Try Qobuz. The difference is obvious.

Moondrop and Hifiman have challenged the contentious sub-$1000 market with the Venus and Edition XS. While the Edition XS shows no real surprises, proving to be a normal Hifiman product, the Moondrop Venus is the company’s first planar magnetic headphone, coming in with few expectations with regard to tuning. Are they worthy enough to stave off upgrade-itus?

As a reminder, these are opinions and are in no way are meant to insult anyone who may have purchased either of these headphones. If the reader owns these headphones and feels insulted by anything said in this review, keep in mind I write reviews to inform readers of any issues they may have with a product.

Read more: https://den-fi.com/hifiman-edition-xs-moondrop-venus/

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Well I spent almost three months with these and i gotta say they have grown immensely on me. I come from medium & high end headphones but the design, flat fr curve and overall purpose for mixing really got my attention. I have to state that I really love Ollo as a company. They have the nicest customer service and they stand behind values I really like for the music industry. The packaging was pretty nice and environment conscious. Out of the box they were one of the most comfortable headphones I've ever had. I needed to bend the metal band a bit for a better clamp though, because it was a bit too loose on my head. Now for the overall sound impressions:

Even though i really appreciated the perfect stereo imaging and clarity from the very beginning, at first they sounded dull and boring to my ears for enjoying music. I had not ever heard such flat headphones and I guess I was spoiled by coloring and eq tricks. Since back then I was only listening to music for pleasure I barely used them after the first two days, opting instead for higher end headphones. Thing is after a couple of weeks I gave them another go and I realized how incredibly clean, natural and well articulated the sound truly was. I started to appreciate this flat sound signature a lot. It's not as passionate (colored) as audiophile aimed headphones but you get a perfect, natural studio sound that grows on you over time (it definitely did on me). It's so relaxing... The drums sound real-life like, as natural as you can get. They're definitely on the clinical listening group of headphones, yet there is still a bit of warmth and the detail doesn't get in the way of enjoying the music once you get accustomed. I guess these are an acquired taste for listening purposes but for me they are the new best hp under 500$. Shure 1540 are my second pick probably. These are the equivalent of ordering a steak at a restaurant and receiving a raw piece of organic, pasture raised steak. No sauce, no cooking, just a perfect raw steak, and since I really like raw meat...

I'm pretty sure the dusk's bass is also dynamic, it has 1DD+3BA setup. I doubt that the DD is dedicated to some other frequency band other then the bass. On the other hand, I'm not sure I believe the stereotypes about the driver types anymore, such as BAs being thin, DDs not resolving as good etc.

What pairing? I’m guessing the Q5k…

I can hear the minute diferances if we are talking purely about file format

Got them used, so was REALLY hoping I would get the box. Glad I did, uwu

Yeah, I dismissed the Variations based on looks mostly (kinda cringey to admit lol), but I was also worried that they have too much bass. Also I already have a tribrid (insert a joke about fake drivers), so I wanted a pure BA set to try something new. And on the contrary, I was concerned about b2's treble not extending enough and decided to skip them, not being able to demo. But now I will shill b2 dusk to all my friends as a cheaper alternative to my holy grail s8

Have you considered the Aeon RT or Drop variant?

Very true, of course for me there will be a moment to upgrade in the future and happy to see you are over the moon with your new purchase!

They’d be a decent upgrade for sure. Nothing beats the SHP9500’s comfort, but the jump you’d get in midrange, vocals and detail is pretty huge.

I have trouble going back to the SHP9500 myself, but it was nice little starting point. With some EQ to tone down the treble, I still use them for longer sessions when working or gaming since they’re so light. However, they fall a bit short when critical listening nowadays. But now I’m going off topic lol.

Either way, hope you like whatever you decide!

I do recommend Yaxi pads with these

Definitely. That's much better than buying hundreds of cheap sets

I understand what u mean, I have had the same experience, having just finished an one month free trial of Tidal Hifi, comparing it with my Spotify (very high settings) account... in the end I have not found any valid differences and reasons to switch to Tidal Hifi

Yeah, kinda went from 0 to a hundred there lol :D maybe that's slightly overkill, but that's OK, no regrets

I was going to try to buy them too but I thought the auction ended later and missed it. Lucky you!

I own the Kato and Dusk. I personally prefer the Kato despite the shortcomings with their resolution. A bit more muffled in comparison since the Dusks are more detailed. But the treble response is much more smooth and the bass is controlled. Likely more to do with BA bass vs 1DD bass.

I’m some people. But even then, I mainly use Spotify. It’s really not that bad and not even worth worrying about. Besides, nothing will make a difference if the song was recorded poorly to begin with. EDIT: You can get less fatiguing gear, but that’s pretty much it. It’s not like you can magically increase the quality with audio crystals or something.

Wet dream for weeb music enjoyer

Thank you! That's an interesting take on the Kato, I never even considered them as they are single driver. You mean they have smoother treble response then the dusk? Did you demo them too? How well do they resolve compared to dusk?

I thought of myself as a treble lover cause my NiceHCK nx7 pro's have the sharpest treble imaginable, which I endured stoically. I kinda mistook their sharpness for good resolve, only now do I realise my mistake. Still, pretty good iems for the first one, I guess

I wouldn't say it's so much a bias towards new products but moreso the current state of the market including newer products. Today we have our pick between Dusk , Variations and the OG B2. I guess a lot of people don't see a reason to pay more than those for what can be achieved with a simple EQ tweak (if they prefer less bass on variations for example or less treble on B2). Personally, I would never consider the S8.

If a device has both balanced and single-ended outputs, you should try to use the balanced one.

You need a cable that's wired for balanced use. Take a look at stores like Linsoul. You can specify most cables to have the appropriate connectors at both ends.

That's a big jump

Thank you very much! Arias are great too! I mean, I'm just happy to find that those $100-ish iems are not yet on the quality/price plateau, which means there is something to look forward to!