oooooh that’s exciting!! I’ve sort of hopped off the IEM bandwagon once I discovered earbuds. Maybe one day i’ll be tempted…but i’d need to sell all my other IEMs that are gathering dust (well, the Canon is still in my rotation!)
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It’s going to take essays and listing almost every track I listen to try to paint a picture of it. Everything’s so perfect but beyond that, for the first time in a very long time, it is clearly levels above as far as audio experiences go. Here out I’m either going to settle for the cheap end, or buy this, none of the other levels of upgrade are as fully transformative as this. It’s not just amounts/texture of bass mids and highs, the space, and fullness is something else.
“Crisis (Wongnotes Version)” by Cory Wong has an airy space with a building rumble at the start… bass hits have the ideal attack/decay…
Something like the Xenns Up is very good but not really a huge upgrade from the Serial in my ears (or trades blows in most areas), this really feels like what I’d imagine people are able to justify dropping 1-2k on when it comes to diminishing returns. There are some clear, clear returns in this set. I’m loving it.
I haven’t really used my Apple dongle in a while, so to be fair I’d better run some other IEMs through it to see if I’ve just being getting worse results out of my Q5K and an R3 Pro… but I doin’t think anything I’m getting from this could be put down to source or volume levels.
EDIT: I’ve been getting a bit jaded lately with IEMs having small trade-offs, or big let-downs, I’d begun to drop the idea of a sheer all-round upgrade. The Volts are interesting/different to other sets, and I appreciate that and they’re very enjoyable, but I wouldn’t take them over the Moonlight.
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The Tea MkII does have such a similar graph that I wonder how it does without ESTs / with whatever bass driver it has?
Essay welcomed 
Do you think it would sound better with more bass (like Mahina) or is it perfect as the way it is? Currently debating between the Moonlight, Mahina, or the OG EJ07. Decisions decisions…
It has plenty, to me the right amount for all situations, EDM hits and soundtracks included. Not sure if more would help anything, plus relatively it would push the rest lower.
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I wonder if more bass would help with listening at high volumes? Anyways, take your time enjoying it 
Looking forward to your in-depth thoughts!
Any suction effect with them? I couldnt really use the Canon’s because of the suction effect. Im worried it will be DD only for me
It doesnt seem to have an inner vent, if you are like me, that is going to have pressure/suction effect.
well thats unfortunate 
Oddly enough the Vortex and Serial don’t have front vents either but I get zero suction with them. I assumed it was the BAs causing it
That one does have a decent sized back vent. So it might suffice.
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Possibly however the vent hole is not that entire thing. When I had both the Serial and Canon it seemed like the vent area wasn’t much different but idk if the hole underneath the filter was bigger for the Serial than the Canon. All I remember is I had to use foams with the Canon because the suction was so bad.
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Its just a general rule, if it doenst have an inner vent, its much more likely to have that suction/pressure effect.
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Definitely does however, the Tea MKII didn’t do it for me. Seemed a little to aggressive. Mostly noted in the treble region. The Moonlight was a home run. Maybe it’s a case of the EST driver or the charts not telling the whole story.
My Mahina got delivered today. Got an hour of listening on them. Can’t directly A/B them since the Moonlight is out on loan. I did however listen to them last weekend for a good amount. I think this is going to be a matter of preference and library. Mahina clearly to my ears retains a large majority of Moonlights signature. The larger bass shelf though definitely gives a small sacrifice to details, imaging and staging. Vocals seemed slightly different as well.
Bass on Moonlight is definitely not lacking. My thought is if your preference is towards details and vocals go Moonlight. Same for if your library is oriented to music that sways more towards vocalist and detail layered music. If your like me and your library is all over the place I think Moonlight is the better all-arounder. If bass tour think and your library leans heavy to hip-hop and older rock, much like HBB’s appears to be, go Mahina.
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Sounds exactly like my library. Looking for vocal presentation like the OG TEA. Now I’m curious to how it stacks up against the OG EJ07… even though it won’t be directly the same maybe @nymz can do a little comparison when he gets his Mahina? 
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This is what I’m most reminded of, albeit timbre, treble, and I’m pretty sure punch of midbass are better in the Moonlight, even before getting to technicalities. But that versatile, beautiful tuning…
Maybe I should have stopped at the Aladdin. Sort of Hoping to pick one up cheap after all these comparisons.
An Aladdin with Serial timbre? I could settle for that.
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No suction effect whatsoever. I do get it with the OG Teas at times though. Vents matter, but so does the particular “UIEM” molding compared to each of our ear canals.
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The HBB match up/ super quick comparison.
Both competitive at the price, very well tuned, and balanced in their own way. Mahina is slightly more bass tilted than the Kinda Lava. Details are great on both. If you like a more laid back version of balance go for Mahina, if you want more treble go for the Kinda Lava.
Both will play most genres very well. Kinda Lava is better for the more delicate genres involving female vocals, woodwinds, etc. While the Mahina is a general all-rounder with slightly better performance on genres focusing on the lows.
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The KL while having excellent midd and bass, had orders of magnitude too little and too polite treble response and so I don’t even want to imagine the treble response of the Mahina. 
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Got myself an IKKO ITX-01 for work: ITX01| ikkoaudio |Multifunctional Docking Station.
Boy this thing is loud, even though the specs state fairly modest power output (64mW @ 32 Ohms). It also has a high noise floor. I have to set my laptop volume to the lowest, set Spotify/Apple Music to 50%, and I can then listen to my Rikubuds Alter Rider 1. Any idea what’s behind this? @Rikudou_Goku @nymz any thoughts? Compare this to to my other source, ifi Zen DAC: I can comfortably have laptop & music player volumes at 100%, then adjust volume with the analog pot at 8-9 o’clock, even though the Zen DAC’s output in SE is more than twice than that of ITX-01.
P.S. I’m also driving the Serratus at 20% laptop, 100% Spotify volume, and it’s at my normal listening volume already?? I’m not saying it sounds great, more than I’m confused why it’s seemingly so loud compared to other sources?
