Meh. Until it actually shows up, Iām not paying attention. Iām tired of the perpetual āalmost there but not yetā posts from Will. The Panda is seemingly no longer a priority, having moved on to other products/campaigns.
The firmware update has been released by drop. Havenāt got time yet to try it, but I hope it will fix some issue such as loosing BT connection.
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Iāve tried the new EQ features with the SoundID app and itās pretty cool. It gives you full parametric EQ and allows you to save the profile to the headphones so itās universally applied (except in passive mode).
The app also has an interactive tuning profile builder along with a built-in neutral profile you can go straight to. If you werenāt into the Pandaās tuning I highly recommending giving it a try. I definitely prefer it.
If youāre not interested in the new features, I donāt recommend updating to the firmware. There seems to be some bugs and codec support may have been affected. I had to change my BT codec setting back to default before it would stay connected properly.
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Do you happen to have a recommendation where I can have these made for me? I donāt have access to a printer and would love to try this out as the stock pads are damn small.
There are tons of online 3d printing services you can submit the files to and they will print and mail for a fee. Shapeways is a popular one.
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I used the A/B testing in the app and overall Iām pleased. I havenāt tried to adjust it myself yet because Iām loving the way they sound.
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INTRODUCTION
Iāve had the opportunity to take the Drop Panda Bluetooth wireless headphone for a test run these past few weeks. I moved recently and they got some listening time in as I was packing and unpacking boxes or just sitting down to rest with all my main gear packed away. Now that Iām more settled, I have some time to sit down and write up some thoughts. So letās get to itā¦
Iām going to focus a lot on the sound in this review. Iām not going to go into detail about the ergonomics of the buttons, or the phone call quality, etc. I donāt feel very qualified to comment on those aspects, anyway. But, hopefully Iāve earned a modicum of credibility in sound descriptions.
TL;DR
The Panda is good for what it is, a wireless, full sized headphone. For a Bluetooth headphone it brings reasonably good detail and timbre while breaking from other products in this category by providing a more audiophile targeted neutral sound signature. Using the SoundID improves some aspects of the sonic performance at the expense of some othersā¦once I got it to work, that is. The Panda still suffers from some of the same limitations of being a wireless headphone, though, and arguably its sonic performance isnāt a big enough improvement over some other Bluetooth cans that also have active noise cancelling and other convenience features to justify its cost.
KNOW YOUR REVIEWER
My preferred genres are rock/metal and classical/orchestral music. Iām getting to know jazz more and enjoying quite a bit. I also listen to some EDM and hip-hop. My hearing quirks include a high sensitivity to midrange frequencies from just under 1KHz to around 3Khz, give or take. My ears are thus quick to perceive āshoutinessā in headphones in particular. I describe āshoutinessā as an emphasis on the āouā sound of āshout.ā Itās a forwardness in the neighborhood of 1KHz and/or on the first one or two harmonics above it (when I make the sound āooooowwwwwā into a spectrum analyzer the dominant frequency on the vowel sound is around 930Hz, which also means harmonic spikes occur again at around 1860Hz and 2790Hz). In the extreme, it can have the tonal effect of sounding like a vocalist is speaking or singing through a toilet paper tube or cupping their hands over their mouth. It can also give instruments like piano, but especially brass instruments, an added āhonkā to their sound. I also get distracted by sibilance, or sharp āsā and ātā sounds that can make ssssingers sssssound like theyāre forssssssing esssss ssssssounds aggresssssssively. Sibilance does not physically hurt my ears nearly as quickly as shout, though. Itās distracting because itās annoying and unnatural. Finally, in a new clause in this section, Iām discovering that I have a preference for more subtle detail. I like good detail retrieval and hearing what a recording has to offer, but I prefer that presentation to be what many would consider relaxed and subtle rather than aggressive or detail-forward. To my ear, more subtle detail-retrieval sounds more realistic and natural than aggressive, detail-forwardness. There is a balance here, though, because detail retrieval can get too relaxed and that can sound unnatural, as well. Readers should keep these hearing quirks and preferences in mind as they read my descriptions of sound.
FEATURES & BUILD
The Panda is a Bluetooth headset with built-in THX amplification. It includes all the latest fancy BT specs and ran on LDAC off my Galaxy Note 8 smartphone without issue. Itās light and fits snuggly without feeling tight. In fact, I could wear it around for extended time periods without many comfort issues. If I had one complaint on fit it would be the earcups arenāt very big and my average sized ears werenāt always completely enclosed. There were times where I could feel my earlobe slip a bit underneath the earpad on the inside, but there was enough room for it in there that I would forget about that happening until I took them off and they gently flopped my ear. They also feel reasonably rugged in their construction. Itās mostly plastic but still feels solid and will likely survive several drops (no pun intended!) or living in a gym bag.
Sound isolation is also good. For many OTG applications it will be reasonable. I was able to use it with an electric lawn mower and not hear the mower very much. A gas mower might be a bit of a problem, though. An airplane may also be too loud. However, walks, most bus rides, general out-and-about-ness, the Panda should do a reasonably good job of blocking the world out and holding your music in.
I didnāt have any issues with battery life. I didnāt time it, but Dropās claimed battery life feels realistic. They also do a good job of holding their charge. I let them sit for about 10 days for a stretch and picked them up again and at least according to my phone, their charge hadnāt decreased at all.
Pairing was also easy to figure out without having to look up instructions. Some Bluetooth devices need a certain set of steps. This one was easy, just hold the button down until it blinks at you rapidly and then tell your phone to find it. Done.
A fun bonus is the power on/off sounds sound like old Nintendo game sound effects. This is not an important or necessary feature but makes me chuckle every time.
There is an app for updating and with EQ features kinda-sorta found here: https://www.sonarworks.com/soundid/drop/panda-headphones
Itās not really a phone app, at least initially. On that website is an app to download a firmware updater for the Panda. It is downloaded to a Mac or Windows computer. I downloaded this app to install it. The install went fine, except Windows Defender (Iām running Win 10) didnāt want it to run. After 2 rounds of telling Windows I was sure I wanted to install it, it did so. However, when I plugged in
the Panda via USB-C to update it, the update hung on this screen:
for several minutes. I closed that screen and restarted the Drop app. The app immediately recognized the Panda was still plugged in, informed me an update was available, and asked if I wanted to update. I said yes. The app then launched the update for about 5 seconds, then quit and said āUpdate not finish [sic]. Try Again?ā I clicked try again and it finally ran the complete update. Once thatās done, the SoundID app, which can be downloaded at the Google or Apple app stores, will work with the Panda and any future firmware updates can be handled through it ā the downloadable Windows/Mac updater is a one-and-done process.
But weāre not done yet. Because now you must download the SoundID app and if you donāt have an account create one and then navigate a list of possible headphones the SoundID folks have programmed things for and then go through the process of connecting your headphones to the app itself instead of just to your phone and cross your fingers to hope it works but for me it didnāt and I had to restart my phone and that didnāt help and then I had to unpair the Panda from my phone and re-pair it and then relaunch the SoundID app and tell it to connect to the Pandas again and then it finally did and [DEEP BREATH]ā¦ok, yes, sorry English teachers for the epic run-on. I did it on purpose. Because the process of getting this update done, SoundID app installed, and then get that app to talk to the Panda was a pain in the [pick your favorite body part for things to be a pain in], and was a frustrating slog. Once everything is talking to everything else, you still have to go through a setup program within SoundID to get your sound signature preferences set up. I set it up and tried it with the Panda. It made an audible difference, which I will report on further when I talk aboutā¦
SOUND
This sound review was done almost exclusively using LDAC Bluetooth connection between the Panda and my Galaxy smartphone or Cayin N6ii DAP, mostly using Spotify, but briefly using the Cayinās stock player with local FLACs. I did this because I figured wireless will be the most likely use case and the reason that someone is buying this headphone, so letās evaluate it as itās likely to be used.
Sound Signature ā With Stock Tuning
In a departure from most wireless headphones $400 and less, the Panda tuning is more neutral in its tuning. The bass isnāt nearly as elevated to the point of boom as some more mainstream tuned wireless pieces. There might be the shallowest of v signatures to it, but itās not prominent. The bass has decent extension and the treble is sparkly without seeming forward or emphasized. The mids are nicely present too, not pushed to the background like many headphones of this type.
When I first put on the Pandas I had just finished reviewing a number of really high-end headgear pieces like the Audeze LCD-24, Abyss Diana Phi, HiFiMan HE1000V2,ā¦well, you get the idea. Putting on a $400 wireless piece was a changeup. However, one thing I can say for the Panda is I didnāt cringe as hard as I thought I would. After listening for a few minutes, I was struck by the pleasantly realistic timbre in the mids and treble. For the most part, that mid and treble timbre continued to impress me with future listening sessions, too. However, if a recording is already sibilant, the Panda doesnāt do much for it and probably adds a little bit of its own. This added sibilance is less than Iām used to for THX amps, but itās also not zero. The resolution is also good with some of my initial notes also noting the mid-bass detail. No, itās not going to show you all the warts in your music, but itās also not going to leave out too much to enjoy.
Now, Iām a basshead and most of the time there was enough bass for me. It wouldnāt be the first piece I reach for if I really wanted to rumble while on the go, but itās good reasonably good extension and enough bass presence to satisfy most.
Where the Bluetooth nature really comes out is with the spatial presentation. There isnāt much in the way of staging with a narrow and flat stage, 3-blob imaging, and a general in-the-head presentation. However, this is common for the product type and I mention it only as a sonic aspect Drop did not solve with this product.
With SoundID EQ Enabled
OKā¦BIG waving flag hereā¦Iām about to talk about a preference-based EQā¦YMMV!
Also, I spent far less time listening to the Panda with EQ than without. However, I logged several hours without EQ so the differences with werenāt too hard to hear.
The SoundID setup program plays about 8 different clips with different EQ presents in them and asks you select whether you prefer clip A, clip B, or canāt tell a difference. It then puts all your selections through an algorithm and spits out an EQ profile supposedly optimized to your preferences for the headphone youāre using. My preferences for the Panda gave a slight boost to the subbass (surprise! Lol), smoothed out the transition from bass to midbass, brought up the upper mids just a hair, and perhaps most noticeably widened the soundstage and filled in the spaces between center, and left and right, making the spatial presentation just a bit less 3-blob-y. Less 3-blob-y though, and still very much with an in-the-head presentation, just slightly bigger and more laterally coherent.
Overall clarity improved, the sound was overall just a hair less veiled than the stock tuning. However, even thought the bass-to-mid transition smoothed out from a frequency-response perspective, a bit of grain was added in the same range. This grain was more detectable with male vocalists than female vocalists. I first noticed it when I enabled the EQ and āThe Distanceā by Cake came on in my shuffle. Turn off the EQ and the grain went away, but the soundstage narrowed and became more 3-blob-y. With female vocals the the EQ could introduce a hint of shout that was not there without the EQ, probably from that lift of the upper mids. How did that get in there? Well, I selected the distorted guitars test track in the SoundID setup thinking āI like to rock!ā. Had I picked a vocal based test track, my own mileage very well could have varied. So, itās a tradeoff. The EQ makes a difference, but it isnāt a cure-all. Some things improve, some things donāt.
COMPARISON WITH OTHER HEADPHONES
I have two points of comparison for the Panda. Iāll comment on one below. First, the other headphone I have to compare to in a similar product category is the Sony WH-1000XM3, which costs about $350 and includes amazing active noise cancelling. Feature-wise the Sony has more controls on the headset itself, but most of them are touch controls where the Panda has a physical button. Truthfully, I donāt like either canās control implementation and end up controlling everything on my phone. Physical comfort is pretty even although I thought the XM3 got a little bit warmer and started the ear sweat a little earlierā¦although they both did it. Both models also have battery life that is among the best in class.
FWIW, I had to update the firmware on my XM3 to also do a fair comparison here and check that my statements about dropping connection quality when EQ is active still apply (they do). It took about 35 minutes to do that update. It worked the first time, but was still slow and tedious. So neither the XM3 or the Panda gets high marks from me on the ergonomics of app side.
Sonically Iāll compare the stock tunings. The SoundID process is a bit of pain, tbh, and the results areā¦eh. The Sony comes with an app that has extensive EQ options, but that also drops the Bluetooth connection quality, so letās compare the stock tunings with the best connection type. The XM3ās tuning is a bit closer to the mainstream with a definitely elevated bass shelf. Its treble isnāt necessarily recessed but is rolled off a bit and clearly tuned to avoid ear-fatigue over long listening sessions. That decision is defensible as itās a headphone designed to make music a listenable experience on 12-hour flights and the like. The Pandaās tuning is more audiophile neutral. The Panda also has slightly more detail throughout the frequency range, I emphasize slightly, though. The timbre of the Panda is also a touch more natural than the XM3. Same here, the difference in timbre is a very slight advantage to the Panda. The XM3 also hits harder in the bass than the Panda, which can be more engaging for some music genres ā namely mainstream ones. Both cans are essentially dead even in their ability to reproduce space, which means not well. Itās a very flat, narrow stage with an in-the-head feel either way.
Unfortunately, I have not heard the Sony XM4 and understand that they tuned that one even more mainstream with a more aggressive bass shelf. I canāt confirm that, but since the XM4 is the latest model it might change what Iām about to sayā¦
If I didnāt already own the XM3 and had both it and the Drop Panda on loan to pick oneā¦which would it be? XM3. Yes, the Panda sounds just a wink better in detail retrieval and timbre and has a tuning which probably means itās more technically accurate. That might be all some audiophiles need and I will not give anyone grief over that decision. For me it comes down to 1) I like bass and the Sony delivers in the low end in important ways the Panda does not and 2) the Sony is the better value. On point 2, the XM3 is only slightly off the sound quality pace set by Panda in the mids and treble. The difference between the two is audible but Iāve heard bigger sound changes between DACs and amps that are close to each other in price. The XM3 also has more features, the big one being world class ANC. The presence of that ANC makes it more useful in a wider range of mobile situations than the Panda. When you throw in that it costs $50 less, it becomes an easy decision for me.
The other point of comparison I can make, but is a bit of different categoryā¦sorta. My workout setup is a Radsone ES100 bluetooth dac/amp and V-MODA Crossfade M100 headphone with WC Wicked XL ear pads. The pads give both a big sonic and comfort upgrade to the stock M-100. The M-100 is a fairly easy-driving closed-back and these pads make it isolate pretty well, too. Crunching the numbers here, the M-100 sells for $250. The ES100 mk 2 is $90 on Amazon as of this writing, normally about $100. The pads are $20. A short, 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable (I use a 12ā Cable Creations) goes for under $10. Weāre looking at $380 for the package. I clip the ES100 to my shirt collar and off I go. The M-100 stays on my head exceptionally well, even when laying on a horizontal bench and while sweating. I donāt hear much of the outside world, and no one has ever told me to turn my music down because they could hear itā¦or maybe I just look unapproachable. Either way, the reason I always leaned that way instead of using my XM3ās was because the M-100 stayed on better in active situations and this setup sounds better. With the WC XL pads, the M-100 is a little less mid-forward and has a warmer signature than stock and while itās not going to compete with my desktop gear in resolution, itās no slouch. I didnāt try the Panda in a full gym workout because I donāt own it and didnāt want to sweat that much on it (youāre welcome, owner). But, it will slide off my head backward if lying horizontally. The ergonomic drawbacks of the ES100 + M-100 setup are that a wire is still required to go from the ES100 to the M-100. Itās also an overall more complicated setup as it requires a total of 4 pieces ā phone/dap/tablet, BT dac/amp, wire, headphone ā as opposed to just 2 for the Panda ā phone/dap/tablet and headphone. However, the performance is quite good.
Again comparing the stock tunings, the ES100 + M-100 is warmer, bassier, has more thump and rumble in the low end, and a generally smoother presentation throughout the frequency spectrum. The Panda sounds more crisp and more forward in the mids and treble. The treble especially sounds a bit more shimmery than the ES100 + M-100. Despite this crispness, the ES100 + M-100 was more resolving. It didnāt initially come across that way because it sounded smoother overall but it was pulling out more room reverb, resolving string plucks a little more clearly, etc. The ES100 + M-100 also had a bigger, wider soundstage and more coherent lateral imaging. It was far less 3-blob-y than Panda. The ES100 + M-100 still canāt quite lick that in-the-head feel, but itās less than feeling from Panda. Still, the overall technical performance gap here is slight and I canāt fault anyone for preferring Panda because of the more neutral signature or liking that crisper presentation. Still, anyone looking around in this price category should know what the options are.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Panda is still a good product. If the goal is straight up to find the best sound quality for a wireless headphone under $500 and itās not going to be used in contexts with noisy backgrounds, here it is. In my personal opinion the value isnāt great at $399. I suspect that the utility of the Panda decreases dramatically if you want to listen to music on planes, while mowing the lawn, or doing other activities with noisy backgrounds. The other Bluetooth cans out there in the price range that have ANC still sound pretty good too, and often represent a more complete overall value package. However, Iāve seen used models listed in the $250 price range and there it starts to make a lot more sense. Despite my reservations on the overall value, there were times the Panda brought me music that I really appreciated. During my move with all my other sound gear boxed up and strewn about in different rooms and sometimes in different houses, it was nice to grab a lawn chair, set it up on the deck of the new house, grab the Pandas, and sneak in a few songs at reasonably good quality. So, a product like the Panda absolutely has its place. It will be a question of what your use cases are and what the right price is for you.
Thanks once again for reading, all. Enjoy the music! 
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Did you ever try the predefined neutral EQ preset? I found it to be a substantial improvement over stock. I didnāt particular like the results of my individualized tuning.
The custom EQ is the only one I tried, TBH. Iām not a huge fan of EQ and was frustrated with the app at that point, lol. Really hard to review EQ because there are so many ways to do it.
This is maybe an odd question since itās not really apples-to-apples, but how do you think the Drop Panda or Sony XM4 at $400 would compare with spending the same money on some non-BT $300 or less closed-back plugged into a $100 Bluetooth dac/amp (e.g. BTR5, Qudelix 5K)?
EDIT: Actually, Iām not being able to think of any $300-ish closed-backs. Like, for a lower price, you could get a DT770 or K371 or E-MU Walnut, but I donāt know how well any of those would fair for portable use, so I may have answered my own question, lol.
you know what? Iām going to get back to you on that. It completely slipped my mind that my workout system right now is a ES100 + V-MODA Crossfade M-100 with aftermarket pads. The package costs about $380 and itās absolutely an option for someone looking for a mobile setup in this price range. Aarghā¦canāt believe I didnāt think of that. Thanks for the reminder and standby!
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OK. That didnāt take too long because Iām very familiar with the ES100 + M-100, especially lately that going back to the gym is a thing. So, I added a couple paragraphs in the comparison section above. Enjoy! And thanks again for the reminder. Still baffled I didnāt think to do that in the first placeā¦
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Seems my Pandaās (original IndieGogo contributer) just died on meā¦ 
They just shortly light up white and off again when trying to power them on.
Seems like itās a pretty widespread issue:
I have been pretty happy with them for ā(home) office useā since I received them and have used them for many, many hours daily/weekly since receiving them about a Year ago.
Havenāt really used them for music more than a few short listens as I wasnāt impressed and preferred a lot of my other headphones/IEMs.
I have contacted Drop but if anyone has any ideas (nope, I havenāt gone through the whole thread yet) let me know as Iāve had to resort to using an old pair of JBL E55BT and thatās quite a downgrade for Teams/meeting usage at leastā¦ 
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Dead battery perhaps? AFAIK, it isnāt end-user replaceable, but I could be wrong.
I have two sets of the Panda, one that I have at home for outdoor walks and one I keep in my car for when Iām on the road and knock on wood, both have been fine thus far.
The only issue I had was with the second set I purchased the nipple was unresponsive/unpredictable in the directions to change tracks vs. change volume. Drop swapped it out for a new set without any problems.
Jup, that seems very likelyā¦ 
Mine had the same problem were it wouldnāt turn on and just blick white.
Contacted Drop and they swapped it without question.
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Thatās nice to hear.
I wonder if theyāll pay for return shipping (EU) too?
Also, hopefully theyāll mark it properly so I wonāt have too much trouble with customs when the new unit arrives, hopefully.
I had a similar issue and the battery was fine. I had to re-flash the firmware and reset it to fix it.
You can flash the firmware using the tool on their site and resetting it by holding down the nub button for a certain amount of time. Itās listed in the manual.
The software is really holding down this headphone.
Itās worth trying this out before going to the hassle of sending it back.
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Iām in Switzerland and they paid for the return and i had no shipping or costum fees to pay for the new one.
I did try to flash the firmware many time, reset it and also let the battery completely die to reset. Nothing works.
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Theyāve just told me that they have no stock so they can offer either $20 USD if I can live with only using it wired (hell no!) or a full refund (excl. taxes of course) with a pre-paid shipping labelā¦
Since Iāve used it for almost a Year I think thatās a small price to pay (i.e. the tax I paid when importing it) so Iām probably getting a refund and buying something else.
Iāve tried resetting it and wiping the firmware but itās not even recognised at this point so itās pretty dead it seems.
EDIT: Just shipped it back to the U.S. for a full refund (minus import fees/taxes of course) - prepaid UPS label and very clear instructions - Iām impressed by Dropās customer service! 
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