Moondrop Robin - It's Kinda Weird, but...
When I was testing the Nothing Ear 3, I got the Robin at about the same time but that first pair had a defective left earphone, and I had to get a replacement set. But just from that first listen with just the right earphone, I suspected the Robin’s audio experience was going to be one I’d likely appreciate. When I did get the replacement set, I was somewhat surprised at how the Robin manages to supply me with an amount of bass that I enjoy but without clouding or muddying up the midrange. Vocals sounded present and clear and instruments sounded the way I expected them to. There was none of the extra bright treble from the Nothing Ear 3 nor was there the overwhelming bass those produce with their out-of-the-box sound. The Robin didn’t strike me as perfectly neutral, but much more balanced than many of the other earphones I’d tested in recent months.
Nevertheless, the Robin strikes me as a bit polarizing. The packaging, the case, the audio prompts, and the entire aesthetic are very much classic Moondrop but dialed up quite a bit to accommodate Robin, who, I'm told, is a video game character from Honkai: Star Rail. This explains why that name appears on the box. If, like me, you weren't aware of this game, then the entire packaging is lost on you, and it all comes across as very strange. Strange enough that I really wondered who would even push past all this crazy purple packaging to even get to the earphones themselves, but apparently people do.
The Robin introduces themselves (herself?) to you when it starts up and it talks to you as you cycle through modes, saying such delightful phrases in her high-pitched happy voice as “I’ve connected you to the outside world!” or “It’s quieted down now”. There is a silkscreen style picture of Robin on the lid of the earphones case just to ensure you can’t get away from the reality of what you’ve bought.
I like that Moondrop included a case for the case, so you don’t have to see Robin every time you reach for the earphones. And even better, the case is purple, and purple is my favorite color. You even get a small transparent acrylic plaque (it's the same image as on the front of the retail box) in the box to adorn your desk or nightstand. That’s what it’s for, right? Honestly, all of this is just a little oddball to me. I like my audio gear to have a little less personality. I found myself wondering many times during my testing who would buy this product. It comes across to me, a woman, as expressly girly and even a little childish, but my husband assured me there is a market for this kind of thing. I am not the target demographic, and I would surely never have even looked at these had it not been for a YouTube commenter telling me I should look into them after my brief foray with the SoundPeats H3, which do not work for my ear anatomy.
Curious aesthetics and ambience aside, most things work as they should. I was able to successfully connect the Robin to the Moondrop app and change settings and update the firmware to version 1.3.0. I found that I preferred the Robin in their standard EQ preset and I did not spend a lot of time trying to customize a sound I already liked quite a bit. Nevertheless, just as with the Space Travel 2, you can download DSP settings that others have created and try out different sound curves to see what appeals to you. There did not appear to be as many available for the Robin as there were for the Space Travel 2, though.
The noise cancelling on the Robin is about average. Because they are earphones with tips that are expected to seal the canal, they block a good amount of noise passively. Enabling ANC blocks out noise fairly well; they were a little bit more effective for me than the Nothing Ear 3, but I think the shape of the Robin and the ever so slightly longer nozzle work better for my ears. I wouldn’t buy the Robin for their noise canceling, but I think it’s fine for use around the house or in an office environment. I’d probably want over-the-ear headphones with stronger ANC for travel and transport.
In my collection, I unexpectedly found that the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro (henceforth B3P) provided the best comparison point for the Robin. I say unexpectedly because I rarely listen to the B3P. I bought them after their last major firmware update and at a time when they were on sale and I was able to grab a deal on an open box from Best Buy. I bought them because they have planar drivers and they’re Samsung, so I knew they’d work well for my Samsung-heavy gadget stash. I think I listened to them originally to do some testing and analysis and then promptly put them away because I had other things to take my attention. So, I was legitimately surprised when I pulled them out of their hiding place and pitted them against the Robin as I remembered they also have planar drivers and therefore might make a good competitor. Immediately, I wondered why I never listen to the B3P. Everything was pretty much as I like it; bass that hits hard but doesn’t overwhelm, vocals that are clear and present, treble that isn’t overly bright or peaky. It’s also the way I would describe the Robin. The B3P push the bass just a tad bit harder but the Robin have a more prominent midrange. These differences are slight but noticeable if you are paying attention. What I realized after listening to both of these for lots of A/B testing is that I prefer both of these over many of the other earphones in my collection, including my beloved Creative Aurvana Ace Mimi and the Technics AZ80. And because both of these have some tuning capabilities, you can probably get them both close to your ideal sound curve. The Robin earphones have nice detail and a little bit more airiness to the sound than the B3P but vocals feel up-close and intimate in a way that may not feel as open and wide as the B3P. But I wouldn’t say that either is especially wide in terms of sound stage. This is arguably hard to achieve in earphones anyway, so I don’t even go looking/listening for it except as a point of reference for reviews.
I popped in the Robin as I was testing the Nothing Ear 3 and I really shouldn’t have done that because these wrecked the Nothing for me. It seems that the mainstream prefers the stem-style earbud and to be fair, they are more comfortable. But when it comes to fit and seal, I find that the in-ear monitor body style the Robin has works better for my ears in terms of allowing me to get the best out of these earphones. The way stem-style earbuds hang from my ears means you might need a deeper fit for the best sound and most effective noise canceling, but many of these buds of this style don’t have that deeper fit. For casual listening, I prefer a more comfortable fit. But if I want to listen to music for the sake of listening to music, the IEM approach just works better for me. That said, they aren’t at all the most comfortable earphones I’ve ever tried. They are just about as big as they can be and still fit my ears. But I can’t wear them for a long time. After a while, they just start to feel big and unwieldy in my ears and I need to take a break from them. I’d definitely take the B3P in terms of comfort and longer listening sessions.
The Robin earphones are what I hoped in some respects to get from my time with the SoundPeats H3. The H3 have very nicely presented midrange, but if they don’t work for your ears - as they don’t for mine - you don’t get the benefit of the low end that they can produce. I can get a taste of it if I shove them in my ears and hold them in place, but I can’t live like that. The Robin earphones give me that bit of bass without having to experience such instant discomfort but still give me that immersive midrange I crave.
The Moondrop app gave me only a few hiccups. It usually takes a while to connect to the earbuds, but once connected, it generally worked fine for me. I had an issue with a firmware update, but trying again it worked fine. In the app you can modify ANC, gain, EQ presets, load up DSP presets, and update firmware. There does not seem to be any way to modify the control scheme, and you don’t get volume controls. This isn’t a deal killer for me, but I know it is for many people.
In the end, I find that I am very happy with the Robin but I’m also pretty happy with the B3P. It is nice to have planar drivers in earphones that are available for the mass market and aren’t relegated to audiophile and audio nerds anymore. The Robin’s retail price is lower than the B3P, so I’d steer people that way if they’re interested in this type of driver, but the B3P are often on sale and with the Buds 4 Pro surely on the horizon, they’ll probably become even cheaper.
So many options. Only two ears.
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