Moondrop Aria High Performance LCP Diaphragm Dynamic Driver IEMs in-Ear Earphone

Product Information

Moondrop has done an excellent job with the low end on the Aria. They reach down easily into the sub-bass, and have a full, colorful, and rhythmic bass response. What impressed me was how well these Arias captured the intimate powerful bass typical with IEMs, without becoming overbearing. Instead of blowing me away and tiring my ears, the Arias delivered their bass at just the right intensity to keep me listening for longer. Aria Snow Edition – a bit more technical than the Aria 2021, but with lesser bass, not for bassheads.

Despite the slight harshness in the upper treble, the Aria still delivers a crisp and clear-sounding treble region. StagingWhile tonality and timbre are excellent, technicalities are bang average for a budget single DD pair. It’s nothing to write home about, and similarly-priced rivals, especially hybrids/multi-driver types, do this department better than the Snow Edition. As we will read below, some single DD types also fare better in technicalities.

The Heart Mirror are much more technical and analytical, with better imaging, micro-details, and clarity, though they have a more intimate soundstage than the Snow Edition. The Heart Mirror are slightly harder to drive. With that say which one do you think that will fit my needs more? I’m guessing Dunu Titan S based on the comparisons you laid down in this review but it seems like Aria Snow is very close as well. The Snow Edition are unsurprisingly tuned close to Moondrop’s virtual diffuse sound field (VDSF) philosophy (their in-house variant of the Harman curve). The sound signature is close to neutral and very balanced, with no frequency impinging on the others. If one wants more bass and “fun”, opt for the Tin T3 Plus. If one wants something more neutral and uncolored (and white as snow), the Snow Edition is preferred – these two are sidegrades otherwise. Vs. Final Audio E3000 The Olina are more technical and aggressive and are better for critical listening compared to the more subdued Snow Edition. The former, however, can be fatiguing and may not be the best option for treble-sensitive listeners. Vs. Tanchjim OLA

There’s even reference to tinnitus: permanent damage to your hearing that I hope you never experience! I’m impressed that they chose to include this reminder. It’s a danger for anyone who listens for too long at too high a volume. Moondrop put effort into a great unboxing experience. Design

The Kinera BD005 Pro has a translucent acrylic shell with a metal nozzle while the Moondrop Aria has a metal shell throughout. When I tried the Kinera BD005 Pro, I felt the shell was too big for my ears while the Moondrop Aria was perfect for my ears as it felt snugger. With an impedance of 32Ω and a sensitivity of 122dB, the Aria is not terribly hard to drive. Even an iPhone 12 PRO Max delivered a decent performance and a relatively low current demand at just 25% volume levels.

TREBLE:​

One of the biggest highlights to come out of both of these IEMs is their soundstages that appear far more advanced than they should. Although some models like these have impressed me in the past with their level of clarity, the Aria and Starfield operate on a whole other level. Their spatial imaging is some of the best you can get in its generous price range, fulfilling articulate spatial imaging that surrounds your headspace in intricate ways. But which one is better? It’s difficult to choose a clear winner here because of how dramatic these IEMs sound compared to IEMs around the same price, but when compared to each other, they show many similarities. The carry pouch is one of the nicer ones I’ve seen, with a rugged exterior and gold embossed Moondrop branding, with a matching gold zipper handle. A touch that I’ve not encountered before, and one that will extend the life of the Arias, are spare nozzles for the earbud speaker ports. There are two different kinds, and a set of tweezers for handling them, which is just as well because they’re tiny!

Overall, the bass on the Aria is quite pleasing and not overpowering to the point that it drowns or muffles the vocals. It is a fun-sounding IEM as it reaches low and gives the ‘umph’ you need when listening to beat-centric genres such as R&B. Midrange The build quality of the Moondrop Aria is surprisingly better than the Moondrop Starfields, even though it’s slightly cheaper. My appreciation goes to Cloris from ShenzhenAudio for providing me this opportunity, and my opinion of the record will be based on my honest musical choices. I spent most of the time listening to the Moondrop Aria using a Topping DX7 and a Drop THX AAA 789. Music files were mostly FLACs in CD quality. Moondrop Aria Tests were done with a Khadas Toneboard DAC -> Schiit Asgard 3 amp, E1DA 9038, Questyle M15, Colorfly CDA M1, Tempotec Sonata HD Pro (BHD firmware mod), smartphone, and Sony NW A-55 DAP (Walkman One mod) using FLAC and WAV files.I’m pretty underwhelmed with mine. They have neither strong bass slam or good detail retrieval and they aren’t sensitive enough to be driven to desired levels on a Pixel 3A. I’m very much not an IEM guy, so people gushing about how great these are tends to reinforce my belief that IEMs can’t really hold a candle to proper headphones.