[eric65]

Hi.

It's not hard to compare the Kennerton Thror (a very average headphone) (rating 4/10), with an even worse headphone than the Thror, lacking even more bass and treble, such as the Sony R10, as beautiful as it is to look at (rating 3/10?).

Spoiler

. Sennheiser HD-560S: 6/10
. Moondrop PARA: 8/10
. Moondrop VENUS : 9/10
. Kennerton Thror : 4/10
. Sony R10 : 3/10 ?

 

[acclimatise]

Hi.

It's not hard to compare the Kennerton Thror (a very average headphone) (rating 4/10), with an even worse headphone than the Thror, lacking even more bass and treble, such as the Sony R10, as beautiful as it is to look at (rating 3/10?).

Spoiler

. Sennheiser HD-560S: 6/10
. Moondrop PARA: 8/10
. Moondrop VENUS : 9/10
. Kennerton Thror : 4/10
. Sony R10 : 3/10 ?

Hi.

It's not hard to compare the Kennerton Thror (a very average headphone) (rating 4/10), with an even worse headphone than the Thror, lacking even more bass and treble, such as the Sony R10, as beautiful as it is to look at (rating 3/10?).

Spoiler

. Sennheiser HD-560S: 6/10
. Moondrop PARA: 8/10
. Moondrop VENUS : 9/10
. Kennerton Thror : 4/10
. Sony R10 : 3/10 ?

So I have nothing to say. I don't know if this kind of evaluation is good or bad for Moondop, but I've decided to give you a thumb up on the courage.

 

[eric65]

Hi all.

We now know the name of Moondrop's future full-size planar headphone, the brand's new flagship (and successor to the VENUS): it's COSMO (short for Cosmos), just as PARA is short for Paradise.

MOONDROP COSMO Flagship Headphone

Painstaking new-product advance experienceAn ideal headphone, Let's listen, and then see.

High-End Munich, France (09, May - 12, May)

Coming Soon

Source: https://moondroplab.com/en/home

Oh, I didn't know that Munich was French; an annexation?

 

[Fusi]

Hi all.

We now know the name of Moondrop's future full-size planar headphone, the brand's new flagship (and successor to the VENUS): it's COSMO (short for Cosmos), just as PARA is short for Paradise.

MOONDROP COSMO Flagship Headphone

Painstaking new-product advance experienceAn ideal headphone, Let's listen, and then see.

High-End Munich, France (09, May - 12, May)

Coming Soon

Source: https://moondroplab.com/en/home

Oh, I didn't know that Munich was French; an annexation?

I wonder if by they saying flagship it means a higher price than the Venus...

 

[eric65]

I wonder if by they saying flagship it means a higher price than the Venus...

Hi.

Not necessarily.

Moondrop's new flagship planar (the COSMO) is apparently based on the PARA, for the cups and headband, with its own external grilles that I personally find less designer than those of the VENUS, but a little more elaborate than those of the PARA.
The cups and headband of the PARA (a 300 Euro headphone) are more rustic, but lighter and more reliable for headband attachment than those of the VENUS (a 600 Euro headphone). They are also probably cheaper to produce than those of the VENUS.
The weight of the COSMO will IMHO be closer to that of the PARA (lighter) than that of the VENUS (heavier).
The COSMO will have a 100 mm-diameter planar driver (like the PARA and VENUS), but of the highest technology available (as with Hifiman headphones), i.e. with a "Nano" diaphragm (i.e. diaphragms of micrometer thickness = 1000 nanometers), like that of the VENUS (which is 2 micrometers thick, or 2000 nm), and with "Stealth" magnets (profiled for the waveguide) (Nb : PARA's magnets are not "Stealth", unlike the more elaborate magnets of the VENUS and very probably the future COSMO).

As for the COSMO's detachable cable, I think it will be based on the excellent VENUS (V-Line series) symmetrical (silver-plated) cable, which is light, flexible, non-microphonic and highly transparent (NB: the PARA (less expensive than the VENUS) has a more basic, non-balanced stock cable).

As for the price of Moondrop's future flagship, the COSMO, it's possible that, thanks to its lighter (more "cheap") construction (a little less elaborate for the cups and headband than the VENUS), it will end up being cheaper (because cheaper to produce) than the VENUS, especially if it wants to compete with Hifiman's flagship products (new Ananda and new "stealth" and Arya "nano"), whose prices have dropped a lot lately.

At the risk of being wrong, to be very competitive on a commercial level, I think that the price of the future COSMO "nano" (and "stealth"), if it is as efficient as the VENUS, will be slightly below that of the Ananda “nano” and “stealth”, or around 500 euros/dollars.

If I'm wrong, or if the COSMO turns out to be even more efficient than the VENUS (which is already very impressive in terms of performance), well, the price of the new Mondrop flagship will be slightly below that of the Arya "stealth", i.e. around 800 euros/dollars, but, at this price, it will be significantly less selling than that of the first hypothesis, at the much more aggressive and competitive price, that of the paragraph above, i.e. around 500 euros/dollars.

Ultimately, the most important thing for the commercial success or not of Moondrop's new flagship, with the COSMO, in addition to avoiding making a fatal mistake of an astronomical price, is knowing if it will sound even better than the PARA and the VENUS (the sound of the VENUS being so far the most "technical" and accomplished), knowing the weak points of these two headphones:

For the PARA, a high midrange (at 3 KHz) a little too prominent (quite mid-centric sound, even if fair enough for the tone) and also with a slight lack of sub-bass at SPL level.

For the VENUS, in addition to the constitutional fragility of the headband fixation (corriged with that of the PARA, more solid), it is criticized for a certain brilliance in the treble (small peak in frequency at 6-8 KHz and at 12 KHz); the bass and sub-bass level (higher in SPL level than that of the PARA, not to mention the superior bass dynamics of the VENUS) seems adequate to me for a large diameter (100 mm) open planar headphone.

Moondrop VENUS (old flagship)

Moondrop PARA (half the price of the VENUS)

Moondrop COSMO (New flagship, coming soon)

Hypothetical price (COSMO):
Hypothesis one: around 500 Euros (better price than that of the Ananada "stealth" and "nano", if the COSMO is as technically efficient as the VENUS, and sounds as good (tonally) as the VENUS).
Hypothesis two: around 800 Euros (better price than that of the Arya "stealth" and "nano", if the COSMO is even more technically efficient than the VENUS, and sounds even better (in tonality) than the VENUS).

 

[acclimatise]

The official version of the new flagship looks silver, and I noticed that Moondrop has launched Para's new pads.

 

[eric65]

Hello everyone.

Let's hope that the future Moondrop COSMO "full size" open planar headphones, which will in fine be silver-colored (like the PARA and VENUS) and not black, will take up the best of the PARA and VENUS for FR and tonality.

That is, the FR (and tone) of the VENUS below 4 KHz, with more bass (below 60 Hz) and also less upper midrange (at 3 KHz) than the PARA.
That is, also the FR (and tonality) of the PARA above 4 KHz, with less treble (around 6-8 KHz and 13 KHz) than the VENUS.

If the COSMO achieves this goal of "perfect" tonality (for my ear) while retaining at least the resolution (high definition) of the VENUS (superior to that of the PARA), the COSMO could be my next headset, my next flagship, ahead of all my other headphones (old and new).

Official FR of VENUS and PARA (measurements normalized to 200 HZ for FR = 0 dB relative).
https://moondroplab.com/en/graph

Note: the tonal differences, in the bass (below 60 Hz), low-midrange (300-500 Hz), high-midrange and low-highrange (3-4 KHz), treble (6-8 KHz) and extreme treble (12-13 KHz), are obvious (and "jump out" at you) when listening (comparative listening) to the VENUS and PARA; these (official) FR curves reflect, imho, very well the tonal differences, obvious, between these two headphones.

 

[eric65]

The king is dead, long live the king!

 

[acclimatise]

The king is dead, long live the king!

Venus is the eternal king

 

[eric65]

Venus is the eternal king

In a way, yes, the VENUS is the first in a dynasty of full-size planar high-end headphones of high lineage; we impatiently await its worthy heir (the COSMO), born under the Sign of the Dragon, under the energy of the yang, which will perhaps be even better than its illustrious elder, like a new flagship, self-confident, charismatic and dominant ...
Long live and very success to the worthy heir of the VENUS, the new flagship from Moondrop, the COSMO!

 

[navii]

Venus is the Queen.

 

[eric65]

Venus is the eternal king

Venus is the Queen.

The King, the Queen and the Crown Prince.

Just two years ago, in the spring of 2022, the first King/Queen of a Chinese dynasty was born, but with the Roman name of an ancient goddess (also the name of a telluric planet) : the VENUS, an high-end (full size) planar headphone.

https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones...just_posted_this_30_minutes_ago_on/?rdt=58680

Just two years later (spring 2024), under the Sign of the Dragon, the crown Prince, the second of this Chinese dynasty, was born, the new flagship of the Moondrop brand, the COSMO; a prince heralded by Chinese astrologers as self-confident, charismatic and dominant.

To be continued (on Netflix (and head-fi) this new high-tech Chinese heroic saga, after that of "The Three-Body Problem").

 

[eric65]

Hello everyone.

Latest news on the new Moondrop COSMO flagship.

Perhaps connoisseurs of the Chinese language can tell us more.

An official price for the COSMO (Moondrop's new flagship) has been posted: 4999 RMB (700 US$ )

Headset supplied with balanced cable (TRS 4.4 mm) + 4.4 mm- 6.35 mm adapter.

State-of-the-art 100 mm planar driver; 500 nm diaphragm thickness.

FR well controlled in the treble; very low THD.

"
Equipped with a 500 nanometer thick, 100mm long diaphragm, N52 magnet, and FDT (Full Drive Tech) technology.

The price of Suwolwoo's flat headphone Daegu (Cosmos) has been revealed.

4999 yuan (about 930,000 won) + 3.5mm dual terminal replacement type "

 

[mudnut]

Hi all.

We now know the name of Moondrop's future full-size planar headphone, the brand's new flagship (and successor to the VENUS): it's COSMO (short for Cosmos), just as PARA is short for Paradise.

Thanks for bringing us exciting news about Moondrop's latest flagship and tantalizing updates. I am pretty much sold!

As an aside, COSMO is actually short for "Cosmopolitan", given its Chinese counterpart.

 

[eric65]

Thanks for bringing us exciting news about Moondrop's latest flagship and tantalizing updates. I am pretty much sold!

As an aside, COSMO is actually short for "Cosmopolitan", given its Chinese counterpart.

Thanks !

Thanks also for clarifying the name of the COSMO : short for "cosmopolitan" (not cosmos), which means "one who can live with all countries, with varied national mores".

Similarly, PARA is the proven diminutive of "paradise" (for the (lost?) earthly paradise so well represented by the young girl in bloom on the PARA box.)

Speaking of PARA (and COSMO), there are a number of similarities (as well as important differences) between these two headphones.

The COSMO apparently uses the PARA's headband, which is lighter and more reliable (for fastening the suspension band) than that of the VENUS ; height adjustment with 5 notches.

The driver's construction is also lighter (by weight) than that of the more massive (machined aluminum) VENUS, and more similar to that (lighter by weight) of the PARA (which uses more synthetic material in its construction): this will result in a lighter weight to wear for the COSMO than that of the VENUS.

Unlike the PARA (which lacks them), the COSMO, like the VENUS, has two waveguides (attached to each outer face of the 2 x 9 neodium magnet bars per driver) that profile the magnets. The waveguides are machined aluminum for the VENUS (and synthetic for the COSMO).

Otherwise, the 100 mm diaphragm thickness of the COSMO's (planar) driver is 500 nm (0.5 um), compared to the 2 um of the VENUS. (Note: that of the PARA is unknown ; given also that the PARA's resolution is lower than that of the VENUS).
500 nm should correspond to the membrane thickness of an LCD-4 (which costs 4000 Euros/dollar), while COSMO is advertised at a price of 700 dollars...
The COSMO's resolution should be at least equal to, if not better than, that of the VENUS, which is already excellent.

As for the COSMO's FR (tonality), it's hard to know for sure unless it's directly compared with that of the VENUS and the PARA on the same measurement platform.

However, looking at the PARA FR as shown on the PARA product sheet, there is, apparently, some similarity between that of the PARA and the COSMO.
The FR curve of the COSMO is perhaps slightly better in the upper midrange and treble than that of the PARA, but, with, what I fear, still an (apparently), the same lack of bass (compared to the VENUS, in particular)
(to be confirmed or disproved later with new measurements carried out on the same measurement platform, and above all by listening, if possible in very good conditions, i.e in a quiet environment, and not in a noisy public exhibition).

As for the COSMO's harmonic distortion (THD), it's excellent ; even better than that of the PARA (which was already very low).

As for the price/performance ratio of the COSMO, Moondrop's new flagship, a priori at least as good, if not better than the VENUS (the old flagship), it doesn't follow the same logarithmic price progression as that followed by its competitors (AUDEZE and HIFIMAN), which consisted in doubling the price of the headphones with each new generation of the flagship (1000 --> 2000 --> 4000 dollars (Audeze) or 1500 --> 3000 --> 6000 dollars (HIFIMAN) ..); the price of COSMO is clearly wiser (and more reasonable) in its progression : apparently only $100 more than the VENUS ($700 versus $600).

It remains to be seen how sensitive the COSMO will be (expressed in dB / 1 V and also in dB / 1 mW, as well as its impedance in Ohm); but obviously, a good amplifier (like the one shown in this photo below) will be needed to exploit the full potential of such high-tech planar headphones; a potential that is undoubtedly very high, in line with Moondrop's ambitions in the high-end, high-performance planar headphone market.

Internal cross-section (3D structure) of the COSMO driver, with its two external waveguides (made of synthetic material), attached to each row of magnets.

Internal cross-section (3D structure) of the PARA driver which, unlike the COSMO, does not have these two external waveguides attached to each row of magnets (squares).

Internal cross-section (3D structure) of the VENUS driver, with its two external waveguides (metal, machined aluminum), attached to each row of magnets.

The THD (Total Harmonic Distorsion) of the COSMO seems even better than that of the PARA (which was already very low), but the FR of the COSMO seems quite similar to that of the PARA, to be confirmed or not on other test benches ...

(FR and THD (very low) of the PARA).

(FR and THD (ultra low) of the COSMO)

The FR of the COSMO seems more akin to that of the PARA than that of the VENUS.

COSMO's FR (tonality) seems fairly close to that of the PARA, with perhaps a little less upper-midrange - low-high (between 2 and 3-4 KHz) than the PARA, and also a little less high (between 4 and 6.5 KHz) than the PARA, which is rather a good thing and should make its tonality even more pleasant to listen to than that of the PARA, but with, alas, from all appearances, the same lack of bass as the PARA, compared to the VENUS in particular; it's a pity; unless other COSMO FR measurements carried out on another measurement platform invalidate this initial interpretation of these first FR curves.