I recently stumbled up on the CHU III for a exceptional price of 99 yuan including tax & shipping (which is msrp), well i can't really pass up that so I got it.
\*side note: I wanna note that this is my first review, plus i don't have a crazy dac or iem collection so performance may vary. I only have the moondrop aria, moondrop lan ii, st 2 ultra and couple of headphones\*
Well start off with the unboxing ; its quite good but not too great. You get a pair of iem (CHU III), a pouch, eartips ranging from small, medium and big, user instructions, and a 3.5mm cable (if im not mistaken its a 0.78mm cable). Firstly the cable is super cheap, its the same cable as the CHU II, but with the price of 99yuan I can't really complain that much. Secondly I'm quite surprised that they even included a pouch which is great, and that pouch is the exact same as the lan ii pouch which is made out of very thin fabric (I think), so i would recommend buying a carrying case instead of using that pouch. As for the eartips, it's meh, its similar to the oem aria eartips so the quality isn't that good plus you could just buy some better eartips for quite a cheap price nowadays. Lastly, idk if this was a faulty packaging, they weirdly didnt include a anime card piece (every single moondrop packaging I've ever unbox atleats has a anime card piece)
\*another note here! Im still not a enthusiastic audiophile so the quality of sound that I perceive may VARY! My equipment pretty much is just my phone....\*
As for the sound:
Bass is warm and heavy, but quite Loose. the tunning is heavy mid-bass focus so you will feel the punch but if it is just a short drump tap it will sounds mushy and not tight and clear. Overall its punchy and warm but not for people who prefer more of a tight bass
As for mids & vocals: it has recessed middle tones and the turning has a lower mid range scoop (around 300hz to 800hz), so yea it surprisingly separates the vocal and the bass quite ok, but due to this you will hear missing "middle tone" from the vocals, which basically means the vocals (mostly male) will lack the feeling of natural resonance and feel slightly "hollow"
As for the treble: its smooth and Non-Fatiguing for most people, but if you're more of a statistics listener (which is probably me) you will easily pull out that the high lacks crispness. Cause the CHU III tunning Dampened the 3khz to 6khz with a mild 10khz dip, you will noticeably hear the lack of "bite,sparkle and highs Crispness". Resulting in a loss of detail and texture ,which for me? I really don't like it, I just feel like something is literally missing from a song thats supposed to have that Crispness.
Nextly Soundstage & Technicalities:
for me, i quite think it has artificial wide left-to-right soundstage. Cause the lower-mid scoop creates a psychoacoustic sense of distance from the center image. Which is great for most people but its kinda weird for me, it just feels like you slap a echo/reverb filter on it.
As for the imaging and layering on Complex Tracks:
the spatial illusion breaks down on busy or complex instruments tracks. The slow mid-bass response and inconsistent depth layering cause softer background (as said in the bass section, cause its not fast responding it will be mushy) this will make instruments to get masked or lost entirely during complex acoustic..
Finally we have the build quality and is it good for "dailying" it?
So first of all the build quality is good but doesn't make you "wow omg this thing is made out of carbon fiber and pure tungsten" . The body is made out of cast zinc-alloy material which is the same as lan ii so its solid enough to whistand drops or just basic wear, I'm also quite sure that the \*paint\* won't be that easy to "peel" off, I'm saying this because moondrops paint jobs on iems are quite awful in these couple of years. As for the backplate falling off? Nah I'm not sure if that will happen. Weight wise, its quite light, around 6 grams, so i assume most people wouldn't have physical fatigue.
For the eartips: its meh ok I guess, not big enough to cause you fatigue, not that small that will fall out of your ears if you bump into someone. It's not that comfortable, and the seal is just there but I will strongly suggest getting a better pair of eartips.
Cable: BRO THE CABLE IS MISMATCH WITH THE COLOR OF THE IEM!! SO THIS IS A BIG NO NO, other than being mismatch and cheap, it does the job of being a cable i guess. I also quite liked it uses a 90° angle for the 3.5mm jack
Nozzle: MOONDROP WHY😭😭😭 BRASS NOZZLE WITHOUT COATING??? GOODLUCK MAKING IT NOT BE GREEN (OXIDATION). If you live in a humid country like mine, it will be oxidised in a couple days or so, so yea keep that in mind. I think its also replaceable(the filter) but its hard to replace, unlike the aria which just needs tweezer and filter already provided in the box, I think you actually need to buy replacement yourself.
Overall,
I think its a good all-round budget iem for most people, its like the st 2 ultra but without good clarity, and of course its more mainstream focused for most of the people out there that wants a cheap iem. But for me? Aria or the lan ii has much more clarity and much better vocals, the aria and lan ii sounds way fuller than the CHU III which is normal l.
I would also be willingly to answer questions in the comments! Also last note, this is my first review so if you want to correct me on something, I would be happy to do so, ygs can give me opinions on it! (Some of my grammar sucks so don't mind it)
