Hello! This is a review and measurements of the new Moondrop May headphones. This is my personal pair and it costs US $65.
I have been browsing ASR for a while now, but I have never posted anything here. I decided to write my very first review on this budget friendly USB-C DAC and headphone combo, as I am intrigued by the new wave of these DSP enabled headphones. This review will cover both the electrical performance of the DAC and the acoustic performance of the headphones driven passively.
Packaging and Physical Characteristics
I have to say I especially liked the box art on this product. Just look at the details here.
The suit of clubs motif is because this suit is called Meihua(梅花) in Chinese, which directly translates to plum blossom. The name of the product, May(梅), translates to plum.
Here is the information on the back of the box.
Moondrop May headphones come with a USB-C DAC cable with a mic, inline controls, and interactive DSP, which you can control with an Android APP. The headphones themselves uses a hybrid driver design consisting of a 10mm dynamic woofer and a 6mm planner magnetic driver. Even with two drivers, the size of the headphone is nice and small, and I find it to be very comfortable to wear. Here is a size comparison with the Truthear Zero headphones, which also uses a two-driver design. I find the Moondrop to be quite a bit more comfortable than the Truthear.
DAC Performance
I measured this USB-C dongle DAC. I believe this is the same DAC on the Moondrop Free DSP IEM cable.
Let’s start with the AP dashboard
Performance is quite good. Max voltage output at the headphone terminals is about 1Vrms, which is lower than the thumb drive style DACs on the market today but is comparable to other dongle style DACs.
Let’s also check the dynamic range:
Excellent performance.
Jitter performance is good for its class but not state of the art.
Since the headphones have an impedance of 33Ω, that’s what I tested the distortion with. The max output power is on par with products like the Apple Dongle. THD+N ratio is very low.
Linearity on the DAC is not perfect. Personally, I’m not sure what would cause a problem like this. Please share your insight on the potential causes for this problem.
Multi-tone performance is decent, but again not state of the arts.
Let’s check the frequency response and different tuning options that comes with the May. To change the tuning on the amp, you MUST have an android device and download the Moondrop app, which can be an inconvenience. 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. If you haven’t checked the tuning on your May yet, I strongly recommend you do so.
Setting the DSP to flat the DAC doesn’t have any issues. Let's check all the turning presets in the APP for May.
As we can see, all the tuning presets are relatively conservative with the EQ, suggesting that Moondrop is starting with a solid acoustic setup and only using the EQ to fine tune the response.
Acoustics
Acoustic measurements are made with the IEC 60318-4(711) ear simulator and the medium sized ear tip that is included in the box.
Channel matching between the left and right headphones is very good.
The above measurement is imported into REW for easy comparison with target. When driven passively, the agreement to the Amir’s target is very good. They are basically within 2dB from each other until the dip at 6kHz.
Distortion performance is very good.
I also measured the acoustic response with the standard tuning applied to the DAC, and here are the results
Now the agreement with the target is even better, these two curves are within 3dB from each other until 12kHz. That is pretty well tuned.
Finally, here is the impedance measurement of the headphones.
Conclusions
For $65, you are getting a package with good atheistic, comfort and impressive performance. The interactive EQ adds an extra layer of fun to the product, although the APP can be improved, and Moondrop should load the standard tuning at the factory to match the box advertisement. The DSP cable and the headphones are good enough to be standalone products, and Moondrop combined them in a way to amplify their individual strengths. I can recommend this product, and I am looking forward to seeing what Moondrop can come up with in the premium segment with this new form factor.
I have been browsing ASR for a while now, but I have never posted anything here. I decided to write my very first review on this budget friendly USB-C DAC and headphone combo, as I am intrigued by the new wave of these DSP enabled headphones. This review will cover both the electrical performance of the DAC and the acoustic performance of the headphones driven passively.
Packaging and Physical Characteristics
I have to say I especially liked the box art on this product. Just look at the details here.
The suit of clubs motif is because this suit is called Meihua(梅花) in Chinese, which directly translates to plum blossom. The name of the product, May(梅), translates to plum.
Here is the information on the back of the box.
Moondrop May headphones come with a USB-C DAC cable with a mic, inline controls, and interactive DSP, which you can control with an Android APP. The headphones themselves uses a hybrid driver design consisting of a 10mm dynamic woofer and a 6mm planner magnetic driver. Even with two drivers, the size of the headphone is nice and small, and I find it to be very comfortable to wear. Here is a size comparison with the Truthear Zero headphones, which also uses a two-driver design. I find the Moondrop to be quite a bit more comfortable than the Truthear.
DAC Performance
I measured this USB-C dongle DAC. I believe this is the same DAC on the Moondrop Free DSP IEM cable.
Let’s start with the AP dashboard
Performance is quite good. Max voltage output at the headphone terminals is about 1Vrms, which is lower than the thumb drive style DACs on the market today but is comparable to other dongle style DACs.
Let’s also check the dynamic range:
Excellent performance.
Jitter performance is good for its class but not state of the art.
Since the headphones have an impedance of 33Ω, that’s what I tested the distortion with. The max output power is on par with products like the Apple Dongle. THD+N ratio is very low.
Linearity on the DAC is not perfect. Personally, I’m not sure what would cause a problem like this. Please share your insight on the potential causes for this problem.
Multi-tone performance is decent, but again not state of the arts.
Let’s check the frequency response and different tuning options that comes with the May. To change the tuning on the amp, you MUST have an android device and download the Moondrop app, which can be an inconvenience. 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. If you haven’t checked the tuning on your May yet, I strongly recommend you do so.
Setting the DSP to flat the DAC doesn’t have any issues. Let's check all the turning presets in the APP for May.
As we can see, all the tuning presets are relatively conservative with the EQ, suggesting that Moondrop is starting with a solid acoustic setup and only using the EQ to fine tune the response.
Acoustics
Acoustic measurements are made with the IEC 60318-4(711) ear simulator and the medium sized ear tip that is included in the box.
Channel matching between the left and right headphones is very good.
The above measurement is imported into REW for easy comparison with target. When driven passively, the agreement to the Amir’s target is very good. They are basically within 2dB from each other until the dip at 6kHz.
Distortion performance is very good.
I also measured the acoustic response with the standard tuning applied to the DAC, and here are the results
Now the agreement with the target is even better, these two curves are within 3dB from each other until 12kHz. That is pretty well tuned.
Finally, here is the impedance measurement of the headphones.
Conclusions
For $65, you are getting a package with good atheistic, comfort and impressive performance. The interactive EQ adds an extra layer of fun to the product, although the APP can be improved, and Moondrop should load the standard tuning at the factory to match the box advertisement. The DSP cable and the headphones are good enough to be standalone products, and Moondrop combined them in a way to amplify their individual strengths. I can recommend this product, and I am looking forward to seeing what Moondrop can come up with in the premium segment with this new form factor.
