Moondrop In-Ears Reviews, Impressions and Discussion

I haven't heard the Sonys you mention, but I do think of the Arias as lightweight. They aren't as light and tiny as the Zero Carbon Tenore (which I have so I can compare directly to the Aria loaner), but the Arias are on the light side for a "full size" over-ear-cable IEM.

They aren't as small as the Shure SE-215 (which I also have) either. Here are photos of the 215, Aria, Kato, Timeless 7Hz, and Zero Carbon Tenores in the same pair of ears: https://www.icloud.com/photos/#0c7A6qMtfHDGarYA53kj6uQaA

 

The Arias sound different from the Sonys: much taller stage, more punch, and they have a bit of an upper midrange glare.

The earpieces are made of metal but are not too big and therefore not too heavy for me. They have always stayed in my ears during my daily walks. I have not experienced any problems.

Therefore, the Arias would definitely not be "moreofthesame".

The Arias are widely considered to be one of the best iems below $100 and would be a great and safe option.

But there is another choice, the $50 Final E3000. These are small, bullet shaped, and light...and therefore offer optimal comfort (like the Sonys). I personally prefer the E3000 on a daily use over the Arias, simply because of comfort.

And the E3000 "scale with source"...meaning they sound better with a better source. They do even justice to my $900 Questyle QP1R dap. The E3000 are not as "aggressive" sounding as the Arias and they have an ultra wide stage.

Both the Arias and E3000s made it to the Wall of Excellence on my blog (8 authors involved).

Haha...choices...unless you get them both .

 

@philipmorgan @Brause

Thanks for the input., guys, I appreciate it. And especially the in ear pics Philip. The Arias look like they fit nicely.

Good idea, I owned the Zero Carbon Tenore and they did many things well but in the end they sounded too lean for me, and the shape was a bugger for my small ear canals. With no other part of the ear to support they bothered me.

Same for some others like them that I tried at RMAF over the years. The Finals sound like they may be really great tonally, but again the bullet shape does not work for me. Good idea though.

 

Mind sharing your thoughts on how the SE215 compares to the Arias?

 

The Shure SE215 is not even in the same league, almost not even same sport as the Arias. I find the SE215's dull, hazy, narrow, rolled off at both ends, with a low-mid hump.

The Arias might be slightly hazy compared to other IEM's with a bit more resolve, their overall presentation is nice, non-fatiguing, and certainly more balanced. About the only things SE215's have over the Aria's is size and isolation, but even that can't make up the difference in overall dullness of those.

Side note - I picked up some SE215's for phone calls and I even got complaints from friends on the bad sound quality of the mic. I can't believe Shure can charge what they do for those. Wait...knowing the modern history of Shure, yes I can.

 

Hard agree with @Azimuth on this. I sometimes use the SE215s for voice monitoring on livestreams (ex: ), but I think they suck for music. I think the Zero Carbon Tenore's I have embarrass the SE215 with music. Wipe the floor with them. The Arias do too.

The only reason I use the SE215s for voice monitoring is they are TINY and inconspicuous and have over-ear cable routing, as you can see in that video I linked to. Their one big positive is fit: they fit better than any other universal-fit IEM I've ever tried.

 

Moondrop Aria Loaner Impressions
I’d like to thank SBAF, @rhythmdevils, and Apos Audio for making this loaner tour possible, and I’m very grateful for the chance to hear these IEMs. I liked them a lot. I don’t have a frame of reference for the competition at this price point but compared to my much more expensive Massdrop Plus and the Moondrop’s Kato, I’d say these are excellent bang-for-the-buck IEMs. And, regardless of price, they’re really very nice to listen to.

Gear, Caveats, and Preferences

• The Aria gets bassy fast with thicker silicone tips; I opted for the Azla Sedna Light tips as they sounded the most balanced even as they kept a nice bass lift.
• All impressions are from my Sony NW-ZX2 DAP
• I’m in my mid-40s and have suffered from some hearing loss, I have no idea what's happening over 14 kHz
• My own preferred IEMs are the Andromeda 2020, original Solaris, and the Massdrop Plus

Impressions
These are very likable IEMs. They don’t have any major flaws, generally speaking, and such criticisms as might be leveled at them seem churlish and unfair given the price. They look and feel nice and elegant, and the packaging is quite fancy. I’d be stoked if I were given these as a gift (apart from the waifu imagery).

The overall tuning is pleasant and fairly balanced, with a bit of a bass boost, one that’s not overdone, and there’s also a bit of emphasis, I suspect, in the upper-mids and lower treble. The mids are fine, there aren’t any obvious oddities. Taken together, there’s a pleasant warmth to the sound. The Aria aren’t in the least bit fatiguing for me, and I’d say they have a safe but fun tuning.

The bass is quite rich and full, and there’s even some sub-bass depth and rumble. At times the bass, taken as a whole, comes across as a bit soft and imprecise - it’s not loose or phat or flabby, just a bit bloomy, which Is actually quite nice. There’s also a decent amount of slam.

The emphasis in the upper mids and lower treble gives some bite to string instruments. Electric guitars have a decent, satisfying amount of bite. Female vocals and hammond organs are quite forward; male vocals are less so but not recessed. There isn’t much extension or air in the higher treble, so fas as I can tell (and there might be some upper treble above 14 kHz that I can’t hear). I found it hard to hear flutes and harps in orchestral pieces. Cymbals could be a bit mushy and shushy sounding, which is to say they lack zing and crispness.

For the price, the timbre of acoustic instruments is very good. For some reason, saxophones sound awesome.

Technicalities are also solid for the price. These aren’t the fastest IEMs, and the relatively poor resolution is their main limitation (again, I don't have a good frame of reference for IEMs at this price point). The Aria also lack staging depth. But the width is good. Imaging is a bit imprecise and has a slightly indistinct quality. That said, separation is quite impressive, I found myself being able to make out and follow individual instruments very well. I was surprised to find that individual instruments didn’t collapse very much into an indistinct mass in complex passages. Macrodynamics are also excellent.

There’s a great deal to like about the Aria. I might snag a pair. Thanks again for the opportunity to check them out.

 

Thanks to Apos Audio and SBAF for organizing this loaner along with the Kato loaner.

I spent nearly a week with the Aria loaner. My primary listening chain was balanced output from a Sony WM1A running Walkman One firmware, though I also spent some time with a Lyr 3 fed by Modius. I also did some testing of a few other sources, as noted below. My main IEMs of comparison were the Kato loaner, which I had at the same time, CA Andromeda, and Drop JVC FDX1 with the most damped nozzles (green in my case).

Much of these impressions and text will be shared with the Katos, as I felt they had a similar presentation, with the Kato having a more refined sound.

Comfort is good, I had no issues with fit or feel and could listen for quite a while without fatigue. I tried a few tips and eventually settled on Final Audio silicone tips. Same as I use on the Andromeda actually. This seemed to give me the best comfort and preferred sound. I'm also a big fan of the finish on these. They look great with a nice matte black finish and some gold patterns.

The Aria has what I would describe as a fairly fun tuning. Somewhat V shaped, with a definite bass emphasis and then some additional emphasis in the upper registers. I enjoyed listening to most music with them, and have no major complaints about the overall tuning for what it is. I prefer the tuning of the Andromeda most of the time, but that's a preference and not a complaint about the Aria. The only thing I noted was that in direct comparison to the Kato the Aria felt like it might have some harshness or glare in the upper registers that was smoother and more pleasant on the Katos.

By comparison, the Andromedas sound a little brighter and more open, especially in back to back listening. The Andros are also more resolving and sound a little more natural to me. The FDX1 had less bass emphasis and sounded a little more even but also a little thinner by comparison.

Since I bought the Andromedas and discovered just how picky they are about source noise I started checking sources that I consider unlistenable/unlivable with Andromeda on other IEMs I check. These include an iPod 5.5g, my Framework laptop, and an Anbernic portable retro gaming console, all of which are very noisy with the Andros. With Aria, the iPod sounded really nice, no noticable noise. In terms of sound quality don't think it holds up all that great against a modern Sony player, but still sounds and works very well for such an old device. The Framework laptop has an intel board with a fairly crap internal sound chip and amp. I can hear a brief buzz when the amp turns on, and a low background hissing while it is active. It's not loud, and music covers it up, but it doesn't sound super great. The retro console is really bad, though game music can drown it out. I will probably stick with Porta Pros for that.

 

Update: I bought the Moondrop Aria. Thanks for the recs. I am happy, it is revealing especially on some new Tidal tracks to the point of "who the f**k mastered this"; yet on good recordings it is pretty damn nice.

I may be grabbing a Final E series just to try at some point , but these fit, don't dislodge and sound really nice on my walks, even without a big bass bump. And they do scale at the desk.