Introduction

MOONDROP appears to be competing for the title of most products to be released in a calendar year based on what we have seen so far in 2023 already. The Asian audio brand has recently diversified past its in-ear monitors forte into headphones and keyboards too, but has not forgotten to put out more IEMs than most people can reasonably keep track of. The Blessing 3 was a nice change of pace from the multitude of other IEMs coming out from MOONDROP in the past couple of years although having more budget-friendly earphones continues to be a good thing for the average consumer. Today we take a look at two more such entries in the form of the MOONDROP Droplet and LAN.


Consider this article effectively two quick looks in one. I was going to have them separated initially before realizing the price points are quite close to each other and end up being direct competitors to an extent. As such, it makes sense to talk about them together here. The Droplet is an officially licensed collaboration with Cixin Liu's The Three-Body Problem, an excellent piece of sci-fi that had a TV show airing in China recently to where these IEMs were clearly intended to be part of the marketing hype train for the show. It uses digital signal processing similar to the MOONDROP Quarks DSP in that it terminates in a Type-C connection with an integrated DAC and has pre-loaded EQ filters too. The other item, MOONDROP LAN, can be considered as an upgraded Chu in going for metal shells and a detachable cable. Both aim to be strong contenders for your first set of IEMs, and perhaps even your last if you are happy enough, so let's thank HiFiGo and SHENZHENAUDIO for providing a review sample each of The Droplet and LAN, respectively, and begin with a look at the product specifications in the tables below.

Specifications

MOONDROP The Droplet

Officially called The Droplet, this MOONDROP IEM is based off the small unmanned spaceships in the The Three-Body Problem IP bearing the same name. Given the official collaboration here, the product box uses the theme to a good extent. The box itself is shaped different from other such MOONDROP IEMs by going for a thin and tall form factor, which lends favorably to having the design on the front showcasing the droplet ship from the sci-fi work. Both participating companies are shown here with logos and names alike in addition to a confirmation that this is a USB Type-C device. On the back is a diagram showing the internals, a factory frequency response curve, product specifications, and contact information for MOONDROP. This outer sleeve can be removed from the top or bottom to access the thicker cardboard inner box that has another droplet design on it. Open the box to reveal the IEMs snugly packed in a thick foam sheet which also has a dog tag-style souvenir and a thin carry/storage case that is made of faux leather and looks like a coin-pouch. The IEMs have the attached cable tucked in the bottom layer where we also find a QC card, two postcards, and a user guide going through the setup and use of these IEMs.


The case has MOONDROP etched on the front and uses a button insert to close/open, so I am skeptical about how long this will last in a good condition. There isn't the most space inside either, so this is one of my least preferred IEM case designs. Inside is a plastic zip-lock bag that contains the included ear tips. Interestingly, MOONDROP is choosing to pair the Droplet only with foam tips and we get three pairs in sizes S/M/L as seen above. No silicone tips is a first for me in all the reviews I have done and overall I'd say this is a mediocre set of accessories if you don't consider the use of the Three-Body Problem IP.


The Droplet with the attached cable can be somewhat messy to handle, especially since the cable is more resistant to reshaping than I would prefer. There is very little information available about the cable except for what we can already see with photos, including the use of a USB Type-C connector allowing you to use the Droplet directly with a compatible phone/tablet/PC/laptop. This also means there is a USB DAC inside taking the digital audio signal from the source and converting it to an audio signal being fed to the IEMs. This means the Droplet is a handy product for those who can't be bothered with portable DAC/amps or dongles while also allowing MOONDROP to pre-include EQ filters to help obtain a tonality closer to their goals. The cable splits into two closer to the other end where more MOONDROP/Three-Body Problem branding is seen on the housings, and then goes directly into the IEMs. The right side has an in-line microphone with integrated physical controls for volume control to further appeal to the end user.


Now we get to the IEMs themselves which are way smaller than I originally thought having seen photos online. The cables are attached at the bottom of the shells which themselves are made of brass and given a shiny chrome plating. The Droplet is shaped like one even if you are not familiar with the novel/TV shows, with a pointy end that expands into a more bulbous front. The shells are extremely reflective and can be fingerprint magnets, especially since you are likely to hold on to them to pull the IEMs out of the ears. There is no vent or branding on the shells and the front end terminates in a relatively long and uniformly thick nozzle with a metal filter at the end to help prevent contaminants from going in. Installing the ear tips is simple enough since the nozzle is not too wide and the ear tips bore can fit over the nozzle while using friction to remain in place. Do note that a deeper fit might mean the ear tips could dislodge since there is no retaining lip on the nozzle.


Seen above is the right side of the Moondrop Droplet installed in an anthropomorphic pinna that does well in showing my own experience with these. I have average-sized ears, and found the size M foam tips to work plenty fine. The shells are tiny compared to most IEMs on the market so getting a good fit will not be an issue for the vast majority of readers. The Droplet is also a bullet-style set of IEMs in that you can easily insert them straight into the ear canals with the cable hanging down. This is different from most others with pre-formed ear hooks that have the cable going over and behind your ears and, ideally, down the back of your shirt and not the front. These do not get that option as you are meant to have the cable go down the front where the in-line microphone and controls will now be placed closer to your mouth too. Try the various ear tips provided to get a deep and secure fit. There's no physical fatigue otherwise given the shells weigh ~5 g each, and I was able to achieve very good isolation with the stock tips too which should not be a surprise given the lack of any vent on the IEMs. Indeed, this is a result of the Droplet going with a single full-range balance armature driver. Once again we do not get any details about the driver as with the cable before. The good thing is the DAC in the cable already takes care of any power requirements so you do not need to be concerned about how much power is needed to drive these IEMs and what the best source is. On the other hand, if the integrated DAC isn't very good then you have no choice but to stick with it unless you decide to mod the cable to a substantial degree.


The funny thing is when you do connect the Droplet cable to your PC, it is recognized as a MOONDROP Quarks DSP. This means MOONDROP did not even take the time to re-name the device ID and the cable is using the same cheap Realtek DAC as in the $15 Quarks DSP that displayed the background noise and phase issues that may or may not bother you. I was fine with it here, for what it's worth. Note also that you get only 16-bit playback up to 48 kHz, which should hopefully be adequate for anyone considering the Droplet.


Testing was done similar to all other IEMs such as the recently reviewed MOONDROP Blessing 3. Seen above is the measured frequency response for both channels of the Droplet plotted against my personal IEM target, which can be inspected further here if interested. I have also added in the average response against the Harman 2019v2 in-ear target given it does feel like a natural comparison based on the tonality of the Droplet. You can also see how the mids onward section is quite similar to the older IEF Neutral target too. We also see the channel balance on my sample is very good and more than satisfactory given the budget-friendly nature of these IEMs.

The immediate thought I had when I first listened to the Droplet is these are quite bassy and bordering on shouty. It's even bassier than the Harman in-ear target which is too much for me personally, and I suppose the biggest compliment I can give MOONDROP here is the bass quantity and quality feels executed well enough to fool people into thinking there is a single dynamic driver inside, not a BA. The bass shelf extends from ~200 Hz going down to where it feels clean and impactful with good extension all the way down to 20 Hz. This can mean some mid-bass punch is on the weaker side, especially for kick drums, but on the other hand you get clean mids allowing for forward vocals and excellent instrument separation. The ear gain is where I did feel the DAC filters were possibly pushing the BA driver more since, even outside of the shouty trailing ends, I wasn't getting enough clarity here. The same continued with string instruments and the mid-treble onward too. The Droplet is not a fatiguing set and is arguable smooth, but comes off overly dampened despite the decent treble extension. Overall I would say this is a fine set for the form factor, but not necessarily the best value purely from a sound experience. If you are fan of The Three-Body Problem universe then I can see the Droplet being of interest to you, especially with the feature set making it more user-friendly. It costs $49.99 from HiFiGo as of the date of this article.