Moondrop Variations Earphone 1DD+2BA+2EST Tribrid Technology in-Ear Monitor with Interchangeable Cable

If you like Harman-esque tuning, then this is honestly the best sub-kilobuck IEM. The fit is good considering I have slightly small ears. Resolution is extremely good and sound stage is fairly wide. Coming from owning the IE-900's, I enjoy the Variations more. The slight trade off in sound stage width is worth the improved tuning.

So I got these, pitting them directly against the 7Hz Timeless AE IEM ($230):SOURCE/SETUP:TIDAL Music -> MIDI Out (32 bit @ 768kHz) -> IEM (with or without DAC/amp)DAY 1 (straight from headphone out):Timeless AE: much better sub-bass, more comfortable, but a bit muddy with difficult music, and some harshness in upper treble.Variations: seemed completely lacking in sub-bass, despite what reviews all claimed... and despite a great eartip fit (better than I got with the Timeless in fact). VERY resolving and detailed, although this brought fatigue in the upper ranges/treble.DAY 2 (amped via iFi hip-dac3, $200):Timeless AE: Opened up a bit, but sounded mostly the same. Could not use X-bass boost on the amp without overpowering the sub-bass.Variations: Needed the X-bass boost to make up for the lacking bass... at which point it became more controlled and deeper than the Timeless AE. My conclusion? Variations just needed power and some EQ/boost in the sub-bass. It was obviously capable...Day 7 (amped with Chord Mojo 2 @ $650):Timeless AE: Did not noticeably improve. With the general muddiness of mid-bass under messy song bits, these ultimately were ruled out by this point, even has a backup pair of IEMs.Variations: With a bit of EQ from the Mojo 2, these things came to life. Ultimately this was a close call with the much cheaper iFi Zen DAC 3 (desktop), but the Mojo let me dial back the treble a bit, and also vocalists sounded more "real", with the iFi sounding more like a warm, relaxed hi-fi speaker floating in space. The detail resolution of the Variations just really seemed to respond to the Mojo's analytical presentation.DAY 7 PLOT TWIST (direct from the headphone out on Mac Mini):On a whim, I wanted to really validate my decision to keep the absurdly-priced Mojo 2 by plugging straight back into the headphone out on the Mac Mini...And the deep sub-bass was there!!! Honestly, the soundstage was impressively wide and the sound was pretty decent... had I heard this on day 1, I might have skipped the entire journey of trying to better drive the IEMs through external amplification. Now... the Mojo was still much better sounding than stock, particularly with the dialed-back treble to cut down on treble fatigue.With the stock headphone out, that harshness was back in full force... but the missing bass was fully there. This tells me that the Variation's bass driver in particular needed to break in and soften up before coming to life.CONCLUSION:These are incredibly-resolving IEMs... frequency-tuning can always be adjusted with external EQ (less ideal than a perfect tuning, but that's subjective to each listener), but resolution and control will NOT be fixed this way. In the case of the Variations, once dialed in and broken-in, these rival my B&W CM10 S2 floor-standing speakers with dedicated monster amps. Pretty incredible.Of course, I would have preferred to have fallen in love with a much cheaper pair... RIP $$$.

This renowned IEM didn't let me down with my earphone choice. Very good separation and tone - surprisingly good bass too. This will be first and last Moondrop product, so I wanted to get the endgame product from it. Very satisfied with my choice.

Very glad I bought these. Best sounding iems I have to date. Responds VERY well to EQ if you're fussy like me. Capable of very strong sub bass and super clear highs which aren't harsh at all. Mids are nice too, not too harsh or too scooped

Amazing sound, 10/10