{"video_id":"LRkDQZo_Anw","title":"Giving you what you *think* you want - Moondrop Skyland","channel":"ShortCircuit","show":"ShortCircuit","published_at":"2026-02-03T14:58:16Z","duration_s":675,"segments":[{"start_s":0.08,"end_s":6.879,"text":"Moonrop makes some of the most revered IM in the audio game, but they've","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":5.359,"end_s":11.519,"text":"struggled to make their headphones really sing. But maybe, just maybe,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":9.2,"end_s":16.72,"text":"they'll do that with this bad boy, the Moonrop Skyland. And it comes in this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":14.4,"end_s":19.92,"text":"over-the-top kind of noisy case. And here it says Quasil Lap outed, which","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":18.4,"end_s":24.16,"text":"apparently means something nice from Guliver's Travels. It also says caution.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":22.08,"end_s":29.92,"text":"And while this case looks all metal, it is, I can assure you, mostly plastic.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":26.56,"end_s":33.2,"text":"And inside of it, our headphones. Ooh,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":29.92,"end_s":34.719,"text":"the Skylands right away. Very, very","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":33.2,"end_s":38.399,"text":"heavy. But before we get there, let's take a look at what else is in the box.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":36.239,"end_s":43.6,"text":"The QC card and the headset comes with a few cables. The cable terminates in a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":40.239,"end_s":45.2,"text":"4.4 mm balanced output, which gives you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":43.6,"end_s":48.0,"text":"an indication of the kind of people that they're marketing this to, but the side","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":46.8,"end_s":52.079,"text":"that does connect to the headphones are just 3.5 mm jacks, which means that you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":50.32,"end_s":57.039,"text":"can easily swap out cables should you so desire. You also get two adapters","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":53.92,"end_s":61.76,"text":"included in the box, a balanced XLR and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":57.039,"end_s":63.68,"text":"a/4in jack. So 3.5 mm fanboys, uh, see","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":61.76,"end_s":67.439,"text":"you later. You get nothing. Like, it's so annoying. I just don't have the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":65.04,"end_s":70.799,"text":"option by default to plug these into most of the devices that I own. And","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":69.119,"end_s":74.72,"text":"anyways, balance connections are kind of dumb for headphones. But if you're","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":72.64,"end_s":79.6,"text":"somebody who maybe has a nice powerful amp, then I guess you can um use this.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":78.0,"end_s":84.32,"text":"Balance connections are for increased signal integrity, which matters over","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":81.119,"end_s":86.159,"text":"very long distances, not the like four,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":84.32,"end_s":89.6,"text":"five ft that this is. And also, if you care about signal integrity, why'd you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":87.6,"end_s":92.799,"text":"make it flat? that has worse shielding. But this is all a minor unimportant","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":91.6,"end_s":97.04,"text":"crash out for something that doesn't matter. What does matter is the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":95.439,"end_s":102.32,"text":"headphones. They're heavy and worrisomely not rigid","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":99.28,"end_s":104.24,"text":"and bouncy. The headband itself is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":102.32,"end_s":108.24,"text":"carbon fiber, but this little headband support, it's 3D printed. We've seen","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":105.92,"end_s":113.759,"text":"similar designs like this on headphone modifications. We actually did a video","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":109.92,"end_s":116.479,"text":"uh with DankPods on LT where we used a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":113.759,"end_s":120.96,"text":"very similar type of mesh with a flexible polymer to uh create a headband","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":119.439,"end_s":124.159,"text":"for some 3D printed headphones. It's interesting to see it in this scenario.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":122.64,"end_s":129.52,"text":"Uh we'll see how it feels when I put them on. But let's talk about the rest of the headphone. Outside of that, you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":127.2,"end_s":134.0,"text":"have a aluminum alloy construction pretty much everywhere else. The ear","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":131.68,"end_s":139.599,"text":"pads are going to be made of lambkin leather. Yeah, innocent baby sheep","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":136.72,"end_s":142.08,"text":"leather. And the drivers are planer magnetic. If you don't know what that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":141.12,"end_s":147.12,"text":"means, you can check out a previous video we've done with like the Moon Drop Venus where we will explain that in more","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":145.52,"end_s":152.56,"text":"detail. Basically, it's a speaker in a different form. Instead of having like a cone and a magnet at the side, the whole","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":150.64,"end_s":157.36,"text":"driver itself is magnetic and it moves like this. What that means for you is up","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":155.599,"end_s":160.48,"text":"for debate. Often times people will say that these will have better bass","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":158.64,"end_s":164.72,"text":"reproduction and they have the ability to move more sound. Some people say that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":162.08,"end_s":168.0,"text":"they have a punchier, more rapid and responsive quality. But what I do like","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":166.56,"end_s":173.28,"text":"about planer magnetics is that I think they look pretty neat. And let's take the ear cups off which are look at that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":171.44,"end_s":177.44,"text":"magnetic though. This is some uh it's not very smooth. Kind of got cheese","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":175.28,"end_s":182.56,"text":"grater vibes. But that'll let us take a look at the driver. So these are not the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":180.64,"end_s":186.48,"text":"drivers. This is housing for magnets I believe. But the actual vibrating part","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":184.64,"end_s":189.28,"text":"is this silver part. You see these thin little lines? Basically have a bunch of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":187.92,"end_s":193.599,"text":"wires going through a thin membrane and then magnets on either side will push it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":191.44,"end_s":196.4,"text":"back and forth to make sound. marketing departments have to work really hard to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":195.04,"end_s":200.8,"text":"sell a headphone, especially when there's not smart features. And they","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":198.239,"end_s":204.959,"text":"have some pretty uh funny claims about their uh drivers. For example, they","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":202.56,"end_s":211.2,"text":"refer to their 500 nanome thick drivers as nanocale ultra thin diaphragms. But","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":208.4,"end_s":216.72,"text":"calling 500 nanome nanocale is like calling a foot and a half millimeter","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":213.28,"end_s":219.04,"text":"scale. It's not even close. They have a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":216.72,"end_s":223.04,"text":"low defraction smooth structural woven metal protective grill that should help","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":221.04,"end_s":226.959,"text":"with resonances at certain frequencies compared to a venting that I've never","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":225.12,"end_s":231.92,"text":"seen on another headphone. It's this they that's an aluminum alloy storage","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":228.959,"end_s":236.64,"text":"case. This is not aluminum alloy. This might be aluminum. This is this is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":233.599,"end_s":238.48,"text":"plastic. A Honda. Okay. Aluminum alloy","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":236.64,"end_s":241.519,"text":"design. I get that it's hard to sell a headphone based on anything other than","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":239.84,"end_s":245.36,"text":"their sound. They also comment on their high strength structure with uh CNC","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":243.84,"end_s":249.76,"text":"aluminum, but also I guess there's the carbon fiber up here, unless that's fake","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":247.68,"end_s":252.159,"text":"carbon fiber. It feels like real carbon fiber. I'm not going to find out. And","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":251.04,"end_s":256.799,"text":"they didn't say anything about comfort, which kind of worries me because uh they","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":254.239,"end_s":263.959,"text":"are really heavy. Apparently like half a kilogram, which is in gram scale. That's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":259.12,"end_s":263.959,"text":"gram scale. But let's try them on.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":264.08,"end_s":270.32,"text":"They're so loose. There's like very little clamping pressure on my head,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":268.88,"end_s":275.6,"text":"which might be nice for comfort, but it's like almost to the point where like I feel like it's not actually like","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":273.199,"end_s":279.36,"text":"sitting on my ears. Also, very open back. Uh, it doesn't sound like I'm","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":277.44,"end_s":283.199,"text":"wearing anything. It almost sounds the exact same with these on or off. I will","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":281.04,"end_s":286.16,"text":"say the cushions are comfortable, but that might be because there's no clamp","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":284.479,"end_s":291.28,"text":"force, but it's like wobbling doing this. Can you see them? Like reco, do","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":289.12,"end_s":294.8,"text":"you see the recoil on that? I don't know why they keep jiggling and it's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":292.96,"end_s":298.0,"text":"horrendously distracting and not very comfortable. If I sit like this, which","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":296.24,"end_s":301.759,"text":"is the best way to enjoy music is completely still. Maybe it's a a sizing","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":300.0,"end_s":305.199,"text":"thing, but like that'll be the the biggest. If I go to the size where I get","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":303.6,"end_s":308.72,"text":"enough clamp pressure, it's almost like pulling the head set up. This might just","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":307.28,"end_s":311.12,"text":"not be good for my head. You might have to have a You have a big noggin bell. Do","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":310.32,"end_s":315.28,"text":"you want to try them on? >> Uh, you know what? They're cool looking. I think it might be your head. I don't","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":314.32,"end_s":318.56,"text":"know. Do they wiggle? >> Yeah. >> Not really. Like when I'm actively","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":317.36,"end_s":323.039,"text":"shaking, but when I stop. >> Yeah. Okay.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":321.36,"end_s":327.039,"text":"I don't know. These feel pretty normal. I do have big head and I have uh like","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":325.6,"end_s":331.12,"text":"flat ears, but I found this pretty comfortable to be honest. And there's a little bit of wiggle, but like I don't","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":329.36,"end_s":334.24,"text":"know. I'm shaking my head. My whole head's >> for me. It was like","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":332.8,"end_s":338.24,"text":">> Yeah, for you it was it would bounce around. >> It was crazy. So, I mean, good news if","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":336.88,"end_s":343.68,"text":"you're somebody who struggles to find a comfortable pair of headphones because you got such a big head.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":342.16,"end_s":349.84,"text":">> It's normal big. It's big. >> It's still It's still so heavy though.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":346.8,"end_s":350.96,"text":"Like even with the wiggle, it's like","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":349.84,"end_s":355.6,"text":"These could be the most comfortable headphones in the world, but if they don't sound good, then doesn't really","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":354.08,"end_s":358.88,"text":"matter. So, let's take a listen after you listen to this message from our","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":357.36,"end_s":362.32,"text":"sponsor. Thanks War Thunder for sponsoring today's video. It's a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":360.4,"end_s":366.88,"text":"comprehensive vehicle combat game where you can take control of thousands of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":364.319,"end_s":370.479,"text":"tanks, planes, and other vehicles. War Thunder prides themselves on their","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":368.319,"end_s":375.12,"text":"realistic models of realworld war machines. You can join over 95 million","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":372.88,"end_s":379.039,"text":"other players on PC, consoles, and even mobile. Click our link and get started","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":377.12,"end_s":381.759,"text":"for free today and score yourself some extra goodies. Do you see that L?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":381.28,"end_s":386.96,"text":">> Yes. >> Yes. >> Jesus. >> Yeah, it's really really visible. Now","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":385.44,"end_s":391.6,"text":"that I've plugged the cables in, I will say there is like zero cable noise in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":390.4,"end_s":397.36,"text":"that which is really nice cuz that's super annoying when you have a headphone and you can hear like a nothing.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":395.28,"end_s":401.84,"text":"Nothing. Zip. I currently have them plugged into a JDS Labs Element 3","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":400.479,"end_s":406.639,"text":"headphone amp. You probably don't need something quite as beefy as this to drive these. Lab said that they were","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":404.56,"end_s":410.639,"text":"able to drive them satisfactorily off of a MacBook. But if you're somebody who","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":408.4,"end_s":414.88,"text":"wants their music loud, then you might need to consider a headphone amp. That's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":412.96,"end_s":421.36,"text":"too loud. That was too loud. I don't That was too much for me.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":418.639,"end_s":424.8,"text":"Yes, you can really hear everything. First impressions, they got an","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":423.039,"end_s":427.919,"text":"interesting tuning. Often people like planer magnetic headphones because of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":426.319,"end_s":431.919,"text":"their great bass reproduction and their ability to create thumping and loud","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":429.599,"end_s":436.479,"text":"bass. These are not tuned that way. In fact, I believe that these are tuned","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":433.52,"end_s":441.68,"text":"incredibly like literally flat. You get very little subbase. The mids are not","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":439.28,"end_s":446.24,"text":"scooped at all. You have a couple of like treble spikes, but on the whole,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":443.759,"end_s":451.52,"text":"these sound pretty good. Listening to songs that have a lot of guitars or","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":448.88,"end_s":454.24,"text":"voices in them. Uh, they really shine on this kind of headphone. They sound","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":452.88,"end_s":460.639,"text":"really, really great. But this would probably be lacking if you're somebody who preferred say like EDM or hip-hop","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":458.24,"end_s":464.639,"text":"stuff with a lot of focus on like rumble and low-end bass. It also doesn't sound","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":462.639,"end_s":468.56,"text":"very good for stuff like rock and metal. There's like almost a lack of of warmth","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":466.72,"end_s":472.72,"text":"in the sound that kind of makes things sound tiny. It lacks the kind of punch","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":470.72,"end_s":475.28,"text":"that you would want from metal and rock music. To me, it also just sounds like","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":474.16,"end_s":480.24,"text":"something that you could probably just get away with putting a little bit of EQ","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":477.199,"end_s":482.639,"text":"on and it could make a big big","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":480.24,"end_s":487.28,"text":"difference in terms of comfort. When I was wearing it, it was totally fine. I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":484.56,"end_s":490.56,"text":"was able to get a pretty consistent seal uh after fiddling with them for a little","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":488.8,"end_s":494.319,"text":"bit. I would be worried about the heaviness of this headphone for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":492.479,"end_s":498.16,"text":"prolonged listening sessions, but honestly, they're technically a really","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":496.24,"end_s":502.4,"text":"good headphone, assuming that you want actual flat audio, which we know from","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":500.72,"end_s":506.56,"text":"science that people don't usually actually prefer that. Speaking of science, let's take a look at the lab's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":504.879,"end_s":510.879,"text":"results. What we're looking at is a frequency response and variation graph.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":508.479,"end_s":513.919,"text":"The white area is where most people will find an enjoyable sound from their","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":512.399,"end_s":517.839,"text":"headphone. Any headphone that falls mostly in the white area is going to be","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":516.159,"end_s":521.839,"text":"probably good to the average listener. The red area is the variance across","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":519.839,"end_s":525.44,"text":"different measurements that we took on different devices. Large amounts of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":523.68,"end_s":528.48,"text":"variance isn't always a bad thing. That can be something that just comes down to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":526.8,"end_s":532.56,"text":"how they fit on the mounting rigs and how they might fit on your head. Open","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":530.24,"end_s":535.12,"text":"backs tend to have less variance than closedback headphones. Closedback","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":534.0,"end_s":540.16,"text":"headphones are going to be things like AirPods Max, your Sony XM6s. Those have","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":537.839,"end_s":543.6,"text":"a lot more variance because the seal sitting on your ear and sealing properly","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":541.76,"end_s":548.64,"text":"is far more important to their sound response than an open back headphone.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":545.68,"end_s":554.8,"text":"These headphones have quite low variance and are incredibly flat, like almost","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":551.44,"end_s":556.0,"text":"exactly a flat line across the graph.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":554.8,"end_s":559.92,"text":"Now, you might notice that average listener preference is not typically a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":558.48,"end_s":563.12,"text":"straight line. And in the bass region, these really drop off compared to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":561.519,"end_s":567.279,"text":"average listener preference. And the mids are basically right in the middle","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":565.36,"end_s":569.92,"text":"and will please most people. And then the treble is where it gets a little","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":568.399,"end_s":574.56,"text":"weird. Often people prefer a little bit less treble because we're pretty sensitive to those higher range","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":572.56,"end_s":578.88,"text":"frequencies, but for the treble, this remains pretty much flat. Basically,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":576.8,"end_s":582.16,"text":"they don't really sound what most people would prefer, but I think they did a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":580.399,"end_s":586.32,"text":"great job of executing on the target that they were trying to hit. They have","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":583.92,"end_s":590.08,"text":"great reproduction overall, just good sounding headphones, and if you slap an","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":588.24,"end_s":595.04,"text":"EQ on these, I think you'd be pretty happy until you looked at the price tag.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":592.8,"end_s":598.399,"text":"These are $799, which is honestly heinously expensive","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":597.04,"end_s":605.04,"text":"for what they are. I think that the build quality is, you know, it's robust,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":601.36,"end_s":606.72,"text":"but eh not great. They're so so heavy","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":605.04,"end_s":611.68,"text":"and they bounce on my head. I don't know. It seems like you're paying a lot to have these in a big box and uh you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":610.16,"end_s":614.64,"text":"don't get a lot in terms of features. Consider this. If you like a planer","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":613.44,"end_s":618.56,"text":"magnetic driver and you want to have something that has mid to bad build","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":616.56,"end_s":623.76,"text":"quality, you can buy the Hi-Fi Man Sudara and those are like $200. And then","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":622.0,"end_s":626.48,"text":"you can take $600 of these and buy a pair of Sony XM6s for when you're on the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":626.16,"end_s":633.519,"text":"go. >> Treat yourself to like a massage for 600 bucks. >> These lack the premium comfort, the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":631.12,"end_s":638.079,"text":"ergonomic design, and the features to justify their price. And they don't","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":635.279,"end_s":641.12,"text":"sound so mind-bogglingly good as to exist. Like if you want a really really","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":639.6,"end_s":645.2,"text":"great sounding headphone, you can go much cheaper and get the HD550s from","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":642.959,"end_s":647.92,"text":"Sennheiser. They're not planer magnetic, but they're open back. They sound great.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":646.8,"end_s":652.24,"text":"Comfort, obviously, >> for small heads like me. comfort. They","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":650.079,"end_s":655.04,"text":"clamp a little bit, but there's a robust modding community. There's aftermarket","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":653.839,"end_s":659.92,"text":"stuff you can do. They're more repairable. These are expensive, and in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":658.0,"end_s":664.32,"text":"a vacuum, they seem excellent, but in the broad scheme of the market, they","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":661.68,"end_s":667.519,"text":"just kind of don't matter. But what does matter is that you subscribe or maybe","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":665.92,"end_s":674.079,"text":"watch another video. How about the uh Sennheiser HD550 video I did just a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":670.079,"end_s":674.079,"text":"couple months ago? those.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0}],"full_text":"Moonrop makes some of the most revered IM in the audio game, but they've struggled to make their headphones really sing. But maybe, just maybe, they'll do that with this bad boy, the Moonrop Skyland. And it comes in this over-the-top kind of noisy case. And here it says Quasil Lap outed, which apparently means something nice from Guliver's Travels. It also says caution. And while this case looks all metal, it is, I can assure you, mostly plastic. And inside of it, our headphones. Ooh, the Skylands right away. Very, very heavy. But before we get there, let's take a look at what else is in the box. The QC card and the headset comes with a few cables. The cable terminates in a 4.4 mm balanced output, which gives you an indication of the kind of people that they're marketing this to, but the side that does connect to the headphones are just 3.5 mm jacks, which means that you can easily swap out cables should you so desire. You also get two adapters included in the box, a balanced XLR and a/4in jack. So 3.5 mm fanboys, uh, see you later. You get nothing. Like, it's so annoying. I just don't have the option by default to plug these into most of the devices that I own. And anyways, balance connections are kind of dumb for headphones. But if you're somebody who maybe has a nice powerful amp, then I guess you can um use this. Balance connections are for increased signal integrity, which matters over very long distances, not the like four, five ft that this is. And also, if you care about signal integrity, why'd you make it flat? that has worse shielding. But this is all a minor unimportant crash out for something that doesn't matter. What does matter is the headphones. They're heavy and worrisomely not rigid and bouncy. The headband itself is carbon fiber, but this little headband support, it's 3D printed. We've seen similar designs like this on headphone modifications. We actually did a video uh with DankPods on LT where we used a very similar type of mesh with a flexible polymer to uh create a headband for some 3D printed headphones. It's interesting to see it in this scenario. Uh we'll see how it feels when I put them on. But let's talk about the rest of the headphone. Outside of that, you have a aluminum alloy construction pretty much everywhere else. The ear pads are going to be made of lambkin leather. Yeah, innocent baby sheep leather. And the drivers are planer magnetic. If you don't know what that means, you can check out a previous video we've done with like the Moon Drop Venus where we will explain that in more detail. Basically, it's a speaker in a different form. Instead of having like a cone and a magnet at the side, the whole driver itself is magnetic and it moves like this. What that means for you is up for debate. Often times people will say that these will have better bass reproduction and they have the ability to move more sound. Some people say that they have a punchier, more rapid and responsive quality. But what I do like about planer magnetics is that I think they look pretty neat. And let's take the ear cups off which are look at that magnetic though. This is some uh it's not very smooth. Kind of got cheese grater vibes. But that'll let us take a look at the driver. So these are not the drivers. This is housing for magnets I believe. But the actual vibrating part is this silver part. You see these thin little lines? Basically have a bunch of wires going through a thin membrane and then magnets on either side will push it back and forth to make sound. marketing departments have to work really hard to sell a headphone, especially when there's not smart features. And they have some pretty uh funny claims about their uh drivers. For example, they refer to their 500 nanome thick drivers as nanocale ultra thin diaphragms. But calling 500 nanome nanocale is like calling a foot and a half millimeter scale. It's not even close. They have a low defraction smooth structural woven metal protective grill that should help with resonances at certain frequencies compared to a venting that I've never seen on another headphone. It's this they that's an aluminum alloy storage case. This is not aluminum alloy. This might be aluminum. This is this is plastic. A Honda. Okay. Aluminum alloy design. I get that it's hard to sell a headphone based on anything other than their sound. They also comment on their high strength structure with uh CNC aluminum, but also I guess there's the carbon fiber up here, unless that's fake carbon fiber. It feels like real carbon fiber. I'm not going to find out. And they didn't say anything about comfort, which kind of worries me because uh they are really heavy. Apparently like half a kilogram, which is in gram scale. That's gram scale. But let's try them on. They're so loose. There's like very little clamping pressure on my head, which might be nice for comfort, but it's like almost to the point where like I feel like it's not actually like sitting on my ears. Also, very open back. Uh, it doesn't sound like I'm wearing anything. It almost sounds the exact same with these on or off. I will say the cushions are comfortable, but that might be because there's no clamp force, but it's like wobbling doing this. Can you see them? Like reco, do you see the recoil on that? I don't know why they keep jiggling and it's horrendously distracting and not very comfortable. If I sit like this, which is the best way to enjoy music is completely still. Maybe it's a a sizing thing, but like that'll be the the biggest. If I go to the size where I get enough clamp pressure, it's almost like pulling the head set up. This might just not be good for my head. You might have to have a You have a big noggin bell. Do you want to try them on? >> Uh, you know what? They're cool looking. I think it might be your head. I don't know. Do they wiggle? >> Yeah. >> Not really. Like when I'm actively shaking, but when I stop. >> Yeah. Okay. I don't know. These feel pretty normal. I do have big head and I have uh like flat ears, but I found this pretty comfortable to be honest. And there's a little bit of wiggle, but like I don't know. I'm shaking my head. My whole head's >> for me. It was like >> Yeah, for you it was it would bounce around. >> It was crazy. So, I mean, good news if you're somebody who struggles to find a comfortable pair of headphones because you got such a big head. >> It's normal big. It's big. >> It's still It's still so heavy though. Like even with the wiggle, it's like These could be the most comfortable headphones in the world, but if they don't sound good, then doesn't really matter. So, let's take a listen after you listen to this message from our sponsor. Thanks War Thunder for sponsoring today's video. It's a comprehensive vehicle combat game where you can take control of thousands of tanks, planes, and other vehicles. War Thunder prides themselves on their realistic models of realworld war machines. You can join over 95 million other players on PC, consoles, and even mobile. Click our link and get started for free today and score yourself some extra goodies. Do you see that L? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Jesus. >> Yeah, it's really really visible. Now that I've plugged the cables in, I will say there is like zero cable noise in that which is really nice cuz that's super annoying when you have a headphone and you can hear like a nothing. Nothing. Zip. I currently have them plugged into a JDS Labs Element 3 headphone amp. You probably don't need something quite as beefy as this to drive these. Lab said that they were able to drive them satisfactorily off of a MacBook. But if you're somebody who wants their music loud, then you might need to consider a headphone amp. That's too loud. That was too loud. I don't That was too much for me. Yes, you can really hear everything. First impressions, they got an interesting tuning. Often people like planer magnetic headphones because of their great bass reproduction and their ability to create thumping and loud bass. These are not tuned that way. In fact, I believe that these are tuned incredibly like literally flat. You get very little subbase. The mids are not scooped at all. You have a couple of like treble spikes, but on the whole, these sound pretty good. Listening to songs that have a lot of guitars or voices in them. Uh, they really shine on this kind of headphone. They sound really, really great. But this would probably be lacking if you're somebody who preferred say like EDM or hip-hop stuff with a lot of focus on like rumble and low-end bass. It also doesn't sound very good for stuff like rock and metal. There's like almost a lack of of warmth in the sound that kind of makes things sound tiny. It lacks the kind of punch that you would want from metal and rock music. To me, it also just sounds like something that you could probably just get away with putting a little bit of EQ on and it could make a big big difference in terms of comfort. When I was wearing it, it was totally fine. I was able to get a pretty consistent seal uh after fiddling with them for a little bit. I would be worried about the heaviness of this headphone for prolonged listening sessions, but honestly, they're technically a really good headphone, assuming that you want actual flat audio, which we know from science that people don't usually actually prefer that. Speaking of science, let's take a look at the lab's results. What we're looking at is a frequency response and variation graph. The white area is where most people will find an enjoyable sound from their headphone. Any headphone that falls mostly in the white area is going to be probably good to the average listener. The red area is the variance across different measurements that we took on different devices. Large amounts of variance isn't always a bad thing. That can be something that just comes down to how they fit on the mounting rigs and how they might fit on your head. Open backs tend to have less variance than closedback headphones. Closedback headphones are going to be things like AirPods Max, your Sony XM6s. Those have a lot more variance because the seal sitting on your ear and sealing properly is far more important to their sound response than an open back headphone. These headphones have quite low variance and are incredibly flat, like almost exactly a flat line across the graph. Now, you might notice that average listener preference is not typically a straight line. And in the bass region, these really drop off compared to average listener preference. And the mids are basically right in the middle and will please most people. And then the treble is where it gets a little weird. Often people prefer a little bit less treble because we're pretty sensitive to those higher range frequencies, but for the treble, this remains pretty much flat. Basically, they don't really sound what most people would prefer, but I think they did a great job of executing on the target that they were trying to hit. They have great reproduction overall, just good sounding headphones, and if you slap an EQ on these, I think you'd be pretty happy until you looked at the price tag. These are $799, which is honestly heinously expensive for what they are. I think that the build quality is, you know, it's robust, but eh not great. They're so so heavy and they bounce on my head. I don't know. It seems like you're paying a lot to have these in a big box and uh you don't get a lot in terms of features. Consider this. If you like a planer magnetic driver and you want to have something that has mid to bad build quality, you can buy the Hi-Fi Man Sudara and those are like $200. And then you can take $600 of these and buy a pair of Sony XM6s for when you're on the go. >> Treat yourself to like a massage for 600 bucks. >> These lack the premium comfort, the ergonomic design, and the features to justify their price. And they don't sound so mind-bogglingly good as to exist. Like if you want a really really great sounding headphone, you can go much cheaper and get the HD550s from Sennheiser. They're not planer magnetic, but they're open back. They sound great. Comfort, obviously, >> for small heads like me. comfort. They clamp a little bit, but there's a robust modding community. There's aftermarket stuff you can do. They're more repairable. These are expensive, and in a vacuum, they seem excellent, but in the broad scheme of the market, they just kind of don't matter. But what does matter is that you subscribe or maybe watch another video. How about the uh Sennheiser HD550 video I did just a couple months ago? those."}