The SSP is a bassier SSR.
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Indeed it is
Cash grab, maybe? I wouldnāt doubt that filling in a price bracket. Theyāve got $40, $120, $180, ect sets, now a $80.
Not that I donāt mind it. An $80 Starfield-like IEM sounds like a good deal to me. One of the issues with the Starfield right now is that it doesnāt really compete in itās price bracket in terms of values alongside FH3, T4 and others. It just seems weird. I think it would have been a better deal to lower the price of the Starfield and then introduce a new $120 IEM. But that can degrade brand appearance.
Thereās also the idea of them phasing out the Starfield and gonna release a new $120-150 IEM soon.
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I thought the aria was going to be the one in that 150 usd price range.
$80 starfields with a ābetterā cable (moondrop gets plenty of flack for their cables apparently) doesnāt sound bad to me. Too bad itās their 4th clone. Hope they donāt continue with this in their higher price brackets.
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I love the Starfields so much that almost any new Moondrop product has me at hello. Still, this seems to be too similar to the Starfield to spend $80.
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so, not an upgrade in their lineupā¦but a lower price point for first timers.
doesnāt make much sense to savage their own lineup thoughā¦but that seems to be something very Asian as they all seem to do this.
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Not really. Chi-fi brands do release quite a lot of iems and pretty fast, but they do tend to sound different from each other.
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Apos now carries them. Probably where my money will be going, given their level of customer service.
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Moondrop Aria huh? I wouldnāt mind getting one but I have to wait for reviews for it, for right now I am curious about the SSRs since there are some reviewers that I have watched that says itās good for like having Neutrality and can be good for Mixing. Adding that one on my sights once it gets a review and itās available to get.
What i want to know is if the aria are hard to drive .these will be my first pair of IEMāS.
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Got my Aria today. Some first impressions vs. B2 and SSR:
- Aria has most āfullā sounding bass with the most quantity, slightly edging the B2. Bass ākickā and rumble is about equal. Obviously not as clean as B2 bass, sounds a bit āslowā and ālazyā.
- 500hz-2khz more or less sounds the same to me among the three. Good emphasis on weeb vocals like the B2 and SSR.
- What I really donāt like is the Aria seems to be lacking something around ~4-10kHz. Trumpets and flutes lack attack and clarity the other two Moondrops have. Percussive hits donāt sound as crisp. There just seems to be a veil of mush. I even did a side by side with my Porta Pro. Though Porta Pro overall has less upper mids and treble, it still sound more ānautralā to me than the Aria. he Aria has a great 1-2kHz range only to leave me with āthatās it?ā in the higher frequencies. Disclaimer, I am one of those weirdos who really like the SSR even if it is overly shouty. Though the SSRās faults by over-commitment to the upper mids/lower-treble sometimes, the Aria seems to always be a bit too conservative for my taste.
- āAirā is fine. Not really different from SSR or B2, but I believe I hear a spike somewhere.
- Soundstageā¦ some say wider than Starfields, but ime much narrower than B2 and SSR. B2 has good width, depth, height; SSR has good width; Aria just feels a bit too cocooned in comparison. Itās not a laser beam, but it isnāt all that spacious either.
- Overall level of detail obviously inferior to B2, maybe similar or even worse than SSR (since SSR has that 3-4khz mountain to help with clarity). Bass feels a bit mushy, treble feels a bit lacking vs SSR. Maybe all in my mind, but thatās the impression Iām getting so far.
Not a bad IEM at all, honestly tuning is very good. Just not my preference. I like aggressive mids/lower-treble more than bass.
Pics:
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So itās basically the Moondrop Starfield but a bit RAW?
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Though I donāt have a Starfield, I would like to say Aria is probably much more similar to the SF than different in a similar way to how the SF is to the KXXS. After all, their tuning is very very similar, enough to be mistaken for channel imbalance or unit variation really.
My criticisms are very small nitpicks in the grand scheme of things - I enjoy it enough and I think it holds a niche for me as good outdoor IEMs since they have well-boosted bass unlike the SSR and good isolation from wind noise unlike both the SSR and B2 (B2 vent makes wind noise very annoying).
I just am not really impressed with it at first glance since I was hoping for better technical capability than an IEM half the price.
Thanks for such detailed personal sharing. Sure thing, everyone has its own perfermance.
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I see, I kind of want to get some time in the future, but I am more interested on the SSRs, since I have heard that it can be used as a reference sound IEM, and I wanted to see if that so called statement is true. Also, I am not much of a basshead, so I think Iāll be fine with the lack of so called bass from these.
SSR is far from referenceā¦ honestly Aria may be closer in some ways.
SSR obviously has a high 3khz peak. Even though Iām a fan of shout, it honestly is a tiny bit too much to be tasteful. Bass also rolls off, so low rumble. That said, I think treble is really nice, inoffensive but not too recessed either. Bass, though light, is clean and still have decent punch. Sound overall is thinner/leaner than Aria but also more energetic and vibrant. Timbre, despite the shout is quite excellent, at least to my ears. Decent stage width too. If you like bright violin/flute/trumpet/vocals, I think the SSR may be enjoyable for you.
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Good to know and therefore itās on my lists on what to get.
There is now a giveaway for them