Moondrop Droplet

A very short review. I hope I reasonably summarized most in pros and cons.


Tips: perhaps, the foams are the best (and nice and sturdy foams are supplied), but I really can't stand the tactile feeling, so no foams for me. Then, luckily, my favourite TRI Clarions seem to do a very good job for me.

Fit and isolation are great with Clarion - very small and not pulling, as often the case with the bullet shape factor.

Sound: great out of a single BA, but "processed/modified" would be a part of overall perception.

Bass - on the margin of overenhanced, overprocessed to me, but does the job well (and remarkably, squeezing a single BA).

Mids - nice, almost as good as legendary 29689 in Etymotic (could not imagine owing Ethymotic - the tight fit is not an option for me at all).

Highs - great for a single BA.

Music fit: quite universal across the genres for me. I listened to a Chesky sample disk - anything from lows of a pipe organ to highs of flutes and violins sound good, and the jazz vibes feel fine. Nothing remarkable, as well as nothing overly detrimental for the stage. The dynamics is reasonable, likely pushed back by DSP processing.
The Droplet is surprisingly acceptable for string quartets (an equivalent of high praise).

Technical achievements: 5-6 mA of power consumption (WOW, like really wow!). The Apple dongle is ca.14-15 mA, while other lower-power dongles, including Moondrop Click, are at 25-30 mA. I had to double check with another instrument to confirm these measurements.


Overall: very enjoyable experience, and overall 4.5+ stars.

—Did you know Moondrop CEO is actually an Etymotic Research fanboy?

Yes, he is.

He loved ER4, but due to ear canal surgery he had when he was young, a deep insertion was no longer an option. Since then as one of Ety fan, he had looked an alternative.

Here comes Moondrop‘s answer to the question.

”What could possibly be achieved by a powerless single BA?”

—About myself
===START OF INTRODUCTION ===
—Background
Audio equipment reviewer with over 20year+ of experience in headphones/earphones/IEM/DAP, initially motivated by:
Sennheiser | AKG | Sony | Bose | JVC | JBL.

—Imprinted Instruments Timbre
Drums (TAMA & Zildjian cymbals) | Guitar (Gibson Les Paul & Marshall Amp) | Piano (Yamaha)

—Bio
After spending a decade with full-size headphones, and home audio speakers, I shifted my main listening environment to IEM. Of which, I have over 100 personal inventories —not loaner or review units—purchased with my hobby budget

—On mobile
I enjoyed Lexus’s Mark Levinson system and moved to Mercedes AMG’s Burmester 4D System

—Affiliation
Under the penalty of perjury of the United States of America, 28 U.S.C. § 1746, I’m neither affiliated with any sellers/stores/makers nor given review samples or paid for this review.

I purchased Moondrop Droplet from HiFiGo at my own will with my own disposable income, for purely my personal entertainment purpose.

=====END OF INTRODUCTION=====

—A crossroad of generations

—Audiophile’s staple and old buddy
$350USD. It was the price I paid for legendary audiophile stationary that actually produces a sound, a very detailed high-end sound. ER4S (100ohm) since the had been one of my go-to for vocal-focused neutral reference monitor which has superb resolution and imaging capabilities, at least until 5 years ago. I’ve encountered SleekAudio SA6, Harman Kardon EP720, Ultimate Ears Super.fi 3 Studio, and many other single BAs up to very recent releases of KBEAR Neon, and Floaudio Lily. All those single BA were behind the bar that ER4 had set.

Floaudio Lily when plugged with matched source, had very close performance with ER4, but that’s after a long long ear tip / cable / source matching, at least not out of the box performance.

—Until the moment when Droplet falls from above to my ear canal


It reminded me of the movie “Arrival”

source:https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/x2FJsf1ElAgr63Y3PNPtJrcmpoe.jpg

It was really that “Arrival“ of extraterrestrial object.



— the shell
The shell is way smaller than I expected, smaller than ear tips. You can see USB-C DSP connector size vs droplet shell size, wow that’s small.


—Out of the Box Sound Impression
▶︎Long Story short, Droplet is a surprise. It actually sounds better than Lily… the diffusion field and internal echo inside the acoustic camber (blue parts) is a thing. Very nice timbre


▶︎Weirdly Droplet only comes with foam ear tips (maybe by some error or something) So I’m using the stock foam ear tips of which I’m usually not a fan of them because it basically kills sub-bass resonance. For Droplet it does match with the somehow elevated sub-bass, pretty good, of course the sub-bass imaging is blurry because of this foam tip, but the timbre itself isn’t bad at all.
After spending a week, I noticed Moondrop actually designed the timbre with foam ear tips. When I switched to aftermarket general silicone tips Droplet immediately start to sound too thin and dry, by setting default ear tips as foam one, Moondrop managed to add warmth and tuned dry timbre with some moisture.


▶︎Diffusion Magic. When you take a look at FR of Droplet, you may wonder, “heck, whats that 3khz small peak?” , it’s the same trick used for Crin’s FiiO FHE, a small 3khz peak will generate a room for notes to diffuse as well as the vocal spotlighting effect, it doesn’t work all the time, but it worked on FHE. It’s also working on Droplet. A fun factor for imaging.

Noticed something from FR? Droplet has almost neutral flat slope from pinna gain peak 3khz all the way through 14khz, that is the Diffusion Magic.

This stable slope reminds me of Softears RSV’s custom tweeter, and the tonality of Droplet’s treble and RSV oddly has some similarities. RSV has an intentional dip with high path filter for 12khz but Droplet is more easy going with that area.

Actually Droplet (with stock foam tips) is in a sense a little happier sister of Softears RSV.

Neutral? No. Colored for vocals, with Moondrop’s VDSF nicely implemented.


—Post Scripts after a week with Droplet

Droplet is worth a post script:

▶︎Timbre is extremely well balanced, not that I’d expect from sub$100 range for 2023, it certainly has Softears tuning spirit the high-end tonal approach.

▶︎Cymbal diffusion makes Droplet special, especially to side ways

▶︎As it has rolled off 16khz+, lossless and above won’t benefit much from this, Droplet is suitable for more casual listening yet high performing enough to “wow” hardcore audiophiles.

—Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, from the size & side sleeping compatibility, tonal accuracy, wide diffusing imaging illustration and widely applicable to any music genres, I found Droplet is yet another smashing hit material coming out of mighty Moondrop. You just cant imagine a single BA could do this much, even better than Floaudio Lily.


—Final impression score (based on my HRTF)
Overall | A-
Tonality | S
Resolution | B+
Overall Coherence | A-

1. Diffusion Field coherence | A
2. Image coordinate positioning coherence | A-
3. Image Focusing Coherence | B+
4. Sound wave momentum & Sound Image vectoring coherence | C+

My other A-rated IEMs:
DUNU Titan S (A-) | AFUL P5 (A) | Truthear HEXA (85/100: A) l Blessing 2 (84/100: A) | Blessing 2 Dusk (85/100: A) | Mangird Tea (84/100: A) | AKG N5005 (A-) | See Audio Bravery (A)


My higher than A-rated:
Sound Rhyme SR5 (A+) | Westone W80 (A+) | Tangzu Wu Zetian (A+) | 7Hz Timeless (A+) | DUNU SA6 (S-) | Moondrop Variations (S-) | Softears RSV (S-) | Thieaudio Monarch (S-) | Aur Audio Neon Pro (S) | UM MEST MKII (S) | qdc Anole VX (S+)


@MOONDROP Lightning DSP is highly desirable. Western Market probably won’t need Threebody novelties, please cut the cost to $39 and release a lightning finish. It will a great gift option choice.

General info/Build/Comfort/Packaging
There has been some traction going on lately with DSP tuned IEM, Moondrop’s Quarks is one of them that catered for the budget segment. Today I have the Droplet with me, which is priced at 50$, targeting users who're craving for more after trying out what the Quarks is capable of.

The packaging is of the usual Moondrop’s style, except this time it isn’t the typical “waifu” but more of a Sci-Fi themed. It came with 3 pairs of foam tips, some cards and the Droplet IEM itself. The shell is made out of aluminium and it is prone to fingerprint and scratches. The shape is quite similar to Moondrop’s Spaceship, except Droplet is slightly smaller.

In terms of comfort, they fit very well and almost feel weightless due to the size of it. However, I did not use the stock foam tips as I find them to be uncomfortable in my ears, probably due to the material as it’s causing me to itch when it’s in my ears, hence i am using my own foam tips in this review.



Gears used for this impression

• Droplet with 3rd party foam tips
• USB C to Lightning adapter (to use it on my iPhone 12 Mini)
• Macbook Air M2

Foreword
My impression is solely based on what I hear via my equipment and I never consider my reviews to be objective in any way rather a subjective approach. Do take into consideration that everyone’s ear anatomy is not the same, so the psychoacoustics perception might be different as well, but i believe it will not stray too far

Sound Impression
Droplet has the Moondrop’s house sound which follows the VSDF’s target, if you had owned several Moondrop’s IEM in the past, you should be quite familiar with it. Droplet being a single BA IEM, it does have the BA timbre but not to the point where it is metallic sounding. Droplet is a fun sounding IEM overall, let’s take a look at the frequency breakdown below:

Bass

• Sub bass rumble is surprisingly deep for a single BA, of course it doesn’t rumble like a basshead’s IEM, but it is quite good coming from a single BA
• Mid bass is punchy
• Bass has good texture and good note weight which is really surprising coming from a BA
• As expected from a BA, speed is very good and handled complex track effortlessly

Mids

• Mids are forward and very lively, upper mids doesn’t sound shouty to my ears
• Vocals are forward and quite “in your face”
• Female vocal is lacking a little texture to my ears, Billie Eilish’s voice sounded a little thin, lacking weight
• Male vocal sounds alright with sufficient weight

Treble

• Treble is smooth and overall non offensive, however, once you start to crank the volume up, it can become quite energetic and fatiguing at times, i believe this is where the DSP compensation is happening
• Detail retrieval is good, you will be able to pick up the micro details easily
• It has good amount of air and instruments doesn’t sound congested

Soundstage/Imaging

• Soundstage is average, good width but lacking depth and height
• Imaging is good and instruments can be pinpointed easily, even on complex track such as Slipknot’s, it keeps up pretty well

Driveability

• Not exactly easy to drive, i need about 5/10 in terms of volume on my Macbook Air in order for Droplet to sound proper (dynamics, bass, treble)
• Using Type C to Lightning’s adapter and plugging Droplet to my iPhone, i need about 7/10 in order to get to my usual listening volume, whereas on other IEM with Apple’s Lightning Dongle, i only need 3-5/10 listening volume

Final Thoughts
This is my first time trying/reviewing DSP tuned IEM. Balance of good sound and technicalities, I personally think that they are a very good solution as it offers an all in one solution, eliminating the need to carry a dongle/dap around. This of course is not targeted at those hardcore audiophiles which ultimately still prefers a dedicated DAP/Dongle.
I have no issue recommending Droplet to someone who’s looking for a simple “pick me up and go” kind of solution and not looking to use Droplet as a critical listening device, if your intention is to use Droplet for critical listening, you may look elsewhere.

*Moondrop’s Droplet is sent over by HifiGo in exchange for this review, I thank them for the opportunity.

If you are interested in getting a pair, head over to HiFiGo’s website to get one:
Moondrop Droplet - Non Affiliated

Review Of The Moondrop Droplet​

Introduction​

Moondrop has created a new benchmark for the industry for inexpensive in-ear monitors. Recently, they have been exploring and redefining what an IEM is. I've seen that they provide a precise frequency response that they can force out of the driver while utilising digital signal processing to properly change the response to a desired goal. Only Moondrop has used this technique in the IEM market, in my experience. They previously launched a set called Quarks DSP that was significantly more cheap and garnered positive reviews. Without a sure, Chinese firm Moondrop never ceases to wow me with any of their offerings and has never let me down. I hope their recently introduced Droplet experiences the same thing. I'm eager to learn more about this IEM, but let's first get a few things straight.

Disclaimer​

*Since this unit tour was organised by the beautiful people at HiFiGo, I am grateful to them. And as I've said in all of my evaluations, the same is true for this one: all of the concepts I've expressed below are entirely my own, original ideas that haven't been influenced by anyone else. If interested, go to this link.
*I am not associated with the connection, and I receive no financial assistance from anyone.
*For the remainder of the review, I will refer to these IEMs as "Droplet."
*I am using different Ear-tips for convenience and better versatility.
*Finally, I will only evaluate the Droplet based on their performance, even though I will explain how it feels and seems physically and aesthetically.

Specification​

The Droplet is a single-driver IEM with a balancing armature as the driver. The balancing armature manages the entire frequency response, which is not unusual. The three-body arrangement described in the science fiction book The Three-Body Problem served as the inspiration for the shells. The shells, which are manufactured of brass using CNC cutting and chrome plating, have the appearance of a drop of water falling. Both in the palm and in the ear, the shells are tiny and feel smooth. The IEM is connected to the cable, which has a premium feel and appearance. The cable's end features a type-C connector and a DSP chip. Additionally, the cable features a top-notch MEMS microphone. Along with the IEMs, the box also contains a pouch bag, a metal card, and three sets of memory foam earplugs in the sizes small, medium, and large. The effective frequency response spans the range of 20Hz to 20kHz, and the overall harmonic distortion is less than 1%, according to the technical criteria.

*Click to see the source of the image

Sound​

With a bass increase, the Droplet has a neutral tune. Although the signature is quite appealing to my favourite tune, I'll attempt to be objective in my assessment of the sound. For the price that they are being provided, the sound is incredibly clear and detailed. Additionally, I think that the equilibrium between tone and technical aspects enhances and brings out the finest in this IEM. I have never heard a single BA provide such excellent sub bass extension while maintaining the whole response. I still think they are extremely competent, despite the fact that they distort at greater levels and mostly while providing bass response. I also learned that listening at a level of roughly 50% to 60% was generally sufficient. The mid range sounds focused and vibrant, while the treble is quite expansive and sounds smooth. Most of my observations will be positive, praising the thought that went into it and the skills of the driver. Let's explore sound in detail.

Treble​

The treble is really expansive and makes everything seem tranquil. It is smooth and clean with no traces of inoffensiveness. The voices don't ruin the tone and sound natural in the high treble area. The vocal presence has a relaxed approach when I anticipated it would be sharp. The voices stretch and expand beautifully without distorting. The voice and the instruments sound extremely similar, with the vocals being incredibly spacious and clear. The strings or cymbal crashes sound incredibly convincing and authentic since they have a remarkable resemblance to live sound information that reverberates throughout the whole response. The instruments and vocals are on the same stage and complement each other beautifully. The lower treble has a lot of energy and is highly active, but it still sounds fantastic. The instruments sound in the back, although the vocals take a little more forward approach. However, from what I can tell, they equal out any uneven response. This is the reason it sounds better. The vocals seem bright and upbeat, yet the instruments sound relaxed and give the singers room to breathe. The treble region's overall presentation is balanced, energetic, and smooth.

Mid Range​

The vocals are centrally located in the mid range, with the surrounding instruments appearing to be playing in the mix. Everything sounds melodic and expressive because of the mid range's dynamic presence. There are no indications of any neutral annoyance. The potential in the upper mid range is roughly identical to that in the lower treble and is quite active. The instruments seem more presentative and melodic, while the voices are more expressive. Every component feels as though it enhances the others and brings harmony to the presentation. No artificial presence is audible in the voices, yet listening to electric guitars, etc., one may feel a metallic atmosphere. The lower mid range has a strong exposure, is clear and sharp to the point, doesn't feel bashful, and serves as the groundwork for the upper frequencies. The note could definitely need some warmth and solidity, but the response isn't missing in any of those qualities and sounds, for the most part, okay. The bass guitar is a good example since it plays sounds that are crisp and clear but lack weight and depth without sounding false or unnatural. The mid range is expressive, vibrant, and pleasant sounding overall.

Bass​

This response's bass area surprises and thrills me at the same time. The sub bass portion of the bass is highlighted, and it sounds deep and expansive as well. The sub bass region has a terrific sense of punch and rumble, although the driver's capabilities are limited in this area. Although the bass tinkers at higher levels, I've never felt the need to listen to these at anything more than 50%. Actually, the effect is enough to give the response a lively and broader tone throughout. The bass is quite effective and has a lot of detail and richness. The lower mid range is slightly tainted by the mid bass, but the responsiveness is unaffected. The sub bass compensates for the mid bass section of the bass, which sounds a touch lean. There are enough slams and hit in the mid bass to give the entire bass response an authoritative sense. Both sections are well-controlled and sound tight. The bass area responds with a forceful, aggressive, and controlled tone.

Technical Performance​

The technical performance is absolutely flawless for a single BA IEM, and the imaging, separation, and resolving power truly astounded me with their performance. Every piece has adequate room to breathe because to the ample stage, excellent imagery, and separation. The speed is rapid paced, and the resolution is excellent.

Soundstage, Sound Imaging & Separation​

The soundstage is sufficiently broad to sound spacious, and it seems like an average-performing IEM for this price range. While the separation is clear and every note can be heard, the image is crisper than I anticipated and appears to be highly precise.

Speed & Resolution​

The information retrieval is surprisingly good, the details are established cleanly, and the sound quality is commendable for a $50 IEM. The tempo of the notes' assault and decay is quick, sounding neither slack nor feeble.

Tracks Used​

Curtis Mayfield - Pusherman
Earth, Wind & Fire - September
Earth, Wind & Fire - Let's Groove
Boston - More Than A Feeling
Fleetwood Mac - Everywhere(Remastered)
Toto - Africa
The Police - Every Breath You Take
George Benson - Affirmation
Daft Punk - Doin' It Right
Daft Punk - Derezzed
Daft Punk - Tron Legacy (End Titles)
GOJIRA - Amazonia
The Mars Volta - Inertiatic ESP
Fergie - Glamorous
50 Cent - In Da Club
Jay Z - Holy Grail
Erbes - Lies
Nitti Gritti - The Loud
Juelz - Inferno

Conclusion​

Droplet has reinforced my belief in miracles more than any other IEM I've used. I'm readily impressed by the droplet's responsiveness and its driver's ability. These won't let you down, I promise. An simple recommendation for everyone who enjoys learning more about electroacoustics and pursuing their curiosity in that domain. For someone just beginning their audiophile journey, this is a simple entry point.

The Moondrop Droplet is a budget-friendly IEM that delivers a well-rounded sound quality with good bass extension and well-balanced frequency response. It provides very good noise isolation, which is a plus for those who want to enjoy their music without any distractions. However, the biggest drawback of this IEM is the presence of a slight hissing noise by using it on Android devices, which can be a deal-breaker for some users.

In terms of staging and layering, the Droplet is adequate, but not particularly special. For me, the Droplet provides a good-sounding sound field, mostly with a left-right separation, but for me only on a single layer. The lack of detail retrieval is also noticeable compared to other higher-end IEMs, but this can be expected at its price point. For its price the presentation of details is good.

All in all, without the hissing, I would give the Moondrop Droplet a 3.5 to 4 rating for its affordable price. However, the presence of hissing brings down the overall score, making it a difficult recommendation for those who are sensitive to it.

Moondrop Droplet picked up the trajectory started off with Moondrop Quarks DSP. It offers more mature sound with overall refinement throughout the entire frequency range. Polished and with finesse, Droplet is a great all in one solution that is robust, highly portable and usable.

Wearing Droplet is an easy affair, plug in and then just blast the music. Doesn't matter if it is noisy outside. The isolation is good and the resolution, vibrancy and handling of sound is to be had even on the fast lane. Just perhaps would require a bit of practice to attain a good seal (but should not be a problem for folks who are familiar with foam tips).

Ultimately, Moondrop Droplet presents a very promising direction for complete All-In-One solution for portable Audio.

Moondrop Droplet is availabe from HiFiGo:
https://hifigo.com/collections/new-arrival/products/moondrop-droplet