Moondrop Starfield Review – The Shining Star

Something special drop from the night sky! Introducing the Moondrop Starfield review, the shining star.

Moondrop ChiFi lately gaining on the radar because of the audiophile community seems to like them. Moondrop covers from the bottom to the top of the price range starting from Moondrop spaceship at USD20+ till Moondrop Solis at USD 1000+

Moondrop Starfield is considered an entry and friendly Budget IEM at USD 110.

What?s inside?

I like the box design, the starfield comes with a rectangle box and drawing of stars. It?s interesting that Moondrop tries to match the theme even on the box packaging.

The cover sleeve fitted to tight and it?s hard to remove. You need carefully push/pull the box.

• IEM from the outer space – single dynamic driver
• 6 pairs of silicone ear tips
• 0.78 2pin cable 4N purity OFC cable.
• Tweezer
• Replacement filters
• A round storage case
• Manual

Wow, a tweezer, what a nice gesture. Thank you Moondrop. If you are wondering, the tweezer will help you to replace the filter.

The manual is all in Chinese, something that could be improved.

The clamshell case is pretty small but it?s enough to fit the starfield, you just need to be gentle inserting and positioning the earphone and cable.

The clamshell case has a better quality compared to another ChiFi at this price range.

The ear tips have two different shapes: rounder and the other is sharper. the sizing is a little bit weird, not exactly S, M and L size, it’s more like S and M size.

The quality of the silicone is acceptable and even better than the other brand at the same price range. You may ask…. Where are the comply tips! I think without the comply tips is better compared with the one but has bad quality.

Design Starfield Review

The Moondrop starfield feels solid and has a good build quality with moderate weight, I Guess the housing is using a metal. It feels like high-quality die-cast toys.

It?s coated with sparkling blue paint and interestingly if it?s exposed to different lighting it could alter the color to a purple. It has an interesting gradient effect.

The earphone has an interesting different design or decal on each side. There?s a small golden wording of starfield on the right side, while the left side has a hallo decal that looks like a shining star.

The design doesn?t end at the earpiece itself but Moondrop made sure that the cable also has the same theme with a dark blue 2 pin cable.

The nozzle size is standard and even though the nozzle doesn?t have any lip, I don?t have any problem that the tips are loosening out whenever I take it out from my ear.

With the over the ear design and flexible cable I don?t hear any microphonic (annoying rustling sound) whenever I move or walk.

Overall comfort is okay and acceptable, my ear size is considered small and Moondrop starfield can fit easily.

The cable is flexible and soft. The dark blue Color marching nicely with the earphone. It has a black Y split with the Moondrop logo and unadjustable.

At the end of the connector is an L shaped 3.5mm audio jack in a transparent white Color. This color matches the 2pin connector which has the same transparent white Color.

The jack made from plastic and it?s softer than the usual plastic which is good because it allows some room for flexibility of the strain relief.

The 2pin is coded with L and R respectively but it?s hard to see. A suggestion is to improve the visibility of the L and R mark on the 2 pin connector. Some people might miss this, especially people that are new to the IEM world.

Sound Impression

Moondrop starfield utilized the carbon nanotube diaphragm, it?s a 10mm single dynamic driver.

Here is the description of the nanotube

The Starfield’s diaphragm is a composite of carbon nanotube array warp and weft knitted in a polymer film, making this only 6 microns (0.006 mm) thick diaphragm have a combination of high rigidity, high toughness, and lightness, and provide clear, detailed and smooth treble.

Tested with iPhone, DAC (Ztella) and DAP, Sound signature overall is balanced and leaning towards the bright side. In my opinion, it?s a little bit aggressive as well, it put fast energy on the music, could be good and bad sometimes.

Listening to Axel F – Harold Faltermeyer, the bass has fast Attack and short decay on the bass region. Moondrop starfield lack when a subtle bass response needed like in Oricono Flow – Enya, it?s kind of overshadowed by the treble.

Overall the bass is tight and accurate, it?s an at just nice region. people that prefer warm and bass head may perceive the bass as lack of kick.

I found that the bass lacks texture and layering while Listening to we will rock you remastered – Queen.

Mids are natural, both female and male voices rendered naturally perhaps with a bit of boost in the upper mid. Listening to Say Something – a great big world, Christina Aguilera voices are clear and have nice synergy. The voices generally are forward.

The mids are sometimes overlapped by the upper mid and treble, which impact the depression and unbalance response when the voices are suddenly transitioned from mid to high more commonly observed in rock songs.

The treble is where Moondrop starfield shines. Great clarity and details. It feels airy as well with a lot of space to expand.

Even though the response is pretty good in keeping the starfield tamed by a rolled off to make sure that there?s no sibilance and sharp response, sometimes I still feel that the treble is still aggressive at times and make my ear fatigue with a disclaimer that this is really much better than others IEM that lean towards bright with sibilance.

The separation is lacking in my opinion because of the treble and bass that overshadow the mids.

Imaging between right and left channels is not prominent. Listening to Axel F – Harold it doesn?t give me the imaging that I needed for the clicking sound in the left and right.

The soundstage is wide is as if you are in the archer which expands more in the horizontal space compared to the vertical space and like you are sitting at the front row because of the forwardness of the voices.

The threshold of the acceptable treble is varied between you and me but this will impact how you perceive the sound in the mids and the mix as overall.

Moondrop starfield has a balanced sound signature that could lean either towards warm or bright depending on the songs that you are listening. I have a mixed experience with starfield there are songs that perform exceedingly well and some are poor especially songs that are bright and have subtle bass.

Moondrop Starfield Review Summary

At $110 asking price, Moondrop has a solid casing like die-cast toys and interesting painting (the color has gradient when exposed to light).

The Moondrop starfield is like a little star shining in the purple sky – full of energy and sparkle.

The sound is above standard especially the clarity and soundstage. The sound signature leaning towards the bright a little bit with a lot of energy at the treble but can also sound warm depends on the songs that you are playing.

I?ve really hard decision to put a score (either 3 or 4 stars) on this because I have a mixed performance on the different songs but looking again at the asking price I can?t demand too much and decided to put 4 stars on it. Starfield is not perfect but the price outweighs the flaw. note: take a look at our rating system here.

Moondrop has the potential, interesting product, good quality casing, and sound. It?s a well priced IEM and I?m really looking forward to the next thing in their product.

Suggestion for Moondrop is to start creating a website, I’ve difficulties to find their official website.

You can purchase the Moondrop Starfield from HiFiGo, here is the link. psst if you subscribe to their newsletter you’ll able to get a $5 discount! just click the link and it will pop out and offering you to subscribe. Their shipping is free of charge through Registered Air Mail worldwide. $3 off from their Aliexpress store (click here). Alternatively you can order from Amazon (here is the link) at the same price