Moondrop - S8

Adding my experience here. They are really good, imho. They have punchy bass just the right amount, drum pedals and bass guitars sound full. Mids sound natural. They then have energy up top that make plucks sound crisp but shy of any sibilance. As comparison, my Moondrop S8 are way more resolving, but they lack a tad bit of mid bass and impact that makes the Alba great fun.

>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.

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.

Alright.... Time to show off my age. **Sony EX70/71**. One of the first consumer grade IEM to show what IEM was like before IEM was in the hobby's consciousness. If you know, you know. This was one of the first consumer level IEMs available. This was 2003, and I got mind around 2004/5? **Shure E2C.** Around the same time, Shure released their IEM, the E-series to the general public. Slightly more darker tuning if I remember right, but the E2c was one of the first **professional IEM** that was available for the general public. I think I liked it better than the EX71, because it was more rounder and/or more decent sounding. Few years later, the **UE TripleFi** went on sale on Black Friday for $99. That one holds a special place in my heart. First 3x BA driver with detachable cable and was pretty good sound. Sony got my wallet back in the 2010s with their XBA series. **XBA-3** around 2012, 13? That one still remains one of my favorites and I still have them to this day. It just hits right for me. Then... KZ hit the market with their ATE, then ZS series.... and everything changed, in a very positive way. **ZS5** was the major milestone. And that was amazeballs. Multiple BA and DD drivers? For less than $50, let alone $100? Mindblowing. Was it neutral? No, not really. Was it controversial? Yes. But it sounded really good. And I think I got lucky getting the v1 rather than v2? But still. That was mindblowing. Chinese OEMs were now making stuff that sounded good as mainline brands, at fraction of the price! The new wave of $20 to $50 Chi-Fi IEMs impress me to this day. From the **Wan'er** to the **Moondrops** and maybe even the **KZ ZS12 Pro X** (non tuning). I'm going to jump on the cheap bandwagon with the **ARTTI R6 USB-C** version. $3.50? And it sounds better than what was considered state of the art 10 years ago?! Are you fucking kidding me? You newcomers have it immensely good. Before 2017, 16(?), you had to spend at least $50+ to get something worthwhile (SQ, detachable cables, etc) because that was the state of the market.

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

I haven't branched out too much into IEM's but I've had a few of MoonDrops's and I absolutely LOVE how good the quality is.

its crazy tbh, 8 years ago you never would of seen the quality we are getting today at the prices we are seeing, I have owned the moondrop S8's, aful P5, Kiwi ears cadenza, simgot EA500lm and out of all of them I enjoy and spend 99% of my time listening to the simgot's which are one of my cheapest iems. (the aful were my least favourite which were my 2nd most expensive iem) I am eyeing up the simgot ET142 or the kiwi ears aether, back when I used to use headphones I was a huge fan of planar so curious how they are on the iem side.

Supernova 100%, best IEM I've heard. I'd also say the Symphonium Helios and Moondrop S8, both are still very solid IEMs and are 4+ years old by now.