’s okay, but not as good as others depending on the genre. I felt I needed an IEM that has mid-bass and lower-mid boost, something that might be good for rock. I love rock music, especially hard rock and classic rock. I decided to buy Fiio FD7, a single-driver IEM which has more mid-bass than Variations. This set has everything I need for rock. It sounds perfect. It almost made me cry when listening to Led Zeppelin albums. Page’s guitar sounds straight to my heart, tbh. BUT it has a very big flaw. It got sibilance :D. Also, this was the first time I knew what sibilance is IRL lol. Cymbals sound super harsh to my ears with metal or alternative. I love it so much, but I cannot afford a set just to listen to a few old rock bands from the 70s–80s. I had a chance to trade it for Moondrop S8. After some time listening, once again this opened my world a little bit more. This set has super, super detail, wide soundstage, like standing in a field. I didn’t care about anything else and was okay with the trade. Till now, I still feel very lucky I got this chance because it’s quite hard to find Moondrop S8 since it’s discontinued, and not many people bought it at its selling price, even though it’s a very good set. Reference sound, detail, everything sounds amazing. This shit sounds engaging while being super detailed. IDK, but it sings, not just sounds. I can hear new sounds that I’ve never heard before in familiar songs I’ve replayed like 1000 times. And yeah, Moondrop S8 is my endgame IEM for the whole year indeed. I still keep Variations for pop music though. Till lately, I decided to buy something new — idk, just something new. I desired the feeling when I got shocked again by a new set of IEMs. I searched the second-hand market for some days since getting a second-hand IEM is often cheaper and I won’t lose much money if I resell it in case it doesn’t sound good to my ears. Then I saw Dusk. At first, I thought this set would sound similar to Variations at some point since Moondrop always tunes their IEMs following the same kind of Harman target with low-mid scoop. After some research, I changed my mind and gave it a chance. There are some reasons for this decision. First, it’s from Crin, whose guide really helped me. I believe in his taste, to some extent. Secondly, Dusk has a super beautiful faceplate. I don’t like full-resin with tons of colors like rainbow IEMs. Even if they sound good, I won’t buy them. They look cheap to me. Dusk sounded meh meh to me at first. I didn’t like it initially because it had too much bass for my ears — boomy, I would say. With analog tuning, I feel everything is thrown to my face: drums, guitar, vocals, cymbals ==. It’s not a comfortable feeling compared with S8 or Variations. Even the DSP tuning sounds a little bit better, but it loses some technicality, sparkle, and treble extension. Though DSP tuning is easier to listen to, it’s not the wow factor I expected or was looking for. I was really disappointed. Really. Then I gave it some days of burn-in (burn-in my brain, not the IEM). I think my brain was too familiar with the thin and clinical sound of S8 and Variations. Now I feel much better and more positive about Dusk. I can hear the bass more clearly. I mean, I can distinguish bass texture from different instruments. The bass hits hard, but in a good way — not just “thump thump” like initially. I decided to keep it and rotate them. Looking forward to seeing how my brain processes and gets familiar with all 3 IEMs :D. I wrote this just to share my experience as a beginner in this hobby and my 1-year journey recap. Of course, I want to hear your sharing about other IEMs, other companies. Still finding wow factor but in money-saving mode haha. Maybe in the next few months I’ll try to find a new set. I really appreciate and feel lucky that I got into this hobby. It’s costly, but I don’t care. I enjoy and love music. Any means that make my music listening better are worth it.

dude save your money you will be blown away by 70$ish iems for example the truthear zero blue 2 compared to airpods arent really that impressive but save up your money for like some moondrop mays that you can plug in to your phone with usb c

comes with eq too and better tuning

Moondrop may's (my daily driver until about a week ago) or the cheaper but similar tanchjim bunny, or 7hz sonus, newer set i own Both are great, may's sound warm and neutral (you'll hear vocals, bass rumble, higher frequency instrument will sound laid back like violins tambourine... rock is great though), sonus sound spacious, clear and detailed with extra subbass (super fun at high volumes, and for busy tracks) If you don't get a sub $20 set you should benefit quite well by a dac, ka11/trn black pearl will do great, get the latter if you intend to get balanced planars or headsets in the future (or just want a more powerful dac) keep us updated and gl, hf

My first iems were the chu 2s dsp, i love their fit but i had to eq it quite a bit to get more bass (i love bass) Then i get the t10s and omg i love those everything about these is perfect and they eq quite well (the only con for me was the plastic shell and they dont look really appealing) a great iem Recently i got the moondrop may (i might become a moondrop fan) havent had much time with them and they are the only set i havent eqed yet, but im happy with thier tuning Also i got an android mp3 player for cheap its called the "m1" with no company name but its alright I also have the kiwi ears allegro mini and dunu s&s eartips coming ! I was looking at other iems to complete my collection and have a new exprience i have 3 options in mind : The aful explorer (will push my budget a bit its around 130$) The kiwi ears quartet (for 100$) cklvx d41 (for 85$) I love bass, i listen to edm, hyperpop, hiphop, pop, shoegaze, j rock and a bit of everything I cant buy from amazon due to my country being a shithole so i need to buy locally Thanks for reading and give me your recommendations please !!

Hey thank you for replying!! I checked and found that the pure is going for 85$ but i saw a yt review saying they arent great :< The artti is really good the treble is a bit too sprakly for me but with a small eq it really blew my mind i love them, the t10s are what i use the most currently Btw i wanted to ask i wasnt able to use the may with the app it only shows bluetooth stuff for me do u know how i can eq it ? Tysm for ur kindness and response

Around your budget the best choice for you would be a Simgot EW300 (especially since you'll be using it for gaming), or a moondrop May. If you could increase your budget though i think you would really like the Kiwi Ears Aether as it has great bass without sacrificing the clarity, you could also get a DAC such as Jcally jm6 (i personally have no experience with it but i see other people recommend it very often), or just use any aux to type C adapter (the IEMs also have cable options with type C).

Pula PA02. It sounds great with all the music I like and the price was acceptable. Moondrop May is also very good for its price and convenience but I keep going back to the Pula when I really want to do nothing else but listen to music.

I got the Moondrop May for my wife. She usually would use AirPods Pro. She tried the May and fell in love with the sound. V-shape and “fun”. Budget friendly. If you wanna go higher, I can definitely recommend Hype4, Canon 2 and my favorite: DUY BUSK (you gotta figure out what fights one is by looking around a bit!) 😃👌