????

While they are not quite as detailed as my Toneking Nine Tails, they are very good for the $30 price point.

Blog only, Head-Fi later this week.

I don't know the Final E300 or the Spaceship. I recently puchased the Final Audio E1000, which are the most neutrally tuned of the E series (see ranking at crinacle.com), and probably the best of the bunch for "audiophiles". The E1000 are not as lively as the Crescent, they don't have their depth or tallness in soundstage, they sound rather flat but possibly more accurate....would be a sidegrade.

The latest hype are the NiceHCK NX7...I have not heard them yet but will soon.

The reason for cult followings/hype trains is a herd mentality as particularly shown on Head-Fi...often generated by selective promotion by the sellers and distributors. I had no luck so far attracting a review unit of the Moondrop Spaceship or Aria. No interest by the sellers....I speculate they want to sell more expensive iems with higher profit margins. For example, Linsoul has their group of reviewers and pushes a certain product simultaneously through these....they even have to hit deadlines as in the case of the Tin Hifi P3. Penon Audio has their group of assembly-line reviewers, who generate no real reviews but pure promotions (gibberish, no critical views, everything is great). My interest in the Crescent was generated by shotguneshane over at Super Best Audio Friends.

Found your review blog and will read it with interest.

Also how Crescent compares to the Final E3000 and the newly released Moondrop Spaceship?

Great review as usual. I’ve also reviewed the Moondrop Crescent a while back and found them to be exactly as you say here: mostly accurate sounding and a bargain at the price they’re selling. In fact, I prefer them over the other hyped chi-fi’s e.g. iBasso IT01 and many of the multi-BA/hybrid ones that are selling around $100+ mark. They just sound effortless and natural. I had to change the default eartips though, using Final E-series tips improved the seal and sound even further for me.

It’s truly a mystery as to why there is not a cult-following for them. Even far inferior products have had more exposure. To add insult to injury, Moondrop is apparently cutting production of these and discontinuing them. I really hope that rumor just turns out to be unfounded (unless they’re working on a proper successor to the Crescent which would be much welcome).

Difficult to answer. The Crescents are built much better and feel much more valuable in your hands. They have a bigger stage (taller and deeper) than the Sonys, but the Sonys have an unparalleled tonal balance. The biggest difference between the two is in the upper midrange: the Crescents are tamer here and are therefore a bit darker.

Better? I'd say they are different.