Space Travel

Moondrop Space Travel if you're on a tight budget, $30 and sound incredible for the cost. The anc is nothing special though. Hard to beat the Air Pods Pro 2 for sound and anc but that's a lot more money. What is your budget? Good anc is hard to find (and usually expensive) but just having a properly fitting set with tips that seal well goes a long way as passive isolation is a great place to start to kill noise. I'm a bit of an audio nerd but anc is not something I've ever cared too much about. The most impressive anc I've heard was in headphones though. I do like my Noble Fokus Triumph and the anc is pretty good, but they're a pricey set (got mine used from a friend for a steep discount).

Both. I still have a Bose QC35 that I find the noise cancelling excellent for flights but mostly because of the longer battery and I like to bring an earbud like an Baseus Soundcore A40 or a Space Travel 2 (this mostly because of the audio quality but doesn't have a top tier ANC) But the accessory that change my life on longer flights is the Ugreen 2in1 Bluetooth Transmitter-Receiver that allows me to watch airplane media without cable.

PREFACE I got these earbuds a few days ago so this review may not be the best now. I may update this review as i get familiar with the earbuds. This is not a comprehensive review but a supplementary review to check an enthusiast layman's perspective. The Sound If you're getting these earbuds, it's probably for the sound. They legitimately sound great for the price. No, they just sound good in general. They have a spacious sound, contrary to what i heard about the lack of soundstage. Every instrument is separated from the others, to the point of almost complete seperation. It even at times gives the illusion of sounding spatial, which for $40 is amazing. On the wonderfully-recorded Hamilton soundtrack, i noticed i could occasionally locate the stage blocking from front to back and hear the body language in the dialog; i could hear Hamilton pacing around the stage. None of this jumps out at you distractingly during background listening, but when you're sitting down for critical listening with a well-produced record, the small details are delightful. The volume goes lower than my TOZOs and in fact, the second volume setting on these is the same volume as the first on the TOZOs which allows me to focus on, say, schoolwork and still get a natural listening experience. I find the happy medium between supported and modest is the third volume setting, but in my opinion it doesn't get very whispery below that and the whisper that does appear is tasteful. Some complain about this. I say you don't even need these things' full volume if you want ears by 40 or want to live a life outside of your playlist music. There is a feature to adjust the gain in the app, with "low", "middle" and "high" gain settings. This is useful for things like listening to live concert recordings which have naturally low gain, so you can listen to them with low drive / high gain and not have to worry about cranking the volume; or awareness of your surroundings when you need more whispery background music but not quiet music; low gain / medium volume. In terms of EQ adjustment, i'm not sure if it does anything for me, but many say they enjoy the sound with the bass up in EQ, or with the highs down because apparently they sound intense to some. I don't get these gripes. I listened to an EDM album with these and i can confirm there is NO problem with the bass XD. I don't see myself finding any problems with this in the future. Comfort / fit The airy, spacious feel transfers to my experience with the fit. They feel comfortable to me with the default tips; nice, even. They rest naturally against the outer ear and don't swab the inner ear how other earbuds of this price might. I don't enter an airlock when i put these on, i really do just put them *on*; not in. They do seal well however, and i can get both an isolating fit and an open fit if i want. My TOZOs sometimes press against my eardrum and put my ear on mute for a second while adjusting. These, you can adjust easily with the stem, because of the squared-off design and lack of a touch sensor on the handle of the stem. It's quite convinent, however it's as easy to grab with your fingers as it is with your long hair, so rockstars beware ! Battery Life They last most of a work day out of the box with LDAC and intermitten ANC. I find they reach 60% by 2:00 PM with my usage. The case charges them at give or take 50% every 30 minutes, so they practically last all day and then some because their continuous battery life might as well count the case battery! ANC The "noise reduction" mode blocks mostly droning and AC and cars and the like; not voices. If you want complete isolation in a noisy environment, these will not give it to you. The "transparency" mode uses microphones that i find pick up whooshing noises really well, so you'll hear the parking garage wind reverb better than ever with these, i guess. It works best when you're in a dampened environment like a carpeted room with quiet AC or a workstation. Both of these modes, to my confusion, audibly peak at about 80db, which is strange and kind of concerning when it happens. Probably nothing bad, but don't be playing any percussion with the ANC or TP on XD. Anime Girl...? There's an anime girl who talks in your ear to signal what function was activated... i find it cute.. you might not, or maybe you will. - -- --------- -----------------| Pros & Cons |----------------- Pros: -Amazing sound quality for $40 -Comfortable -Stylish -Cute anime girl voice -Customizable and adjustable listening experience -Easy to be aware of your surroundings on low volume -Fast charging Cons: (not my gripes, just flaws): -Low battery life, doesn't last all day -ANC and TP are flawed and not very effective -Some report inconsistent quality control; i might have just gotten a good one or these people could be griping too much. -Bad for extreme/specific use cases i.e. construction noises, long listening sessions (arguably), calls -EQ adjustment isn't very sensitive End of review

Because of how well-known moondrop are for their IEMs, several reviews i've seen say the space travel 2 ultra were a break in their streak, or just a misadventure outside their wheelhouse. I truly can't see it like that. Maybe i just haven't seen the light or something, but these earbuds are delightful to me. I have none of the issues these people have. But then again i'm upgrading from TOZOs, maybe i can't speak on sound quality even if i know what i'm looking for. Even then, if we're talking sound, they could be a $40 budget version of a nice midrange $100 pair of earbuds. The imaginary tagline for these headphones would be "Sacrifice Anything Before Sound" or something like that. They're built like any other headphones in the price range, but the audio is second to a different bracket. Bassheads complain about the bass. I love the bass on these, it's very present while making way for the mids and supporting the highs. Audiophiles say it's a planar tweeter made into an earbud and the highs are scratchy or sibilant. I think they're totally fine in the highs and the extention on both ends is tasteful. You can't find one single review that's simultaneously informative on the sound quality (which they were clearly meant to prioritize, come on, $40 planars?) and not bitchy and laymanish. Some reviewers focused on brackets these earbuds don't even focus on, for what? I just had to make my own. That being said, the robins seem interesting. I'm satisfied by these, so knowing what $40 can get me from Moondrop makes me curious what $60 more could get me. I will look into those when i'm looking for an upgrade.

Moondrop Space Travel (requires a tip swap) is my other hyper value pick.

Mostly I listen to music on speakers (pebble v3) If I need noise cancelling: Sony xm4 If I want better audio quality: fiio ft1 If I need something a little more portable/lighter weight: moon drop space travel 2