Moondrop Alice TWS Review (1) – Level Up
In this Article
PRESS START
Welcome the $189 Moondrop Alice with pixelated fonts I get an eerie sense of being watched by an AI fembot out to seduce and destroy. She does have a cheerful peppy voice and ready to send high quality sounds to your ears. True Wireless Stereo (TWS) has been making progress but these feel next level. In case you are new to Moondrop, they continue to add to the growing list of well received products of the likes of Kato, Aria, Starlight, Kanas Pro, Blessing 2, and such.
When the Moondrop Alice were offered up all I knew was that they were a TWS wireless set with price tag set at $189. When I first popped them into my ears I was instantly awarded with Moondrop’s VDSF (Virtual Difuse Sound Field) sound and it was recognizably clean, clear and spacious sounding. It was not until more details came out that it became clear, these were Moondrop Katos unleashed.
Disclaimer: Set sent free to me from Shenzhenaudio, much appreciated but still free from mind control for now…. muhahaha!
SOUND
Test with LG G8 Hiby Player and IPhone 8
I am not kidding when I say the Moodrop Alice is a wireless Kato (sound only). The bass has the typical Moondrop softness that is accentuated by the bluetooth amplifier blunting the bottom end a bit and doesn’t give it full breathing room. That is something I feel happens on every bluetooth set I have tried most likely a result to conserve battery power.
As usual though you would not find any bass bleed into the mids. The midrange is pleasantly enhanced to the typical Harman curve that rides the fine edge of not too forward and not too recessed sounding. What lifts these above is their ability to give plenty of spaciousness to the instrumentation and vocals that give a better sense of realism.
The treble has nice lift for presence but not overly bright that they feel goosed in the upper treble avoiding unnatural airiness. Cymbals sound natural and ring true with great clean precision while flutes and strings have good loft.
TECHNICALITIES
The Moondrop Alice tackles instrument separation wonderfully and provides excellent resolution. They sound wider than deep, but still provide great depth. Pause on that for minute, because there is more to discuss about this. Volume is a tad limited, but I still found them faithfully loud enough to enjoy and probably take some years off my hearing. Isolation is below average, so combined with the lower than average sound output they loose a half a heart deduction.
VDSF+
Un-pause, so the Moondrop Alice have this feature called VDSF+ which didn’t seem like active noise control otherwise they would have said so. Upon listening to enabled I sensed a slight bass change and staging change. There was also a bit of treble coloration. After looking more into it, Moondrop added crossfeed or the act of inducing crosstalk (a little bit of the left signal goes to the right, and right goes to the left, delay it, level it down, some filtering-there are many ways to do it).
The concept for those that do not know is that in the non-headphone world our two ears create a bit of a timing difference heard from the same sound and filtered and bit due to blocking of our head. With headphones, this delayed mixing of sound signal is removed completely and you get that “in your head” experience.
The goal of crossfeed or VDSF+ in this case is to make it sound more “normal” and move the stage away from the imaginary line between your ears to further in front of your face. So it is a neat feature at the expense of a little comb filtering that mucks with the treble a bit. I think it is so subtle that I prefer it with the VDSF+ on, a slight bass boost and added staging realism.
COMPARISONS
Sony WF-1000XM3 ($60-80 used market/ $300 when new)
Sony makes great wireless products and can be in the same ballpark in terms of pricing compared to the Moondrop Alice. The WF-1000XM3 can be found for insanely low used pricing, but the XM4 version is closer in price currently. I bought the Sony WF-1000XM3 for 3 reasons, first was sound signature and technical abilities (app), second ANC, and third the battery can be replaced if you are handy.
The Sony app gives you control over EQ, active noise cancellation settings and transparent mode. This is why you buy the Sony. The Moondrop Alice on the other hand provides supreme sound quality better treble resolution and tonality, the Sony WF-1000XM3 have a V shaped signature making the treble sound enhanced only at the top end and do not bring out the micro nuances of say the triangle strikes in Pink Panther.
The Sony have a thicker midbass enhancement, while the Moondrop Alice is bit thinner here with more snap. The Moondrop Alice sound lighter and 3 dimensional with better layering, the Sony sound a little flat. Rock and Pop are favored on the Sony, while the Alice lean classical and jazz centric, however this does not mean you cannot use them for either or.
Drop Axel Grell ($150-200 Indirect comparison)
I have not had a chance to catch back up with Loomis who last reviewed the Drop Axel Grell, so I will have to refer back to my memory to compare against the Moondrop Alice. The Drop Axel Grell had a different bass profile centered on midbass, so given that the Sony sounds fuller than the Moondrop Alice, the Grell will further increase that gap with less controlled sub-bass region. The Alice will sound neutral in comparison.
The upper mids, treble follow the Harman curve similar to the Moondrop Alice, whereas the Sony has a warmer and treble knob boosted treble. The Grell seems to have a flat sounding midrange and the Alice will sound more dimensional. While the Grell’s treble was their best feature, I think the Alice is still hard to topple here.
One final nail in the coffin is the Moondrop Alice clearly have better battery management when sitting unused. They retain a charge just as well as my Sonys. The Grell seem to discharge and never enter a deep sleep mode like the others. I wonder if this is something that can be fixed with a firmware update.
DESIGN FEATURES
So why are the Moondrop Alice a wireless Kato? They use the same third generation U.L.T DLC (ultralight, diamond like coated) driver. Moondrop designed them around sound first, form second so the electronics in the shells were placed in position as to not interfere with their sound goals. The flat faceplates serve as an easy to use control surface and taking calls on them was simple and sounded good.
They paired quickly and easily with both my IPhone and Android and stay paired with both at the same time. This is handy because sometimes I listen to music on one phone, but get work calls on the other. No need to pull them out, I just take the call. The carrying case entertained my child with it’s magnetic flip top and additional cardboard protective cover. The Cardboard cover however makes it bulkier, I probably would skip it.
The battery life is great they claim about 8 hours + 40 more due the charge the case holds, taking 1.5 hours to fully charge the earphones. I have no reason to doubt this, and they stay charged unlike the Drop Axel Grell that annoying discharge just sitting there. It has 4 lights on the case to indicate charge level of the case taking 3 hours to charge up. To top it off, use the included USB-C cable (although no charger included) and it also offers wireless charging too when you place it standing in an upright position, not laying down.
The box was hard to slide the sleeve off but inside they give you a collectible anime artwork, the earphones, the case, the case cover and the S/M/L spring tips as well as the sticky feeling S/M/L tips. The Moondrop Alice are rather lightweight and fit ok, but they rely solely on the eartips to stay in place. The inclusion of the sticky feeling eartips are helpful in this regard. The were comfortable enough.
They lack sensors to turn them off if you take them out of your ears like the Sony WF-1000XM3, so they will keep playing music or just sit there turned on until you put them back in their charging case and close the lid. Controls include the following functions:
- Voice prompt – 3 taps left or right earpiece
- Play/Pause – 1 tap on left or right earpiece
- Previous track – 2 taps left earpiece
- Next track – 2 taps right earpiece
- Answer or hangup call – 1 tap left or right
- Refuse call – long press left or right
- Toggle VSDF+ on/off – long press right or left
BONUS FEATURES
To unlock bonus features for the Moondrop Alice, the Moondrop Link app is essential. They have 10 different sound EQ presets that seem to be planned, I was unable to see them during testing. There is also a 10 band parametric EQ, but lots of apps already include an EQ of sorts.
Firmware updates are also done through this app. The firmware version I tested them with was 0.1.3, upon connecting with the app there was a version 0.1.9 that claimed upgraded sound, a version 1.2.0 that says reduced noise, but neither would update. Hopefully this gets sorted out, if something changes I will update my review to reflect.
I did take some calls through them and while I could hear my calls just fine, the microphone didn’t seem to make it easy for the person on the other end. I love that they can pair to 2 devices at once. I am a weirdo that typically hauls around a work phone and a secondary “music” phone. So while listening on the music phone, if a call comes into my work phone it pauses the music on the other device and I can take the call.
GAME OVER
I strongly recommend these to anyone that wants top quality sound first, and doesn’t need ANC. Moondrop dropped a boss level TWS into our laps and just upped the bar as usual. The only reason not to get a set is if you want ANC, or if you still want to accessorize with fancy cables, DAC’s and amplifiers then you have the Moondrop Kato instead. Or maybe you do not care for the Harman inspired Moondrop VDSF tuning model and need a bassy set.
Battery life is excellent, wireless charging is nice, they stayed paired without issue but just a reminder that as a headset they are not the best option. The app functionality is a bit freshmen, I would not buy it based on features that rely on the app, and talking into the mic, but if that is a deal breaker I would talk to Moondrop or stay tuned to the forums Head-fi, SBAF, etc for updates as people are eager to relay updates and fixes.
PACKAGE CONTENTS
- Earphones with U.L.T Dynamic driver and Qualcom 5151 Bluetooth 5.2 SoC
- Wireless Charging Case
- A Cardboard Case for your Case
- S/M/L Spring tips
- S/M/L Sticky Softears Brand Silicone tips
- Waifu Artwork Card
- Manual
SPECIFICATIONS Moondrop Alice
- Model: ALICE True Wireless Stereo
- Driver: 10mm U.L.T super-linear dynamic driver
- Diaphragm: 3rd generation DLC composite diaphragm
- Bluetooth version: 5.2
- Bluetooth protocol: A2DP/AVRCP/HFP/HSP
- Codec protocol: AAC/SBC/aptX Adaptive
- Charging plug: Type-C
- lmpedance: 32Ω±15%@1kHz
- Working distance: about 15m (barrier-free open environment)
- Input: 5V-0.5A
- Battery Life: about 8+40hours
DISCLAIMER
Get it here from ShenzenAudio priced at $189 at time of publishing.
Our generic standard disclaimer.
