I tried my Shanling M8, iBasso DX160/ XDUOO XD05 Pro stack and my Geshelli Labs J2 AKM4493 with Sparkos SS2590 op amps and Topping A90 Discreet AMP.
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Hey guys 
Happy Thursday!
Now, I’m sure many of you are already familiar with Moondrop, mainly they’re known for their waifus, obviously, and some other stuff I guess. They were one of the first pioneers in the chifi market bringing us classics like the Blessing 2, the starfield, Aria, and of course, the in-famous Variations, So with this history of innovation and aggressive pricing, you’d expect the Aria 2 to be a market breaker like the Chu, or perhaps, the new budget benchmark… But, Nope - it’s not that.
It’s not bad or anything, the technical performance is solid, a small improvement over the OG Aria as well as the SE… but like it’s younger brothers, and all the other 20+ similar iems out right now, the Aria 2 also follows a very similar target. The low-end is punchy, bass notes have a nice tactility and weight to them, no mid-bass bleed, not overly warm, fairly balanced, very… familiar sounding. Mid-range is also relatively clean with some body added from the mid-bass, and vocals don’t sound light or scooped, instruments are well separated and the driver does feel faster than the OG Aria and the Aria SE which helps boosts it’s clarity.
Vocals are in-offensive, presented at a normal distance, not too forward nor too recessed, with a slight boost in the 1.5K region for more body in the voices, but it’s still natural, not much muffling or colouring, not thin or shrill, relatively smooth and non-fatiguing unless you’re blasting them way up. Treble is likewise inoffensive, no peakiness and massive roll-offs, you get a good amount of air to cymbal crashes and decay, and you do hear a little more reverb vs the OG and Aria SE - But, it’s not going to be sparkly or lively like the Melody, EPZ 620, or IE200.
Basically, the Aria 2 plays back most things really well without focusing or highlighting any frequency in particular again - like the majority of the IEMs out right now, it’s a great all-rounder that follows an adjusted Diffuse-field like tuning. It also comes with a nice quality cable with interchangeable connectors, a sturdier, more premium case, so really I should be shilling it and telling you guys to go buy it since it’s an upgrade all-around versus the Aria SE for the same price, right? So then, why am I not too impressed? Well, it’s because the Simgot EW200 exists, at half the price.
The EW200 has a very similar sound signature to the Aria 2, a great build, in-fact I like the EW200’s design more with its minimalistic metal finish. It also comes with a decent cable and a carrying pouch, although the accessories are better on the Aria 2, But most importantly, the technical performance is pretty much identical with the Aria 2, however, the EW200 comes in at $40 instead of $80 at half the price.
So then, the question becomes, what are you getting from spending an additional $40 on the Aria 2? Well, it’s not the sound profile because they’re both pretty much the same with a slight difference in the mid-bass which the EW200 is actually cleaner in, along with having better sub-bass extension. You’re also not getting a bump in resolution and technical performance with the Aria 2, especially not 2 times as the price would suggest… Because again, they’re very very similar, not much of a difference and I’ve been A/Bing them for the past few days - at one point I was literally listening to the same song for 2 hours straight, like I was about to go crazy comparing.
It also doesn’t help that both are using a very similar driver, and it might even be the same driver with the only difference being in the diaphragm (based off what we can see from their marketing/description). So then what’s left? The waifus? Well, you don’t get any waifus aside from the cover, but hey if that’s your thing… So the only logical conclusion I can arrive at is that, you’re paying the extra $40 for a better case, as well as the detachable connectors on the cable, which you know it’s a nice cable and all, better than the EW200s, but Moondrop also sells the same exact cable with a mic for $25, just not with the different connectors, which let’s be honest here most people are just going to use one connector type anyways.
IMHO Moondrop should’ve just included a cheaper cable and dropped the price to $40 or even $50 since again you can just grab the cable on the side as an accessory if you really wanted to, but instead, Moondrop decided to group them together to save additional shipping and packaging costs, which helps move more units for the cable because there’s more demand for the Aria branding than just the cable, which then leads to higher economies of scale, which equals more profit for them.
So ya they got a little greedy, and should’ve just created a separate bundle option for the connector cable, and put the main focus back on the Aria 2 as a new $40-50 benchmark/market disruptor. It also doesn’t help that Moondrop has a history of QC issues with the paints chipping, the 2-pin breaking, plates cracking, and refusing to replace an $800 Darksaber that’s barely a month old… Like what’s the point of paying for more for the same performance and sound if the QC isn’t any better, arguable worse, but now you’re just paying double waiting for it to break?
I would just not guys, don’t coinflip with Moondrop QC - you’re not gonna win. The cable on the EW200 is pretty solid already (no sound difference) - I’m stock cable user, but if you really need a multi-connector cable just buy it separately there are tons of them out there already. As for some comparisons, again, the Aria 2 is an upgrade over the OG Aria and Aria SE, as well as the OG Starfield, Chu 2, Lan and the cheaper harman/df sets (aside from the EW200), and if you want less bass and more highlights on the vocals then the EP G10 would still be the better pick.
Technical performance wise it’s around the same as the Red but with heavier note-weight, however, it’s still behind the SIMGOT EA500, Olina SE, and Hexa which IS around its price of $80, so ya… the Aria 2 gets destroyed on both ends - not quite good enough to compete with the $80 benchmarks resolution wise, but also too overpriced to compete with the EW200. You know, if the EW200 didn’t exist the Aria 2 would’ve been an ok offer, good even, but too bad the EW200 is here, and not going anywhere.
Overall, the Aria 2 again, is good, and a bump over the OG and SE, but the CHIFI market is just too crazy right now, and Moondrop’s offer is poorly priced as of the current time. Who knows? Maybe they’ll have it on sale - if it drops to $60 or $50 I would recommend it because it does have better accessories like the cable and case…
Thanks for reading 
Final scores:
Tonality: B+/A-
Tech: B
Overall: High B
Aria SE for reference
Tonality: B+
Tech: B-
Overall: B
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…understand Moondrop 
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How did you achieve that 1000 graph? 2*500 filters?
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Yes used 2 one on top of the other for the Wind , as it breaks in getting smoother but for long term for me not sure where i am going to land 500 or 1000
I will say one thing a/b with Chopin that the Wind for me is the more solid choice, compared to the two the Chopin is more vocal forward , dryer and thiner
Wind has much better stage , the open back is legit the Bone Conduction is legit and makes the bass special.
The Shape and nozzel of the Chopin are all wrong and badly shaped going to be isuues for many.
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Wind really does sound a lot like Raptgo Hook-X design-philosophy wise, but with actual good if not excellent timbre and mids.
Stoked!
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I haven’t bought a Moondrop in a while for this very reason. I have owned 3 sets from them, and 2 fell apart within 6 months.
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Which ones broke on you?
The 2-pin on the Aria worked loose around 3-4 months. It never left my desk, so it wasn’t wear or anything like that.
The Starfield shorted out on one, and I am not sure why. I fixed them, but had to replace the wiring between the transducer and 2-pin connector. There was almost no paint left on them when it happened.
The only one that has held up the SSP, which was never a fan of the sound. I know the Super Review loved the SSR, which is the even brighter version of the same IEM.
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Dam, sorry to hear that man. Guess you need some new coins haha - if you want a similar sound to the Aria 2–>EW200
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That‘s really unfortunate, sorry to hear that happened to you 
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I have the EW200, and overall think it has better sound than Aria. The bass is a bit more satisfying than the OG Aria.
That said, I am an admitted basshead, and have been rocking the Rosefinch lately. You and Goober were so right about that set. I even picked up a second pair just to mod a little.
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EW200 is just fantastic for what it is. Huge fan.
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Great pick ups, can’t go wrong with neither of those, modded rosefinch has my ears shaking 
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Super unique planar - SIVGA Nightingale, this one is gonna be controversial lol
My unit sounds more like the blue one maybe even less treble
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Midrange for days (and nights)
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…
Oh dang now I gotta try the OG P1s dam - I really digged these
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This will be a bit controversial, but the Nightingale is my favourite planar of 2023.
The overall sound is very… unique in the best way. Now, even though the sub-bass might look really rolled-off as well as the vocal gain looks like there’s no vocal gain, and normally I would’ve been like nope, but it somehow works - in certain context. You’re obviously not going to get that deep and textured rumble in the sub-bass nor super detailed and breathy vocals, but they’re not gone, just pushed back to the background like the SA6 lineup, and instead allows the treble and soundstage to be the main focus. If you’re a basshead go look for another set, and if you prefer the more traditional harman and diffuse-field sound then you’re most likely not going to enjoy these, but for the rest of the adventurous folks - stay tuned.
I also want to address the unit variations on these, I think I lucked on mine because the treble doesn’t sound as sharp as some of the graph suggests (I’ll graph it once my new coupler comes in) - mine sounds more like the blue line from audioreviewsnews:
That aside, lets talk about the resolution and micronuances on the Nightingale first, spoilers, they’re nuts, like when I was comparing it I constantly had to switch to a more expensive IEM because they keep getting beat by the Nightingale - it topped the $300/$400 in-terms of treble detail, sharper imaging, more air and reverb to cymbal crashes, and you hear every little nuances in the strings and air from flutes and saxophones… and it’s under $300. Like the EJ07, you do need to listen to these at a louder volume - I don’t think you’ll get the most out of the experience otherwise, because nightingale has the widest and most open stage I’ve heard before the Z1R U12T, and LTD, and it makes sense because if you look at the graph it’s pretty much a straight line with a crap ton of air slapped on at the end.
Which means every element in the track is positioned at a similar distance, laid out evenly flat in front of you, kind of like the U12T, without one popping out more than the other and cramping up the perception of head space. The sub-bass and vocals in particular are more in the background and less in your face, giving that illusion of distance, and thus adding to the perception of more space. Likewise instruments are cleanly layered and very easy to pick out because of the stage size, plus the fast attack and decay, as well as the sharper imaging from the boosted treble. So, with this combination of stage size, incredible detail retrieval, sharp imaging and layered separation, technical performance wise the Nightingale pretty much eats up every IEM up till the $500 and $600 price point and sometimes even those depending on the song.
Mid-bass is also very well layered and separated, guitar strings are detailed and lower mids are actually very punchy, textured, and nuanced, however, it could use more weight and air behind the slam, but that’s more of a driver characteristic. And it may feel like the vocals are warm or colored because the lower-mids are slightly boosted, but I think that’s actually just more because SIVGAR, you know flatlined the uppermids and vocal gain, which created a less open, not as extended and natural presentation like the EA1000s, Studio 4s and RSV for example. That aside, timbre overall felt very normal - the Nightingale didn’t sound like a planar to me, it didn’t have the floaty fuzzy light timbre of a planar, it felt grounded, and relatively natural. However, the resolution and texture in the vocals and sub-bass is not as competitive, passable, but not nearly on the same level as the treble and everything else because they’re just more in the background and less highlighted.
So then, this puts the Nightingale in a weird position, on one hand, you’re getting TOTL performance in certain categories you’d only dream of in higher end IEMs, but on the other hand the vocals and sub-bass are just, meh, I’ve heard better for $100… So then the question becomes, who is this set for? Well #1 if you have a lot of sub-bass in your music, then it’s not for you - modern hiphop, rap, EDM, hyperpop are not recommended - they just don’t sound as engaging and sometimes overly sharp. The Nightingale actually sounds fine with POP, but I feel like it shouldn’t be your first choice because the vocals are not as enjoyable as well as the sub-bass roll off doesn’t help, so something like the Hype 2 or TOP would be better still. #2, If you like listening loudly to rock, metal, energetic stuff, then these also not for you, the treble just gets too much with those genres at higher volumes, mid volume it’s actually pretty fire but you can’t blast these, and then lastly, if you’re a vocal lover probably also pass on these, unless you fit a very specific profile, aka you have a lot of slower song… artists like Lana Del Rey, Hebe, Adele, Lorde, V, artists with very deep vocals all actually sound great on the Nightingale.
The slower and moodier nature of the song allows you to turn up the volume, bringing the vocals more forward, revealing more details without having to worry about getting your ears destroyed versus a more exciting track. Genres like indie, acoustics, piano ballads, slow r&b all are all great, and becomes very immersive with the staging and layering as well as the extra energy from the treble. Likewise, Instrumentals, orchestral, and classical also sound fantastic on these as you don’t notice much of the pushed back vocals and sub-bass roll-off because there are none. The reverb from piano keys, shakers, and saxophones in Jazz and soul are especially addicting, super detailed and airy. It’s super pinpoint, detailed, and OCD like - reminds me of the MEST, and I would highly, highly, recommend the Nightingale as a treblehead set because in-terms of audiophile language, the Nightingale is the definition of sparkle and air.
But like I mentioned in the beginning I do think it needs to be listened at louder volumes to get its full affect, or special sauce, which is why the Nightingale is a niche set imo since only certain scenarios mentioned can achieve this without becoming sharp and fatiguing. Now, because the Nightingale is more niche it’s obviously not the most well-rounded set, so if you want an all-rounder around $300 then the Hype 2 or Quintet would still be the better choice, less fatiguing, more balanced, better sub-bass extension with a, you know, normal vocal gain. However I would still take the EA1000s and Tea 2 for vocals alone since they’re just more engaging, fuller, more emotional, and natural. The performer 8 is also a solid option if you want a neutral sound but without the extra treble energy and the sub-bass/vocal roll-off, although, none of these are beating the Nightingale in-terms of treble detail, stage air, layering, and imaging - sub-bass and vocals, sure, but that’s it. So if you do want that type of performance but more well-rounded, then you’ll have to jump up to the Xenns TOP, the Supernova, and the monarchs of the world.
I did not expect to like the Nightingale as much as I did… Again, a very unique set in the best way possible and I think the less-treble on my unit helped, but if you’re tired of all of the Harman/diffuse-fields then these are pretty banging, but just make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into. Anyhow, a great debut from SIVGA, looking forward to more of their stuff in the future, thanks for reading
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