Ibasso IT00, Tin Hifi T2 Plus, Moondrop Starfield – Neutral DMZ for 2020/2021
INTRO
Unlike most of the biased media today competing for viewers in a echo chamber of their desired audience, there were ways to achieve neutral viewpoints in 2020. Earphones are hardly earth shattering topics, but they are providing us hopefully with some nice relaxation time in the age of exceptional abnormality. Sometimes there are multiple ways to reach a neutral-ish signature. The Ibasso IT00, Tin Hifi T2 Plus, and Moondrop Starfield all meet my criteria for neutral-ish, but each deciding to highlight a particular range of the frequency band. Ibasso’s trick is bass, TinHifi T2 Plus was midrange, and Moondrop Starfield highlighted a nicely done non-offensive treble. Since these have all been reviewed to death and are all highly recommended for approximate $100 or less choices, I thought it would be interesting to summarize them and highlight the differences.
Ibasso IT00 ($69-79) Bassy neutral
The bottom third of the frequency spectrum dominates this neutralish signature, with a flattened top end. I wouldn’t call this bass bleed because the whole lower midrange is very full as well. Painted with a broad brush, the bass tends to linger into the midrange giving bass hits a bathroom decay while the top end comes in feeling more living room decay. Cymbal hits and such are soft as if being struck by chopsticks, missing some visceral impact. In other words most of the space or atmosphere comes from down low. Mids are pleasant and clear, but a little recessed to prevent it from sounding too in your face. Guitars and pianos have stage presence, but the rest gets a little lost. Male vocals sound very full, and female vocals have a singing in the shower essence. The Ibasso is easily driven, but with more volume comes stronger bass. Timbre is nice with the only coloration coming in through the lower midrange.
Staging feels a tad crowded ok for girl and guitar, but bigger band stuff are all competing for attention. One of the biggest annoyances is the driver flex due to the thin diaphragm of the driver which makes it easy to drive. It’s hard to know if this leads to long term issues or not, but something I find very annoying. Fit is traditional universal, very lightweight due to the plastic shell. Two different sets of tips- black and white, the white ones have a thicker stem at the base which adds more controlled bass, while the black ones give the feeling of less bass impact. The Ibasso IT00 seems like a middle ground between the IT01 and the IT01s as far as the tuning goes. I have to wonder if they just installed a thinner screen filter to allow the lower treble to accentuate the experience. If I had the newer IT01 with removed screens, it would be an interesting experiment.
Tin Hifi T2 Plus ($40-59) Mid-centric Neutral
Closest to neutral pleasing mid-centric while adding a splash of bass. The more abstract astronomically themed appearance of the bunch, the Tin Hifi T2 Plus channels alien spaceship to finally give us a comfortable Tin Hifi model. The slippery little suckers pop right in broadcasting immediately focused vocals, while the here one minute gone the next bass is masked by the midrange focus on this set. The Tin Hifi T2 Plus bass is fuller than the Moondrop Starfield that has a lower bass impression making the Starfield sound a little thin in comparison. The bass and treble are only there as backup support to the sweet candy middle on the Tin Hifi T2 Plus. It really highlights the layering present in the Tin Hifi T2 Plus while at the same time exposing the Ibasso IT00’s rather arid mid-section. I think Tin Hifi’s holographic midrange however tops the bottom fullness of the Ibasso if trying to compare their strengths. Bass is gentle with a slight roll off on the lowest octave giving bass notes good weight, but not enough gogo juice to tickle, making the bass heard but not felt. The treble is signature Tin Hifi, but without the typical sibilance found in the other T2/T3 models. Where the Moondrop Starfield starts to drop in treble output the Tin Hifi T2 Plus rises slightly to a final peak coming off a little sharper than the Starfield. Sharper and slightly agitated treble lead to brassy crescendos. Snares pop while cymbals tingle. Less constipated sounding than the IT00, The Tin Hifi T2 Plus lets loose in the lower treble to help give the midrange extra clarity. The Tin Hifi T2 plus has a wider stage footprint than the IT00 and more depth as well. In terms of driveablity from a mobile device, both require nothing extra with the IT00 edging out all three in terms of sensitivity.
Moondrop Starfield ($95-109) Neutral slighty bright
The Moondrop Starfield is second kid to the Kanas Pro/KXXS. It lacks the finer things in life the first child received and may get the hand me downs (same shell, less premium cable), but it also gained the wisdom of their parents to tweak the path forward. The Moondrop Starfield’s bass is snappier than the the Tin Hifi T2 Plus, and unlike the Ibasso IT00 the bass was painted with a finer brush focusing more on 100hz and below only. Cymbals and snares have almost equal emphasis with snares still lightly edging out cymbal crashes. Both the Tin Hifi T2 Plus and the Ibasso IT00 seemed a little scared to take on the presence region, and this is the standout region of the Moondrop Starfield. It sounds more mature, less grungy, no constipation. The vocal midrange is more soft spoken than the slightly honky Tin Hifi T2 Plus, but not as boring sounding as the Ibasso IT00. As we follow the midrange down to the depths of the bass region we have a nice level playing field with the bass coming in only at the end. The bass kind of floats by itself which allows it to add grunt only to lower bass. You don’t get the same guitar grunge from the Ibasso IT00, again a little more mature. Cellos and bass have less of a boxy feel, which allows for a less tiring sound. Moondrop Starfield’s soundstaging feels more distant allowing everything to pull away from your headspace. They all seem to have different staging, with the Ibasso IT00 recessed, the Tin Hifi T2 Plus forward, and the Moondrop Starfield fairly even. I like what Moondrop has achieved with the treble on the Starfield over the Kanas Pro, that has a slight timbre off-ness in the upper treble.
OUTRO
So there is no right or wrong here, only what is preferred and all good contenders for something vanilla. If these were ice cream sundaes, the Ibasso IT00 is covered in hot fudge (bass), the Tin Hifi T2 Plus is hold the nuts and go easy on the fudge, and the Moondrop Starfield is drizzled with a hint of fudge and topped with whipped cream (sweeter treble). Since I already owned the Ibasso IT01 and the Moondrop Kanas Pro, the Ibasso IT00 and Starfield are minor changes. Personally the Tin Hifi T2 is the interesting one to own out of these three, giving it a ranking of nice to have neutralish IEM.
GRAPHS
- Ibasso IT00 Stock vs Filter removed
- Tinhifi T2 Plus Left vs Right
- Moondrop Starfield Left Vs Right (a little troubling this particular set has a level mismatch in the bass.)
- IT00, T2 Plus, Moondrop Starfield
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