Were you ever excited for a product to arrive and went in with expectations already? As a reviewer, I try to avoid those circumstances to be as emotionally detached as possible, but there are always going to be times where you have seen or read other reviews and feedback from customers to where there is already some form of bias present when an unexpected opportunity to test the same comes up. At this point, I have to acknowledge as much and note that while I saw many good things said about the MOONDROP Aria (2021), this pedestal they were placed on can also result in multiple opportunities for eventual disappointment. As I write this review, I have already moved on to another product, but I wanted to let it be known that it at the very least was not a wholly neutral unboxing experience, which I did my best to account for it in the review.

With that said, the biggest compliment I can then give the MOONDROP Aria (2021) is two-fold: First, it truly makes the previous MOONDROP Aria an afterthought to where I could have just omitted the 2021 usage in this review without anyone blinking twice about it. Second, it came close enough to the higher expectations I had going in, and I left content knowing that this is one of those rare occasions where the general public opinion is valid for a set of IEMs that doesn't cost the moon, one I can recommend to many without necessarily having to be specific about the music genres it may be good at. There are still some caveats, including the longevity of the cable and shells over time, but those facets are unfortunately beyond the scope of this review, and knowing the warranty even covers paint wearing off the shells is both reassuring and concerning at the same time.

MOONDROP as a company does seem to be competent in IEM driver selection and tuning, so that already makes it far more appealing amid the hundreds of other brands popping up left, right, and center in the HiFi world today. With the newer Aria, you get a very good example of the same in terms of a relatively wallet-friendly option that can safely be a first entry to good audio hardware without much of a learning curve, not being a demanding set to drive and effectively doing the basics very well with the provided accessories, build quality, included cable, and aforementioned tuning. Some of this can easily be lost if the provided tips don't work for you, especially with smaller ears more common to Asian customers of the brand. As such, I do wish MOONDROP would have thrown in some foam tips as well, but at $80, these end up besting many that cost more to where I see the good value offered, too. Overall great job done, so I look forward to even more from MOONDROP!