After owning 10s of iems up to $300 my favorite has always been the moondrop starfields. Easily my favorite tuning and sound signature. So I’m at a crossroads and want to end my iem buying journey for a while by settling on either the KXXX which I have on order, the blessing 2 Dusk, or possibly even the new KATO. I see the blessing 2 Dusk is very highly recommended, my issue is that I never really liked most of my BA/hybrid iems as much as my pure DD ones so I’m wondering if the KXXX/KATO would be better. I would also like more opinions on the KATO but they’re too new so I don’t expect any yet. For now I would be very happy if anyone who’s owned both the dusk and a kxxs/KXXX to pitch in their opinion.
You might not like the timbre of BAs and how incoherent they can be. Skip the B2D.
KATO is meant as an upgrade to the KXXS, so I assume it is the uprade to nearly all their single DDs right now (Aria, Starfields, KXXX, KXXS).
Also, if you already have the Starfield, the KXXS/KXXX are most likely very redundant.
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Does the b2d suffer the same BA timbre/incoherency issues as most other hybrids? I actually liked the isn h40 a lot and felt like it wasnt as bad with those, though I did ultimately go back to the starfields. I did like the h40 more more than my penon orb and kbear believe which are supposedly top tier dd iems in their respective price brackets.
Dont have the dusk, but B2 is probably top 3 in terms of how incoherent and how much unnatural BA timbre it got in my collection…
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I wonder why get they do much hype then. Going to cancel my KXXX order and see how the KATO turn out probably
Most people in this hobby doesnt seem to be able to tell good from bad timbre/coherency tbh…
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Because they are good for the price. There’s no perfect IEM out there that fits everyone. If you want Coherency and Timbre, I’d go DD and probably avoid MD
Have you considered Oxygen?
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I think you fell for ‘marketing talk’ / shill from a different type of forum. The people hyping it up got it as ‘review units’ or hugely discounted price. It was just an okay IEM. Yes rookie mistake from my part I bought the Penon ORB at full price.
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Now I haven’t. How are they compared to the rest?
Yeah after buying so many headphones and still going back to my cheaper starfields I’ve started not being able to get into the hype anymore lmao. That’s why I’m trying to stick to moondrop tuning this time since I know I like it already.
The believe are too peaky and U shaped. The tuning is just terrible imo, a lot of cheaper headphones can do the same. I tested with a 9038s so I think I had enough power. Probably technically good but I just don’t like the tuning.
The orbs are okay but overpriced imo. They’re very smooth but a little too warm for my taste which is really saying something considering my favorites are the starfields. I think they had good potential cause of the larger driver but they never lived up to the hype imo. What they do get right is the weight and comfort, very comfortable fit.
The isn h40 were very hyped but I think these actually are very good. They’re fun headphones but not perfect. I use them sometimes but find them a bit fatiguing for some reason and end up back with my starfields. Maybe too much mid bass? Idk, I love bass so that would be something. Sound could be balanced better slightly probably but all in all still very worth the price for me.
Here’s hoping the KATO is a homerun
Oxygen is currently the king of single DDs. The question is if the KATO or the Dunu Falcon pro will usurp its throne that it has held for 2 long years.
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Haven’t tried h40 so i dunno. But the Penon Orb for sure wasn’t anything special and overpriced indeed, but i was too gullible back then. free creditcard for them. Easy as that. You live you learn.
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