@VSG
These are nice and the interesting artworks is nice as well. I think they made a elf version as well now. I think the Aria's build allows them to stamp a lot of art on it and it's clearly selling well. IMHO I'd bump up to the Kato as well and it's sister the KXXS but that's me!
Also with you on the paint. I got someone the starfields and after a while they did chip. IMHO Kato with the matte finish is the way to go.
EDIT- also as to the package on this. While it's good and spring tips alone are like 20 bucks in places I have a gripe with MoonDrop on this, and most Chi-Fi brands do the same, where are the foams? For some of us we need foams to get a seal. I get that this is mostly those of us who are in the six feet and up range but the silicons just don't work as well. I've tried the spring tips, the spin fits, all of it and no dice. American and European brands ship you with a full size of foams as well. What's especially odd is MoonDrop makes foams. MoonDrop MIS-TIP I had to go out and get them for the Blessing2 but they make them for their Kato and Aria sized stuff as well.
For a while now you reviewed many of these IEM's , are they really so popular these days?
I prefer headphones/ headset myself, instead of sticking these IEM's in my ears..
Yeah they are insanely popular. They used to just be for professional musicians and audio engineers and were really expensive. But with the advent of cell phones they became more common. For a while it was just cheap earbuds and IEMs were in the super high end but as VSG said Chi-Fi created a price war that makes it affordable. They are sort of the go to for your cell phone. I can use mine at the gym, going to work, at work, on travel, they are great! Plus their competition is true wireless earphones which just can't compete on sound, and have issues like batteries and charging cases to handle. Though they do integrate with the phones better if you go samsung or apple.
I like over ears as well. I love all of mine! I use them at home all the time. But that's the catch. They are big, bulky, and the best ones bleed sound out cause open back. That's not good on the subway, in a plane, or at work. Then there is the issue that they need a desktop grade DAC/AMP to drive. These are big bulky, and not portable so I can't take mine with me. While there are "portable units" and some are very good and can power big cans (chord mojo 2, ifi diabo) these are pretty costly on their own and "portable" is doing a lot of work here. They aren't really small (many the size of smaller desktop units), need dongles on dongles. Run hot, and need charging.
You're talking about something that's 200 + 60-100 dongle dac/amp or go higher 300-500 with 200-300 mini dac as a solution. The same tiers in over ears range from 500-3000 in over ears with 500 - 2000 in DAC/amp. The second will sound better. But it's also not remotely portable and costs more money.
