Moondrop Block TWS Earphones Review – The Empire Strikes, Whiffs, and Trips

INTRO

Moondrop Block joins the ever expanding lineup of wireless earphones in their lineup. In the extreme budget value landscape there are what seems an almost infinite selection of options. Moondrop appears to be trying to entice people to give them a shot at $19 and grab some market share. Given the dark and undefined anything and everything, I am not sure who the target audience may be.

DESIGN AND FEATURES

Should you be one of them is the question you are asking yourself? The Block is a departure from their in-ears like the Moondrop Space Travel TWS or the Golden, Alice etc. Instead they are an odd bulbous shape that is not entirely a good shape for an anchor. If they cannot stay put, I guarantee they become nothing more than an annoying reminder of money wasted away.

 It is obvious Moondrop took their Space shape and whacked the nozzles off. Money saving as far as tooling, but I find them fitting rather loosely in my ears due to that decision. I think they should have tried a bit harder, and not do the bare minimum. It does them no favors in the sound department either as I will discuss later.

Moondrop Block borrows the terrible open case design found in their other TWS models and makes it smaller. I despise the open case design as way too easy for the earbuds to fall out and get lost in your bag or even worse no longer in your possession. If they fall out of the case in your bag or pocket, it is highly likely they will not be charged when you need them. The slide in and like all TWS, have embedded magnets to keep them in place.

At $20 the case does not have wireless charging either, but a short USB-C included just no wall adapter. The minimal packaging is a departure from their Waifu inspired packaging they are known for, with Waifu only displayed on the tip card and small instruction booklet.

CONTROLS

Controls of the Moondrop Block are responsive enough, they are described in the instruction booklet.

• Play/Pause-Single tap L/R
• Previous/Next Track Double Tap L/R
• Answer/Hang Up tap L/R
• Decline long press L/R for 1.5s
• Call Forward Single tap L/R
• Call Switching double tap L/R
• Voice Assistant tap 3 times L/R
• Music/Game Mode switching tap L/R 4 times

SOUND

Tested with LG G8 and IPhone SE

Realistic expectations are set for the $20 Moondrop Block, and what you get is a rather bland, dull and dark sounding earbud. Warmer undefined bass has a mushy punch, if you can insert them closer it can improve at the expense of too much quantity. Alas, the bulbous shape strikes again. Apple wired earbuds have tighter better defined bass resolution for comparison. Midrange sprinkles a tiny ounce of depth, but overall feels closed in and congested, more so a result of no treble to liven it up. The veiled treble is not well defined and like eating store bought cookies, it will leave you completely unsatisfied.  

Again, compared to wired Apple earbuds ($20) as an easy example, the treble from those have actual shimmer and a basic consumer level cleanliness the Block is lacking. While the Block follows the VSDF of Moondrop preference tuning method, it just leaves you with the sensation of listening to a TV soundbar or one of those JBL boomboxes using fullrange drivers. It covers the range, but not with any purpose or real effort put forth to be considered hi-fidelity. The Moondrop Block is extremely dark sounding more so than a TV soundbar, so perhaps I give them too much credit.

It impacts their ability to provide a general openness I would expect from earbuds, and they definitely sound low-fi. Perhaps they have use for audiobooks and podcasts, where low-fi is fine.

SAD ENDING

Moondrop Block priced at the level of a case of cheap beer offers that level of vice appeasement. If you are interested in trying out wireless earbuds over in-ear counterparts they are a low loss of entry. There is a realistic expectation that should be considered however, and the design of the case and the shape of the shell do not help in cementing this as something I can recommend. I expected a little more effort from Moondrop, and it proves not everything they do is roses and rainbows.

Disclaimer: I am thankful for SHENZHENAUDIO for sending these free to review and critique. You can ORDER them here.

SPECIFICATIONS MOONDROP BLOCK

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DISCLAIMER

Get it from ShenzhenAudio Store.

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About my measurements.