Variations

IEMs zero regret for travel and workouts. Headphones during work, gaming and bedtime. Also, at mid-fi, IEMs are better in almost every way. Moondrop Variations and EJ07, Butastur, hell even 100€ Etymotics beat any mid fi headphone I tried. At high end, headphones still win.

After I heard Moondrop Variations and Letshuoer EJ07 with candy tips M size. Often feels even superior to my Arya Organic. I am on the lookout if anyone is selling an EJ07 used as they are worth backing up for life.

The more important question is: IEMs with anime boys when? OK but serious answer time: my favourite IEM anime girls have to be Moondrop Variations, followed closely by Moondrop Psyche. Variations girlie has a very pleasing striking colour palette and the outfit is very tasteful. I mean you can’t go wrong with berets! Psyche girl has more lethal face card and better hairdo but I need to see the rest of her outfit. She kinda gives me Otome Isekai girls vibe.  (Yeah both of them have pastel pink hair, I have a taste you can tell). Sharing 3rd place is Tangzu Wan’er Blue and Tangzu Wu Zetian Legend.

For me the point of diminishing returns is the Thieaudio Monarch Mk IV. Of all the IEMs and Headphones I own it is the only ones I use without EQ. I have a pair of DCA E3s that I "can" use without EQ, when necessary, and not find deficient, but I prefer a light EQ curve with a bass boost, that really opens them up. And it is downhill from there. And I have several pair of what many consider "end game". Including HD 800S, HEKU, HEKS, HE6SE, LCD-X, Focal Elex, and others. I pretty much would not use them without EQ. I also have several pair of IEMs, including the Moondrop Variations, Blessing 2 Dusks (I have also owned the original B2) among others. But I am extremely happy with the Mk IV, since I acquired them. Incredible detail, balanced sound and great bass without EQ. They do require tip rolling and some effort getting just right. And I understand they will not fit everyone's ears (sucks to be them), and I assume that the critics have not taken the time to configure properly or they don't fit their ears. I can do an improper setup with them and achieve the sound they "claim" about them. But just a touch more work, and voila: magic. And once setup you only have to put them on and play music. My endgame until such time as the Subtonic Storm becomes available to me...

It looks like a fair option with a lot of output for the money and size. However, the FiiO KA13 has pretty much the same specs for $25 cheaper (along with FiiO build quality and reliability), and the KA15 looks to be a price to performance champ at only $10 more. The reviews (that I have seen thus far) would indicate some issues with the Crinear. But more research should be done before any purchase. Yes, all of the above would power most over ears adequately, with only power hungry options crying for more (think HE6SE or HD 800S). Maybe not excelling like a monster desktop amp, but certainly enjoyable. I have used less powerful DAC/Amps and had satisfactory performance, with even a DCA Noire (a bit power hungry). I have the FiiO QX13, which is a great portable option with a desktop mode of almost 1 watt (900 mw). It is a bit larger than other portable "dongles", and a touch expensive ($220 or $240 depending on finish. but comes with its own case and is small enough to use traveling). Other options either have less power (though smaller) or are bulky and expensive (containing a batter to maintain, as well). Over 600 mw with a desktop mode of 900 mw is enough to power all but the most power hungry headphones well enough to enjoy them. So it can act as both a portable and desktop option. I also have the KA5 & KA3. I do use a (somewhat) pro setup for my desktop (my hobbies include music production, etc.). with an RME ADI2-Pro, Topping A90D and MiniDSP Flex balanced with Neumann studio monitors and sub. Way overkill for your needs, I'd imagine.

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.

$300? Hardly. It was $520 for years and the price recently got bumped up to $599.