Introduction

Anyone who has been in the market for in-ear monitors (IEMs) in the last couple of years has no doubt heard of MOONDROP. The China-based audio brand originated in 2015 and has relished a meteoric rise in both brand awareness and market share, to where it has expanded greatly to include TWS earphones, portable DAC/amps and dongles, and even keyboards in its product portfolio. MOONDROP held a live stream in July 2022 to publicly announce its debut into the world of over-ear headphones with not one, but three different headphones. Not only was there going to be the expected dynamic driver set, but it surprised everyone by also announcing a planar magnetic and an electrostatic set of headphones. The dynamic driver set VOID was supposed to be released first except for a last minute hold-back based on feedback from a few people who had early access to the unit, including myself, to where MOONDROP did the right thing in delaying the launch to fix a few things and even went the extra mile in providing free updated units to those who had already received the earlier version! What this meant was that the planar magnetic VENUS ended up being the first MOONDROP headphones to be released and it was an impressive debut to say the least.


Owing to an interesting coincidence, I have in my possession three different MOONDROP VOID headphones—two older versions provided by SHENZHENAUDIO and HiFiGo and then a final release version provided by MOONDROP for this review. This allowed me to easily discern what the various changes are but this review will focus on the final version that people can purchase today. I have also decided to combine this with brief coverage of the MOONDROP DAWN dongle in its 4.4 mm variant. This was sent over by HiFiGo a while back for me to use in my reviews and it's a handy resource that might be of interest to people—especially given how well it works with headphones such as the MOONDROP Void. We begin this review with a look at both product specifications in the tables below.

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

Those expecting to see the now-customary MOONDROP female artwork design on the product box will be pleased to know the VOID does not stray from this. Indeed, the actual headphones are barely visible in the artwork here, although the company and product names show up a few times in addition to salient features that leave no doubt as to the nature of the product. MOONDROP is using a 2-piece packaging with an outer sleeve that has a reinforced cardboard front layer, whereas the back is adorned by a render of the in-house developed drivers used in the VOID alongside more details about the R&D gone into the making of these headphones, the factory-rated frequency response curve, and product specifications themselves. The inner box can be slid out the top or bottom to access the contents easily wherein we see the headphones come inside a wax paper wrap to keep them pristine on their way to you, with a QC card placed between the ear cups.


There is a dedicated accessory box marked specifically for the MOONDROP VOID and this contains more paperwork in the form of a detailed product description guide going over the design, use, and maintenance of the VOID, a postcard with the illustration used on the product box, and a warranty/registration card. More relevant would be the headphones cable and a 1/4" adapter that come in individual plastic zip-lock bags. MOONDROP does not provide any storage/carry option outside of this product box, so you may be interested in an aftermarket solution such as the Dekoni x SKB Hero case which was previously covered.


Pre-orders for the VOID got a special gift in the form of MOONDROP's new Line V headphones cable that sells for $39.99 by itself. I had received one as part of the review parcel and we see it ships inside a circular metal tin with a label on the top talking more about the product itself. Inside is a handy drawstring-style carry pouch which contains the cable in another bag of its own.