Moondrop Space Travel

I suppose cheap TWS IEMs aren't really the scope of this whole site, so I'll keep it brief:

Set them to "Monitor", put on some foam tips and enjoy!

• Neutral. I'm so sick of all these hyper bass boosted, shrill IEMs. The foam tips lower the remaining upper mid and bass emphasis, while keeping the treble and bass extension. In fact they're still somewhat subbass heavy, but that's just nitpicking.
• Technicalities are there. Are they better than the AirPods Pro 2? Maybe. They do sound like they're lower bitrate with my Android phone and I think they sound clearer with my iPad.
• On iOS they sound clearer than the AirPods. Somehow seem to keep composure better in busy passages. The stage is somewhat larger, imaging is quite good. They're not the fastest sounding and they still sound a bit too rounded. The timbre isn't too plasticky, however.
• I think there's just less processing going on. For example the APP2 will monitor the FR inside your ear canal and try to compensate for a not-quite-perfect seal by increasing the bass. Less computer-y. I would not say these are resolving, but possibly more so than the APP2.

The non-sound stuff is not as good:

Comfort is just okay. ANC is quite good, but the transparency mode isn't nearly as good as the APP2. The maximum SPL is limited which sucks for non-brickwalled music. Hiss, not just from the mics in the transparency and ANC modes, but from the limited dynamic range of the chips themselves. But it's not like you'll hear it with music playing.
The controls aren't good and the case... Let's just say it looks cool and they won't come flying out of it.

So yeah, I just obsoleted my AirPods Pro 2 review. And my AirPods Max review, too. Those were great - when I didn't know there was better. But I probably won't sell them. The overall package is more than just the sound quality.

 

I opened this thread thinking it was a spin-off of @Vansen 's Cosmic Brews story... and now I want to buy these... damn the name of this thread cost me $$$

 

FWIW here's what they measure like on my WIP coupler:

(treble dips are artifacts)
The bass peaks at 5Hz before dropping off.

UERM (my CIEM):

(for reference)

Everything is WIP here, including the compensation. It's based on speaker measurements, but with some tweaks. The coupler is somewhat different than what I had shown previously, too.

Anyway, that's pretty much how I hear it. I don't hear the sharp treble dips at all, though and they don't appear on other measurements, so I'm not sure what's going on. The coupler does need quite a bit of work.

So yeah, after all these years I have to admit I was wrong. The UERM does have a bit of an upper mid dip relative to speakers, similar to my modded HD800.

I attached a measurement of the Quarks so you can sort of compare my measurements to one on the IEC711.

Basically the Space Travel has got to be the most neutral IEM I've heard. I'm not even sure there's that bass boost I measured. But I do think there's a slight subbass boost, still a bit of an upper mid emphasis and I suppose it's still slightly warm in general, even in monitor mode. But it's very smooth sounding to me.

I also compared the ANC to my other IEMs, earplugs, etc by playing music through my speakers. The Q Jays came out on top with more isolation than the concert earplugs (but of course not very neutral). Deep insertion, super solid construction and foam tips.
The Space Travel ANC was sort of in between the AirPods Pro 1 and Pro 2. Transparency mode wasn't as bad as I thought, too. But the fit is so important for proper ANC and because of its shape it's harder to get right, I find.
Still, ANC isn't magic and there are many IEMs that isolate more on their own, at least in that test.


In the end it was just a matter of time. Bluetooth IEMs have all the possibilities with built in EQ, it's just a matter of building a good base IEM and then getting the target right. And I do think Moondrop mostly got the target right, although I couldn't really stand the reference tuning. Monitor all the way for me.