Moondrop Shiroyuki

Sound Signature: Midcentric leaning to bright

Disclaimer: I bought Moondrop Shiro-yuki from a reseller in Facebook marketplace with my own money. The oxidation found on cables were already present when I got it. This will be as honest a review as it can get. All you can read here will be my own opinion, subject to different factors such as gear used, music, and what my own ears perceive. I also only write reviews after thoroughly listening to it for a week or more rather than just a day; both casually and critically with reference tracks I'm personally familiar with listed below. Please be respectful towards the comments section. For listening, I used standard foams. With all that aside, let's talk Moondrop Shiro-yuki.

Price: 9 USD/Php 450

Specifications:

Impedance: 32Ω
Earphone sensitivity: 104dB/mW
Frequency range: 20-20000Hz
Interface: 3.5mm
Cable Length: 1.2m±5cm
Cable: 4 core white plastic-sleeved cable
Plugs: Straight SE termination

Gear used:
(Hiby Music) Mi 9T Pro (naked)/Mi 9T Pro > Tempotec Sonata HD Pro w/ 2 Vrms active. (Foobar2000) Desktop (naked)

Reference Music:
Dream Eyes - Mine, Kosuke Quintet (DSD 128)
Work 1 - Mine, Kosuke Quintet (DSD 128)
Giorgo by Moroder - Daft Punk (DSD256)
Making of a Cyborg - Kenji Kawai (FLAC 24bit)
Evolution Orange - Earth, Wind & Fire (FLAC 24bit)
Charlie Wasn't Afraid - Day Din (FLAC 16bit)
Uchiage Hanabi - DAOKO x Kenshi Yonezu (FLAC 24bit)
Upstairs - Psapp (FLAC 16bit)
Grand Escape - RADWIMPS ft. Toko Miura (FLAC 24bit)
Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach - Gorillaz (FLAC 16bit)
Hotel California - The Eagles (WAV 32bit)
Black Rainbows - Hawaii: Part II (FLAC 16bit)



Build:
Transparent plastic shells. Model label is written from the side of the stem: "Shiro-yuki" accompanied by a snowflake-like logo. I'd say it's good looking and attractive. L & R markings are embossed but almost indiscernable without proper light. I'm a fan of transparent or opaque shelled earbuds so they look appealing for me.

Cables are 4 cored, white and covered in some kind of plastic. I won't hesitate to talk smack because these are probably one of the worst cables I've ever laid my hands on, not including J-style rubber cords of course (looking at you Vido). They easily oxidize without proper care, and very prone to memory. Even with "over & under" wrap, they bounce back. Stiff but at least they're durable.



Comfort:
They fit nicely to my ears even with standard foams. Lightweight and easy to carry, they don't have any sharp edges which makes them decently comfortable. Still, they contain 15.4mm drivers so those with small ears might get heat spots after some time.

Isolation:
These are earbuds, don't expect too much.



Lows:
The biggest weakness of Moondrop Shiro-yuki. It's so laughable that when listening to Dream Eyes by Mine, Kosuke Quintet; I found myself searching for bass guitar the whole track. As usual I want to know how deep they can reach with my favorite reference track for lows: Charlie Wasn't Afraid by Day Din and I was blown away at how bad it sounds. Immediately I asked my girlfriend to test it with the same song, and it has been 3 minutes since until she asked me "So where's the bass? I'm still looking for it" I laughed so hard that I spat my coffee all over my bedsheets. There is no rumble, just a miniscule push of air here and there. Texture is missing as the decay is too quick to showcase mid-bass. Weight is gone so don't expect this to perform well on anything but country or acoustic genres.

Midrange:
Transparent and articulate, the Shiro-yuki's midrange has nice natural vocal transients. They are forward sounding probably because of lows lacking in extension. DAOKO's voice in Uchiage Hanabi sounds too intimate and shouty at times, which shouldn't be the case with this track. Male vocals lack thickness and warmth as the midrange may sound too edgy. Due to poor treble transition, presence region is hit (4k-6khz) which often results in metallic sounding vocals. There's nothing special with it, and I can't really listen to them for more than thirty minutes. Maurice's high notes in Evolution Orange of Earth, Wind & Fire are too raspy, making me squint with dissatisfaction.

Treble:
The greatest strength of Moondrop Shiro-yuki. They are a tad bright so treble-sensitive individuals might pass with this one. Cymbals are crips and hi-hats sounds sparkly with good decay. Treble is coloured so they might sound "off" or sharp to some. Listening to Work 1 by Mine, Kosuke Quintet; cymbal strikes have average attack but not dead-sounding. It might be too cold to some as percussive instruments appear abrassive, sibilant even. I can only describe it as untamed because they smear over midrange which makes separation between frequencies below average. Just too grainy for my taste.

Soundstage:
Quick Note: Soundstage is a highly subjective spectrum of audio. Different factors such as how the track was recorded or if it was properly mastered, plays a crucial role in identifying soundstage. Please take everything with a grain of ajinomoto seasoning.

Left & right panning is decent but not on par with some chi-fi champions like TC200 Old. They can be considered wide due to the airy presentation (10khz above slow roll-off) but they did not meet my expectations for vertical imaging and depth. On the Run by Pink Floyd sounds average to my ears as the usual horizontal panning is present, however both depth and headroom lacks extension to consider it spatial and ambient.

Layering and Separation:
As mentioned in the treble section, highs sound untamed and masks other frequencies, making both imaging and instrument separation worse than most competitors in its price range. Listening to Isle unto Thyself by Hawaii Part II isn't pleasant as some notes appear cold. Busy tracks should sound fatally bad for Shiroyuki. Needless to say, these aren't for critical listening.



Comparison:

Vido Red: Winner (Vido Red) Oof the Vido won. Moondrop Shiro-yuki has better soundstage than our contender but I think that's about it. Doing A B testing between the two, despite the congestion; Red wins for all frequencies because it has better consistency than Shiro-yuki. Vido Red has better bass quantity, an extend mid-bass and good rumble that should satisfy all genres. Midrange could do some work but at least they don't sound sharp and "in your face" like Moondrop's. When it comes to treble, Shiro-yuki might have won because of clarity but the sharpness and metallic presence region gave me LG earbuds PTSD. They're too sibilant, unpleasant for my ears. I'd choose Vido over them any day.

Tingo TC200 Old: Winner (TC200 by a mile) For a meager $5, the TC200 Old slaps Shiro-yuki's baseless ass cheeks with better treble presentation and control. Despite Tingo's bouncy lows, they present better punch and frankly "it has bass" is the best argument you can make. Our challenger has nothing to showcase against one of the budget chi-fi champions, even in midrange the transparency of TC200 provides a smoother, better musicality. I don't want to make this longer because it'll just be a massacre for poor Shiro-yuki so let's proceed to the last one.

Qianyun Qian39: Winner (Qian39 by a force majure) Priced roughly the same, Qianyun's Qian39 gives Shiro-yuki a run for his money with everything to boot. The level of musicality Qian39 shows is just superb for its price range, sporting one of the most "poisonous" mids since Neil Patrick Harris's opening for Tony Awards 2013. A pleasant and smooth ride overall, Qian39 carries a clean tonality without compromise. On the other hand, Shiro-yuki's shouty rendition of A Thousand Years just sounds like DJ Khaled pimped up the song in his own style. Need I say more?

Conclusions:
Moondrop's attempt to enter the entry-level scene of earbuds failed, well at least for me. I hope Moondrop won't be discouraged and see this as something constructive to improve their earbuds for the future. With the current market being oversaturated by hard-hitting $10 earbuds, I hope one day Moondrop would release something that could rival chi-fi budget champions and bring redemption to its name. Do I recommend them? Frankly, no. If you however just want to test them blindly or listen to country and acoustic genres a lot, Shiro-yuki might be for you.

Go get them:
Shopee PH
Aliexpress

EDIT 2020-10-20: From 3.5/5 to 3/5. Surpassed in every way by the NiceHCK DIY MX500 that is also cheaper.

EDIT 2023-08-25: If you are not aware, I am selling my own Earbuds, called RikuBuds: https://rikubuds.com/

Disclaimer: Bought on HifiGO with a discount for this review, thank you very much

Price: 18 usd

Specifications:

Type: Earbud

Vocalism Principle: Dynamic

Sensitivity:104dB/mW

Frequency Response Range:20-20000Hz

Resistance:32Ω@1kHZ

Line Length:1.2M

Plug Type: Line Type

Cavity diameter:17mm


Accessories:

Round metal storage case

3 pairs of full foams

Cleaning cloth


Cable: It is a 4-core cable that has some material covering it (plastic or something). The connector and splitter are made out of metal (aluminum probably). It is non-replaceable so that is sad but otherwise feels durable. A bit stiff though and little microphonics appears only when you rub it with your hands.


Build: The build is made out of plastic and has some sharp edges so it feels cheap. It is also transparent so you can see everything inside.

The L/R markings are very hard to see due to them being written in the same transparent color as the build itself and it doesn’t have Moondrop’s typical style of having a physical “bump” on the left side. identifying the L/R sides is a pain to do because it needs a bright light/flashlight.

Fit: Fits me really good. Out of the 3 Moondrop buds I have currently (Shiroyuki, Nameless and VX Classic) this fits me the best. I can pull the cable down as hard as I can (without inflicting pain on my ears) without it falling out.

Comfort: There is a kind of rough edge on the buds that makes my ears itch and feel uncomfortable when in contact, so foams are needed. Not any problem otherwise and feels good.

Isolation: none, it is an earbud after all.

Setup: Fiio M11, Full foams

(The lows, mids and highs are nearly identical to the nameless so it is copied from my nameless review)

Lows: The biggest weakness is the bass in the Shiroyuki, not the quality as that is quite good (tight, fast and clean) but the quantity that is extremely low. non-existent rumble.

Mid-bass: mid-bass is clean, fast and tight so it suits rock/metal genres very good. And quantity is definitely low and I find it to be bare minimum acceptable here with rock/metal. Pop and J-pop definitely want a bit more quantity though to make it more fun.

Sub-bass: The quantity is laughably low here and NOT good for any bass focused music that focuses on rumbling. The quality is very good though since it is fast, tight and clean so there is no bleed into the mids (mid-bass doesn’t bleed either).

Songs that should rumble doesn’t do that and it feels more like a tight bass which is completely wrong. The powerful tight kind of sub-bass is Ok though.

Mids: mids are perceived as forward because of the very low bass quantity, but it is bright-neutral bud so female vocals sounds a bit more forward than the male vocals do. A bit too bright though and it makes pianos sound a bit less natural than I would like them to be.

Female-vocals: very clear and sounds very natural. details are excellent here too, but does sound a bit thin. And some sharpness is present.

Male-vocals: less natural than the female vocals due to it being too bright and thin, would like some warmth and thickness here to make it sound more natural/organic.

Highs: a bright bud so the quantity of the treble is definitely more than the lows and mids. Quality wise it is detailed and clean, but some sharpness here and there.

Soundstage: Big soundstage

Tonality: bright neutral, analytical sound, very good timbre but a bit thin, sounds near identical to the Nameless.

Details: Above average details, but this just makes the track even more chaotic due to the instrument separation.

Instrument Separation: Very bad, on Hiroyuki Sawano – PROMARETHEME (00:50 – 01:07) it gets really muddy and chaotic. Quite the fatal weakness here as it makes the majority of my songs sound very bad.

Songs that highlight the IEM: , , , ,

Good genres: Acoustic, rock, metal, OSTs

Bad genres: Songs with a lot of things going on



Comparisons:

HE 150Pro: 150Pro is warmer and more relaxed with lesser treble quantity, it is also more natural and less peaky.

Female vocals are more forward and more natural on the Shiroyuki, Male vocals are more natural and has the warmth it needs on the 150Pro.

Bass is on another level on the 150Pro with better texture, rumbles, quantity and sounds more natural, but not as tight and fast so it is muddier.

The soundstage and details are better on the Shiroyuki and instrument separation is better on the 150Pro with Timbre being equal.

If you want a bud that has bass and is more relaxed/warmer then the 150Pro is better, if you want a brighter and more clean bud then the Shiroyuki is better.

VE Monk Lite (40-ohm version): The treble on the Shiroyuki has more quantity and is less peaky and more natural (there is still some peaks left).

Mids are also more forward and sounds more natural and fuller than the monks.

Bass on the monks are completely decimating the Shiroyuki in every way. Texture, rumble, speed, tightness and quantity are on a completely different level.

Soundstage is similar but Instrument separation is much better while details and Timbre is better on the Shiroyuki.

The Shiroyuki is brighter but is muddier than the Monk. But monks are less refined and other than the instrument separation and bass it isn’t on the same level as the Shiroyuki.

Monks are better if you want some bass in your life otherwise the Shiroyuki is the better choice.

Moondrop Nameless: Honestly the Nameless is just a better bud overall, it has the same tuning but polished more and technicalities are better (the biggest difference). If you can afford the Nameless and it fits you (it is bigger with a different shell type) then you should get it over the Shiroyuki. (the Shiroyuki fits me better than the Nameless but the Nameless still sounds better in every way.)



Conclusion: Overall the tuning is very good, but it suffers quite a lot from the instrument separation. That unfortunately bottlenecks the potential it has. Other than the fit I think the Nameless is superior in every other way and the better choice, especially since it isn’t much more expensive than the Shiroyuki.