Moondrop Chu

Overview:

Up for review today is Moondrop’s cheap-o IEM. At $18 off Amazon, there are not a whole lot of expectations for this IEM set. I picked these up as part of the under $30 IEM shootout with the 7Hz Salnotes Zero (Zero), KZ x HBB DQ6S (DQ6S), and the TRUTHEAR HOLA (Hola.) Moondrop is of course known for the Aria and the Blessing 2 in addition to the Variations, etc. Moondrop has had some major hits on its hands over the years, and the Chu gets a lot of attention, especially at this price. The Chu has 10mm Nano-titanium crystal PVD coating composite diaphragms – whatever that means (titanium at this price?) So, the real question is: how does it sound? If you don’t feel like reading the whole review below: pretty good, but there are some serious caveats.

Build Quality / Comfort:

Build quality…yeah…this is an $18 IEM set. I have to keep reminding myself this isn’t a $2,400 Vision Ears VE8. So, what kind of build quality does $18 buy you? A plastic body, the world’s worst permanently attached cable, nice ear tips, and that’s it. Oh, and a waifu if that’s your thing (why?) The IEM shells feel like decent quality for the price, and really, you’re not expecting a whole lot from these right?

Comfort-wise, the Chu is very comfortable. It is extremely lightweight and the smallest IEM I’ve ever encountered. The cable sucks, it just really does. There are not even hooks built into it, you just kind of hang the cable over your ears and stick the chu in there. It’s weird, and I’m not used to it. $2 more would have bought an ear hook cable – just saying. Heck, the $29 DQ6S has a silver-plated copper cable, and the Zero has a really nice cable for only $23. So…yeah…put a detachable cable with ear hooks on here Moondrop. Like…why? The ear tips are more comfortable and of higher quality than the Zero, so that’s a win for Moondrop, but the DQ6S has even better tips. The Chu is an enigma – it could be better for an extra $5 – it SHOULD be better for an extra $5. Instead, I’m stuck with 3.5mm for the under $30 shootout while every other IEM can use a 4.4mm balanced jack. OK.



Sound / Source / Comparisons:

Check out the squig.link frequency chart below. It’s pretty crazy how close the Zero and the Chu are. Yet, for $5 more, the Zero has nicer accessories, a removable cable, and better sound. $5. That’s all that separates these almost identical IEMs. The only difference we really see between these two is that the Chu has less sub-bass and more recessed highs at 10k (which hardly matters.) Who stole who’s tuning here? (The Zero stole the Chu’s if you care.) Once again, this is an example of companies attempting to copy the Thieaudio Monarch Mk2’s (MMk2) tuning, but for much cheaper.

I am powering these off my Shanling M3 Ultra (M3U) at 36/100 on the volume. The Chu are relatively easy to drive, though they would be even easier to drive if they had the ability to connect a balanced cable. They sit at the exact same volume level as the Zero. These require some power to sound at their best – lower levels of power make them sound flat and 1-dimensional.

I don’t like breaking down headphones solely by frequency range since every song has bass, mids, and highs (and I can’t tell the difference between vocals at 1900 Hz and 2100 Hz.) So, I will start with bass-heavy songs, and break down each song by how all the pieces are presented. You can find my Tidal test tracks playlist in my signature if you want to compare them to your headphones. The first song I will be using to test is a bass-heavy song – David Guetta’s “I’m Good (Blue).” I’m using this song because some of the other songs I tested these with sounded a bit hollow and flat in the bass, but “I’m Good” does a great job as a recording of presenting all of the frequencies. The bass…is flat, and not in a good way. There is almost no thump or impact. It’s just really bad as the frequency chart above shows. There is no rumble in the sub-bass, barely any kick to the mid-bass, and just a terrible bass representation. The mids sound pretty good here, with the vocals coming through clearly, though the synths sound subdued and everything sounds flat and 2D. This is NOT the Chu’s song at all. I don’t even want to listen to another bass-heavy song because this one is represented so poorly.

Thousand Foot Krutch’s “I See Red” come in OK on the Chu. The vocals feel a little thin, and the guitars are OK as well. The bass drums sound very flat in this song as well. As someone who is not a basshead, these IEMs are still really disappointing in the bass department (get the DQ6S for that.) The mids are decent, but you can do better with the Zero. Once again, I don’t want to listen to this anymore.

Panic! At The Disco’s “High Hopes” finally has some good news for the Chu – no sibilant “S” sound. The lows are still missing and the mids still sound flat, which is funny because they’re the same tuning as the MMk2. But hey, non-sibilant highs in an $18 IEM is pretty surprising. Michelle McLaughlin’s “Across the Burren” comes in sharply and it does not sound good at all – please don’t make me listen to these anymore.

This is the worst IEM I’ve heard - ever, even ignoring the price. Get the Zero if you want MMk2 tuning at a really low price – it’s $5 more and much better.



Conclusion:

These are not good. You can do better, skip a Starbucks run, avoid Mcdonalds for a week, sell your kidney – whatever. Don’t buy these – but the Zero. It has the same tuning, but it’s just better across the board. It has better accessories and better sound and no waifu (maybe you’re paying for the waifu?) If all you have is $18 and you really need a set of IEMs and you don’t see an extra $5 coming in anytime in the future, then the Chu makes sense. With the Zero in the wild though, there’s no reason to get the Chu. If you want bass, definitely don’t get the Chu, get the DQ6S. The full comparison will be in the shootout in a week or two, I expect the HOLA will be better also, but only time will tell.

You can buy them from Amazon here: https://amzn.to/3Yc7n8Z

Introduction:
Moondrop is a distinguished name in the audiophile community. This brand emerged in 2015 in China, when a group of hobbyist engineers came together to design interesting Hifi products. Soon their efforts took the market by storm and they came up with "Blessing", "A8" etc that set the stage for them.

Their latest entry is the Chu, a single dynamic driver IEM made of 10mm Nano-crystal coating composite titanium-coated diaphragm, N52 neodymium magnetic circuit, and Ultra-thin imported 0.035mm, CCAW Coil.
Coming to the IEM, with a metallic body and glossy black finish, the earpieces are nothing less than a piece of jewelry. The faceplate's design is minimalistic and impactful. The faceplate has a leafy pattern in gold. The heavy weight of the earpieces is re-assuring and somehow reminded of the USSR enterprise and the remarkable lines "To boldly go where no man has gone before"



The earpieces despite of heavyweight, as of small form factor, are very much comfortable to wear for long durations. This IEM looks much more expensive for its price.

The package contains 3 pairs of Moondrop spring ear tips shelved in a square black box, a beautiful black case, ear hooks, attached cable. The attached cable is unbraided with a soft rubber sheath ending with a 3.5 mm jack.

Disclaimer:
I have received it as part of the review circle sent from Hifigo in exchange for honest reviews. All impressions of sound are subjective to my own listening and my sources and are based on my experience with IEMs of similar hardware configurations and price ranges. One can purchase Moondrop CHU at :
https://hifigo.com/products/moondrop-chu?variant=42673560912111

Sources:
For this review, the unit has been paired to Shanling M6 (AK4495EQ) without any other amplification on a portable setup. And, it has also been paired to a lotto paw S1 dongle with Vivo X50pro and directly to an LG V30+ Phone.




Sound:
The highs on Chu sound are pretty good. The detailing is above average and it's tuned to sound non-fatiguing. Although there is the elevation at the lower treble that does make it feel splashy at times.

Mids are forward, detailed and clear. The instrument sounds the way, natural, and has quite good timber. The vocals can be lean at times but the timber is quite good.

The Bass section is very well tuned. It has an overall elevated response to make it a fun IEM. The sub-bass rumble is there with a soft punch in the mid-bass region. It's not a typical bass head IEM, on the other hand, it's more like a soothing sweet kind.

Soundstage and imaging are average, which is totally fine as per the price segment. The headroom while watching movies and games is compact but imaging on the other hand is quite good, especially for playing competitive games.



Final Verdict:
I have tried Moondrop Chu while gaming, watching movies, and listening to music, and overall it's quite a fun IEM with a few analytical characters. It's totally banging for the buck. I really loved the overall tonality and comfort. It comes lavishly accessorized which is hard to find in IEM of this price range. I would personally recommend chu eyes closed in the sub 50$ range for both audiophile and non-audiophile populations.

Review Of The Moondrop Chu​

Introduction​

Moondrop is a very well known IEM manufacturer, known for their releases like S8, illumination, Blessing 2, Blessing 2 : dusk, Variations and many more. Moondrop have another budget segment as well which proves to be one of the best ones in the market like Starfield, Aria, SSP, SSR, etc, But this review is all about their one of two cheapest offering and that is Moondrop CHU. The release of this IEM is the successor of the Moondrop Spaceship which was also a great IEM. Although I don’t find any resemblance between these two IEMs other than the price segment they are being offered. You can get this on this site for around 2k :-

https://conceptkart.com/products/moondrop-chu-wired-iem#

Disclaimer​

* This is my own purchased unit, each and every thoughts below mentioned are my personal own thoughts and they are not fiddled with any outside influences.
*I will be referring these IEMs to as 'Chu' for the rest of the review.
*I will be comparing these with my own personal units .
*And at last I will only be reviewing the Chu on the basis of their performance, I do not care what these are made of or packaged with when newly purchased unless it affects the sound in any sense what so ever.

Specification​

So this is a single dynamic driver IEM which is made of 10mm Nano-crystal coating composite titanium-coated diaphragm, N52 neodymium magnetic circuit and Ultra-thin imported 0.035mm CCAW Coil and tuned to be in line with Moondrop’s VDSF Target Response. These have an impendence of 28 ohms and sensitivity of 120db/1khz. The frequency response is from 10Hz to 35kHz.

Sound​

The Chu has a neutral with bass boost sound signature. The chu is lean towards bright and metallic sound than being warm. To my surprise these are tuned extremely well for the price. To my ears, I felt much better technical performance on Chu than the ones which comes around the same price bracket. Well the treble is fantastic, being metallic and bright yet not sibilant or harsh. The mid range have all the stage it needs to perform their best and the bass is tight and punchy, best in texture quality when it comes to ones comes around chu with respect to price.

Treble​

The treble has good air except for that dip around 10k, still the extension in this region is really nice. The female vocals sparkles, shines really well in the upper treble and the same goes for the male vocals although being so great still have issues with it. The note weight is really light and lean, but keeps the integrity of the note and doesn't fade away or lost or become sibilant or harsh. The instruments literally finds their space and live in their region. The guitars have their identity and defines themselves. The cymbal crashes aren't sharp but at the same time they aren't smooth as well. The lower treble and upper mid range keeps the sense of sound tonally professional . The lower treble continues to keep the sound quality in check and doesn't alter itself which also keeps everything together.

Mid Range​

Coming to the mid range, the upper mid range is easily the best part, well for me that is at least. The upper mid range is wonderfully rich with details and heavily focused on letting every sound element to sound with no limitation. Their is literally a sense, even if it is a false one, a sense of wide stage, which I believe the only other IEM that can do the half of it is Tripowin Lea. Now coming back to the upper mid range, the vocals are marvelous, very spacious. The instruments doesn't over shadows the vocals or mess up the mix. The male vocals in the lower mid range have that low note density but not quite enough and the same goes to the female vocals. But the presence of vocals in the mix whether upper or lower mid range doesn't affect the balance of sound, although every note sounds lean and that is due to the bass. The best part is that even after the fact that the vocals aren't warm or rich still sounds right to me. I personally like the presentation in the mid range.

Bass​

The bass is very tight and punchy with respect to the frequency response. The bass is focused on the sub bass than the mid bass.
The bass is really well tuned, The bass never really over power mid range, rather helps in keeping it clean all through out the frequency response. The fact that the bass is has more emphasis on the sub bass the warmth is gone out of the window when listening to chu, which is why every note sounds lean, bright, clean and crisp. Due to the sub bass emphasis, their is more punch and rumble than slam or thump. The minute details aren't quite good, but it is still better in the full picture. The bass is purely over your preference, If you want a tight and punchy bass with lean notes.

Technical Performance​

Coming to the technical aspects of this IEM, Chu can better perform in this area especially with detail retrievals, sound imaging and soundstage. Speed has definitely taken a hit with loose ends and to be honest the resolution isn't that great.

Soundstage, Sound Imaging & Separation​

The 3d nature of holographic representation in this IEM is really not that good as the sound covers from far left to far right only, same as it's more expensive brother Moondrop Aria but Aria have much better technical ability. Coming back to the soundstage, The sound is more left to right than front to back or up or down. Their is a little sense of depth in sound and the stereo sound widens and keep it more on the left and right area than keeping it center. The layering and imaging is bad as everything is roughed up with poorer shaping of notes. And due to the density of notes being lean the sound escapes the purpose. The separation is clearly much better which in turn favors the imaging. Although I can definitely pin point where the sound is coming from. Due to the fact separation is really good and imaging complimenting it, people tend to confuse it with soundstage but this is nothing but far from truth.

Speed & Resolution​

The resolvability of this IEM is just as poor as imaging and soundstage. The details in note doesn’t sounds tacky or precise being blunt in nature which provides a roughed up resolution. And the attack or decay of notes aren't precise and have loose ends while resolving. The sound becomes more cloudy than being analytical.

Conclusion​

To conclude this take on Moondrop Chu, for the price they are available, there is no other IEM that can compete with Chu with respect to tonal performance, Not that great with technical abilities, still if tonally preferred, it is one of the best IEM you can buy for the price. I can definitely recommend people to buy this IEM and experience it.

Sources And Tracks Used​

Sources​

Apple iPhone XS Max
LG G8X
iPad (4th generation)
Apple Dongle Dac
Shanling UA1 Pro
iFi HIPDAC
Venture Electronics Megatron
Moondrop Dawn
Apple Lossless
UAPP
Localy stored Flac and Wav Files

Tracks​

Curtis Mayfield - Pusherman
Earth, Wind & Fire - September
Earth, Wind & Fire - Let's Groove
Boston - More Than A Feeling
Fleetwood Mac - Everywhere(Remastered)
Toto - Africa
The Police - Every Breath You Take
George Benson - Affirmation
Daft Punk - Doin' It Right
Daft Punk - Derezzed
Daft Punk - Tron Legacy (End Titles)
GOJIRA - Amazonia
The Mars Volta - Inertiatic ESP
Fergie - Glamorous
50 Cent - In Da Club
Jay Z - Holy Grail
Erbes - Lies
Nitti Gritti - The Loud
Juelz - Inferno