Hey guys - happy… Monday? Let’s talk about the Moondrop LAN.
As some of you may know, the Chu was a huge hit when it came out and completely changed the game in the $20 price bracket. Now - I don’t think it’s competitive anymore, but, nonetheless it still paved the way for what was to come. Unfortunately, the LAN does not hold the same magic and disruption power as the Chu, but let’s just jump into it.
Starting with the bass - it’s ok - average for today’s standards. Texture is alright, impact is there, gets the job done, there’s some rumble, and it has decent speed and little bass bleed. It’s nothing mindblowing and certainly doesn’t have the impact and texture like the EA500 (review of that coming later this week), but it does have better separation than the Waner, Hola, and Cadenza (needless to say it’s much better than the original Chu)… that is until you compare it to the Quarks DSP, then the LAN ends up sounding muffled and not as well separated - while lacking in sub-bass extension.
Vocals in particular sound a bit muffled and pushed back, but also slightly sharp at the same time. Now, the LAN is better than the Warners and Holas when it comes to clarity, but when you A/B it with the Quarks DSP there’s a night and day difference in the timbre. The Quarks DSP just sounds so much more clear, open, and complete, and doesn’t feel like I’m looking for missing parts of the singer’s voice or mid-range. And speaking of the mids, they’re a bit recessed and covered up. Again, comparing it to the Quarks DSP it’s not as clean, clear, and well separated. I wouldn’t say the LAN is bloated and it’s certainly better than the Aria-like signatures, but there’s definitely some masking going on even though it might not look too bad on the graph.
Treble is fine for the most part at mid-volume, but it starts getting spicy and fatiguing once you crank it up. It’s not metallic like the Chu, but it’s still sharp enough to be noticeable in female vocals and cymbal strikes. Again, comparing it to the Quarks DSP it’s not as refined dynamically and not as smooth. This is probably because of the big drop at 10K followed by a quick escalation afterwards - which really hurts the overall dynamics because you definitely hear the energy on songs like Hi High, Strangest Thing, and Model. The stage is also a bit cramped like the original Chu, and imaging is the same as the others.
Now, the LAN isn’t horrible - it’s better than the Waner, Hola, Zeros, but it’s not ideal especially when you have the Quarks DSP that’s better in every area for less than half its price. It’s passable, but it doesn’t make sense to get it right now - if you want more mid-bass grab the EA500, and if you want a subwoofer like sound then there’s the Khan. Otherwise, the default and benchmark is still the Quarks DSP. So ya, I don’t really recommend them, and that’s pretty much all I have to say. Thanks for reading!