Pros — Great build; perfect timbre; cohesive sound.

Cons — Hard to drive; heavy earpieces.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Moondrop Crescent is a sturdily built, (Harman Target) neutral tuned single dynamic-driver earphone with a warm, full, homogeneous, organic sound that rivals its Kanas Pro sibling at 1/6 of the price. You find more photos of the Moondrop Crescent HERE.

INTRODUCTION

I took a lot of flak by fanboys recently for my review of the Moondrop Kanas Pro [HERE]…”fanboys” means people who already owned the product. My main criticism was an unbalanced tonality from a misfit between an overly boosted bass and a thin midrange…which does not contradict the review of our own Biodegraded [HERE].

But isn’t the basic idea of a review to critically assess the pros and cons of a product rather than feeding a confirmation bias?

Doesn’t the attentive reader benefit from taking in as many informed opinions as possible? “Sunshine reviews” consisting merely of descriptions laced with interchangeable commonplaces and buying recommendations may help the manufacturer/distributor/seller (and the reviewers by keeping their gravy trains going) but they are not informative and therefore useless for the critical reader/potential buyer.

Let’s see what we can do with the Moondrop Crescent, another earphone from Chengdu, Sichuan, China.

SPECIFICATIONS

Model Number: Moondrop Crescent
Material: Brass
Driver: dynamic
Sensitivty: 98 dB
Impedance: 32 ohm
Frequency Response: 16-30000 Hz
Cable Length: 1.2m
Plug Type: straight
Color: Gold
Tested at: $29.99
Product Link: Miss Audio Store

PHYSICAL THINGS

Included are the earphone with the attached cable, felt storage bag, shirt clip, three pairs of silicone eartips, and the usual paperwork. Build quality is stellar. The rounded piston-shaped brassy metal earpieces are heavy, the cable is soft, rubbery, and a bit springy.

Fit and comfort are what you expect from this shape (with a bit of weight added). Isolation depends on the tips used, the largest included ones worked well for me. Just like the Kanas Pro, the Crescents are hard to drive. They work with a phone but better with my Audioquest DragonFly amp/dac.

TONALITY AND TECHNICALITIES

JK’s tonal preference and testing practice

A word on the Harman Kardon neutral curve: I don’t consider it as neutral or even optimal. It is the idea of a single person, Sean Olive, it changes from time to time and is therefore not universally valid. But the curve is a useful reference marker.

The Crescents are warm and rich sounding earphones coming from their low end: the lower bass is slightly boosted (could be a bit less for my taste). Extension in the sub-bass is good but the low end could be more controlled and textured.

OK, I have to remind myself, this is a $30 earphone. The whole midrange could be a bit thicker but remains warm (and not neutral as in the Kanas Pro). Male and female voices sound amazingly relaxed and natural but are also a bit back. The upper midrange remains calm, almost smooth, there is no annoying Chifi peak in the 2-4 kHz region.

Extension towards the top end is good and without unwanted surprises, but the treble could resolve better (cymbals tend to smear). The timbre is spot on – exquisite – and that’s where the value is in the Crescents imo. Soundstage is of standard width (bassy tracks shrink it) but is reasonably deep and high in my perception.

The other technicalities such as detail resolution are not of premium quality but quite acceptable. Considering the Crescents’ low price I may borrow the hollow standard phrase that they provide a refined and mature, non-fatiguing listen (as opposed to sounding tinny or plastic-like with weird treble peaks, not unheard of in this price category).

In comparison, the Senfer DT6 [review] have a less natural timbre but a more forward midrange and they are easier to drive. The Kanas Pro [review 1 | review 2] have a better resolution than the Crescents but they sound less homogeneous.

Both earphones aim for the Harman target in their frequency responses. The Crescents are darker than the Kanas Pro, their bass fits better in the mix making for a more balanced tonality. The identical sounding Paiaudio DR2 [review] / Hill Audio Altair•RA [review] are much bassier resulting in a more pronounced V-shape.

VALUE

Yes! There are certainly $$$ earphones out there that don’t have the Crescents’ tonal accuracy.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

The Moondrop Crescent could be a poor man’s Campfire in terms of haptic and build (I have never listened to a Campfire). To me they sound like a premium earphone in need of a bit (but not much) of refinement.

The Crescents are yet another example of a price/quality mismatch (relative to the diminished return earphones). I prefer them over the $180 Moondrop Kanas Pro, not because they are “better” but because they are more homogenous and more comfortable. And they cost much less. The Crescents are good, enjoyable earphones independent of price.

P.S. I am surprised that no hype has developed around the Moondrop Crescent but on the 6 times as expensive Kanas Pro. There are hardly any reviews of the Crescents to be found — they are obviously not pushed by the distributors. Could it be that there is more money in the higher-priced earphones?

Keep on listening!

Our rating scheme

DISCLAIMER

This pair of the Moondrop Crescent was provided by Miss Audio Store for my critical analysis. I thank them very much for that.

About our measurements

The post Moondrop Crescent Review – Brassed Off! appeared first on Music For The Masses.

CATCHING THE HYPE TRAIN

This $5-8 cheapo has caught the attentention of the earphone wizards after creating a hype earlier in 2019. Crinacle rates them highly: “Clean notes, proper sub-bass extension and a tonal balance beyond expectations.” Shotgunshane also added them to his list of favourites: “Yup, Seven dollars and 95 cents. Dynamic driver. Universal. Exaggerated Harman type frequency response with large sub bass boost, very clear upper mids and slightly easier going treble. Less warmth than [Sony] MH1/C. Once again Sony makes a budget gem and then screws us over with a J cable.​” Antdroid also appreciates the Sonys: “The Sony freebie is exceptionally good for $6-8. It’s included free with their Bluetooth adapters, and a similar model, the MH750, is included with their cell phones. It’s a warm, bassy yet quite coherent in-ear that is quite a bit bassier and warmer than the Harman Target but has a similar upper-midrange and treble curve. It’s a steal for $6 on eBay.” Another qualified earphone guy, B9Scrambler, assigned the Sonys a small soundstage typical for the price range [original statement]. Co-blogger Biodegraded commented the bass was a bit strong for him (I have not heard him ever not say that). The question is: who is right and is the hype justified? The short answer: they are all right, each for their own reasons, and the hype (if there ever was one) is somewhat justified considering the low price and the small risk to lose money on something one doesn’t enjoy.

NOTHING SPECIAL IN MY EARS?

This is the MH755: single dynamic driver, small earpieces, cable too short (needs extension or recabling), haptic is nothing special. Got my pair from Biodegraded who had purchased them on ebay for $7 AUS.

I put these Sonys first into my ears after a week with the $600 Sennheiser IE 500 PRO [review], which generated a jaw-dropping experience (I had expected the Sonys being slaughtered but the opposite was the case): outstanding tonal balance, clean, natural reproduction. Technicalities are also good: sufficiently wide soundstage with ok depth, good resolution, separation, imaging, layering. No, the Sonys are not better than the Senns, but they excel in the upper midrange: the upper winds and strings of a symphony orchestra are nicely reproduced whereas they are lacking in the better resolving, smoother Senns. Note: the Sony MH755 need quite a bit of juice…while it appears to be preposterous purchasing a dongle amp/dac for a $8 earphone, they work “louder” with my audioquest dragonfly.

To me, the Sony MH755 are like the Toronto Raptors basketball team: every element is good, not much is individually brilliant but everything working together wins matches or even the championship: HOMOGENEITY (=balance) is the Sony’s strength…some may disagree because of the lifted low end. These are simply a delight to listen to for my ears and the main reason may be the tastefully executed upper midrange. Personally, I favour the Sony MH755 over most of my recently reviewed (and much much more expensive) iems, which once again shows that listening pleasure/quality and asking price are frequently not correlated (hence the expensive stuff often has to compensate with window dressing). And even if the MH755 were a bucket of crap in the opinion of others, they still did their job for me by creating pleasure. Isn’t that what we want? MORE JOY OF UNBOXING? Not needed at this price (it comes in a plain baggie).

So why are all earphone guys mentioned above right imo? It depends where you are coming from. If you listen to classical music, the Sonys will excel by their tonal accuracy (“timbre”), their liveliness, and their homogeneity. If you listen to amplified music, the Sony’s benefits don’t play such a big role. As so often, it is in the eyes of the beerholder. The discussion also shows how much timbre can contribute to the listener’s satisfaction…but it is not mentioned at all in many reviews. Many (expensive) balanced armature earphones may not satisfy the listener in terms of timbre or harmonic distortion. As to soundstage: small or not? I find the soundstage being oval, quite wide rather than deep, with an ok height, but it appears to become smaller with decreasing volume. Add some juice and the soundstage is ok (for my ears).

SMOOTH JOURNEY IN THE END

Does the Chifi holy grail we all have been looking for come from Japan in the end? This is up to you to answer. I usually don’t give buying advice: “If you are in the market for a $xxx earphone, this is a no brainer because it punches above its weight…pull the trigger now” or similar sales blabla. But at $5-8 your biggest risk is getting a fake. Check the ratings of the ebay sellers.

Keep on listening!

You find an INDEX of all our earphone reviews HERE.

The Sony MH755: There is no reason to be euphoric about them but they certainly are a victory for the dollar-store audiophiles.

P.S. I am lazy and “recabled” by adding a female-to-male audio cable for $2.99. Works.

The post Sony MH755 Review – Testing Another Hype appeared first on Music For The Masses.

The post Photographed: The Moondrop Crescent appeared first on Music For The Masses.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Tinaudio T2 is a very popular rugged dual dynamic-driver earphone with a neutral tuning that is unparalleled in its price category. Vocals are particularly well reproduced.

INTRODUCTION

The post Tinaudio T2 Review – Unparalleled In Its Class appeared first on Music For The Masses.