Due to the emphasis on upper mids the SSR can sound quite shouty at time specially at higher volumes & during high pitched notes.The cable isn’t too stiff and has a rubbery feel, although the addition of a chin slider would have been appreciated. The 2 pin 0.78mm sliver plated cable is a nice addition, it’s soft, doesn’t get tangled up easily & I didn’t notice any microphonics with it.I hope Moondrop seriously considers making more IEM’s with similar design, comfort being a main priority. The heart shaped enclosure/housing of the SSR is extremely light weight which makes it a joy to use for longer listening sessions.Using a warm source like Shanling UP4 & Final E Tips, certainly gives the sub bass more of a presence & rumble. The bass is fast & tight here without bleeding into other frequencies but there is definitely a lack of quantity compared to other more V shaped competitors in this price range.There is no harshness or fatiguing peaks present here. The sharpness of treble actually makes the SSR sound more detailed and gives cymbals a nice splash.Treble is bright & has good extension achieving a good amount of clarity & separation with a feeling of airiness to it.Acoustic Instrument timbre is surprisingly good! It has an above average sound stage both is terms of width & depth.I think detail retrieval is best in class at this price point, I could notice those small instruments & vocals in the background which other IEM’s at this price point failed to highlight.So, I really appreciate the SSR teaching me something new. On my first listen I realized I was just enjoying music all this time, without really paying attention to most of the lyrics. Forwards mids with emphasis on upper mids, really makes you pay attention to the lyrics in a song.Sources used during review: Shanling UP4 & Fiio BTR5 I was also very curious how a mid-centric device would perform, the SSR has a twin brother the Super Spaceship Pulse (SSP) which has an emphasis on the low end, I didn’t bother auditioning this because I knew what I wanted & SSP wasn’t it. Auditioning the SSR at a local retail store I observed that this had less muddiness & paired better with my warm source due to its diffuse-field (DF) neutral signature.
I specifically got this pair as an alternative to my Final E3000’s as I was using a warm source at the time (Shanling UP4) which led to some muddiness at times with certain tracks on my E3k’s. The Super Spaceship Reference (SSR) is a roughly $35 offering from Moondrop, it has a single Beryllium-coated dome + polyurethane suspension ring & a 16Ω output impedance. The SSR comes in a pretty awesome packaging, ya know, common moondrop W. But it's pretty good and clear overall, even in standard tuning. The highs for me are good, i can hear cymbals crashing clearly in some songs, some songs the cymbals are just pure distortion chaos. Maybe due to the song's mixing and mastering that caused the problem. The mids are really confusing for me, i can hear the vocals pretty well but sometimes i cannot hear some instruments in the mid range. I use Poweramp on both of my Samsung A52s & M14 5G Maybe because of the standard tuning, so you need EQ tweaks to achieve your preferred sound. I think it's because the small DD size, compared to the SSP the SSR is quite weak at bass.
For me as well, i agree that the vocals are clear and highlighted, not quite sure about the mids, but overall they're both very clear. What really makes the SSR different than other IEMs i have used so far is The Vocals.Ī lot of people agree that the SSR highlights the vocals and mids quite well.