$79 headphones are NO joke... Moondrop Joker Review

The Moondrop Joker! An affordable closed back headphone I was really excited about... until I heard it...
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00:00 - Intro
00:39 - Build, Design & Comfort
02:24 - Sound: Subjective
04:50 - Sound: Objective
06:25 - Conclusion

[@liammadridista2395]

The audio equivalent of looking directly at the sun

[@Jordonater]

Maybe but its so bright that we might need to travel to another solar system and find a bigger star

[@minminli6248]

Moondrop...tried to reach for the moon but they dropped.

[@TheWorldTeacher]

😜

[@bangengeman]

The way DMS was talking early on, I knew he wasn't even trying to hide his disdain for this.

[@gibgun]

Andrew on the thumbnail of a DMS video really threw me off!

[@trs5127]

5:04 that's the COMPENSATED curve? Holy fucking shit that's a trashcan treble simulator

[@SuperReview]

If I bend the steel band inward directly above the ear cup yokes I get a pretty nice fit. Still don’t sound good tho.

[@ArkSylv]

I've been using them for around a month now and I personally have no complaints. I regularly swap between them and my Moondrop KATO and enjoy both.

[@dbcobbster]

I bought these for $67 on Amazon, and I'm satisfied, for the money. I wish they had a little more bass. I just use these for casual listening. Do I wish they were better? Well, of course. But for the money, they aren't terrible.

[@sidesaladaudio]

Dang, that sucks. I was pretty excited to see moondrop have a similar effect to the headphone market that they had on the IEM market, but it seems most of their headphones so far have been just okay for the price, to sub-par. But, I hope to see improvements over time, since they do seem serious to trying to improve their headphones.

[@MuhammadKharismawan]

Making good sounding headphones requires more cost in parts, material, prototyping, R&D, etc that's why Chifi revolution come only on IEMs. They're way easier platform to prototype on, have easier tolerance in fit affecting sound, and you can just play around with the drivers and their crossovers to tune them. Over ear you have to make the right earpads that's both comfortable and positively affect the sound, you Can only play with a single driver so you better get a good one, and design the enclosure around it to both look good and not negatively impact the driver's performance.

[@blorg8206]

The Venus is genuinely very good. It has a few quirks but the sound is very good. The only issue is the Edition XS and Ananda which are around the same price or even less with Hifiman's frequent price drops. But those are I think about the absolute best headphones in this price range and it is competing with those in terms of the sound quality, while having some aspects that are better- like it looks really great, with a solid all-metal build.

[@sebastianhanzlik4644]

🎉vccvvx x

[@TheWorldTeacher]

The headband pad resembles that of the Sennheiser HD-600.

[@thetndixie]

Great video ❤️😍

[@GolgothFR]

Nice review. It confirms what 'No Theme Reviews' told about this headphone sound profile. I'm not too bothered by high frequencies when it comes to sound signature but for as far as this feature doesn't come with a strong quality to compensate such as high details retrieval, very large soundstage or amazing sound positioning, i hardly find any reason to be interested in this product. No, that being said, Moondrop just released a new one: the Moondrop Para. And from what 'No Theme Reviews' said it seems to be a MUCH better product but one sold at a higher price tag (about 300$). So, waiting for more hi-fi reviewers to test it to compare reviews on the Moondrop Para.

[@zippymagee]

Great Jokes Doug ! I thought it was Andrew as well :D

[@vianhoho19]

I tried these a few weeks back. I took them off after 2 minutes 🤮 I was actually sickened by how thin and bright these are 🤦‍♂️

[@TheWorldTeacher]

What do you recommend in its price range?

[@yin-fire3263]

Personal opinion, the Phillips SHP 9600 are great for about the same price, but they are opened back.

[@proceph]

if it were me, I'd just look into iems. sub 150 headphones have too much compromise in either sound quality or build quality.

[@high-captain-BaLrog]

K361/k371 Or koss porta pros are a staple

[@TheMaurob1979]

😂

[@patrickdanneker5480]

Moon dropped the ball!

[@endorphinADMIN]

with a serious face and calm and pensively reflective tone, you sound hilarious, albeit, about a "joker" headphone. the review lands!

[@sockhopsinger]

Maybe if Moondrop focused on quality over quantity I would be willing to try them again. As it stands, of the four IEMs and two headphones I have tried, one is acceptable.

[@juanp.mendoza8114]

Which one?

[@Polyfusia]

Anyone looking at these should just wait for Prime Day and get a 560S or 599 on heavy discount. It's a no brainer

[@colinmartin9797]

I gave a pair of grado sr80x's to my stepdad, who is losing a lot of his upper treble hearing after decades as a firefighter, his face genuinely lit up with delight. He loves music and hadnt heard so much of it in so long because of his ears. Hot treble does really have a use. Honestly i like it too despite having better than average for 35 hearing, myself. But without a good fit, it sounds like a miss.

[@ChrisStoneinator]

This is orders of magnitude brighter than a Grado though, even i-series Grado.

[@colinmartin9797]

@@ChrisStoneinator really? Did you try them? Because I see some people who like thr joker and some who hate it. And anything brighter than a damned grado should be UNIVERSALLY hated, lol. Even us grado fanboys admit our goofy little headphones are bright as hell

[@ChrisStoneinator]

@@colinmartin9797 Beyer seem to get away with it! There are a lot of surprisingly warm Grados in their back catalogue, to be fair, and the more expensive modern models tend to tame some of the brightness and add bass extension. But even the 80x's are not the brightest headphones in the world. They've got maybe 5dB of emphasis in a pretty narrow 2k band and again in the presence region. That's bright, don't get me wrong, but I'd say a majority won't find it outright fatiguing. Heck, it's a very popular headphone among young audiophiles, and certainly not for its comfort, QoL features, soundstage or bass, so it must be just right for a lot of people. Moondrop Joker has a 6dB cut in the lower mids (the warmth region - Grados are pretty much bang on target here) and then a wiiiiiiiiiiiide 6dB boost across the entire upper mid-lower treble (just below 2k to just above 3k). A LOT of brightness lives there. Meanwhile the DT990 Pro hits you with 8dB of presence and 12dB at 9kHz. People buy those still.

[@BassDad8]

I ponied up the $530 for the Venus. I can, without hesitation, say they are the best headphones I’ve ever heard. They are not perfect. I do EQ them with a 3-4 db boost in the sub bass to mid bass frequencies. But when I do that, they are just about perfect for me. I just don’t want to take them off once I’ve got em on, running through a zen Dac v2. I don’t use the bass boost on it, just an EQ. They’re borderline magical. That’s why I’m so sorry to hear that the Joker (and Void) are so terrible. I really wanted t own a few sets of Moondrop headphones. Looks like for now, that’s not going to happen. Thanks for the honest and fair review DMS. On point once again!

[@anonymoususer.999]

Alright who paid you this for this garbage and unbelievable comment, the moondrop venus is literally sub par and for 530$ it’s garbage 😂😂

[@ubacow7109]

Waiting on the new Austrian audio review

[@fiddlix]

I have heard nothing but horror stories about this headphone set. Shame on Moondrop.

[@TheMaurob1979]

Doing like they do are just digging their own graves.. (metaphor)

[@Lovelacewatkins139]

How about the quad era 1 , planar phones ,

[@sen6516]

Some decent closed backs at ~100 usd in no particular order are the akg k361, ath m40x, cal se and the takstar pro 82. Each of them have their own quirks but at this budget range, can't really complain.

[@enjoshi-godrez8775]

The ATH series shouldn't be on anyone's list anymore. It served its purpose of being "ok" in the mid 2010's. Not anymore.

[@sen6516]

@@enjoshi-godrez8775the m40x is probably not the best sounding of the bunch for pure music listening, but it's still relevant for mixing: it is mostly neutral but a bump in the upper and mid bass which is not usually ideal helps you adjust for bass bleed since a lot of consumer headphones are bass boosted. The bass bump of the m40x is not nearly as bad as the m50x at least, and is still the most neutral out of the bunch. The build quality is also pretty good in the price range, considering it's foldable and brought on the go, many people have reported using it for years without breaking. While the k361 can also be folded inwards, it does come out as a bit more rickety.

[@enjoshi-godrez8775]

​@@sen6516the 40 is the only one worth considering exactly for the build related qualities you mentioned. Problem for the studio is its fatiguing in the presence region from upto 8k. This is the opposite from what you want a studio monitoring device to do, which is why most that were actually made for monitoring, recess the region between 4 and 8k. Not just because its less fatiguing, but because reducing that region mimics a studio stero monitoring (as in speaker monitors) more authentically. Its not the best option even with its superior build.

[@jonathancraig9005]

Love the K361. Very comfortable and capable.

[@JohnSmith-oe4bw]

​@@enjoshi-godrez8775- That's absurd to say. There's a reason why m40's & m50's are still so popular in consumer/pro circles, and a staple in pro audio. They are great all-rounders. I'd take 40/50 over the 361/371 any day.

[@Benri05]

This is why we need budget cans like the shp9500 in the $50 price range for companies to compete, instead we get "audiophiles" comparing a $50 can to a $500 one then trashing the cheap set, nitpicking every single flaw as if it's not priced at $50. Now the new ones we get at the under $100 price range is literal garbage tier.

[@enjoshi-godrez8775]

Calm down, the k361 is your friend. Also the he400 orginal is now $100. Also, KPE40s if you don't care for extention.

[@enjoshi-godrez8775]

Headphones are not going to be good value in this range like buying wine at the equivalent isn't. There is only so low you can cut cost on something with so much material and expenditure, before it becomes destitute for the given turnover. Iems fill that gap in material cost below $50.

[@Benri05]

@@enjoshi-godrez8775 both headphones that you listed are $150-200 in my area so they are not even in the same price point. Cheap IEMs nowadays have great price to performance wise but the same can be applied to other cheap headphones, boggles the mind that a company like Moondrop that makes great tuned products would release something like the Joker, well I guess the name kinda implies it already.

[@enjoshi-godrez8775]

​​@@Benri05the ps5 is $1600 in Brazil. You just live somewhere were investment and opportunity is terribly weak. Thats not the fault of anyone but your region or country.

[@enjoshi-godrez8775]

​@@Benri05like any item will be expensive somewhere in the world. Thats not the item or manufacturers fault.

[@pisderata]

moondrop 2022-2023 tunning is a case of study, they fell of so hard, Lan and Space Travel the only releases with no major flaws

[@chungang7037]

Making a good closed back is apparently hard.

[@raulbite854]

Hey DMS I'm rly rly curious if the moon drop para is worth over edition xs . Where I am the price difference is 50 dollars.

[@hartyewh1]

Most reviews put them competing with Sundara and H6XX (and maybe losing) so likely not competitive with XS.

[@raulbite854]

@@hartyewh1 TNX

[@lain2236ad]

The comfort is way better on the xs in terms of weight

[@raulbite854]

@@lain2236ad what about edition xs vs ananda for sound quality?

[@ajipray6624]

Waiting moondrop para review

[@SParkAtomix]

It’s on his personal channel

[@Wainster]

I don't see how this does Moondrop's reputation any good at all. I used to own the S8, and rated the IEM's. But to release something so broken for things like fit/comfort - is just shit IMHO. I don't think they care, this headphone is the epitome of not caring lol... good vid all the same.

[@drill_fiend1097]

Throw a bunch of random products to see which one sticks. They aren't the only ones doing it; the entire Chi-Fi is like that. KZ is probably the wildest one.

[@DavidHuffTexas]

LOL, it's like a DT990 but _brighter_. And we all know how much DMS likes bright headphones 😅 (I like my DT990's just fine, but I'm an old dude with a fair amt of high freq hearing loss, so...)

[@markovlasic1978]

if they play SLAYER well, they are enough for me.

[@andrearenaudo9045]

I seriously doubt that headphones that bright would play Slayer or even any kind of metal well

[@markovlasic1978]

thats why i said so about phones. Slayer and similiar productions are great test for any cans.lots of midrange and harsh treble. @@andrearenaudo9045

[@Shyvorix]

​@andrearenaudo9045 Yea rock and metal need good midrange and decent bass (high quality bass for heavier metal), so these headphones will feel like shit for any music. Not to mention if they fit bad, nothing will fix that except different cans...

[@andrearenaudo9045]

@@Shyvorix And, on top of good midrange and bass, they also need good dynamics, like those of a Focal clear/elex or of a properly driven He6se/v2

[@benjamintalley455]

How are these compared to the Beyer T90? Lol

[@ConsecDesign]

damn, the mac miller love is palpable

[@andrearenaudo9045]

Bright and relatively cheap closed-backs: I think those are studio headphones for monitoring (like the mdr 7506) rather than mixing

[@BrunoLiraArraisMaia]

Those Chinese brands release 100 products per month in hopes that one sticks the landing

[@hartyewh1]

Then again Sennheiser hasn't released a new (actually new) headphone in over a decade.

[@andrearenaudo9045]

​@@hartyewh1And why should they? The HD6X0 design is tried and true, for decades they were the default recommendation in the 200-300€ price range, and recently only the Sundara has managed to claim a spot as a viable alternative (alternative, not replacement mind you) to them

[@TheCloudsMySofa]

maybe just studio tracking cans for asian lady vocals 😊❤

[@saikousocial]

The Moondrop Jonkler???

[@cedricamonn8335]

Ya like Jazzzzz ?

[@patrickhamning1734]

Ive learned that moondrop just drops overpriced products and puts a underage waifu on the box then calls it a day because for some reason dudes just love them waifus

[@skankhunt420]

There's a reason they called it "Joker"... Sry, but i can't understand why you're even talking about them

[@BobbyDigital6411]

Either their headphones are too heavy, or they sound like crap. They really need to figure out that middle ground before releasing anymore headphones...

[@aynsley544]

The Moondrop Joker is a perfect fit for me. No gaps top, bottom, or side, and no uncomfortable pressure points. I can wear them for hours. I don't have the technical know-how to critique the measurements, but subjectively the Joker handles everything from classical to folk to rock with clear trebles and solid bass. Just one data point from a satisfied user. YMMV.

[@enjoshi-godrez8775]

Please do your ears and dignity a favour and get a k361 if you are insistent on a closed back headphone.

[@JESUSISCALLINGYOU7]

Moondrop is one of those audio companies I don't respect. They churn out so many products all willy-nilly. The best audio companies seldomly release new products. It's like young perfume houses that release more fragrances in one year than established ones have released in the entirety of their existence. Quality suffers with volume.

[@TheMaurob1979]

I guess woulb be better for moondrop to look more into sound quality instead than this bulls...thing like scratch the earcups... And even the other 2 headphones they mae are not good at all... Only way is beat hifiman.. And ia not gonna happen in 100 years

[@chefsteve8381]

The one true test is if Andrew can fix a crappy headphone with EQ.....

[@mccririck01]

Very disappointing product. Not what you want to see in the run up to Christmas.

[@zygote8888]

Looks like they made it as a joke 🤣😂🤣

[@mohamadanas6203]

Moondrop noob. Recently they rush in releasing new stuff. And they always miss

[@patrickmartineau1008]

I rather enjoy these with a good bass boost *shrug* Just feels like a lot of internet headphone reviewers are ganging up on these headphones for being different. Bullies, all of you 🤪

[@ramspencer5492]

Wow. That sounds really, really horrible...

[@patrickdanneker5480]

Moon dropped the ball!

[@patrickdanneker5480]

Moon dropped the ball!

[@patrickdanneker5480]

Moon dropped the ball!