The good bloke Michael at Artpical has kindly sent out the Lunar Ring iems for review with no expectations of a positive review – and that’s exactly what he’s getting.
This brand new addition to Artpical’s lineup retails for $499 USD and has an impedance of 12.20 ohm and a sensitivity of 108.5 dB/mw, featuring 1 DD, 1 BA and 2 MPD drivers to cover all frequencies.
I like to add on all my reviews –
I’m listening with my ears, not yours.
I’m listening with my gear, not yours.
I’m listening with my love of audio, and not yours. YMMV…..
Now let’s get our aural hands dirty!
Gear:
For the review, my portable gear consists of my trusty Fiio M23 DAP, and desktop setup will be the Fiio K13/xDuoo DP-10 streamer (
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/fiio-k13-r2r.28471/reviews#review-41026
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/xduoo-dp-10-streaming-transport.28869/reviews#review-40995).
I reviewed the Lucifers here a while back (
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/artpical-lucifer.27556/reviews#review-39846) and loved them for their aesthetics and sound profile.
These things look amazing too, but looks alone won’t cut the mustard…..
Unboxing seems to be a special focus for Artpical. They clearly want you to have a memorable experience.
Remove the box and a stunning grey case pops its head out. Slide off the cover and we are greeted with 2 VERY unusual looking iems who seem like they’d be right at home in a mythical JRPG game with dragons and or Viking lore. They also look like moonrocks or pieces of broken asteroids.
Obviously high-precision 3d printing is at work here. I LOVE the look of them. They look textured but are completely smooth.
The brass line and ring are a nice touch, making a completely unique looking iem. Well done to the graphic/artistic designers!
They are neither hefty or light, neither large nor small (how’s that for a description???? Tells you ABSOLUTELY nothing!!!).
But you know what I mean.
We get a box of tips and another grey pouch/box for the cable.
A manual, a product profile card and colourful brochure of Artpical’s other offerings round us out.
The cable is premium. It’s braided, and black and grey. It features a swivelling mechanism at the Y junction and that and the termination point are housed with a black oblong covering.
The Important Stuff:
I started with the tips already on the Lunars (the only clear silicone pair).
I’d done a lot of listening with these guys before the review. I was really enjoying them without thinking and just enjoying the music. Bright, VERY detailed, great bass and nice balanced mids. A lovely natural timbre and very dynamic and punchy.
As I begin the review, I’m listening to a lot of my test tracks. I’m still not finalised on my playlist (believe it or not, this is an essential process for each of my reviews – I LOVE music of many types and I want each review to have the best chance possible, whether it’s a $29 iem or a $3000 headphone. I sincerely look for the best attributes in each product, but will advise potential buyers of the negatives I (for my ears!) find. I do NOT want people coming back and saying “I bought these coz you said they were xxxxxxxxx”. I want to get it as right as I possibly can, or at least tell you how they sounded to me.
I started my critical listening. I was playing quite loud (as I’m want to do…..). Bass is deeper than my cousin Gertie’s voice at a Karaoke party (was she always “Gertie”???). Treble was bright, crisp, resolving. Mids were……hmmm. I don’t graph (have no rig) but there was just something irking me at what I would guess was upper mids/lower treble. There was something just a tad forward or unpleasant. It’s hard to describe. It wasn’t sibilance or shouty necessarily but it just sounded a bit “weird”. I hadn’t heard this with just casual listening (I had them lower for the casual listening).
I changed to the other 2 sets of tips. The white ones were an improvement. The black ones were a clear improvement on the improvement.
Bass remained deep and foreboding, treble was ever so slightly refined but no less detailed, and the mids were now smoother and better balanced. There was no upper mid sting.
These are not neutrally tuned iems.
And aural associates, that’s not a bad thing.
I start with seriously good classical music.
Albinoni’s Adagio in G Minor is dark, foreboding and forlorn. The double bass is deep and well controlled on the Lunar Rings. It is actually vibrating in my ears. The violins are clean, resolving and natural. Everything sounds as it was intended to. The staging and placement is excellent. I do actually feel like I’m right at the concert hall, a part of the performance.
This is beautiful on the Lunar Rings. I begin to shed a tear…………No, no, it must be the damn onions.
From melancholy classical to pure melodic speed metal, Dragonforce is up next.
The beginning of the song is sensational!!!!! At 21 seconds, when the cacophony explodes, it becomes a tad grating. The distorted guitars alongside the clean create an aural tornado. But as soon as this passage is over, it sounds great again. The Lunar Rings handle the speed and freneticism with ease, which is difficult for many full-sized headphones. They don’t get muddy at all. The treble may be just a tad crisp here but mids sound great and bass is separated nicely. This song IS a sonic avalanche……..
D’Artagnan are a German melodic Folk rock/metal outfit and Patty Gurdy is an expert Hurdy Gurdy player of fame in Germany also.
Vocals come in so natural and perfectly balanced. Instruments in the background are well spaced and placed. The Hurdy Gurdy comes in and it’s clean, detailed and natural. Patty’s vocals are beautiful. I’m getting lost in them.
Everything sounds wonderful on the Lunar Rings. This song was made for them, trust me!!!!!! Resolution and detail is next-level, and there is not a hint of crispness or sibilance.
A metal ballad next by Sabaton. They are a Swedish band who sing about war on every album. This song is about Bull Allen, from Ballarat, Victoria (about an hour’s drive from where I live), who heroically saved a dozen men in World War 1. I have goosebumps. The piano intro is simply beautiful. Joakim’s voice is so powerful, clean and melancholic, all perfectly represented on the Lunar Rings.
Staging here is all around my head, and every instrument is separated very well. Strings in the background are ethereal and when the whole band/orchestra comes in, it is simply majestic. Bass is deep and powerful. Wow.
I encourage EVERYONE to listen to this song!!
A similar genre band next – Powerwolf. Their songs feature fantasy themes, werewolves, church references, and frequent Latin language. They are also from Germany – there’s a theme here on this review.
The distorted guitars come in forcibly again and it does get just a tad spicy but not as apparent on Through the Fire and the Flames. It’s still clean, detailed and natural. Vocals are excellent and perfectly balanced for me.
Bass is deep (but not bass canons) and well controlled. There is no bleed into the mid-bass.
Another ballad from Halestorm. Lzzy’s vocals are natural and balanced beautifully. They are clean, natural and powerful. The bassline here does go deep and sounds clean and well-separated. Everything is placed so well.
Another cracker song on the Lunar Rings. No treble crispness or sting at all, an exciting listen, even for a ballad.
I’ve switched over to the Fiio K13 R2R and the xDuoo DP-10 now and on Passacaglia, the whole experience seems to be more mature. Treble is slightly dialled back but there’s no loss of detail or resolution. Instruments are very natural and lifelike and I can pick up clearly, the little clicks of the maracas. The orchestra is all around me and it all sounds wonderful. Staging has increased and even separation seems to have improved. Bass has more weight and presence.
Valhalla Calling is next. Bass is deep, commanding and powerful, with no bleed at all. Vocals are also deep and natural. Everything is separated so well and staging is once again, all around me. I can ”see” clicks and some vocals out in front of me, drums out wide on both sides, and deep bassy instruments at the back of my head.
Another bloody great song to listen to on the Lunar Rings.
Finally, we go dancing to EDM (Electronic) on Make Us Stronger. The song comes out firing with synth and maracas. Then bass comes in and birds twirping (?) and mid-range synth joins too. When the beat hits, that’s it. This is HUGE. Sub-bass is powerful, well controlled and energetic. It’s infectious. The snap of drums and the roll-off of synth notes is in no way crisp or sibilant and the detail and resolution are excellent. Staging is again, all around me and separation is superb. This is another amazing track for the Lunar Rings. Punchy, snappy, exciting and deep (you could easily call them bass canons on this track). What a beat!
A quick comparison:
I have the excellent EarAcoustic SPA Limited Snake Ed (
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/ea...-ear-earphone-iems.28160/reviews#review-39554).
The SPAs are $429 and the Lunar Rings $499.
Aesthetics go easily to the Lunar Rings. They are completely unique and look great.
Packaging and unboxing are equal. Both are just wonderful experiences.
Cables and tips are also equal. Both iems have a variety of tips and a high quality balanced cable (modular).
I love the SPA’s tuning. They have clean and highly resolving treble, balanced mids and great bass also when called for.
There’s a similar tuning on the Lunar Rings. Maybe (and maybe I’m wrong) a V shaped tuning (?), which is my preference.
Both iems have bass in spades when called for and sit back nicely when bass isn’t the track’s strong point. Mids are natural and very well balanced, definitely not forward. Vocals are not in my face or recessed. Treble on both is clean, detailed and subtle nuances can be picked out easily. On the Lunar Rings however, there were a couple of tracks where it was a tad crisp and spicy, but overall, it was clean and resolving. I had to swap out the fitted silicon tips as the upper mids/lower treble were not to my preference but once the black tips were on, this was not an issue.
Staging and placement goes to the Lunar Rings by a small margin – they are very holographic and separate very well.
Both iems are excellent and reasonably similar in sonic presentation to my ears.
The Lunar Rings could be considered a tad more energetic overall than the SPAs, maybe more of a party iem.
EDM/Electronic sounded HUGE on the Lunar Rings and clean ballads were a joy to listen to also. Classical was another fantastic genre for the Lunar Rings, particularly large orchestral pieces.
The SPAs were still energetic but dialled down just a notch, so this is a tough call and I’m going to struggle to pick a favourite here – I thoroughly love them both.
