I have so many praises about these IEMs that I don't even know how to start and write a completely logical impression, but I will try, also I'm not a native speaker, so sorry in advance for possible mistakes

My IEM trip so far: Tanchjm Hana 2021 -> 7hz Timeless -> Moondrop Variations, after owning the latter for 6 months, I also had a chance to own and listen to Moondrop Chu and Campfire Atlas(honestly, for their 900$ price tag, they don't come even close to Variations for almost x2 for the price)

From memory, when I put them in my ears and played the first songs, I was just laying down on my bed with a facial expression something like: 'yeah, that's it, that is what I was looking for in this hobby for the whole 1.5years of my journey, all my previous headphones and IEMs were failed attempts, in searching for this sound’

First, I think Variations is a bit genre-dependent, and something like metal or hard rock doesn't sound that good, but man, when I play on them 'NewJeans - Ditto' or actually any NewJeans song or any Red Velvet song or any IU song or any Billie Eilish song, everything sounds heavenly. Female vocals are just amazing, State-of-Art, they shine, they sound like angels from heaven, it's level of HD600 definitely vocal-wise, always smooth, well-extended and never harsh, shouty or sibilant, just pure euphoria, don't know what to say more.

Separation, 'soundstage', and detail retrieval, everything is here, the sound is just so clean and deep boosted sub-bass too, I just don't have complaints

Listening through Qudelix-5K + Tripowin Zonie Blue cable + AZLA SednaEarFit Crystal SS size, they do Variations justice, for me this IEM is very tip-dependent due to big nozzle. After Azla eartips, Variations with something like Moondrop Spring Tips sounded dead & unmotivated, while on AZLA ear tips natural and lively and wonderful, everything is crystal clear

Overall I can recommend to anyone whose ‘guilty pleasure' is EDM/kpop, but only with female vocals. In general all pop music, edm, rap/hip-hop sound wonderful on Variations, metal and hard rock not so much

Variations is good, very good, for the price the best for me definitely, very close to end game material for somebody with similar music preferences, I still don't have any desire to upgrade and sell them, because they are just so great, they shine, but never offense you, everything sounds smooth, energetic, engaging, beautiful, amazing, lifelike, lovely, wonderful, natural, and that's it, I'm done, hope my stream of thoughts was enjoyable to read, strongly recommend at least to try them

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Upvote for NewJeans

You are a man of culture I see

>but man, when I play on them 'NewJeans - Ditto' or actually any NewJeans song or any Red Velvet song or any IU song or any Billie Eilish song, everything sounds heavenly. Female vocals are just amazing, State-of-Art, they shine, they sound like angels from heaven, it's level of HD600 definitely vocal-wise, always smooth, well-extended and never harsh, shouty or sibilant, just pure euphoria, don't know what to say more.

I was going to ask you how you felt about it but after reading this I honestly think I don't need to ask anything more. We have an almost exact taste in music, apparently, and I have been thinking hard on this year only buying one new set of IEMs: the Variations. I think this settles its.

Currently my "best" (subjective) set is the Blessing 2 Dusk but after trying some different stuff I started thinking that the Variations may be my true endgame.

​

By the way, this latest album by NewJeans with Ditto and OMG, I have to say, I think it's just perfect. I have been listening to it on loop for about a month lol.
By the way, since I like a lot the artists you mentioned, would you mind sharing more of what you like? Maybe I may find something new I didn't know existed.

I’m so happy to find in this sub people with similar to my music preferences!

Sharing more? You mean about artists or gear? If gear, then LCD-X pre-2021 with metal571 EQ profile sounds very good, the only headphone that can compete with Variations in pure subjective music enjoyment, and suits my music library better than HiFiman Arya for example

If artists in consideration, then definitely IVE, STAYC, Le Sserafim(all songs are top tier, just amazing)

OMG is so good, that I don't have even words to describe what I was feeling, listening to it for first 100 times, feeling like on drugs but without them

Metal and rock not sounding good on it is what I feared most. Guess it was the right decision to avoid it, I'm guessing the thieaudio monarch would also be bad for those genres.

I also love IVE and StayC in particular already had a special place at RUN2U was my most listened to track last year on Spotify. I think it only beat HypeBoy because I listened to NewJeans more on flac and on Tidal.

Antifragile and Impurities are also fantastic tracks.

I'm with you on OMG. I just can't get tired of it.

Are you able to use the provided filters with the azla tips?

Huge thumb up for Antifragile and Impurities, they are perfect, also Blue Flame and Sour Grapes from the previous album are chefs' kiss

And XG's last English single album is great. G-idle Tomboy is also a no-skip album

Well theoretically you can, but it depends on your skill and luck, when you would put tips on the nozzle, it definitely can be possible

It's possible if you super careful putting them on but IMO not worth it, I gave up on this 2 years ago and just leave them off. No issues.

Azla Xelactec I think you can definitely fit even with filters, they are very soft and easy to stretch and also produce great sound and fit

Yeah, unfortunately I can't do that because I produce too much earwax.

The spring tips were amazing for me in terms of fit, but they were too wide and the filter would just fall out, so now I'm stuck with the mis-tips.

Also big fan of female vocals with some similar music tastes. I'll have to check out a couple of you and /u/Megidolan's mentioned songs/artists.

Can I recommend Lee Hi for slower but excellent vocals? Very unique textured voice.

hi, you jumped from timeless to variations so I am curious about how much upgrade you felt given price jump is 2x as I'm also planning moving from timeless to variation

Timeless had some nasty bright peak with any stock eartips to my ears, so I was really suffering, but even without this peak, Variations are one of those IEMs that sound definitely above their price bracket, if they will fit your ear, they would be great, something better from Variations would start at 1000$ with IER-M9, Monarch MKII and so on, so yeah, upgrade was significant I should say to my ear, especially as time flows you would love your Variations even more, tonality is just perfect together with great technicalities

Yeah, they both have somehow recessed mid-bass and lower midrange, and these genres of music value these parts of frequency response, son't know what even to recommend for these genres, maybe something like U12t? Or IER-M9 maybe

I think that might well happen as they do end up very open.

• Azla Xelastec
• Azla Crystal
• Azla Crystal TWS (on the right)

SpinFit CP155 might be another option, they fit these nozzles very well, and would be my next choice after either Azla or Spring Tips (which I like a lot and use on most of my other IEMs).

My current fave is the Dunu est112, it has a little warmth to the upper bass.

I'm listening to her songs right now, reminded me of IU, great songs

Ditto.

Uhh, I mean same. Same, man.

Already tried the spinfit and even the l size doesn't seal in my ear and I don't know why....

I've been using the Variations for 1.5 years and I gotta agree with all you've mentioned. It's just heavenly for EDM, JPop, and KPop. And yes, the boosted sub-bass, undeniably based. I also don't have any plans to upgrade because I think anything else beyond this price point is kind of a diminishing return value per dollar. But if I ever do, I'm probably gonna do Monarch MK2.

My setup: Variations + BTR5 2021. Cable is Letshuoer M3 and tips are just the plain ol' SpinFit CP155.

I also followed a similar item journey, but I found that the Variations were the only pair in which I could really hear a difference in something. Everything just sounded better and I couldn't really describe it. Arias? Meh. Timeless? Meh. But wow the Variations packed a punch. Definitely my endgame

OMOMG

Edit: man keep downvoting K-pop related comment i guess.

Even thought I only bought Moondrop Sparks their rather cheap bluetooth option, I love them. Despite the fact that bluetooth-connections lower the sound quality drastically they still managed to make them sound so unbelievable good. So now I'm also a little fanboy of the company xD.

>First, I think Variations is a bit genre-dependent

I wholeheartedly agree.

I think the Variations gets a lot of flak (compared to other US$500 IEMs such as the SA6) because it has been wrongly hyped by some reviewers as a good "all-rounder". I believe it's definitely not.

Well, if you like it's tone or listen to a few key genres it could certainly be, but the sub-bass if definitely not for everyone.

You forgot to add Dreamcatcher.

My bad, indeed this group is also had cool songs

If you're saying that for fear of offending (considering stan reputation), dw about it. I interjected in someone else's conversation.

In your opinion, which iems would be the best all rounder? I'm asking because currently i only own the Truthear Zero and the KZ Pr1 Pro. In the future i will want to upgrade to a really good set of iems. The thing is, i listen to a little bit of everything. Today i can be on a heavy metal mood and tomorrow i want to listen to trance, and the death metal, and then classic rock. I'm all over the place. I don't know what to aim for. I would like to have a really good all rounder instead of specific iems for different types of music (unlesse that is really the way to go). Thanks in advance.

I am biased but I'd definitely recommend U12T for metal. I tried listening to some metal when I briefly had the Monarch Mk II and it was far too harsh.

Well I definitely liked their song and MV 'BEcause' when it was released, but haven't enough time to explore more of their songs

U12t reading all reviews about them, looks like very great IEM, I definitely plan to buy them one day or at least try them, maybe would be using them together with Variations one day

It's my endgame, have had it for about 9 months so I feel safe saying that now lol. I hope you get to try them soon!

I'll certainly check it out! Thanks for the recommendation.

I was like this with the Chu. Even though I had the Blessing 2 Dusk it was when I listened to the Chu that my love for the company grew immensely.

I do listen kpop , pop in general, and some hiphop , but im a metalhead so guess I have to think again to buy variations 😬 . Im gonna use cp 100 .

I want to know too . Want to upgrade from fiio fd5 . I listen to several genres 😬

+1 for leehi

Have u tried aespa

Of course. I dare say they are on the Next Level.

Don't worry I got the reference!

I see what you did there 😂

For metal you better look at something like Dunu SA6Ultra maybe or new SA6 MKII

>The thing is, i listen to a little bit of everything.

I'm exactly the same and unfortunately I'm yet to find a definitive "all-rounder" IEM.

I haven't had the chance to listen to other US$500 IEMs than the Variations, but in my research everyone always ends at the "ten US$50 IEMs are better than a single US$500 one" argument (at least in frequency response, and not in "technicalities").

Tx dude

I have tried these ones, immediately liked them, and I have wanted them ever since. I listen pretty much only to kpop girl groups, and these sounded amazing for the few minutes I was testing them. I still can't justify the price though but maybe I'll get them on sale one day...

I have entered this hobby, after started listening to female kpop groups and wanted to get better listening experience and now I'm here

On Black Friday sell they can be found for 440$ new, also on used market you can find one for around 370-400$, but not cheaper, they really hold their value great, because the sound is awesome dethrones many kilobuck options, while cost only half of their price

Yes.

Very good recording quality, better headphones, the better sound you get from their Savage - EP, beautiful album

I'm searching but i can't find a definitive answer. I don't even know if there's one. That said, and i will probably be happy with whatever i end up buying. Because to be honest, i don't think my hearing is all that great and it's not trained like a lot of people here. So for example, even if they say the Variations are not good (or ideal for metal i rock) i think i would enjoy them a lot anyway. I don't really know what to do, ahahaha.