Moondrop May USB-C Headphones Review

[oscar_dziki]

If it's better than Truthear Zeros in the fit department then that's pretty epic. Truthear Zero has been my best fitting IEM so far.

for me it is.

 

[CHNtentes]

Really good review! This headphone sells for CNY 398 here, approximately $55.

 

[beagleman]

"Moon Drop"???

What does the box "Art" have to do with the headphones?
Does this imply, they are initially intended to be for children, or some tie in to anime in some way?

 

[Jimbob54]

"Moon Drop"???

What does the box "Art" have to do with the headphones?
Does this imply, they are initially intended to be for children, or some tie in to anime in some way?

Absolutely nothing and no, and no.

'Tis but a packaging theme they and some other brands have adopted.

About as much to do with the sound as the perfume ad with the hollywood star is to do with the smell in the bottle.

 

[Chromatischism]

It's Asian gear bought in large part by 12-40 y/o males. Expect some waifu.

 

[Acerun]

If it's better than Truthear Zeros in the fit department then that's pretty epic. Truthear Zero has been my best fitting IEM so far.

Truthear Zero still better fitting for me, also my best fitting IEM.

 

[firestart3r]

I'm a bit lost in all those responses...

What's the FR when you unbox the product and plug the USB-C in your phone "as-is" ? (without using the Moondrop app)

Is it the same as the "passive" because the DAC doesn't EQ anything by default ?

Thanks !

 

[Jimbob54]

I'm a bit lost in all those responses...

What's the FR when you unbox the product and plug the USB-C in your phone "as-is" ? (without using the Moondrop app)

Is it the same as the "passive" because the DAC doesn't EQ anything by default ?

Thanks !

Yes

 

[firestart3r]

Yes

Thanks Jimbo. I'm still wondering... how do you know ?

I see that Phenoez8 wrote:

Another surprise is that out of the box, a flat tuning is loaded on the DAC, NOT the Standard Tuning they advertise on the back of the box.

But when I look at the presets, I don't see the "Flat" one:

Help !

 

[staticV3]

I see that Phenoez8 wrote:
But when I look at the presets, I don't see the "Flat" one:

Flat = no EQ. That's why it's not in the graph which shows the EQ profiles.

 

[firestart3r]

Flat = no EQ. That's why it's not in the graph which shows the EQ profiles.

That makes sense thank you!

So basically: flat EQ + passive response = passive response

 

[zachary80]

Since you have both, can you give a more in-depth comparison for the Zero Red? I like how they sound but the fit is a bit annoying.

 

[firestart3r]

Since you have both, can you give a more in-depth comparison for the Zero Red? I like how they sound but the fit is a bit annoying.

I think you should try it yourself if you have questions on the fit?

If you want to know how it sounds, you can try to EQ your Zero Red to sound like the May (passive) using Squiglink.

 

[Blorg]

What fascinates me is how come it is specific to boutique IEMs? We don't see this style associated with other product categories but we do with this one. How did that happen? It's just interesting.

Moondrop CEO Herbert Zheng is just really into anime, this I think is where this all started
Tanchjim I believe are good friends with Moondrop
Truthear was started by a Moondrop engineer

Some of the other brands possibly are on it because it has been so successful with Moondrop, but I think that's where it really started with IEMs specifically, Moondrop, and their CEO, and two of the other brands that are best known for doing it are also close to Moondrop.

This is the Moondrop CEO's office:

He goes over this here, he says he is trying to appeal to otakus. It's an interesting video, they give a view of the whole office/factory, testing, building, their development process does seem very measurement driven. It's all actually very small scale, or at least was then, I think Moondrop has expanded quite significantly in the last few years. Leiyin Audio (the channel this is on) is Moondrop's distributor and the parent company of Shenzhen Audio. But it is worth noting, this was I think originally filmed for the Chinese market and they do explicitly ask him in this, why all the anime stuff, so it's an indication that this is something Moondrop is particularly known for in China, it's not like everyone else does it.

The use of anime in marketing stuff, or as mascots, is certainly higher in general in Asia and Japan specifically. But going all-in as a company identity for global sales, that's Moondrop.

 

[Somafunk]

S’weird how their society accepts sexualised prepubescent looking anime figure/figurines as normal, why don’t they use male icons as anime on their boxes if the gender is not an issue?, personally I find it really fu**ing creepy borderline pedeophilic in nature

 

[mc.god]

S’weird how their society accepts sexualised prepubescent looking anime figure/figurines as normal, why don’t they use male icons as anime on their boxes if the gender is not an issue?

Because males are not KAWAII...

 

[Somafunk]

Because males are not KAWAII...

I have no issues with cute, my hamster was cute......unless the little bitey fu**er was hanging from my finger

 

[Multicore]

Moondrop CEO Herbert Zheng is just really into anime, this I think is where this all started
Tanchjim I believe are good friends with Moondrop
Truthear was started by a Moondrop engineer

Some of the other brands possibly are on it because it has been so successful with Moondrop, but I think that's where it really started with IEMs specifically, Moondrop, and their CEO, and two of the other brands that are best known for doing it are also close to Moondrop.

This is the Moondrop CEO's office:

View attachment 360624

He goes over this here, he says he is trying to appeal to otakus. It's an interesting video, they give a view of the whole office/factory, testing, building, their development process does seem very measurement driven. It's all actually very small scale, or at least was then, I think Moondrop has expanded quite significantly in the last few years. Leiyin Audio (the channel this is on) is Moondrop's distributor and the parent company of Shenzhen Audio. But it is worth noting, this was I think originally filmed for the Chinese market and they do explicitly ask him in this, why all the anime stuff, so it's an indication that this is something Moondrop is particularly known for in China, it's not like everyone else does it.

The use of anime in marketing stuff, or as mascots, is certainly higher in general in Asia and Japan specifically. But going all-in as a company identity for global sales, that's Moondrop.

View attachment 360625

Wow! Thanks @Blorg It's a real privilege to enjoy such well researched and sourced educational material. ASR FTW!

 

[Multicore]

I have no issues with cute, my hamster was cute......unless the little bitey fucker was hanging from my finger

But with cute sound effects I'd laugh at a tiktok of him doing that to you :P

 

[IAtaman]

I got these IEMs during the so called spring sale. Judging from the graphs (which I did only after I bought them) I thought they would be a bit too bright for me but I'd be happy with the bass / sub-bass. They are not bright and they are lacking in bass despite a good seal - no idea what is going on. I actually like them and would like to be able to give them a bit of a bass boost with the DSP cable but I do not own any Android devices so there is that problem

S’weird how their society accepts sexualised prepubescent looking anime figure/figurines as normal, why don’t they use male icons as anime on their boxes if the gender is not an issue?, personally I find it really fucking creepy borderline pedeophilic in nature

Are they really sexualised in Eastern cultures?