Moondrop Golden Ages: 1979 Planar TWS ANC Review – Retro Funky Town
A SIDE
Moondrop Golden Ages TWS attempts to capitalize on our psyche that lusts for nostalgia. The Walkman invented in 1979 appears to be an inspiration in more ways than one. While marrying modern planar technology and the current portable TWS trend that many take part in drowning out the natural world just as we started to in 1979. I think they achieved their goals, but will it be something people can enjoy for curiously priced $79? Sensing a pattern here, unless it is pure coincidence.
DESIGN FEATURES
To make quick work of describing the shape, it is identical to the Moondrop Space in fact the cases are interchangeable. Absent is wireless charging still, battery capacity remains unchanged between the two, but the Moondrop Golden Ages adds a claimed 2 hours listening time for a suggested 6 hour timespan using the AAC codec. Higher bitrate LDAC will drain it faster.
For gamers or movie watchers, there is a low latency mode/codec LC3 that enables less time delay for audio transmission. It also lists AAC and SBC, any kind of aptX is absent so if your device lacks LDAC, they are going to default to lower quality codecs.
Charging times listed at 1 hour for the earphones and 1.5 hours for the case. With the 380mAH battery, and the 37mAH batteries in the earphones, that should give the user 5 charges. The internal amp is rated at 25mW, so volume is limited in comparison to a DAC dongle with nearly 10x the power. A USB-C charging cable is included without a charger.
We also have the same oval nozzle shape as the Moondrop Space Travel along with the purposeful shallow fit for those who are uncomfortable with deep insertion. Moondrop went for a boisterous design with graphics littered on both the earphones and case highlighting the silliness of late 70’s early 80’s boombox era as opposed to the understated minimalist endeavors today. There is also an optional silicone or TPU cover for the case for extra frustration or collector longevity, frame it how you want if you select the $89 kit.
Moondrop Link APP 2.0 allows for adjustment of control functions as well as a basic 3 tier bass boost between Reference, Monitor, and Basshead modes. I had to update the app to allow the bass modes to change. Moondrop link 2.0 also draws criticism as it is only available as a developer side loaded app. It is not in the Google Play Store, and is not available for IOS at all.
The Moondrop Golden Ages uses a newly developed planar driver different from the typical planar drivers found in other brands. There is an additional ring of neodymium magnets around the edges to further increase energy conversion.
SOUND
The Golden Ages follows the Moondrop VDSF (Virtual Diffuse Sound Field tuning), from my experiences this helps to push the stage away from the imaginary line between our ears.
Bass light with upper mids lower treble strong, you will get a brighter more forward output from the Moondrop Golden Ages with the reference tune. Treble makes me pucker a bit, I would prefer to have some more harmonics around the 10khz region not to make it brighter, but to make it sound less knife edged. Cymbals swish with a nondescript character, much like a red wine with sharp finish. Treble rings heavy on the presence sometimes including too much contrast. I cannot help but feel they remind me quite a bit about the coarse nature of sound from the 70’s era.
Lower mids/upper bass is missing some note weight for piano percussion. Vocals are clear and lightweight. It gives the impression vocalists are singing further away from the mic, some may like this reproduction as it avoids sounding muddy. For those that want a warmer TWS, the Space Travel hits this curve.
One area the Moondrop Golden Ages ticks off is excellent width and above middling depth attributed to the scooped out upper bass lower mids. It is a tradeoff, give and take. Isolation is average, and with the ANC you get a 44db reduction centered on 100hz, and to a lesser degree ~25db reduction in the bandwidth not blocked by standard IEMs. Moondrop uses a single feed-forward design to accomplish this instead of a feedback loop.
The Moondrop Golden Ages can operate in single earpiece or switch back to stereo using the case insertion to quickly toggle it back. Other unique features includes the cutesy “Connected” announcement and the Sheee (ANC on), Uhm (ANC off), and Hey (Alert/ambient) for the ANC modes.
B SIDE
So should you buy it is the question we are all thinking at this point. The planar driver is unique, the kitschy aesthetics are love it or hate it, and it does offer wide and a decent deep soundstage at the expense of a feathered note weight with light harmonics to match. I did not enjoy it as much as I was hoping, the Moondrop Space Travel despite its worse technical capabilities is much easier to listen for longer periods for me, and at a third of the cost.
Disclaimer: A little biased, but 1979 was the best year ever. Thank you to Shenzenaudio for trusting me and letting me bask in nostalgia.
MOONDROP GOLDEN AGES SPECIFICATIONS
Driver: 13mm Super-Linear Full-Frequency Planar Magnetic Driver
Bluetooth Version: 5.3
Supported Protocols: A2DP/AVRCP/HFP/HSP
Codec: SBC/AAC/LDAC/LC3
Charging Port: USB-C
Working Distance: 10m (unobstructed open environment)
Supported Systems: Bluetooth devices and mobile phones
Earphone Charging Time: Approximately 1 hour
Charging Time of Charging Case: Approximately 1.5 hours
Earphone Battery Capacity: 3.7V/37mAh
Battery Capacity of Charging Case: 3.7V/380mAh
Earphone Battery Life: Approximately 6 hours (AAC)
Charging Case Battery Life: Approximately 18 hours (AAC)
DISCLAIMER
Get it from the Shenzhenaudio Store
Our generic standard disclaimer.
