Moondrop teases Hi-Fi smartphone

[renaudrenaud]

On the local Chinese market it is 340€ / 360$ from JD, sort of Chinese Amazon.

 

[Ron Texas]

I would be wary of using a Chinese phone for privacy reasons. Chinese telecommunications gear has been banned in the US for that reason.

 

[renaudrenaud]

I would be wary of using a Chinese phone for privacy reasons. Chinese telecommunications gear has been banned in the US for that reason.

When you are in China, there is not a lot of alternative. Except using a Linux smartphone maybe.

From my part I use Brave Browser with the illusion it's the best on the privacy side and build a VPN using Tailscale.

 

[theDutchmanJames]

I think it looks pretty decent! From a DAP perspective it's not that pricey and you get the added benefit of being able to call, text and other smart features.

 

[johny_2000]

It's pretty similar to the camera bar on the Google Pixel 8 and Moondrop need the extra thickness to house the 4.4mm socket.

What are you planning to photograph with the DAP? IMO it's better to make them without any unnecessary components to minimize costs and possible problems in the future. Or spend that money on improving audio and software quality.

 

[lordhumungous]

They can't even make an app properly, not sure how they've made a phone. Not sure of the ODM either. Wouldn't trust any sensitive data to a device from the likes of moondrop

I love Moondrop audio products but I have to agree with you here.

 

[Berwhale]

What are you planning to photograph with the DAP? IMO it's better to make them without any unnecessary components to minimize costs and possible problems in the future. Or spend that money on improving audio and software quality.

MIAD is a phone, not a DAP. The majority of people will consider that a camera is an essential (or at least ubiquitous) part of a phone. If you don't want the phone bits, then buy a DAP.

 

[lewdish]

What's that strange camera bump on its back? I've never seen something strange like that. I wonder how someone is supposed to make a protective case for it.

THeres tons of phones nowadays that have humps, most do nowadays lol Wouldnt be too hard for a manufactuer to mold a case around it.

 

[Cammy]

 

[lewdish]

I'm kinda considering it because i've been using a phone w/o a headphone jack for years now and its been terrible. I dont really use any of my TWS products ever, and ive lost or broken so many dongles im now hundreds of dollars deep into it now. Frankly just want a phone w/ a headphone jack at all costs now.

That being said software will def be their biggest push back, i've used Chinese phones and tablets for years now from Xiaomi, Oppo, and funded the original One Plus 1 and my family used every One Plus model up until the 7T Pro (also imported). That being said of all those the Xiaomi (Aliexpress) was the only one that did ship w/ Sus-ware out of the box that was picked up by antivirus apps from and I had to install the global ROM from more reliable sources online.

So I'm dubious but still willing to take some risk. I am really enticed by the audio capabilities of the phone. They do list everything now on their site.
MOONDROP MIAD01 5G Mobile Smartphone HiFi Audio Device | MOONDROP Official Website

Balanced CL DAC, you can probably figure out which one it is based on their existing dongle DAC lineup , they're a capable chip and plenty affordable. The rest of the audio specs are decent, i'd imagine it will measure fairly decent they already provide some indication that they measured it on an Audio Precision

My Favorite Feature - The Pulyarbnnntelpc Shell

Honestly compared to other DAPs at this price I think theres actually good value here, High refresh OLED panel, PWM dimming, and oddly enough they're transparent about their camera driver development capabilities. (Its not good, but it works XD)

The part i'm still most doubtful about, they do claim no data mining, spyware, or advertisement to protect user experience.

@ Just under $400 and $350 in some markets I don't think its too bad of a deal tbh esp when you compare to a lot of Hifi DAPs on the market, this does have more functionality and performance than most of them, power output we'll still need to see, Id imagine theyre comparable to Moondrops balanced dongles which is honestly pretty good. Maybe L7Audio will get his hands on one. He hasn't really put any reviews out in a while though. Its in my top 3 contenders for replacing my One Plus behind the next Sony Xperia Flagship & the ROG Phone 8 Pro, The other 2 will have vastly superior everything else in terms of hardware outside of audio, and given the price I don't think its too bad even to just use as a DAP might end up getting 2 phones just to play around w/

 

[Ste_S]

Honestly compared to other DAPs at this price I think theres actually good value here

Yeah. Compared to the Sony DAPs in the same price range, this is a bargain. But then Sony's actual Xperia phones are a bargain in comparison to their DAPs.

 

[Cammy]

I'm kinda considering it because i've been using a phone w/o a headphone jack for years now and its been terrible. I dont really use any of my TWS products ever, and ive lost or broken so many dongles im now hundreds of dollars deep into it now. Frankly just want a phone w/ a headphone jack at all costs now.

That being said software will def be their biggest push back, i've used Chinese phones and tablets for years now from Xiaomi, Oppo, and funded the original One Plus 1 and my family used every One Plus model up until the 7T Pro (also imported). That being said of all those the Xiaomi (Aliexpress) was the only one that did ship w/ Sus-ware out of the box that was picked up by antivirus apps from and I had to install the global ROM from more reliable sources online.

So I'm dubious but still willing to take some risk. I am really enticed by the audio capabilities of the phone. They do list everything now on their site.
MOONDROP MIAD01 5G Mobile Smartphone HiFi Audio Device | MOONDROP Official Website

Balanced CL DAC, you can probably figure out which one it is based on their existing dongle DAC lineup , they're a capable chip and plenty affordable. The rest of the audio specs are decent, i'd imagine it will measure fairly decent they already provide some indication that they measured it on an Audio Precision
View attachment 366140 View attachment 366141

My Favorite Feature - The Pulyarbnnntelpc Shell

View attachment 366139

Honestly compared to other DAPs at this price I think theres actually good value here, High refresh OLED panel, PWM dimming, and oddly enough they're transparent about their camera driver development capabilities. (Its not good, but it works XD)

View attachment 366144

The part i'm still most doubtful about, they do claim no data mining, spyware, or advertisement to protect user experience.

View attachment 366145

@ Just under $400 and $350 in some markets I don't think its too bad of a deal tbh esp when you compare to a lot of Hifi DAPs on the market, this does have more functionality and performance than most of them, power output we'll still need to see, Id imagine theyre comparable to Moondrops balanced dongles which is honestly pretty good. Maybe L7Audio will get his hands on one. He hasn't really put any reviews out in a while though. Its in my top 3 contenders for replacing my One Plus behind the next Sony Xperia Flagship & the ROG Phone 8 Pro, The other 2 will have vastly superior everything else in terms of hardware outside of audio, and given the price I don't think its too bad even to just use as a DAP might end up getting 2 phones just to play around w/

Bragging about no data mining and advertising makes you even more suspicious

 

[lewdish]

Yeah. Compared to the Sony DAPs in the same price range, this is a bargain. But then Sony's actual Xperia phones are a bargain in comparison to their DAPs.

Well.... tbh Sony really needs to do work on their audio side of things tbh or at least reach out to the walkman department on how to implement audio on their phones. If you look at Amir's review on the Xperia 5Mk4, which is a mid tier model the DAC side of things is passable but the power output is like next to nothing. I'm hoping the XPERIA PRO products and 1Mk_ have better power output tbh. Whats also enticing about the ROG phones is that you get a 2nd USB-C port, in a world where IO is increasingly missing its refreshing to see a device that actually has more IO.

Bragging about no data mining and advertising makes you even more suspicious

That and they cant even make a ROM w/ Google Play services Pre-installed...

 

[johny_2000]

Wouldn't the iPad satisfy all these needs?
Not an Apple fan, but much more stable software and hardware anyway.

 

[Katzz]

I would probably wait a few months to see what problems start to appear between customers of this phone and how Moondroop handle those problems.

 

[lewdish]

Wouldn't the iPad satisfy all these needs?
Not an Apple fan, but much more stable software and hardware anyway.

no because it has no headphone out, limited volume control and doesnt make calls, the point of a phone is to do multiple things really well in your pocket

 

[Ste_S]

no because it has no headphone out, limited volume control and doesnt make calls, the point of a phone is to do multiple things really well in your pocket

No system wide PEQ on iOS either.

 

[Ste_S]

Well.... tbh Sony really needs to do work on their audio side of things tbh or at least reach out to the walkman department on how to implement audio on their phones. If you look at Amir's review on the Xperia 5Mk4, which is a mid tier model the DAC side of things is passable but the power output is like next to nothing. I'm hoping the XPERIA PRO products and 1Mk_ have better power output tbh. Whats also enticing about the ROG phones is that you get a 2nd USB-C port, in a world where IO is increasingly missing its refreshing to see a device that actually has more IO.


That and they cant even make a ROM w/ Google Play services Pre-installed...

It would be so on brand for Sony if they purposely hobbled the headphone amp on Xperia phones so they didn’t take market share from their Walkman DAPs.

 

[swa2023]

It looks interesting in my measurement

 

[Crispy Bearcon]

It looks really interesting and i would like to know how much mW it could output.

Sadly the SoC is pretty old. its a rebrand of the D1080 but its waaaay faster than the Exynos in my Fiio M11. Do you guys think it would be worth to "upgrade"?