Moondrop U-2 Earbuds Review – Chrome De La Chrome

The $35 Moondrop U-2 is a good sounding mainstream earbud that excels through its natural reproduction, (relatively) punchy bass, good rhythm, and cool design.

The Moondrop U-2 was provided unsolicited by SHENZHENAUDIO for my review and I thank them for that. You can get them here.

Introduction

I once had a buddy who worked nightshifts in a London hospital, right by the river Thames. He was an electrician who sometimes received phone calls during his work. And he loved listening to music – all night long. Hence my buddy needed earbuds, that kind of headphone that doesn’t isolate well. After all he had to hear the environmental sounds around him.

He also liked a selection of gear, for example, he had 16 DAPs. And since he was a craftsman, he loved creating his own earbuds, with parts ordered from aliexpress.

We once met at the famous Hope and Anchor Pub in Islington, North London, where he gave me three of these home-brew earbuds as a gift. Not long thereafter, the pandemic broke out and he sadly died. Needless to say that I hold his earbuds in the highest honour in my collection.

Once you have stuffed your handkerchief back into your pocket, let me tell you the story of the earbud: they were initially a Sennheiser invention from way before the iPhone. At one point, the German company offered a large selection in all price categories.

This changed with the advent of the in-ear monitors. Sennheiser largely dropped this type, but other companies took over. But what remained was the classic Sennheiser shape, which many copycats “inherited”.

And all of these had one thing in common: they did not isolate well and their bass response was weak. For example, my $12 Moondrop Shiro Yuki sounded gutless – they have been buried deep in my basement since right after I received them. Many swore on the “good sound” of the $5 VE Monk Plus. If you liked those (they were awful for me), you are in for a real treat with the U-2.

Some manufacturers improved on the limp bass response, however at a price. Such models were quite costly. The Moondrop Liebesleid comes to mind (German for “heartache“: named after a Georg Kreisler’s violin miniature).

In the big picture, earbuds have fallen out of favour as they all look somewhat the same and don’t offer anything new and exciting in terms of sound. Hybrid earphones took their place.

Recently, the market has been overflowing with hybrids so that Moondrop’s marketing department had to come up with something different: and, according to the motto “back to the future”, it was another pair of $35 earbuds. After all, the company has lots of experience in this field. Hallelujah!

But hey, stop now and read on…what?

Specifications Moondrop U-2

Physical Things and Usability

In the box are the earbuds, 5 pairs of black textile covers, (too small a) storage bag, manual, certificate, and service card. The cable is a spindly, pliable, dirt repellant, salt & pepper braid without microphonics and an L-shaped 3.5 mm plug on one end. It cannot be removed from the earbuds. The earcups and cable ends are held in place by a metal frame reminiscent of a muscular paper clip. Haptic and optical appeal are very good for me.

The earpieces sit comfortably in my ears and isolate as poorly as you are used to from other models.

Tonality and Technicalities

I operated the U-2 with my iPhone SE (first gen.), which still has a headphone jack – and I used a pair of the included covers. Drives them with ease. What I first noticed is the U-2’s great bass extension. Absolutely surprising. Beats many budget earphones in this respect. A clean, well layered bass that stays down there and leaves the mids alone. It even has a good punch. Quite a bit actually.

Timbre is excellent, stage is also surprisingly wide and tall, a very natural listening experience. These earphones have PRAT. Midrange has no harsh spots, lower midrange and vocals may come out naturally, but don’t have quite the depth as you would expect from an in-ear monitor – but are still quite good. These may also not have the heft of a comparable in-ear, but way more than any of my vintage Sennheiser or my buddy’s homemade types.

Treble? Also rather clean, well extended, and surprisingly well resolving. Overall the U-2 don’t break a world record however deliver good mainstream tuning at a decent price. Yes, you can use them for listening to music over long period of times…I find them actually quite enjoyable (to use my buddy’s terminology).

Concluding Remarks

In summary, the Moondrop U-2 are well designed, good sounding, cohesive mainstream earbuds for listeners who are in need of staying connected to their environment. They work with a phone and don’t need any extra amplification. My listening experience with them is simply good. On top of that, they look and feel great, and they are comfy. All I need.

I quite like these.

Until next time…keep on listening!