WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:06.879 Moonrop makes some of the most revered IM in the audio game, but they've 00:00:05.359 --> 00:00:11.519 struggled to make their headphones really sing. But maybe, just maybe, 00:00:09.200 --> 00:00:16.720 they'll do that with this bad boy, the Moonrop Skyland. And it comes in this 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:19.920 over-the-top kind of noisy case. And here it says Quasil Lap outed, which 00:00:18.400 --> 00:00:24.160 apparently means something nice from Guliver's Travels. It also says caution. 00:00:22.080 --> 00:00:29.920 And while this case looks all metal, it is, I can assure you, mostly plastic. 00:00:26.560 --> 00:00:33.200 And inside of it, our headphones. Ooh, 00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:34.719 the Skylands right away. Very, very 00:00:33.200 --> 00:00:38.399 heavy. But before we get there, let's take a look at what else is in the box. 00:00:36.239 --> 00:00:43.600 The QC card and the headset comes with a few cables. The cable terminates in a 00:00:40.239 --> 00:00:45.200 4.4 mm balanced output, which gives you 00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:48.000 an indication of the kind of people that they're marketing this to, but the side 00:00:46.800 --> 00:00:52.079 that does connect to the headphones are just 3.5 mm jacks, which means that you 00:00:50.320 --> 00:00:57.039 can easily swap out cables should you so desire. You also get two adapters 00:00:53.920 --> 00:01:01.760 included in the box, a balanced XLR and 00:00:57.039 --> 00:01:03.680 a/4in jack. So 3.5 mm fanboys, uh, see 00:01:01.760 --> 00:01:07.439 you later. You get nothing. Like, it's so annoying. I just don't have the 00:01:05.040 --> 00:01:10.799 option by default to plug these into most of the devices that I own. And 00:01:09.119 --> 00:01:14.720 anyways, balance connections are kind of dumb for headphones. But if you're 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:19.600 somebody who maybe has a nice powerful amp, then I guess you can um use this. 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:24.320 Balance connections are for increased signal integrity, which matters over 00:01:21.119 --> 00:01:26.159 very long distances, not the like four, 00:01:24.320 --> 00:01:29.600 five ft that this is. And also, if you care about signal integrity, why'd you 00:01:27.600 --> 00:01:32.799 make it flat? that has worse shielding. But this is all a minor unimportant 00:01:31.600 --> 00:01:37.040 crash out for something that doesn't matter. What does matter is the 00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:42.320 headphones. They're heavy and worrisomely not rigid 00:01:39.280 --> 00:01:44.240 and bouncy. The headband itself is 00:01:42.320 --> 00:01:48.240 carbon fiber, but this little headband support, it's 3D printed. We've seen 00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:53.759 similar designs like this on headphone modifications. We actually did a video 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:56.479 uh with DankPods on LT where we used a 00:01:53.759 --> 00:02:00.960 very similar type of mesh with a flexible polymer to uh create a headband 00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:04.159 for some 3D printed headphones. It's interesting to see it in this scenario. 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:09.520 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 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:14.000 have a aluminum alloy construction pretty much everywhere else. The ear 00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:19.599 pads are going to be made of lambkin leather. Yeah, innocent baby sheep 00:02:16.720 --> 00:02:22.080 leather. And the drivers are planer magnetic. If you don't know what that 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:27.120 means, you can check out a previous video we've done with like the Moon Drop Venus where we will explain that in more 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:32.560 detail. Basically, it's a speaker in a different form. Instead of having like a cone and a magnet at the side, the whole 00:02:30.640 --> 00:02:37.360 driver itself is magnetic and it moves like this. What that means for you is up 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:40.480 for debate. Often times people will say that these will have better bass 00:02:38.640 --> 00:02:44.720 reproduction and they have the ability to move more sound. Some people say that 00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:48.000 they have a punchier, more rapid and responsive quality. But what I do like 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:53.280 about planer magnetics is that I think they look pretty neat. And let's take the ear cups off which are look at that 00:02:51.440 --> 00:02:57.440 magnetic though. This is some uh it's not very smooth. Kind of got cheese 00:02:55.280 --> 00:03:02.560 grater vibes. But that'll let us take a look at the driver. So these are not the 00:03:00.640 --> 00:03:06.480 drivers. This is housing for magnets I believe. But the actual vibrating part 00:03:04.640 --> 00:03:09.280 is this silver part. You see these thin little lines? Basically have a bunch of 00:03:07.920 --> 00:03:13.599 wires going through a thin membrane and then magnets on either side will push it 00:03:11.440 --> 00:03:16.400 back and forth to make sound. marketing departments have to work really hard to 00:03:15.040 --> 00:03:20.800 sell a headphone, especially when there's not smart features. And they 00:03:18.239 --> 00:03:24.959 have some pretty uh funny claims about their uh drivers. For example, they 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:31.200 refer to their 500 nanome thick drivers as nanocale ultra thin diaphragms. But 00:03:28.400 --> 00:03:36.720 calling 500 nanome nanocale is like calling a foot and a half millimeter 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:39.040 scale. It's not even close. They have a 00:03:36.720 --> 00:03:43.040 low defraction smooth structural woven metal protective grill that should help 00:03:41.040 --> 00:03:46.959 with resonances at certain frequencies compared to a venting that I've never 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:51.920 seen on another headphone. It's this they that's an aluminum alloy storage 00:03:48.959 --> 00:03:56.640 case. This is not aluminum alloy. This might be aluminum. This is this is 00:03:53.599 --> 00:03:58.480 plastic. A Honda. Okay. Aluminum alloy 00:03:56.640 --> 00:04:01.519 design. I get that it's hard to sell a headphone based on anything other than 00:03:59.840 --> 00:04:05.360 their sound. They also comment on their high strength structure with uh CNC 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:09.760 aluminum, but also I guess there's the carbon fiber up here, unless that's fake 00:04:07.680 --> 00:04:12.159 carbon fiber. It feels like real carbon fiber. I'm not going to find out. And 00:04:11.040 --> 00:04:16.799 they didn't say anything about comfort, which kind of worries me because uh they 00:04:14.239 --> 00:04:23.959 are really heavy. Apparently like half a kilogram, which is in gram scale. That's 00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:23.959 gram scale. But let's try them on. 00:04:24.080 --> 00:04:30.320 They're so loose. There's like very little clamping pressure on my head, 00:04:28.880 --> 00:04:35.600 which might be nice for comfort, but it's like almost to the point where like I feel like it's not actually like 00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:39.360 sitting on my ears. Also, very open back. Uh, it doesn't sound like I'm 00:04:37.440 --> 00:04:43.199 wearing anything. It almost sounds the exact same with these on or off. I will 00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:46.160 say the cushions are comfortable, but that might be because there's no clamp 00:04:44.479 --> 00:04:51.280 force, but it's like wobbling doing this. Can you see them? Like reco, do 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:54.800 you see the recoil on that? I don't know why they keep jiggling and it's 00:04:52.960 --> 00:04:58.000 horrendously distracting and not very comfortable. If I sit like this, which 00:04:56.240 --> 00:05:01.759 is the best way to enjoy music is completely still. Maybe it's a a sizing 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:05.199 thing, but like that'll be the the biggest. If I go to the size where I get 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:08.720 enough clamp pressure, it's almost like pulling the head set up. This might just 00:05:07.280 --> 00:05:11.120 not be good for my head. You might have to have a You have a big noggin bell. Do 00:05:10.320 --> 00:05:15.280 you want to try them on? >> Uh, you know what? They're cool looking. I think it might be your head. I don't 00:05:14.320 --> 00:05:18.560 know. Do they wiggle? >> Yeah. >> Not really. Like when I'm actively 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:23.039 shaking, but when I stop. >> Yeah. Okay. 00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:27.039 I don't know. These feel pretty normal. I do have big head and I have uh like 00:05:25.600 --> 00:05:31.120 flat ears, but I found this pretty comfortable to be honest. And there's a little bit of wiggle, but like I don't 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:34.240 know. I'm shaking my head. My whole head's >> for me. It was like 00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:38.240 >> Yeah, for you it was it would bounce around. >> It was crazy. So, I mean, good news if 00:05:36.880 --> 00:05:43.680 you're somebody who struggles to find a comfortable pair of headphones because you got such a big head. 00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:49.840 >> It's normal big. It's big. >> It's still It's still so heavy though. 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:50.960 Like even with the wiggle, it's like 00:05:49.840 --> 00:05:55.600 These could be the most comfortable headphones in the world, but if they don't sound good, then doesn't really 00:05:54.080 --> 00:05:58.880 matter. So, let's take a listen after you listen to this message from our 00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:02.320 sponsor. Thanks War Thunder for sponsoring today's video. It's a 00:06:00.400 --> 00:06:06.880 comprehensive vehicle combat game where you can take control of thousands of 00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:10.479 tanks, planes, and other vehicles. War Thunder prides themselves on their 00:06:08.319 --> 00:06:15.120 realistic models of realworld war machines. You can join over 95 million 00:06:12.880 --> 00:06:19.039 other players on PC, consoles, and even mobile. Click our link and get started 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:21.759 for free today and score yourself some extra goodies. Do you see that L? 00:06:21.280 --> 00:06:26.960 >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Jesus. >> Yeah, it's really really visible. Now 00:06:25.440 --> 00:06:31.600 that I've plugged the cables in, I will say there is like zero cable noise in 00:06:30.400 --> 00:06:37.360 that which is really nice cuz that's super annoying when you have a headphone and you can hear like a nothing. 00:06:35.280 --> 00:06:41.840 Nothing. Zip. I currently have them plugged into a JDS Labs Element 3 00:06:40.479 --> 00:06:46.639 headphone amp. You probably don't need something quite as beefy as this to drive these. Lab said that they were 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:50.639 able to drive them satisfactorily off of a MacBook. But if you're somebody who 00:06:48.400 --> 00:06:54.880 wants their music loud, then you might need to consider a headphone amp. That's 00:06:52.960 --> 00:07:01.360 too loud. That was too loud. I don't That was too much for me. 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:04.800 Yes, you can really hear everything. First impressions, they got an 00:07:03.039 --> 00:07:07.919 interesting tuning. Often people like planer magnetic headphones because of 00:07:06.319 --> 00:07:11.919 their great bass reproduction and their ability to create thumping and loud 00:07:09.599 --> 00:07:16.479 bass. These are not tuned that way. In fact, I believe that these are tuned 00:07:13.520 --> 00:07:21.680 incredibly like literally flat. You get very little subbase. The mids are not 00:07:19.280 --> 00:07:26.240 scooped at all. You have a couple of like treble spikes, but on the whole, 00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:31.520 these sound pretty good. Listening to songs that have a lot of guitars or 00:07:28.880 --> 00:07:34.240 voices in them. Uh, they really shine on this kind of headphone. They sound 00:07:32.880 --> 00:07:40.639 really, really great. But this would probably be lacking if you're somebody who preferred say like EDM or hip-hop 00:07:38.240 --> 00:07:44.639 stuff with a lot of focus on like rumble and low-end bass. It also doesn't sound 00:07:42.639 --> 00:07:48.560 very good for stuff like rock and metal. There's like almost a lack of of warmth 00:07:46.720 --> 00:07:52.720 in the sound that kind of makes things sound tiny. It lacks the kind of punch 00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:55.280 that you would want from metal and rock music. To me, it also just sounds like 00:07:54.160 --> 00:08:00.240 something that you could probably just get away with putting a little bit of EQ 00:07:57.199 --> 00:08:02.639 on and it could make a big big 00:08:00.240 --> 00:08:07.280 difference in terms of comfort. When I was wearing it, it was totally fine. I 00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:10.560 was able to get a pretty consistent seal uh after fiddling with them for a little 00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:14.319 bit. I would be worried about the heaviness of this headphone for 00:08:12.479 --> 00:08:18.160 prolonged listening sessions, but honestly, they're technically a really 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:22.400 good headphone, assuming that you want actual flat audio, which we know from 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:26.560 science that people don't usually actually prefer that. Speaking of science, let's take a look at the lab's 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:30.879 results. What we're looking at is a frequency response and variation graph. 00:08:28.479 --> 00:08:33.919 The white area is where most people will find an enjoyable sound from their 00:08:32.399 --> 00:08:37.839 headphone. Any headphone that falls mostly in the white area is going to be 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:41.839 probably good to the average listener. The red area is the variance across 00:08:39.839 --> 00:08:45.440 different measurements that we took on different devices. Large amounts of 00:08:43.680 --> 00:08:48.480 variance isn't always a bad thing. That can be something that just comes down to 00:08:46.800 --> 00:08:52.560 how they fit on the mounting rigs and how they might fit on your head. Open 00:08:50.240 --> 00:08:55.120 backs tend to have less variance than closedback headphones. Closedback 00:08:54.000 --> 00:09:00.160 headphones are going to be things like AirPods Max, your Sony XM6s. Those have 00:08:57.839 --> 00:09:03.600 a lot more variance because the seal sitting on your ear and sealing properly 00:09:01.760 --> 00:09:08.640 is far more important to their sound response than an open back headphone. 00:09:05.680 --> 00:09:14.800 These headphones have quite low variance and are incredibly flat, like almost 00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:16.000 exactly a flat line across the graph. 00:09:14.800 --> 00:09:19.920 Now, you might notice that average listener preference is not typically a 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:23.120 straight line. And in the bass region, these really drop off compared to 00:09:21.519 --> 00:09:27.279 average listener preference. And the mids are basically right in the middle 00:09:25.360 --> 00:09:29.920 and will please most people. And then the treble is where it gets a little 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:34.560 weird. Often people prefer a little bit less treble because we're pretty sensitive to those higher range 00:09:32.560 --> 00:09:38.880 frequencies, but for the treble, this remains pretty much flat. Basically, 00:09:36.800 --> 00:09:42.160 they don't really sound what most people would prefer, but I think they did a 00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:46.320 great job of executing on the target that they were trying to hit. They have 00:09:43.920 --> 00:09:50.080 great reproduction overall, just good sounding headphones, and if you slap an 00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:55.040 EQ on these, I think you'd be pretty happy until you looked at the price tag. 00:09:52.800 --> 00:09:58.399 These are $799, which is honestly heinously expensive 00:09:57.040 --> 00:10:05.040 for what they are. I think that the build quality is, you know, it's robust, 00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:06.720 but eh not great. They're so so heavy 00:10:05.040 --> 00:10:11.680 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 00:10:10.160 --> 00:10:14.640 don't get a lot in terms of features. Consider this. If you like a planer 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:18.560 magnetic driver and you want to have something that has mid to bad build 00:10:16.560 --> 00:10:23.760 quality, you can buy the Hi-Fi Man Sudara and those are like $200. And then 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:26.480 you can take $600 of these and buy a pair of Sony XM6s for when you're on the 00:10:26.160 --> 00:10:33.519 go. >> Treat yourself to like a massage for 600 bucks. >> These lack the premium comfort, the 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:38.079 ergonomic design, and the features to justify their price. And they don't 00:10:35.279 --> 00:10:41.120 sound so mind-bogglingly good as to exist. Like if you want a really really 00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:45.200 great sounding headphone, you can go much cheaper and get the HD550s from 00:10:42.959 --> 00:10:47.920 Sennheiser. They're not planer magnetic, but they're open back. They sound great. 00:10:46.800 --> 00:10:52.240 Comfort, obviously, >> for small heads like me. comfort. They 00:10:50.079 --> 00:10:55.040 clamp a little bit, but there's a robust modding community. There's aftermarket 00:10:53.839 --> 00:10:59.920 stuff you can do. They're more repairable. These are expensive, and in 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:04.320 a vacuum, they seem excellent, but in the broad scheme of the market, they 00:11:01.680 --> 00:11:07.519 just kind of don't matter. But what does matter is that you subscribe or maybe 00:11:05.920 --> 00:11:14.079 watch another video. How about the uh Sennheiser HD550 video I did just a 00:11:10.079 --> 00:11:14.079 couple months ago? those.