Moondrop Lan Review (2) – The Lion And The Cobra, Pt. II
Durwood (review here) captures the essence of this entry-level offering from house favorite Moondrop—balanced, bass shy (though you can coax some subbass presence with foam tips and very deed insertion) with a boosted upper midrange and, above all, a very lean note texture. A couple of points of emphasis:
- Soundstage is exceptionally wide, though low-ceilinged and two dimensional; performers sound as if they are seated in a long straight line and practicing social distancing. Treble detail is very good for the price point.
- Instrument separation is absolutely uncanny with these; there is no blurring of frequencies. As a consequence, these struggle a bit with coherence and have a somewhat analytical quality—your ears get drawn to the individual performers rather than to an integrated whole.
- Drums do have some snap and short decay, but lack depth and boom.
- Overall clarity is good, but they don’t rock—I kept craving the fullness and warmth of Moondrop’s better offerings.
On one level, $40 seems like a bargain for these—they’re very well-built and rich looking, comfortable and good-fitting, and isolation is very good. Not for a second, though, was I transposed while listening to them. Which means, I suppose, they’re not much of a bargain.
