Moonbuds Bunting

Moonbuds Bunting (stellar mids)

This is the second moonbuds that I bought.
And its a absolute delight to my ears
At 160$ plus shipping I feel it's a steal for the quality sound that these buds produce

Brilliant right out of the box. But after a small amount of burn in the sound opens up even more making imaging top notch
I know you can't compare the imaging of IEMs and earbuds
But I can safely say these easily cross 150$ range when compared to IEMs.

Box and technical specs of the product

Specifications
Driver : 14.8mm,
Impedance: 16 ohm
Wire: Hand braided Silver plated copper yellow and grey( only one choice
Splitter and slider are of top quality
Cable Length: 1.2m
Plug: 3.5mm Gold plated silver Kevlar texture.

Box contents
Earbuds
Lots of foam tips,
Leather cable organizer,
One faux leather durable Carry pouch.
One cotton pouch

Overall premium package and good material used no complains here.

Brief sound subscription
So these have a very unique balanced sound presentation
Balanced (not flat) with mids forward with slight bump in sub bass. Bass is neutral so is treble. But the highs are every well presented providing enough details making the sound fun.

I can say fun balanced presentation.

Song
Little black submarines (acoustic)
Sweet sweet vocals. Forward and smooth. I can easily say male vocals are beautiful.
Brilling box guitars strings So clean I want to listen to them all day long.


Song
Gold on the ceiling by the black keys

I love rock and have to admit these buds are doing rock wonderfully well.
Vocals forward even in huge amount of distortion that is present in this song. Crystal clear distortion from electric guitar and synthesizer. Drum set is very accurate. Despite being balanced sound the sub bass helps in good fun sound production

Song
Mahive from highway

Sub bass is in good quantity
Ar rehman vocals clean and accurate.
Details in the song are crystal clear.
Very melodic sound

Song
Yu hi chala chal from swadesh
Again bass guitar is just brilliant.
Drumset very accurate sound.
Vocals presentation forward and sweet.
Box guitars sound the good kind of sibilant if you know what I mean.
Even the electric guitar the distortion is very clean.

Song
Tu hi re from Bombay
Vocals forward both male and female. Good lush and buttery smooth texture in vocals
It's a slow instrumental song, you can easily make out each note and riff present, imaging is top notch.
Sound stage is this song seems wider then other songs.

Sound stage is not too wide but wider than most mid range IEMs airy and clean. Being and earbuds this category is not comparable to IEMs.

Imaging
As I have said earlier. Imaging in all moonbuds line up is just unquestionably awesome. Very accurate. As I said earlier comparable to many heavy contender in earbuds.

Conclusion.

If you are not willing to experiment on a whole lot of ear buds. But you want to get on earbuds express and are willing to spend under 200$ for a good quality sound
Don't search. This is it. Buy blindly.
Personally I love these and keep them in my daily pouch with willsound mk2.

Maker
https://www.facebook.com/MoonbudsOfficial/

Review by
https://www.facebook.com/Shotmoviemusic/

Review by:Thor
The Company

“Personal made earbuds made by Moon. Each model offers unique and remarkable sound that will suit your taste.”. This are the description that will welcome you as you visit theMoonbuds Facebook page. Moonbuds has been a fast growing DIY buds creator last 2018, his work catches the eye (aesthetically pleasing) and will surely please your ears (at least for every Moonbuds that I’ve tried).

The Moonbuds Bunting

The Moonbuds line up are obviously named from different kind of birds, the bunting is claimed (by Moon Harvester) to be the Nightingale Jr. which simply implies that it should be close to the flagship Nightingale in terms of tonality. For me based on what I’ve heard from the first gen Nightingale, it is indeed close to bunting it’s just that the Nightingale is less bright and more linear in presentation it also packs better details. The shell used is a Yuin shell which is more comfortable than the MX500 shell (for me). The plug, splitter and slider feels elegant and premium as I’ve been using this as my daily driver it doesn’t show any signs of breakage. To wrap it up, the build quality of bunting is top notch and considering the original package of moonbuds, it comes with a wooden box and a leather pouch with lots of earfoams inside.

Technical Specifications:

• 16 Ohms Dynamic Driver
• Imported 7n OCC cable
• Yuin Pk shell

Sound
I love IEMs and earbuds with midcentric to flat sound signature as I really love listening to vocals rather than instruments. My genre ranges from heavy rock, alternative rock, pop rock, acoustic, pop, jazz and folk. Majority of my test tracks are in 16 bit – 44 khz and 24 bit – 48 khz FLAC file and here is the list of my commom test tracks.

1. Reese Lansangan – For the Fickle (background, female vocals and upper mids)
2. Foo Fighters – Bridge Burning (Imaging, Layering, Coherence, Sub bass and Mid bass, Mids, Treble)
3. LANY – Thick And Thin (Mid Bass, Mids)
4. Ed Sheeran – Dive (Mid bass, Lower Mids)
5. Norah Jones – Don’t Know Why (Upper Mids and Instruments)
6. Paramore – Hard Times (Imaging, Layering, Coherence, Sub bass and Mid bass, Mids, Treble)
7. Radiohead – Life in a Glasshouse (Imaging Layering, Bass, Instruments, Lower mids, Treble)
8. Passenger – Coins in a Fountain (Mid bass, Layering, Imaging, Instruments, Lower mids, Treble)
9. Tori Kelly – Hollow (Background, Upper mids)
10. Ariana Grande – Raindrops (Background, Upper mids)

Bass
Sub bass is there with very good quality and texture, the rumbles at the beginning of “Bridge Burning” is deep and enjoyable but the placement and quantity is not bass head level. Mid bass is linear just like the sub bass, it is there when needed, fast and tight but the weight is just enough not upfront and heavy. The decay speed is pretty fast which is very good for any genres, pacey tracks never sounded congested.

Mids

Lower mids sound transparent and may sound a bit thin for those who love lush and thick vocals but it doesn’t sound dry nor hollow. Guitar strumms sound euphoric, upper mids must be the strength of this guy, well layered, nice dynamics and sweet presentation. Hearing Reese Lansangan’s Island (Acoustic version) and For the Fickle with the bunting was the most enjoyable thing I experienced using earbuds. No signs of being sibilant even at higher pitched artists such as Adele, the mids is slightly forward compared to the bass giving the bunting a sweet overall character.

Treble
Treble is also nice here, good extension and sense of being airy. No noticeable harshness and it never sounded aggressive, the treble is pronounced nicely with great resolution (even using FIIO X7i which is warm). It almost share the same placement as the mids, the decay is also quick just like the bass, it never sounded piercing or screechy. Overall I love the treble of the bunting, clear and crisp without being metallic sounding.

Sound Stage and Resolution
The width, height and depth of bunting are equally good, definitely not the widest but it is open and airy enough to give a great sense of layering and imaging, it never sounded congested or boxy at all even with tracks that sounds really narrow with some of my IEMs. The resolution of bunting is top notch, definitely above Penon BS1 and if not better, on par with the Rose Mojito, mids and treble packs a lot of details.

Synergy and Sound Signature

The Moonbuds Bunting’s sound signature ranges from neutral to slightly bright which means it will synergize nicely with warm DAPs. With Fiio X7i, the bass is lifted slightly giving a better punch to it but resulted to a bit sluggish presentation. Mids gained body and lushness without losing its upper mids’ sweet timbre, it sounded smoother but less detailed and transparent. Treble is still crisp and well extended, it sounded a bit smoother but not too much. Pairing the Bunting with my smartphone (Huawei Mate 10), it sounds lean and transparent with less bass quantity and weight while the treble became slightly more forward.

Comparison
Penon BS1 (3.5mm, 100 USD+) and Rose Mojito (200 USD+)
All of this buds are known for having a near neutral sound signature, the BS1 is slightly leaning to warm as it has good sub bass extension, the mojito is the most neutral, and the bunting leaning to bright. All of these three earbuds are pretty easy to drive, in terms of build quality I’d choose the BS1, I love the shell used here as it looks good and very comfortable. Bunting is well built as well with nice looking cable, the mojito may be made out of metal but the connector and the cable itself doesn’t feel reliable. In terms of resolution I’d choose the bunting over the 2, the bunting revealed some details that I never heard before with my other gears. The staging and layering definitely goes to the mojito, wide and accurate it never sounded distant even though it has airy presentation. The fight between the mojito and bunting is really close, the presentation of mids in the bunting is much more sweeter and transparent while the mojito sounds more coherent and linear.

Conclusion

The Moonbuds bunting is definitely a beast within its class, I never heard a buds as sweet and as transparent as the bunting under 200USD, it presents everything in detailed manner. Deep and quick enough bass that packs a lot of texture and details with decent punch. Sweet, transparent and airy mids to give justice with both female and male vocals, string instruments sounds really nice too. Treble is crisp and decays fast to avoid congested feeling with complex tracks. Resolving and above decent coherence, I can’t ask for more, the bunting is well crafted given it’s price tag.

​

With the earbud scene catching up in the east, a lot of independent earbud artists have evolved, most of them hand-making their gems.

Moonbuds are one such buds made by Moon Harvester of Vietnam. The Moonbuds lineup has some interesting earbuds and the Bunting is one earbud which promises TOTL performance. I suspect that they are named after the singing bird, Bunting, similar to how the top offering of Moonbuds is based on the Nightingale.

These earbuds can be exclusively purchased from facebook page of Moonbuds.

https://www.facebook.com/MoonbudsOfficial/

Build, fit and packaging

The earbuds come in a zippered pouch with Vietnam artwork on it – loved it! What more, there was a wooden case with my name etched on it – even better! There is a good amount of colourful foams included in the package – donuts and regular. The foams are of good quality, especially the full foams. You also get a nice, Moon-branded, faux leather cable organizer.



The housing is the comfortable Yuin shell, which fits me perfectly with foams on. Without foams, I don’t get a good seal on them – big ears. The shell material is of good quality and comes etched with Moonbuds logo.



The cable is always unique in the Moonbuds family and the Bunting is no different – a combination of Gold and Silver colored cables – 4-cores in total; 2 to each side. While Moon hasn’t specified the properties of the cable, I suspect they are SPC (Silver Plated Copper). The cable looks premium and has good looking, chrome colored 3.5 mm plug, Y-Splitter and cable slider. The Y-splitter and cable slider are made of metal. While they feel solid, they don’t add too much to the weight of the cable. The cable has no microphonics issue and is quite flaunt-worthy.



The quality of material is top-notch for price paid. With quality material used, the Bunting should easily last the distance.



Foam Matching

Foams are critical to get the right sound out of any earbuds and choice of foam have a greater impact on the sound signature. Foams help with seal and can be used to customize the warmth and bass on offer.

The Buntings are intended to be used with foams and by the admission of its maker, he prefers to use the Crescent with either donut foams or full foams.

Without foams – The earbud is hardly felt in the ears and they are most comfortable, but I don’t get a good seal, so the sound lacks the warmth and the treble is slightly on the higher side.

Full foams – The warmth is perfect and the treble is just right. Foams don’t impact the airiness on these, in fact foams aide to get the perfect tonal balance in these earbuds.

Donut foams – Donut foams have the same warmth as full foams, but the sound is a lot brighter and not my cup of tea.

Thin foams – Sounds like donut foams, minus some warmth.

I feel the Bunting sounds their best with full foams and the rest of the review to follow is compiled with these full foams.



So how does it sound?

Here's the setup for my evaluation - FLACs (16/44.1, 24/48 and 24/96) on my LG G6 with ES9218p DAC SOC or Tidal Hi-Fi played bit perfect through the UAPP player.

I write this in most of my reviews - the key factor that is to be considered while reading my opinion below is that earbuds may sound different to different individuals based on the shape and size of your ears and how the earbuds fit and how they are positioned and your hearing sensitivity itself.

So, with all that said, let's get into the actual performance of the Bunting.

Moon Harvester recommends a burn-in period of 70 hours for these earbuds and my buds have more than that on them.



A lot of people use the term TOTL sound quite often, especially when it comes to handmade earbuds. So I was quite curious how TOTL sounds, so when Moon offered me a discount for the review piece, I quickly grabbed on to it. And boy, I must say, the Bunting delivers what it promises.

The very first test track is the humble September Song by Agnes Obel, which most earbuds struggle to get it right. You need a fast bass response to render the quick notes of the lower octave and a clean mids to handle the higher octave. The Bunting gets it right – notes have the right attack and decay and shows a good amount of dynamism as well. Overall the track was enjoyable on the Bunting.

Throw a song like Saturdays by Twin Shadow, you get satisfying drum beats, great texture on the bass, clean and airy highs on the triangles. Amidst all this, the vocals stand apart and shine through. I may not be able to put the satisfaction that the Bunting delivers on the track in words, but this track just comes alive on the Bunting. A smidge more warmth would have been orgasmic, but the amount of dynamism from these tiny drivers are superb.

Vicious Delicious is as delicious as it can get – great texture on the synths that span over a range of frequencies, accompanied by nice weight on the kicks. Notes are in and out before they can linger in your mind. You may feel that your brain is playing catchup to the speed and dynamism shown by the Bunting on this track by Infected Mushroom. The width on offer is excellent as well. Nothing to complain, just sit back and enjoy the performance.

The bass the just the right quantity (though I sometimes wanted 5% more), but the bass quality is just too perfect – cannot ask for more. Mids are on a different level altogether – they are neither too forward, nor recessed – right where they ought to be (well, according to my preference). Even on a track like Way too long by Bent Knee, the vocals of Jessica Kion’s vocals shine through amongst the ride cymbals, overdriven guitar, snare drums around the 3:30 mark. There is no bass bleed into the mids and the vocals are clean as ever. Tracy Chapman never sounded better on her Fast Car track. The track just comes alive at the 2-minute mark when the drums, guitar and cymbals come together and amidst all this, Tracy Chapman’s voice is as clean and clear as it could – sounds beautiful.

Layering is exquisite too - be it a simple one like Tiny Monsters by Puscifer or Madness by Muse or Caribbean Blue by Enya, the Bunting has enough space to distinguish between each layer of music without any overlap whatsoever.

With the nice soundstage width on offer, combined with amazing separation between instruments and clean, realistic vocals, the Bunting is just perfect for Steely Dan tracks. Aja cannot be anymore beautiful on a such a tiny driver – crisp, sparkly cymbals with a quick decay, impactful drums and an excellent texture on the saxophone and the bass guitar, you are placed right in the middle of the band at around the 4:45 mark. The rendering of the highs is just too perfect around the 7-minute mark – cymbals and triangles in all their glory accompanied with great, impactful drums. I guess I should stop my review right here – it cannot get any more perfect.

So what do I do, I indulge in some guilty pleasure with some of my favorite A.R. Rahman tracks:

- Narumugaiye from Iruvar,
- Thee Thee from Thiruda Thiruda,
- Aao Balma from his Coke Studio performance
- Chanchan (Aao Re Sakhi) from the soundtrack of Water.

Each track sounds better than the previous, but Thee Thee is a totally different experience – so dynamic and full of life.

Conclusion
Moon Harvester told me that the Bunting offers TOTL sound and is almost as good as Nightingale, which he claims his best. Bunting sings its heart out and delivers everything that was promised. If Bunting is just his side act and not the finale, I am now left wondering how great is the Nightingale is in that case.