Starfield iem4/7/2023 ![]() ![]() It seems like every other week, I get a great new IEM in the mail. Sufficed to say, I am a bit overwhelmed by it all. The 2019-2020 portable season has been absolutely beyond absurd in great deals and interesting tech releases. Note, this review follows our new scoring guidelines for 2020 which you can read up on here.Ī few weeks ago, Moondrop lobbed their Starfield IEM at me for review. ![]() To read more about universal dynamic driver monitors we reviewed on Headfonics, click here. We thank the team at Shenzhen Audio for giving us this opportunity. It is priced at $109.ĭisclaimer: The Moondrop Starfield sent to us is a sample in exchange for our honest opinion. I like my Starfield, especially since it doesn’t require as deep insertion as the Ety, nonetheless without budget restrictions, neglecting isolation (ER2XR is ahead) and based purely on technical performance and overall tonal smoothness, I’d personally go for the Etymotic, while for comfort/ease of insertion/wear, I’d take the Starfield (which is also why I got it in the first place – close enough in tuning to the ER2XR which I love, but doesn’t require as deep insertion (that I don’t always want) and has got a much less microphonic cable (due to the twisting/braid and the shallower insertion)).The Moondrop Starfield is a universal monitor that uses a carbon nanotube diaphragm 10mm dual cavity dynamic driver. To my ears, the Starfield caves in earlier in the bass on busier tracks compared to the ER2XR (superior bass control, tightness, texture and resolution on the ER2XR in comparison) and its tonal balance is also a bit less smooth, refined and realistic to my ears compared to the Ety (in addition to being somewhat warmer in the lower mids, upper root and upper bass/midbass transition), with the less precise imaging (instrument placement) in comparison, however it’s not a big gap. Let’s see if their newest entry is worthy of their reputation. The Starfield is the latest addition to what I’d consider as Moondrop’s “midrange DD lineup”, though in this case the Starfield is not a replacement to the KXXS but rather its own product altogether.Īt a price way cheaper than the KXXS, it seems that Moondrop is looking to dominate a new price bracket. ![]() It was then discontinued and replaced by the more-similar-than-different KXXS, right down to the shell shape and aesthetic design. Moondrop’s original superstar was the Kanas Pro, a metal-shelled DD IEM that served to be their ticket into audiophile fame. Their meteoric rise no doubt contributed to many other chifi companies’ consideration of Western academic curves as viable targets, which may be why we’ve been seeing a renaissance of chifi IEMs attempting to emulate Harman (to varying degrees of success). I don’t think anyone, myself included, would’ve expected that Moondrop would become one of the greatest chifi powerhouses of the new generation, churning out product after product that received their own share of critical acclaim and mainstream hype. And so established their reputation as the “Target Hitter”, tuning their IEMs to Harman (and Diffuse Field in the case of the Spaceship). It’s funny in retrospect, how this almost-underground upstart company managed to hit the Harman in-ear target better than Harman could. It was by pure accident that I stumbled upon measurements of the original Blessing on the Ear-Fi Blog, at which point my interest was piqued enough to start asking around for sample units to review. I remember the early days when barely anyone has even heard of the brand “Moondrop”. ![]()
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