@MMag05 did you say you were eyeing Yanyin Moonlight? Because very very early impressions from 2 owners are very favourable. Hopefully @hawaiibadboy will get his set too, then he can do a long video review on the entire Yanyin lineup 
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Where did you happen to see those impressions? Curious what they may have said other than theyāre enjoying them. Three hours in I can definitely say Iām thoroughly enjoying them. Thereās nothing that sticks out as flawed for me in technicality.
Iām really enjoying the EST implementation and the treble presentation they bring to the mix. Not really helpful overall but, I think Moonlight is definitely a mature Canon sound. Itās like they found the sweet spot, added some ESTs and tightened up technicalities. Seems like if you enjoyed the Canon these would be a winner.
If you do own the Canons already and enjoy them thereās a lot of similarities. Do I think theyād be worth the upgrade probably not. Especially if you enjoy the tuning switches. If you donāt own the Canon, are turned of by the switches or you think youād enjoy the refined treble from the EST Iād highly place these into consideration. Though at $300 more itās a harder pill to swallow.
With that my opinion for preferences and IEMs Iāve heard these compete as one of best EST implementations up to $1000. Given the ones up to and even above the asking price.
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I literally joined the forum just to second this (hi, btw). I have the T3+ and love it (kept it over the KATO; the KATO is ābetterā but JUST too much upper mid/treble energy for me) and the Serial looks like an eventual upgrade path Iād like, so that comparison would be huge!!!
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Iāve had a similar reaction to the Katoās and love the Serialās. Iāve since found some redeeming qualities in the Katoās, but I suspect youāll like the Serialās. I guess I should give the t3+ a shot
Did a crude EQ by eye, using squig links, to put the T3+ on the Serialās FR curve on my Q5K and obviously, the lack of air in the 4-8k cut is very noticeable. Does that lack of air play on the Serial, compared to other sets, or is it not as bad as the graph implies?
Serial mid treble is pretty dark and not airy the two sets Iāve tried, yes.
finally listening to my chu (i got it a week ago but was busy travelling)ā¦ first impression is yeah it might need a bit of a bass bump if just i like the feel of a heavy thump (JPEGmafia just needs that phat bass to work as well as it does)ā¦ and these should be used WITH the spring tipsā¦ not only do they fit me pretty damn well, but with final E tips they felt a lot more sharp and almost uncomfortable in areasā¦ where the upper mids feel like they are going too far and starting to hurt. (which my opinion on the tips are they fit me really wellā¦ but i donāt like the stickyness they have as i start to wonder if Iām getting an infection with them on, and they can be kinda hard to put on other IEMs)
i also want to note i have heard one horror story of someone getting the chus metal filter in their ear by accidentā¦ which is not something that would be easy to most others but this case did make me nervous about wearing these chu more often because i donāt wanna have that stuck in or these break that fast
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Below is my round about way to sum up my thoughts on the Moonlight. Without getting into its technicalities. Take this extremely lightly as I think the Moonlight is phenomenal and Iām seriously enjoying it. Almost more so than any IEM Iāve heard.
Of all my IEMs XENNS Up has been around the longest and made all my purges. Being favored over many giants like the U12T, Monarch MKII and Mest MKII. Thereās something special about itās presentation that nothing has compared to. OG Tea is my newest arrival before the Moonlight came in. From first listen it feel right into Up territory. No matter what IEM I listen to nothing makes me forget their sound.
Funny enough though I canāt seem to find anything special or a remeberal signature on the Moonlight. I do think it represents one of the best, smoothest, detailed and balanced presentations to date Iāve heard. Bass is just right, imaging staging are great and treble is perfectly airy. Everything exist as a phenomenal cohesive tuning. I canāt find anything on it that Iād say is missing or isnāt enough except the special sauce . Hits every other point and all genres to near perfection for my taste.
My only issue and itās extremely minuscule is back to the special sauce. Ultimately for me that will probably be itās crutch as further releases come along. I just donāt think it has anything that another IEM at a later time will make me look back on and remember my time under the Moonlight. For now though it is slowly creeping up as my favorite all around IEM to date.
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Thatās all I could really say about the Canon vs Serial - I was all round impressed by the Canonā¦ but the Serialās presentation, most notably bass but overall timbre and tone, is just special. Some IEMs just have that special sauce youāre speaking of. Iām all the more intrigued by exactly what the Up sounds like.
People have described the Penon Volt with similar devotion. That and the EJ07 are some of my final curiosities (that will be on pause for the summer at least). Iāve been blessed to manage to sell off everything, no post office pressure or bank credit burden if I step away.
I did end up keeping the Oriveti OH300, at least for now. Their sauce might not be quite as distinct from others in the sea of IEMs, but they are distinct enough from the Serial, and fit like a glove.
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Itās an old one but if you like the Oriveti OH300, youāll absolutely love the Oriolus MK2ā¦ It goes for $880 new but can be had for $350-400 used.
That thing has special sauce in the mids. Very soulful, hyper intimate AND 3D. Sounds huge with great sound pressure.
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There is also Oriolus Reborn which is MK2 with better cable and adjusted housing design if I remember correctly seen from time to time for ~450 dollars on head fi.
One of those ones I would really love to try, however I am afraid that the hobby moved this fast in past 6 years since the original release that it wonāt keep a candle to the rest of chifi
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Oh I would say it does. The mids are special on that IEM, one of the best if not the best I ever heard. Not as detailed as something like the MEST MK2 and maybe even a smidge behind the Timeless, but the dimensionality, intimacy, lushness, power, size and emotion of the mids were chefās Kiss. Itās the highs that falter on that set and shows its age.
Funny you mention the Volt as being that. I had my eye on it at one point. Not sure why it feel of the radar. Maybe Iāll have to revisit it at one point if I can find one used.
In some way my take on the Serial is like yours for the OH300. Itās easy for me to admit it is really distinct. Iām just not sure if itās distinctiveness is exactly wowing enough for my preference.
I donāt mean to be hard on the Moonlight with my thoughts. It really is everything I expected from IEM and ultimately what I wanted one to be as my palette refined through my young journey. It plays my whole library without any weakness but, also doesnāt add anything special to its presentation.
Quite possibly that may end up being itās special sauce. That itās just there and does everything I ask and subsequently forgot Iām listening to it. Maybe thereās no IEM with enough special sauce to be that for my library. This one though is going to need more sunsets to see if the Moonlight still glows.
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i think there is kinda a bit of a gap in the 200 dollar or so rangeā¦ like with the common 100 range everyone says just get the aria or titan S or so, and if you go into the devoted to chifi >300 range you get to ābuy a blessing 2ā, but if you want something in the 150-250 range there isnāt much that is a clear winner in the priceā¦ crin states the timeless but the planar timbres kinda weird areaā¦ hence why there are more different recommendations like the olina or the shuoer or timeless or whatever elseā¦ and it sucks when i am in that 200 range of āi have had a 100 dollar IEM but i donāt want to spend as much as my main headphones on an IEMā (maybe if i upgrade to a 500+ headphone maybe but not now)
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Pray to the audiophile gods that Elixir is really good then because that could be an option in the $200 range
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eh maybe i just go down to the 100 dollar range and stick there since there are so many options in 200 and Iām not ready to go dusk for 300 dollarsā¦ the IEM space in general is kinda weird for meā¦ i use them often but will also immediately use a headphone when i canā¦ the upgrade plan for me is just kinda confused
Penon Vortex coming in 2 weeks $200ish thatās exciting.
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3D Velocity Transducer diaphragm is composed of beryllium-coated interweaving layers of multi-walled carbon nanotube sheets . . .
stronger pole magnets and a completely copper voice coil actuator
ThieAudio Elixer better be good with words joined together like that. I like seeing all these upcoming single DD IEMs.
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Tony reviewed it and said itās good but not as good as any competitor (Hana , Kato , Olina, Oxygen)
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