So Moondrop sells the top headphone equipped with earpads that make Cosmo sound very badly and the buyer has to work hard to find aftermarket pads in order to achieve better results. One would assume that these tests should have been done by Moondrop.
Indeed, the violin sounds a little “raw” with the VENUS ; a little more finesse and smoothness would be welcome, especially for your ears sensitive to high frequencies; my old ears are more forgiving; although with the PARA, the highs are “too much” and the violin sounds quite thin, and with the COSMO equipped with the PARA's hybrid pads, the little bump level at 3 Khz gives a certain harshness to the violin sound, not very pleasant to hear.
As I said in my previous post, I hope that the Dekoni's Elite hybrid HE pads, that I'll be receiving on Friday May 17, will further improve the COSMO's tonality, to a value “close to perfection” for my old ears.
EDIT: In the same style of video, but even more varied for musical instruments, in a humorous style; to test your favorite headphones with a wide variety of musical instruments.
So, I received my Dekoni Elite Hybrid pads (for Hifiman HE series), and I installed them on my Venus headphones. First - the install is a bit difficult - these pads are built for a headphone with noticeably less ring diameter than the Venus. Obviously, you have to remove the plastic insert (the part that 'locks' into the Hifiman series headphones). Then you have to carefully manipulate the flap of leather while stretching the earpad from the inside (quite a lot) to finally get the pads to install.
I'm listening to them for the first time now, but first impressions are that there is significantly more smoothness to the mids/upper mids/treble response coupled with slightly better resolution and instrument placement (listening to "Symphonic Sondheim"). I'm really not noticing much, if any, change in bass extension or response (the graph led me to belief I'd lose a couple db there - so far that's not been a problem). I do wear glasses usually, so perhaps the same db bump in the lower bass area is keeping these fairly consistent with the stock pads in this respect.
The overall impression is increased resolution/imaging coupled with a smoother frequency response from about (I would guess) 800-900hz and upwards.
The pads are physically a bit more comfortable given the velour against the skin - hopefully that will mitigate the sweat issue with the stock pads. On the other hand, the ear 'holes' are 10mm smaller, so you will feel these around your ears (unlike the stock pads). So far, they've been comfortable overall, but I don't have much time on them at all yet.
On the negative side, the pads I received are noticeably different in 'thickness' - one is much thicker than the other all around, as if production 'stuffed' one much fuller with memory foam than the other. I'm contacting Dekoni about this as $70 earpads shouldn't have this kind of variation.
Not my genre - but the 'immediacy' of Venus' response would, I think, be great for that...
Venus is not a "sitting in the middle of a concert hall" set of headphones (like my HE1000v2 set). The soundstage is not compressed or flat (it's quite 3d) - but you are much closer to the stage at the concert, if that makes sense.
Imho, from what I've been able to hear, the VENUS (with its stock pads), with its slightly V-shaped sound signature, should do the trick; its bass dynamics are good, especially if you lightly unseal the pads on their front with the temples of a pair of glasses; its soundstage is wide; it's better suited than the PARA, which is too mid-centric and high-pitched.
Not the COSMO (and its stock pads).
Indeed, the violin sounds a little “raw” with the VENUS ; a little more finesse and smoothness would be welcome, especially for your ears sensitive to high frequencies; my old ears are more forgiving; although with the PARA, the highs are “too much” and the violin sounds quite thin, and with the COSMO equipped with the PARA's hybrid pads, the little bump level at 3 Khz gives a certain harshness to the violin sound, not very pleasant to hear. As I said in my previous post, I hope that the Dekoni's Elite hybrid HE pads, that I'll be receiving on Friday May 17, will further improve the COSMO's tonality, to a value “close to perfection” for my old ears.
EDIT: In the same style of video, but even more varied for musical instruments, in a humorous style; to test your favorite headphones with a wide variety of musical instruments.
What I underlined in bold in my post quoted above is unfortunately not verified, for my old ears.
Just goes to show that apparently beautiful RF curves are not always a guarantee of what you will hear with your own ears.
I'm a little disappointed by these Dekoni's Elite Hybrid HE pads used on the COSMO compared to the PARA's hybrid pads used on the same COSMO headphone.
The external dimensions of these pads are identical: mounting them on the magnetized perforated metal plate (common to both PARA and COSMO) is a breeze.
I'm rather disappointed with these DEKONI Elite Hybrid HE pads, as the tonality doesn't correspond, for my 58-year-old ears, to what I'd hoped for when looking at the comparative RF curves (1st spoiler below). However, a closer look (at these RF curves) reveals a few explanations for this disappointment.
To keep things simple, I compared the COSMO re-equipped with these DEKONI's Elite Hybrid HE pads with the same COSMO headphone re-equipped with the PARA's hybrid pads; but also with the VENUS and its stock pads and the PARA with its EP-100A Upgrade pads (sounding a little less brilliant in the highs than the hybrid stock pads).
To make things easier to understand, I'll compare these headphones using the following three listening criteria:
Sound consistency (=fullness of sound; the opposite of a thin or lean sound) Clarity of sound (the opposite of dark sound) High frequency brilliance (the opposite of veiled)
The PARA sounds like a clear headphone, brilliant in the high frequencies, but lacking body and consistency.
The VENUS sounds like a headphone with body and consistency, but with a slight lack of clarity, and with high frequencies that are quite prominent, but less brilliant than those of the PARA.
The COSMO re-equipped with DEKONI's Elite Hybrid HE pads bears a certain resemblance to the sound of the VENUS, i.e. like headphones sounding with body and consistency, but with, like the VENUS, a slight lack of clarity; high frequencies are, on the contrary of VENUS, slightly recessed on the COSMO re-equipped with DEKONI's Elite Hybrid HE pads.
This is reflected in the soundstage, which is less open than that of the VENUS (and also that of the COSMO equipped with PARA's hybrid pads). The sound is a little too dull for my taste (at least for my old ears, more indulgent at high frequencies)...
The COSMO re-equipped with the PARA's Hybrid pads has a slightly less full sound than the VENUS and the COSMO equipped with the DEKONI's Elite Hybrid HE pads, but with more consistency and body than that of the PARA.
The clarity is good, but less pronounced than that of the PARA, but more present than for the VENUS and the COSMO equipped with DEKONI's Elite Hybrid HE pads, which for my old ears is appreciable and makes for example more clear and realistic a snare drum and less dull a female voice which emerges more clearly and distinctly.
The treble of the COSMO equipped with the PARA's hybrid pads seems to me, on various cymbals, to be the most natural, less artificial than those of the VENUS (quite typed), with a little more presence than those of the COSMO equipped with the Dekoni's Elite Hybrid HE pads (while I expected the opposite, that is to say to have a little more treble with the DEKONI's hybrid HE pads); this results in a less dull, more open and airy sound for the soundstage with the PARA hybrid pads versus the DEKONI Elite Hybrid Elite HE pads.
Note that the highs of the COSMO equipped with the PARA's hybrid pads are significantly less brilliant than those of the PARA: the cymbals are dazzling with the PARA and sparkle a lot in the extreme highs; they are quite distinctive and highlighted with the VENUS; On the contrary, they are a little dull and distant with the COSMO equipped with DEKONI's Elite Hybrid HE pads; finally, they are rather well balanced with the COSMO equipped with the PARA's hybrid pads, although for my old ears, a hint of additional shine would not have displeased me.
Other useful comparisons.
EDIT: you may have noticed that I've just changed the thread title.
For the COSMO, I've specified: Moondrop COSMO Planar (re-equipped with the PARA Hybrid pads): new flagship.
Indeed, the COSMO fully deserves the title of new flagship of the Moondrop brand (which costs the already substantial sum of 900 US dollars (1,000 euros in Europe)), under the sine qua non condition of using other pads than those delivered in stock, which are bad (I have no other word to describe them) ; my personal preference (for my hearing) is for PARA's hybrid pads (to re-equip the COSMO so that it sounds good); the DEKONI's Elite Hybrid HE pads didn't convince me; it may be different for you, with your own hearing, which isn't necessarily mine.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained; don't hesitate to make your own experiment.
To conclude this post: it would be very much appreciated if MOONDROP delivered a second pair of pads with its COSMO (as with the PARA); and why not the hybrid ones pads delivered in stock with the PARA (which don't cost much to produce); this would be a real plus for the image of the Moondrop brand and the COSMO headphone, and could only make people want to buy this excellent headphone even more (in return for this salutary change of pads).
Are the Para Hybrid pads available for purchase on their own? I'll check the website, but if someone knows here, that would help.
I will say that my experience with these pads (Dekoni Elite Hybrid for HE Hifiman) and the Moondrop Venus, I have (so far) been impressed. The resolution/detail retrieval and stereo image placement is *significantly better than with the stock pads. Also, the treble region just makes so much more sense holistically.
Anyway - that's my impression after two days. Oh - the negative for me is that they were *not* easy to install on the Venus. Quite a bit of pad manipulation had to take place.
I'm still in communication with Dekoni over the pad thickness mismatch issue. They had me send pictures, and I'll probably hear back next week.
Dekoni has a history of poor quality control. There was also a set of pads I received from them that said made in China. The same pads were sold on Aliexpress for about 1/5 of the price Dekoni charged. I personally think a lot of Dekoni's pads aren't made by Dekoni but someone else and Dekoni is charging significantly higher prices for the same pads that are sold on Chinese websites. You would think that the least Dekoni could do when sorting their pads into pairs would be to see that the pairs were closely matched to each other. I have also received pads from them that had very obvious differences in thickness.
We have to admit that the quality of these three Moondrop planar headphones is top-notch.
A few comments on this family photo of the three planar headphones:
- the PARA is used here with its hybrid EP-100A upgrade pads (which are great with this headphone ; a little less treble than the hybrid stock pads of the PARA), as well as its Moondrop UP upgrade cable (copper color).
- the VENUS uses its stock pads and its stock V-Line symmetrical cable (silver color).
- the COSMO, Moondrop's new flagship, uses its stock (black color) symmetrical cable, but the (bad) stock pads of the COSMO have been replaced here by PARA's very good hybrid pads, which improve it (greatly) in every way.
Let's hope that these PARA's hybrid pads will one day find their way inside the COSMO's box, as (salutary) alternative pads to this excellent COSMO headphone.
Patiently waiting for my Cosmos to arrive. Purchased a unit almost a month ago in a few days and it's still in shipping hiatus. Based on your descriptions, I wish they sold the Para's hybrid pads separately, I'm curious to see how they hold up. I have yet to place an order for some zmf earpads that will probably work nicely with the Cosmo (I hope).
Patiently waiting for my Cosmos to arrive. Purchased a unit almost a month ago in a few days and it's still in shipping hiatus. Based on your descriptions, I wish they sold the Para's hybrid pads separately, I'm curious to see how they hold up. I have yet to place an order for some zmf earpads that will probably work nicely with the Cosmo (I hope).
Even if Moondrop doesn't respond to our wish to see a second salutary pair of complementary pads added to the COSMO's offering, which would be the excellent PARA's hybrid default pads (because it's night and day with the COSMO's (bad) stock pads, in comparison with these PARA's hybrid pads); well, I think the qualities of the COSMO re-equipped with the PARA's hybrid pads are worth far more than the $900 COSMO + $300 (to buy a PARA and get their default hybrid pads back) + $30 (to re-equip the PARA with the EP-100A upgrade pads made to improve the PARA, which is the case). I.e a total of $1230 US.
Given the choice between a Stax SR-009 or a COSMO re-equipped with the PARA's hybrid pads, I choose the COSMO, without any hesitation.
Ditto with the Stax SR-007 mk2, Audeze LCD3-F, Kennerton Thror, Thekk, Odin mk1, mk2 and mk3 (Thridi), Sennheiser HD-800, that I've owned.
All these headphones cost far more than the COSMO, even adding the price of the PARA to strip it of its excellent hybrid stock pads...
Financially speaking, it's a more than valid choice.
But if Moondrop, commercially speaking, were to make the small commercial gesture (insignificant for the cost price) of adding to the COSMO a second pair of alternative pads, the PARA's hybrid pads, then, the COSMO, re-equipped with the PARA's hybrid pads, would become a "killer", and I wouldn't like to be in the place of the competition, whether I'm called STAX, Focal, Meze, Kennerton, Audeze or Hifiman ..
My Moondrop COSMO headphone re-equipped with the PARA's excellent hybrid default pads (internaly micro perforated). Forget stock pads of the COSMO, they're bad.
EDIT: The Moondrop PARA headphone, which costs just US$300, comes with two pairs of pads, including the excellent hybrid default pads; the alternative pads are not as good (even less bass and more treble than with the PARA's hybrid stock pads).
So why not also with the COSMO, which costs three times as much as the PARA: deliver us also a second pair of pads, alternative (salutary), with the excellent PARA's hybrid pads, to save your COSMO!
Moondrop PARA headphone (only US$300) sold with two pairs of earpads (default hybrid pads and spare perforated protein pads) ; so why not also with the COSMO, yet three times more expensive than PARA, by adding to the stock pads of the COSMO (not very exciting) the excellent hybrid pads of the PARA ?
PARA's excellent hybrid pads needed to save your COSMO. Forget stock pads of the COSMO, they're bad.
EDIT bis: COSMO's stock pads vs PARA's hybrid default pads (internaly microperforated) vs Moondrop EP-100 A upgrade pads for PARA (not internaly microperforated) : which are best pads to use with COSMO and PARA headphones?
PARA default hybrid pads: for my hearing, the best pads to use with the COSMO headphone.
Note: pads internally microperforated.
Left: Moondrop EP-100A upgrade pads for the PARA (not internally microperforated): great with the PARA. Right: stock pads of the COSMO: an incongruity with the COSMO ...
Note: the stock pads of the COSMO are bad (no other word for it). The EP-100A upgrade pads for PARA (not internally microperforated) are great with PARA (by reducing the treble made excessive with PARA's stock hybrid pads), but less convincing with the COSMO (compared with PARA's hybrid pads, internally microperforated), precisely because they reduce the treble too much with the COSMO, which has repercussions on the sound, which is less airy, and the cymbals sound a little too dull compared with the PARA's hybrid pads.
With its stock pads, the COSMO is bad for tone.
PARA's hybrid pads (internally microperforated) : great tone and performance with the COSMO.
Moondrop PARA with default hybrid pads: a clear headphone, brilliant in the high frequencies, but lacking a bit body and consistency.
Moondrop PARA : better with the EP-100A upgrade pads for PARA (not internally microperforated) than the original earpads.
A little less bright in the highs with the EP-100A upgrade pads.
EDIT: In the same style of video, but even more varied for musical instruments, in a humorous style; to test your favorite headphones with a wide variety of musical instruments.
This is what I've just done (which is underlined in bold in my quote above) by listening to the COSMO equipped with the PARA's hybrid pads this evening (in France), in comparison with the VENUS (stock pads) and also the Sennheiser HD-400 Pro.
This amusing video is a great way to judge the timbre of a wide variety of musical instruments, from the tymbal to the triangle (yes, there is one), and also to appreciate the slightest detail and sonic "grain" that each of these instruments provides, sometimes with great subtlety and finesse.
Verdict:
Reproduced quality of instrument timbre (tonal accuracy): COSMO (equipped with PARA's hybrid pads) > VENUS = Sennheiser HD 400 Pro.
Sound resolution (ability to reproduce the slightest sonic detail), finesse (the opposite of rude) and subtlety of sound: COSMO (equipped with PARA's hybrid pads) > VENUS >> Sennheiser HD-400 Pro.
Soundstage precision (focus and placement of instruments and voice ; 3D and "dark background" effects): COSMO (equipped with PARA's hybrid pads) >> VENUS >> HD-400 Pro.
Width of the soundstage (aperture), we always have COSMO (equipped with PARA's hybrid pads) > = VENUS > HD-400Pro.
Try out this video with your own headphones and you'll be amazed at the results.
This weekend I'd like to give the DEKONI Elite Hybrid HE pads a second chance used with the COSMO.
I have to start by break the habit to the tone brought by the PARA's Hyhrid pads used with the COSMO, which reinforce the highs mids and low highs (between 2 and 4.5 KHz), giving at the sound an extra clarity, but which can also be considered as a coloring of the sound.
As a spoiler, below you'll find a large series of headphones compared with the Sennheiser HD-600 (2021) taken as reference headphone, in the form of a continuous green reference line at 0 dB relative.
Indeed, many people regard the Sennheiser HD-600 (2021) headphone as a benchmark for tonality, apart from a well-known lack of bass, which most other headphones compensate for.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
![NOC]$$D4QZW0G~P`8OAYE5S.png](https://cdn.head-fi.org/a/12334900.png)
