Starfield (Gen 1)

You asked for recommended upgrades from people who actually have any of these four IEMs. So here I go for the Starfield... Your Starfield IEMs do not have any chipped paint. You must have bought them in 2022 after it was announced that the paint chipping issue was fixed. I purchased two sets of the Starfield in March and April 2022. My set which I heavily used for several months still looks mint and has zero paint chipping issues. I sent my other set of Starfields, still factory sealed in the box, to Audio Amigo a few months ago for him to use in his review of the Dunu Kima 2 since the Kima 2 and the original Starfield have very similar overall frequency response curves. I can not stand the sibilance in the Starfield II and I can not say that the Starfield II is a nice upgrade (for me) for the original Starfield. I can say that the Kima 2 is a nice upgrade to the original Starfield. A riot of fun is that the Kima 2 is priced the same as the discontinued original Starfield. I remember the moment when I first listened to the Kima 2 and two thoughts immediately popped into my head. My first thought was that there must be at least one or two balanced armature drivers in the Kima 2 which must be delivering the very clean and crisp macro and micro details, Even the micro details sound clean and not fuzzy. Yet nope, the Kima 2 only uses dynamic drivers. My immediate second thought about the Kima 2 sounds like the original Starfield except that the bass now is very clean with no hint of muddiness which was present in the original Starfield and that the macro and micro details are very well defined in comparison to the original Starfield. It isn't that the original Starfield IEM is a bad IEM. The original Starfield was used as a reference by several reviewers a few years ago. Yet the original Starfield had seen its day. Following are some frequency response graphs of the original Starfield and the Kima 2: [https://audioamigo.squig.link/?share=Bad\_Guy\_Target,Moondrop\_Starfield,Dunu\_Kima\_2](https://audioamigo.squig.link/?share=Bad_Guy_Target,Moondrop_Starfield,Dunu_Kima_2) [https://squig.link/?share=Dunu\_Kima\_2,Moondrop\_Starfield](https://squig.link/?share=Dunu_Kima_2,Moondrop_Starfield) The Kima 2 has a very nice and crisp leading edge attack for the bass. This makes the bass sound a bit louder than what you see in the Kima 2 graphs. You might enjoy seeing Audio Amigo's review of the Kima 2. Starting at 21.56, he spends some time comparing the Kima 2 to the original Starfield. Following is the link for his review: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8hAPR6RRYM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8hAPR6RRYM) FULL DISCLOSURE: The Kima 2 was sent to me by Dunu for me to create an unboxing review for the Kima 2. I am glad that the Kima 2 was sent to me since the apparent lack of bass in the frequency response graph prevented me from considering this IEM. Dunu allowed me to keep the Kima 2. And keeping them I am since I really like the Kima 2.

OG Starfield holds a special place in my heart, even if I don’t typically like colored plate IEMs much.

Final Audio A4000 — tuning that favors clarity and a fairly transparent presentation for the price; a good option if you want to capture micro-details without spending a lot. • Moondrop Aria / Starfield (Starfield family) — very good in terms of resolution and separation; the Aria is especially good as an analytical "entry-level" model due to its balance and resolution for ~$80–120. The Starfield offers good soundstage and timbre within its range. • TINHiFi T2 Plus — surprisingly detailed and well-separated at a very low price; if you're on a tight budget, it delivers a lot of "micro-resolution" for little money.

I’ve been using Moondrop Aria IEMs for 4 years now, recently upgraded to a Moondrop Starfield and I’ve enjoyed them. First time using them I heard a guy crawl on top of some rocks above me on the woods map and waited for him to peak. Was sold from that point on, just recommend to find some good ear tips and maybe try foam out. Also I just searched up Pc Dac on Amazon and found the fosi K5 Pro which for me personally has made the audio much more enjoyable. I previously used it plugged into PC, but got interference (slight pops) then I plugged into my Mic which allows audio pass through and had cool features like volume control, and I would be able to hear myself talk (IEMs in my case I talk louder than I needed to and this feature was nice to control my voice because of noise cancellation) I’ve tried Logitech Pro X but headsets just give me fatigue after awhile, playing mostly 4 hours or more at a time which is what made me look into IEMs in the first place.

Funny I’ve been maining IEMs for 5 years and been wanting to get the DT 990 Pro X just to see if I could more accurately pinpoint movements in Tarkov. Been using moondrop arias and loved them but recently got the moondrop starfields and they’re even better quality wise. Aria paint chipped and filters go out pretty quick

I've spent years looking for Moondrop Starfield upgrade, so far I have listened around 40+ of the most popular and most recommended iems with prices up to 1300$. I was thinking of writing an article about all the iems I have tested and what I have learned, but I just don't have that much time to share a detailed findings unfortunately. But in short I can tell you this - if you have good hearing and appreciate the real/natural/reference sound then Moondrop Starfield iems are simply unbeatable in sub $1300. Yes, they are not perfect sounding, BUT they have not a single minor or major flaw, have good to excellent sound across the board, very comfortable to wear and their overall sound signature is very similar to the reference Genelec monitors. Yes, other more expensive iems can have a slightly more natural mids, or more detailed highs, or wider stage, or better bass, but they ALL have at least one major flaw or more often several minor and major flaws, like being big and getting hot and uncomfortable very quickly or having much worse mids or much worse highs. So overall they always lose to Starfields and often are simply unacceptable sounding without EQ. MOST common and prominent flaw of expensive iems (like the often recommended Monarch MKII/MKIII or PRESTIGE LTD) is very harsh and sibilant high frequencies. People who enjoy and recommend these iem have damaged hearing and by listening to them they damage it even more. So unless you have hardware to equalize the iems, I would recommend to avoid buying any expensive ones. Possibly there are some iems that are overall better than Moondrop Starfield in over 1300$ range and that is what I plan to investigate in the upcoming months/years when I have time to spare. The only iems that got close to be a replacement for Moondrop Starfield are 7th Acoustics Supernova. They have some minor flaws like highs being borderline harsh, slightly weak bass, poor and cheap accessories with only balanced cable, sealed design that makes it quite challenging to find the right eartips and right insertion depth. But after spending some time and money experimenting with different eartips and external DACs to get less harsh sound and not so tight fit, I found the right balance so they now sound like 10-20% better than Starfields depending on the song. But it all cost me over $1000, meaning over 10x the price of Starfields for some small (still noticeable) improvements. So unless you have $1K to waste I would recommend staying with Starfields and saving the money.

A common problem with many high-end IEMs, they have almost fully sealed design - better sound isolation, and possibly allows them to have better control of acoustics/resonances, but ultimately makes most of those high-end IEMs unusable for long-term listening sessions. The best sounding IEM under 1300$ I found after listening to dozens of them is 7th Acoustic Supernova and it has the same pressure issue. Better for your ears and hearing to avoid these IEMs entirely. Also, keep in mind that all these expensive IEMs do not provide much of improvement sound-wise over these 2 IEMs that are as close to reference sound as I could find: Wan'er Studio Edition (only WHITE one) or Moondrop Starfield (unfortunately no longer produced, so hard to find). Both of these do not have any "pressure" issue. But if you still want to use the tight-sealed ones, then the only workaround I found is as follows: when you insert the IEM into your ear canal, push the silicone ear tip against one of the ear canal walls, for example push it downwards, so that upper part of the silicone tip does not seal the ear canal and still allows some air to go through while you insert the IEM. You try to insert the IEM this way as deep as possible, deeper than you would usually/comfortably put them in, when you can't insert it any deeper then stop pushing the silicone tip towards the wall, so it unfolds and seals the ear canal. You will feel slight pressure on ear drum. After that you just slightly pull the IEMs from you ears, reducing the pressure, while still keeping them in your ear and sealed. You might do it couple of times until you get to the optimal pressure, cause its hard to get it right on the first try.

Merry Christmas to OP, and to everyone reading this, and audiophiles everywhere! Love this hobby eversince I decided to buy my first pair 4 years ago. It's like my therapy, decompression method to relax and just surrender to the musical journey. After trying many flavors of iems, I just keep going back to my Moondrop Starfield, but now it's time to put them to rest. It's been a difficult task to find a similar sounding iem, especially one that improves on technicalities rather than tuning. After much deliberation, I think the Ziigaat Horizon will be taking its place as my daily driver, with Tanchjim Origin and Ziigaat Odyssey as close second and third options respectively.

I had a similar experience with my first love being the original Moondrop Starfield. I was so happy with it that after 4 years of daily use, the right side stopped working, so I immediately panicked and bought a used pair in excellent condition. That's when I also picked up a new May as my first planar and DSP. A whole new world... now I could modify the sound and really love the comfort and fit, but still Starfield had a special something I can't describe. Now, I recently bought Ziigaat Horizon but it wasn't what I expected...It has the details, the imaging my mind loves but my neck and body can't stand and soundstage so wide the sound wraps around your head. I guess the combo of sub bass rumble and extra airyness was too much. They were a beauty to behold, but after a full metal bodied Starfield, resin just doesn't feel premium at all. I ended up returning them, and I'm about to try the Ziigaat Luna, which many describe as a smooth, relaxed yet airy, and detailed slight V shape. A description similar to the OG Starfield. I believe there's no such thing as end-game iem...so my search for better sound continues...or at least something that wows me for the next 3 to 5 years.

Guys am I the only person thinking FT1 are simply too warm and mid-bass focused? When I listen FT1 and compare this with Moondrop Statfield then Starfield and better balanced and much more clear. 

Guys am I the only person thinking FT1 are simply too warm and mid-bass focused? When I listen FT1 and compare this with Moondrop Statfield then Starfield and better balanced and much more clear.