Moondrop - S8

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.

S8 overall the best for me. Variations is the most fun. it sounds tots differently than anything else you could find that why so many people love it. Dusk is more all rounder iem. The more i listen to it, more i like especially its bass. Technically i would say and pretty sure Variations is the worst among 3. I can listen to jazz music with S8 and Dusk but not Variations. One important thing to note that Variations does't have much bass. It has a lot of sub bass boost but only sub bass. the whole tuning is super thin. Sometimes i feel the vocal like floating above my head. It is not bad or weird feeling. Magic :D.

yeah that was from long time ago but still good. i love it.

>especially considering 3-4 years ago iems werent that good They *were* that good. You just had less options. Something like Moondrop S8 still holds up very, very well. >the S12s were letshouers highest tier product Oh no they had far more expensive sets like EJ07M

I've had unvented all BA IEMs before, like the Moondrop S8, Ibasso AM05, Tansio Mirai TSMR 3 Pro, and they all sound great/fine. Orchestra Lite just sounds so dull and blunt to my ears. Pressure build up doesn't bother me as much, especially when I use Tangzu's san cai tips.

S8 are better . Dusk beats both though

I got the T3+ ( amazing for their price ) as my first IEM like 5 years ago and then moved on to the Dusk. Recently got a dawn pro 2 and a MC2 cable because the dusk DSP cable broke and I was using a Type C tripowin Zonie. The dawn pro 2 offers noticeable improvement on the sound (and also gets louder ) compared the tripowin zonie on an iPhone. And also can EQ the Dusk again. The Dusk are pretty much the best IEM under $1200 with DSP . They are (almost) monarch mk4 level. I’ve heard both the variations and the S8 and dusk even with analog is better than variations and slightly behind the S8. With DSP it surpasses both . The blessing 3 even with EQ can’t quite match the Dusk especially in bass and timbre.

Resin is beautiful, but it get yellow overtime which is a shame. Also maybe that's just me but bubble on faceplate is also a bit of a letdown.

I tried KZ AS10 and DQ6, Blon BL-Mini and A8 Prometheus, Moondrop Kato, B2, B2 Dusk and S8, Softears Studio 4 and TinHiFi T2 Plus. Tin were trash. KZ AS10 was okayish but not really. DQ6 super comfortable, lightweight decent SQ for the price and comfort but nothing crazy. From Kato to B2/Dusk there's a significant step up in SQ. From B2/Dusk to S8 there's an improvement but it's not something crazy. The Blons sound OK, BL-Mini is quite decent in terms of price to performance, A8 are overpriced in terms of SQ but they look amazing. Both are lower in SQ than the Kato. Studio 4 sounds amazing to me, it's a more mid centric sound signature. The S8 has a more spacious sound and has more perceived space between instruments but the S4 is just godly in terms of it's timbre, everything's sounds just right, notes are weighty of I had to describe it somehow, and vocals are on another level altogether. I'll soon hear the RSV MKI. Thus far from this lineup I'd say diminishing returns start at the Blessings, now... The S4 I think is a justifiable step up, the S8 if you have the disposable income yeah, otherwise you spend more and you get more but not that much more. The S4 is cheaper than the S8 and I'd surely recommend the former. I guess it boils down to how much you are willing to spend. There is an improvement in SQ but it's definitely not a linear function, it's evidently logarithmic, just like horsepower in cars. I'm sure though there's plenty of snake oil sets out there. I'm sure if you bought the Hexa or the Nova and compare them with the Kato the latter would feel like a scam. That being said SQ is not the only factor, I have the Blons almost exclusively for how they look. I've met people that were like meh they all sound the same. I think I trust myself as I found the S8 underwhelming compared to the cheaper S4, and I really wanted to like the S8 as they look gorgeous, but I truly believe the S4 are the better pair. And bro, damn... those TinHiFi T2 Plus, 60 bucks? I wouldn't take them for free... Everything sounds like an out of tune banjo with only two strings left played by a crackhead that lost half his fingers.

Why so many? Just buy a Susvara and enjoy. IEMwise best I've tried overall Softears Studio 4. Dusk seems interesting. S8 is great, I pick it for comfort and detail for instrumental music like Polyphia over the S4 but the latter sounds much more natural and the female vocals are god tier. I tried the Meze 99 Classics, amazing build quality, sounds kinda meh compared to Grado SR325e and Sundara, the latter being the best of those.

Since most are giving a few instead of one, I thought I'd throw a top three into the crowd: 1. Moondrop Blessing 3 2. Meze Audio Alba 3. Truthear Hexa (Honorary to the Moondrop S8; it is pretty much tied with the Hexa but you can't really buy it soooo)

S8 bass seems weak though? Whereas variations has powerful bass.

Those Super Mario Galaxy albums are the best! ⭐️ Not sure about your budget, but I got a pair of the Moondrop S8 recently off r/AVexchange for $345 and they’ve been really fun when I listen to music like the stuff in your library. Resolving enough to be satisfying but soft enough in the treble for J-Pop, at least that’s been my experience! Super comfortable too

Whatever I'm listening to at present. Lately the Pure. Before that the S8. Sometimes Zero:Red when I'm mobile. Whatever sounds good.