So, I received the Moondrop Spaceship a couple days ago, and having listened to them for a while I think it’s time to share some first impressions. I already own the Moondrop Crescent, and I absolutely adore them. I was sad that Moondrop discontinued them, so let’s see if the Spaceship is an able replacement.
Packaging and Contents: The box itself is very cheap, and I accidentally cut it with my box-cutter. Either way, it’s a far cry from the nice one that you get with the Moondrop Crescent.
Accessories: The accessories are also very sparse: 3 pairs of silicone tips and a carrying pouch (the same one as Crescent). However, unlike the crappy eartips of the Crescent, Spaceship has really good ones. They are soft and seals well. Big improvement.
Build and Comfort: Now, comfort is another area where Spaceship has improved over the Crescent. They are much smaller compared to the Crescent, and quite a bit lighter as well. However, in terms of actual build quality — Crescent has the upper hand. The cable is slightly thicker, and the strain reliefs are more substantial on the Crescent. I also prefer how dense Crescent housings feel in hand (though that leads to its heaviness). Fortunately Moondrop didn’t change the housing material and it’s still a chrome-plated brass housing.
Sound: I’ve only had the Spaceship for about 2 days, so I can definitely not give any sort of final verdict. However, I can confidently say that these sound great for the price, and a lot more balanced than any KZ/CCA stuff in this range. On a related note: these follow the Harman target for the most part.
The bass on these are the weakest point so far. Sub-bass response is very muted and lacks authority. Mid-bass kick is there to a degree but more often than not it is lacking in comparison with the Crescent.
Midrange and treble is where the Spaceship shines, just like the Crescent used to do. Male vocals sound a bit less emphasized for my tastes (I am spoiled by the Final E5000 and the HD650 on that regard) but female vocals sound really good. Plenty of air and the instruments are rendered with a natural tonality. Treble is not overdone at all and it won’t sound bad even on poorly mastered tracks. Cymbals sound good for the most part, though they have a tendency to smear in fast drum-passages. This is something I will focus more on in the final review.
As usual, Moondrop knows how to do Soundstage well, and these have a really wide soundstage considering how small the housings are. Fantastic work there by Moondrop. Imaging is something I haven’t tested thoroughly yet so I’ll get back to that in the full review.
Miscellaneous: A few other things that stand out:
- These dynamic micro-drivers need power to shine. They are not as inefficient as the Crescent, but even then they demand turning the volume up on most phones.
- Moondrop loves to hide the R/L markings, and instead they put something tactile. On the Crescent it was the ridge in the earphone strain relief. On the Spaceship, there’s a small bump on the left strain relief. It’s great for finding these out in the dark, but upon first use it can take a minute to figure things out.
- Moondrop really needs to do some more marketing. The Crescent was such a good IEM but flew under the radar. Disappointing and sad.
Either way, I like them so far, and I hope to share more information in the final review. Keep your eyes peeled for that, but if you need a verdict just now — I’d say that go for them in case you are on the fence about buying them or not. They sound different enough to warrant a purchase considering the price bracket.
