Moondrop - Golden Ages 2

At the end of the day, it's about what you want. If you can really dial in what you want, it actually becomes slightly easier to pay less, I feel. Because then you can decide whether you want good feeling buds that sound ass or great sounding buds that work kinda shitty, or a compromise between it all. And if you want everything perfect, you have to pay for it... and even then, there's no guarantees. Nothing is perfect, and you'll have problems with something, even if it's small. I've owned three pairs of buds... The Pixel Buds Pro, CMF Buds Pro 2, and very recently Moondrop Golden Ages 2. Here are my thoughts: The less you pay, the more interesting the game of compromise gets. For £100 to £150, you get the Pixel Buds Pro's features, good build and good sound (although they did annoy me the most). For £59, less on sale, you can get the CMF Buds Pro 2, with similar build quality but less premium feel, less responsive controls, and comparable sound. For £90, you can get the Golden Ages 2, with cheap-feeling build quality, okay controls, and some kickass planar drivers. All of these go on sale now and again, so prices can drop, and it is worth mentioning that the GA2 come with a leather sheath for the buds, but I'm guessing that's to protect the slightly weaker case... still, nice they included it.

Moondrops. Fantastic earbuds for the price.

Moondrop anything tbh, even the cheapo space travels kick ass

Airpods pro 2, or moondrop golden ages for lesser (under 100)

Check the sound signature good thump resolving organic

Moondrop TWS earbuds are generally okay to good for the price. One main complaint i have is the poorly made app (it's even worse in the old app before they rebuilt it)

Get yourself some Moondrop’s. They’re like $25 on amazon, and they’re great quality

I’ll be the opposite of everyone here and say the XM5. Mine have been great, owned them since launch last year. ANC and audio quality are better than the Buds 3 Pro, so is battery life and overall features. You aren’t going to be stuck in Samsung’s (not Android but Samsung’s) ecosystem just to get some of the features. The Buds 3 Pro are also experience quality control issues and problems with the ear tips. Samsung delayed their launch until the end of August, possibly into October. My pair was fine, but they didn’t stay in my ears. They looked like Cybertruck AirPods Pro and fit exactly like the AirPods Pro 2. The clear top to the charging case doesn’t seem like it will last a long time. They look and perform similarly to Moondrop’s $75 true wireless earbuds, which already looked like silver AirPods Pro 2. Mine were returned within 24 hours of them getting to my house. They just didn’t fit, regardless of ear tip size, and both their ANC and sound quality weren’t reflective of their $250 MSRP. They were fine for what I was going to pay ($90). But even then, I think Moondrop’s true wireless were better and the XM5 are still leagues ahead.

The Golden Ages.

Moondrop Golden Ages They sound absolutely excellent. No clue about the mic quality though, but haven't received any complaints so it can't be too bad?

No, it's held back by bluetooth as usual. Otherwise, for a bluetooth pair, I find Moondrop often sounds really close for the sub-100 range. If someone stuffed these in my ears while I'm blind, I could tell. If you want a pair that'll last longer, I much prefer the Golden Ages or even Moca. And if you can, spring for the Robins if you like IEMs, they'll be better overall. Golden Ages uses the same bud design. Sound profile wise, I prefer the Golden Ages' more analytical and neutral sound, and I wish that was in the Robin. If I were to be able to choose only one for day to day, every day, I'd take the Robin. Frankly, just spring a bit higher and it'll last you a long time coming.

Try the OnePlus Buds 4. They’re fantastic at EVERYTHING. Sound quality is top notch (especially when tuned in the EQ), battery life is great, ANC is great, and the transparency mode is the best I’ve heard yet. If you’re going for sound quality alone, the Soundpeats H3 are the absolute best. 3 driver system. When tuned in the EQ, they sound phenomenal. Picky Audio actually put them as #1 in sound quality even above Sony, Technics, and Denon. The only drawback is the battery life, ANC, and transparency are only good, not great. I’ve also tried the Moondrop Golden Ages 2 and they were surprisingly good, but their app performance is abysmal. So many bugs. I’ve got the Moondrop Robin’s coming today and will be curious how they stack up. The Soundpeats H3 and Moondrop Robin’s have an IEM style bud with no stem, whereas the OnePlus Buds 4 and Moondrop Golden Ages 2 both have traditional stem-style buds. I actually ended up loving the comfort and style of the Soundpeats H3 the most (will see about the Moondrop Robin later today).

OnePlus Buds 4, hands down. Their sound quality (with a custom EQ in their app) is absolutely amazing. Add to that the excellent ANC and transparency mode and don’t forget the great battery life. They’re lightweight and comfortable for 4+ hours of listening. There’s a reason why they’re on many reviewers lists for “Best Earbuds of 2025”. It really does give the total package. I even own the Soundpeats H3, Moondrop Robin, Moondrop Golden Ages 2, and JBL Vibe Beam, and the OnePlus Buds 4 easily stands on top of them all and shares the #1 spotlight with the Soundpeats H3. The OnePlus Buds are the better all around earbuds though, for sure.

The OnePlus Buds 4 are fantastic. I also own the Soundpeats H3, Moondrop Golden Ages 2, and Moondrop Robin. As far as overall best (taking battery life, ANC, transparency mode, mic quality, and sound quality) ranking of those 4: 1. OnePlus Buds 4- they do EVERYTHING really well. 2. Moondrop Robin- my #1 for sound, and they also do everything else well, but OnePlus Buds 4 does everything a little better. 3. Soundpeats H3- my #2 for sound, but everything else is just good, not great 4. Moondrop Golden Ages 2- they’re #4 for a reason. Nothing about them stands out. They’re just OK.