Moondrop Void Headphone Review 

 

 

Introduction:

MOONDROP is a popular Chinese Portable Audio brand that was once a small studio by several hobbyist engineers, which has been emerged in 2015 with focus on products like Earbuds, In-Ear Monitors and USB DAC/Amplifiers.

Moondrop is jumping in to the Headphone Market with three brand new models, which area the Void, Venus and Moonzero. The Void that I will now review for you is the entry level headphone of the company that features a Self-developed 50mm Composite Diaphragm Dynamic Driver unit. It’s a full-sized open-back headphone that comes with dual 3.5mm to 3.5mm Single Ended headphone connector interface.

• Please note that the Void in my hands is the early version of the upcoming final product.

 

 

 

Disclaimer:

I would like to thank Shenzhen Audio and Moondrop for providing me the Void Headphone for review purposes. I am not affiliated with Moondrop or Shenzhen Audio beyond this review and these words reflect my true and unaltered opinions about the product.

 

 

Price & Availability:

The actual price of the Moondrop Void is 199.99 US$. More information’s can be found under the link below;

• Moondrop Void Headphone

 

 

 

Package and Accessories:

The Moondrop Void came inside a relative big square shaped white box that has a cardboard sleeve with an anime theme and some product related on its surface and product specific details of the Void.

 

The box contains the following items/accessories;

• 1 x Moodrop Void Open-Back Headphone
• 1 x Moondrop Void Open-Back Headphone
• 1 x Detachable Cable with Dual 3.5mm to 3.5mm Single Ended (TRS) Headphone Plug
• 1 x 3.5mm to 6.35mm Male Adaptor
• 1 x Pint Material

 

 

 

Design, Build Quality & Comfort:

The Moondrop Void is the entry level model headphone of the company and was entirely designed, developed and made by the company. It’s a full sized over the ear headphone with an open-back design. The headphone is mainly made from plastic material in white color with exception of the flexible spring steel frame and the perforated grill area of the ear cups.

The Void comes with a Self-developed 50mm dia. Composite Diaphragm Dynamic Diver, which is a combination of an N52 magnet, a Lightweight CCAW voice coil, a flexible damping suspension Ring and a Metal coated Dome (see structure below).

The headphone is very lightweight due the material choice and offers a fairly comfortable wearing experience for my average sized head, which makes it ideal for longer listening periods, thanks to the relative low clamping force.

The headband padding and outer surface of the earpads have a surface made of pleather (protein leather) that is also in white color.

The earpads that are pretty easy to remove & replace do have a soft padding with a perforated inner layer that is in form of small openings.

The ear cups do have an open-back design with a perforated acoustic grill that is made from sheet metal with a white finish.

The earcup holders do have Left and Right markings on the outer surface.

The earcup holders do rotate just about 25 degrees that is not the most flexible design choice for headphones.

Both the left and the right ear-cups do sport 3.5mm female headphone inputs.

The crown hast the Moodrop Void branding that is positioned in to the center of this area.

The inner surface comes with a soft padding divided in to two parts and do offer a fairly comfortable wearing experience.

The headband size adjusting mechanism works pretty fine, while it is missing markings for a more precise adjustment.

The Moondrop Void has a pretty clean and minimalistic appearance. However those who expect a more sophisticated headphone design may won’t very satisfied with the design that has been used for the Void.

 

 

 

 

Drivability & Pairing:

The Moondrop Void is a relative efficient to diver open-back headphone with an impedance of 64 Ohms and sensitivity of about 110dB, which can be paired with modern USB DAC/Amplifier Dongles (Lotoo PW S1, HiBy FC4). However, I suggest you to pair it with sources that do have a more powerful amplification circuit such like DAP’s (tested with FiiO M11 Plus, iBasso DX300) or full-sized portable DAC/Amplifiers (iFi Audio Gryphon, xDuoo Poke II) that do offer an audible improvement in terms of overall sound performance.

 

 

 

 

Technical Specifications: 

• Model                          : Void
• Headphone Design    : Open Back
• Driver Type                 : Self-developed 50mm dia. Composite Diaphragm Dynamic Diver
• Frequency Response : 10-80kHz
• Impedance                  : 64Ω±15% (@1kHz)
• Sensitivity                   : 110dB/Vrms (@1kHz)
• Ear Cup Plugs            : Dual 3.5mm TRS
• Headphone Plug        : 3.5mm Single Ended

 

 

Sources used for this review:

• Headphones  : Moondrop Void
• DAP/DAC’s    : FiiO M11 Plus, iBasso DX300, iFi Audio Gryphon, HiBy FC4

 

 

 

Albums & tracks used for this review:

• Adele – My Little Love (Spotify)
• Randy Crawford – On Day I Will Fly Away (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Hayley Westenra – Odyssey Album (Dezzer HiFi)
• Dionne Warwick – Walk On By (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Sarah McLachlan – Angel (Flac 24bit/48kHz)
• Sertap Erener – Aşk (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Edith Piaf – Non Je Ne Regrette Rien (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Diana Krall – So Wonderful (DSF)
• Aretha Franklin – I Say A Little Payer (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• Sonya Yoncheva – (Giuseppe Verdi) II Trovatore, ActI (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• George Michael – Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
• David Bowie – Heroes (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
• Elton John – Rocket Man ((Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• Barry White – Just The Way You Are (Flac 24bit/48kHz)
• Isaac Hayes – Walk On By (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Sting – Englishman in New York – (Flac 24bit/48kHz)
• Eric Clapton – Wonderful Tonight (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• B.B. King – Riding With The King (Tidal Hi-Fi)
• Dave Gahan – Kingdom (Tidal Hi-Fi)
• U2 – Sunday Bloody Sunday (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Bro Safari, UFO! – Drama (Deezer HiFi)
• Armin Van Buuren – Vini Vici (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Daft Punk – Doin’ it Right (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• Jo Blankenburg – Meraki (Spotify)
• Lorde – Royals (Flac 24bit/48kHz)
• Massive Attack – Angel (Flac 24bit/48kHz)
• Toutant – Rebirth (Deezer HiFi)
• Gogo Penguin – Raven (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
• Gogo Penguin – Murmuration (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
• Portishead – It Could Be Sweet (Spotify)
• Max Richter – On the Nature of Daylight (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• Charly Antolini – Duwadjuwandadu (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
• Ferit Odman – Look, Stop & Listen (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
• Chopin – Nocturn No. 20 In C-Sharp Minor (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Fazıl Say – Nazım Oratoryosu (Live) (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Vivaldi – Le QuarttroStagioni “The Four Season” (Deezer HiFi)
• Otto Liebert & Luna Negra – The River (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
• Lunatic Soul – The Passage (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Deftones – My Own Summer (Shove it) (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Metallica – Sad but True (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• Metallica – Master of Puppets (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• Opeth – Windowpane (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Megadeth – Sweating Bullets (Tidal Hi-Fi)
• Rush’s – Leave That Thing Alone (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Slayer – Angel of Death (Spotify)
• Liquid Tension Experiment 2 – Acid Rain (Spotify)
• Yosi Horikawa – Bubbles (Spotify)

 

  

  

 

 

The Sound:

The Moondrop Void shows a tad warmer than neutral tonality, while it offers relative airy and open atmosphere thanks to its open-back design. The bass of the Void is mildly pronounced, pretty soft and relative fast in terms of response. The midrange has Moondrop’s typical character, which is transparent and fairly musical that shows a focal point in the upper midrange area. The treble range on the other hand is mildly pronounced, moderately bright and forgiving.

This review has been written after a burn-in period of about 50 hours. I have used the stock cable that are included in the standard package and equipments like the FiiO M11 Plus, iBasso DX320 and iFi Audio Gryphon for the auditions.

 

Bass / Midrange / Treble / Soundstage:

The subbass region of the Moondrop Void has an audible roll-off and shows an average depth and extension, while the rumble is noticeable but not very high due to the open-back nature of the headphone. However, the good thing about the subbass region is the decay, control and clarity.

The midbass of the Moondrop Void is more highlighted compared to the subbass region, which is again a result of the open-back design. The midbass area is pretty distinct, impactful and tight, while the sense of control is on an efficient level. What I like really like about the bass of the Void is the sense of clarity and resolution when I do listen to songs like Gogo Penguin “Raven” and Murmuration” that have a quite complex passages. The midbass area is free from muddiness and mixings even in bass heavy genres such like EDM, Trance or Electronic music, if the song is not very poorly recorded. Instruments such like drums, trumpets or bass guitars are produced with a quite natural sense of depth and intensity, while I would wish only a touch more body, intensity and depth in this area.

The midrange of the Void can be described as the star of the show. A great part of the midrange reflects Moondrop’s classical signature that stands out with its mildly warm tonality and a pretty transparent, relative forward and lively character. The biggest difference is the tamed upper midrange area, which sounds a bit smother and relaxed than previous Moondrop products (IEM/Earphones). The midrange is shown with a good sense of openness thanks to the open-back design of the headphone.

The lower midrange fairly produced with an has a sufficient level of body and depth that doesn’t sound thin or too dry when I do listen to male voices or to strings like acoustic guitars and cellos or to brass instruments such like trumpets or a sax. The level of clarity and resolution is on an efficient level, while I would wish a tad more fullness in this area.

The upper midrange has a good balance and pretty strong yet controlled emphasis, which makes the female vocal presentation of the Void quite successful. There are no remarkable shortcomings such like sibilance or over-sharpness when I do listen to female vocals such like Sertap Erener or Adel. Instrument on the other hand, such like violins, flutes or pianos are reproduced in a pretty lively and detailed manner, while the extension is on a sufficient level.

The treble range of the Moondrop Void is less highlighted and detailed compared to the upper midrange. However, it offers enough brilliance and presence for most music genres. The treble has a smooth, somewhat relaxed and forgiving character and is concentrated to the lower treble region. Instruments such like a crash cymbal do sound slightly more pronounced than a Hi-Hat. The upper treble range is able to produce a sufficient sense of airiness and sparkle, while the extension is a bit short.

The Moondrop Void is a pretty successful headphone at this price level, when it comes to the separation and placement of instruments. The Void offers a relative open atmosphere, while I would expect slightly more soundstage depth and wideness from an open-back headphone, which are on a moderate level.

 

 

Conclusion:

The Moondrop Void is the first Headphone of the company that will be the entry-level model of a new series of upcoming headphones. It’s an open-back headphone that offers a pretty mature, lively and clear sound profile that is based on Moondrop’s house sound. While I really like the overall sound presentation of the Void, the Midrange can be described as the star of the show. It has some areas to be improved such like the plasticky look&feel and the average soundstage performance, which I didn’t expected from an open-back headphone. However, please not that this is the early version of the final product that has been promised to be improved. All-in all a good step from Moondrop in to the World of Headphones!

 

 

 

Pros & Cons:

• + Silky Smooth Overall Presentation
• + Bass Speed & Authority
• + Moondrop’s Classical Midrange Character (just a bit Smoother & Relaxed)
• + Clear, Soft & Inoffensive Treble Tuning (makes it ideal for longer listening periods)
• + Easy to replace Ear Pads

 

• – Not a Detail Monster (Yes, I know It’s the entry-level model)
• – Slightly but audible Roll-off of the Subbass region
• – Average Soundstage Performance for an Open-Back Headphone
• – Plasticky look and feel

 

Thank you for the Read!