I only have one moondrop. The moondrop aria and i loved it.
Moondrop variations is better than shuoer s12 or timeless?
itās always a matter of taste, I guess. Also I havenāt heared the Variations yet, only the Aria and Blessing 2, but as a timeless owner, I look to get the Variations eventually nonetheless. From my point of view, I think the Variations has:
Pros:
- more subbass, with more impact
- more detail
- less warm midbass/lower mids (this is a con for most though)
Cons:
- coherency (supposedly good for a hybrid and I didnāt even care about coherency with the Blessing 2)
- not a planar (if that is your thing)
The knock out criteria for the Variations is the size if you have small ears and the lacking midbass/lower mids, if you are looking for a warmer set. Male vocals arenāt the best with the Variations for most.
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Canāt you EQ midbass/lower midrange on Variations though?
I myself am torn between Variations and Oracle, canāt decide which one to purchase.
By the way, good isolation is a must have for me. Variations or Oracle for better noise isolation?
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Iām not entirely sure it is to be honest. Itās certainly marginal gains. I would recommend the Blessing 2 Dusk over the Variations, I think the tuning is more of an all rounder. For certain genres like electronic music or anything that really benefits from the subbass boost the Variations is special. But as an all rounder the caveat is the big dip in the mid-bass and lower mids, and while it doesnāt sound totally wrong on anything there are genres it is less adept at. The Dusk just works and sounds right with everything.
I got the S12 recently, itās amazing for the price. I think itās a better pick than the Timeless. It competes with the Dusk and Variations, itās on that level technically. The tuning is good but maybe not quite as good as the Dusk. Itās brighter, for me I think itās still not too bright, but this could be personal. For $149, wow, even more wow if you get the early bird discount at $129, which is still available.
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Except the OG B2 barely sounded right with anything at all for me. It did sound amazing though after I EQued it to match the Variations frequency responseā¦ tastes are different.
Fc-Construct has an EQ to convert an OG Blessing 2 into a Dusk, he says this sounds identical to the actual physical unit, if you havenāt tried. The Dusk sounds significantly different from the OG B2, Iād guess the Dusk and Variations are closer than the OG B2 and the Dusk.
Donāt get me wrong, the Variations is a fantastic IEM. It sounds great. But I find the Dusk sounds just a bit more natural across more music, particularly non-electronic music. The dip from the sub-bass down is just very extreme, and then it slopes UP to 1kHz, which is very unusual, almost all IEMs are flat or down-sloping through the mid-bass and lower mids. Itās still a great IEM, and the stuff it does well it does very well. Iām just not sure itās really worth the extra $ over the Dusk.
I eq-ed the OG B2 to the Dusk as well to the Variations:
- with the Dusk target there was a bump in subbass, which was appreciated, but didnāt do much otherwise for me.
- with the Variations target the B2 really opened up. If I didnāt have to eq it, I am sure I would have kept it over the timeless, but I sold my B2, because without eq the timeless murdered the B2 if you ask my ears.
My issue with the OG B2 was lack in treble extension. Also the Variations mid-bass dip you (and many others) have an issue with with, is what I really like, when I replicated it with eq. It gave the treble more presence and made it sound much more detailed. But that is just my subjective experience, which brings me to my prior point: tastes are different (and ears/earcanals for that matter). What is true for many, isnāt true for all. What some may like, others dislike.
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Iāve joined the moondrop variations gang! These are very nice iems, pairing it with impact audio silver plated copper litz cable. I am usually into full size headphones but this blew me away on how much it sound like a full sized headphone.
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@mmkzero hey, how would you compare your KATO to Variations? My friend is selling his Var and Iām wondering whether itās a nice upgrade or more a side-grade in the grand scheme of things. ty!
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If you like the Timeless, but want brighter, also consider the S12. Itās basically identical up to 2kHz but then has more from there on. You donāt get the mid-bass scoop of the Variations though, itās identical to the Timeless. Iām liking it a lot, I think I even prefer it to the Timeless. Thereās lots of treble, but Iām not finding any of it too much, itās very well done.
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So among all of Moondrops IEMs that Iāve had the chance to own or hear, the S8 and Variations are definitely the two at the Top, with the Blessing 2 and Kato coming it at third and forth.
Iām still of the Opinion that the Variations is a considerable step up from the B2 in every way. Better Coherency, better Timbre, better Bass quality, better Treble extension, and even better technical performance.
I love the Kato, and it does things the Variations does not. But the Variations is still my favorite set of them all by a long shot.
If you like having a lean, clean, but still fun and musical IEM, youāll probably love the Variations.
What Genres do you like and what other IEMs do you own/did you own?
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Treble extension is like night and day when you go from the B2 to the Variations.
Sparkly to no end 
If I didnāt buy the timeless yet, I would for sure go for the S12. I may get a chance to test drive one in the near future.
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OG B2 canāt handle busy tracks well, at least from the kpop music library side of it. If given to a korean drama OST library, the B2 excels on that due to how intimate it can be on the vocals in the mids.
What the Variations excels at from my end, is the imaging and resolution of the vocals around your ears due to how many vocalists in a kpop group song. Itās also able to handle bright songs very well. Kpop library-wise and regarding vocals, the strength here is not the vocals in the mids but the resolution of the vocals around you. (Ex. āColoring Bookā by Oh My Girl)
I canāt speak for live music since I donāt listen to them but the mid-bass and some live band instruments does take a back seat in some of the tracks that I listen to. (Ex. āWhy So Lonelyā by Wonder Girls)
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Hey, i have the Variations an find them over all really good, but iām missing just a bit warmth in the mids/upper bass. Im new to the EQ-Game and since yesterday i have the qudelix 5kā¦ thought its a easy way to start.
This is what i tried, sounds warmer. But i donāt know if this is the best way to do it?
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Hi iāve been lurking the whole thread and yet couldnāt make up my mind about if i should buy them or not
My only iem of reference is the aria, wich i like a lot but tend to EQ a bit of bass boost on bass demanding songs (not every song tho)
These are examples of those kind of songs that iām referreing to: TULE - Lost - YouTube
Jay Hardway - Electric Elephants (Official Music Video) - YouTube
Can you guys help me decide if the variations is good for me or if i would feel the lack of mid bass just too flat? Also does the variations respond well to EQ?
i mainly listen to edm, house, dubstep, pop, dance; thanks a bunch
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In case you want to buy it, you just missed the sale on hifigo.
It is all a matter of preference and I personally havenāt heared the Variations. But I think I can still give a point of reference:
- I owned the Aria. I wasnāt too impressed by it, but still like it overall better than my previous IEM the CCA C12.
- After that I bought the Blessing 2 and was severly disappointed. It was technically much better, but sounded very boring and was severly lacking treble extension.
- I played a lot with EQ and can say the Blessing 2 handled EQ much better than other (more expensive) IEMs I tried to eq. I would assume same goes for the Variations.
- I ended up mostly tuning the Blessing 2 towards the Frequency Response of the Variations and the EQed Blessing 2 is still one of the best IEMs I have heared (but again: preference). I for one enjoyed scoping out the midbass, but I am probably a minority with that preference. It was great for EDM
Ever since I am on the fence about buying the Variations as well 
Should you buy them? I guess it depends on what you want to achieve. If you just want fun bass, you can get the CCA CRA. It is a great set and costs 15$ā¦ a lot of fun to be had with that set. If you donāt mind spending that moneyā¦ sure, get the Variations. It will definitely be better on a technical level - no contest. But in my experience technicalities arenāt as super important as general tonality and the Variations is probably not 500$ better than the CRA (depending on how you value things)
EDIT: No matter if you buy the Variations or notā¦ you should probably buy the CRA is what I am trying to say 
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Hey, thanks for the answer, i forgot to mention, i already have some not-high technical headphones with emphasis on basses wich i use for fun, what i am looking for is some high detail iem wich wouldnāt feel lacking of something with my music library.
Yet again, thanks for the quick response 
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Moondrop released a new low-cost headphone / IEM without removable cables named the āChuā.
I thought of you immediately - I recall youāre a Loona fan.
Must buy for the name alone!
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You know me well but Iām good for now hahaha. Maybe Iāll get it when I need it for more casual use or as a 2nd set for office use. Thanks for thinking of me!
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