The MOONDROP MOONRIVER Ⅲ is arguably the most talked about dongle DAC in recent times And back in its day the MOONRIVER Ⅱ was another device that pushed performance specs to the ceiling following the Lotoo W2 series Although specs do not directly equate to sound quality as a brand whose main business is earphones MOONDROP s MOONRIVER Ⅱ was undoubtedly a highly sincere effort and became a favourite among the science HiFi crowd in the 1000 yuan price bracket overseas With the arrival of the MOONRIVER Ⅲ it brings even stronger performance and a more design conscious exterior Moreover as MOONDROP s dongle DAC lineup matures it also offers richer functionality and has already been hailed by many as the world s number one dongle DAC Jokes aside the MOONRIVER Ⅲ indeed delivers impressive power and technical performance However on the tonal side I do have some reservations that might make you think twice If you are currently feeling the urge to pull the trigger on an impulse buy you may want to read through my conclusions before deciding whether to hold off or go for it
First in terms of appearance the MOONRIVER Ⅲ is arguably the best looking model to date The overall design language follows the aesthetic of the MOONRIVER Ti using stainless steel to achieve even more refined craftsmanship than the MOONRIVER Ⅱ Ti with a very fine sandblasted texture on the surface However during unboxing the protective film on the outside may leave some marks though this might not happen with every unit and can be removed with an eraser Before it gets smudged by hand sweat or dirt the MOONRIVER Ⅲ exudes a very hardcore masculine vibe yet with more refinement and delicacy than the MOONRIVER Ⅱ Ti thanks especially to the addition of a volume wheel and the curved lines on the body which are both striking and easy on the eyes One minor drawback is that the assembly tolerance of the volume wheel is somewhat loose you can even lift it slightly upward from the chassis or rotate the surface part like a game controller Hopefully this can be addressed in the next generation The volume control itself is very precise with as many as 100 steps so matching your preferred listening level should not be an issue
In terms of physical connectivity the 3.5mm and 4.4mm headphone jacks and the USB C port are of course standard But there is also a DSP toggle switch and a separate PD charging port which allows you to charge the connected source device while using the MOONRIVER Ⅲ As long as you use a compatible PD fast charger the appropriate handshake protocol can be established And since PD itself is backward compatible with many protocols the adaptability is quite broad Apple users can achieve 25W fast charging and it supports up to 60W power delivery specifications Implementing such a feature is no easy task as it certainly requires careful consideration of shielding and interference between the circuits But I find the practicality quite high and it deserves praise The cable design with its plug style makes it easy to guess that it is a custom collaboration with ddHiFi The DSP toggle switch is also clearly useful for example if you are using an unfamiliar pair of earphones and do not want to go into the App to manually disable the DSP a physical switch is the quickest way to revert to the default state As for the interactive DSP adjustment features offered by the MOONDROP App they are not the focus of this article If you are interested you can refer to the official product page or reviews from other media outlets In short the App allows for highly customisable tuning adjustments including not just EQ but also more precise frequency points and Q values with the ability to upload and download presets for online sharing
Performance has always been the core focus of the MOONRIVER series This time the MOONRIVER Ⅲ not only offers a dynamic range of 131dB but also pushes the output power up to 500mW into a 16 ohm load You might wonder why most manufacturers specify 32 ohms while the MOONRIVER Ⅲ specifies 16 ohms In reality a lower impedance means a heavier load MOONDROP has even published test parameters under a 4 ohm load In the graph where the horizontal axis represents output power and the vertical axis represents distortion plus noise or THD N it is not difficult to see that the clipping knee points of the MOONRIVER Ⅲ are very consistent across different loads This indicates strong load driving capability current output capability and well controlled performance Back when I was heavily into measuring I also made 8 ohm and 4 ohm load resistors but never published the low impedance test results because even brands like Chord which placed great emphasis on test data produced very poor low impedance parameters below 8 ohms with power distortion and noise figures dropping off a cliff compared to the familiar 32 ohm readings For the MOONRIVER Ⅲ however the improvement over the MOONRIVER Ⅱ is not simply about the incremental power increase but rather a complete ground up redesign of the circuit architecture Of course many users with only a superficial understanding of hardware may only focus on the obvious core components like the AK4493 and SGM8262 2 Much like when I reviewed the NIPO COCOM I a complex machine with over 500 IC components surprisingly triggered comments that calculated costs based solely on the AK4493 and SGM8262 which is frankly ridiculous
As for how users should interpret specs which parameters relate to which aspects of sound what constitutes driving power what load driving capability means what output characteristics are needed for low versus high impedance and the role of output impedance these topics could easily fill an entire article The fact remains that MOONDROP has always taken a science HiFi oriented approach when developing source devices High performance specs do not necessarily guarantee better sound but they do ensure greater power headroom and leave more performance margin for the interactive DSP features which is certainly a direction worth encouraging In other words how can a headphone brand prove it can make a good dongle DAC At the very least performance specs do not lie
In terms of actual listening performance the MOONRIVER Ⅲ fully lives up to its impressive specifications with three particular areas that stood out to me First is the driving power the kind you can actually hear with your ears What I mean by driving power is that at the same perceived loudness the MOONRIVER Ⅲ delivers noticeably higher density better extension at both ends and more energetic dynamics compared to the MOONRIVER Ⅱ Ti The dynamic performance is exceptional delivering a strong sense of dynamic contrast during large scale classical playback or modern OST recordings while capturing both subtle details and tension The soundstage also reaches a level comparable to that of an entry level DAP with improved vertical height and depth that help reduce the in head effect and present a more forward imaging making live recordings sound more immersive Third the low frequency section has been slightly boosted deliberately mimicking the grounded and weighty bass often heard from well designed desktop amplifiers with good power conditioning When listening to pure instrumental music the bass feels solid punchy and authoritative However during regular pop tracks you may notice that the low frequency presence is rather prominent with a density that seems significantly higher than the midrange and treble which could create a slight imbalance in certain pairings But if you enjoy rock or electronic music this bass character is undoubtedly satisfying delivering an exciting listening experience without bloated imaging or excessive lingering decay presenting it in a clean and healthy manner
As for the loss aspect mentioned in the title these are the points that might give you pause I do not believe this is an issue with MOONDROP s tuning philosophy or capability it may very well have been intentional After reading this section carefully you should have enough reference to make an informed decision
Personally I do find the MOONRIVER Ⅲ excellent for classical music but its vocal presentation is notably bright with imaging that is refined and delicate The density is generous but the sound does not lean towards thickness and the midrange emphasises the definition of note outlines with abundant throat texture while breath details are somewhat subdued This is especially noticeable with lyrical vocals where the sense of breath and emotional expression feel less full For vocalists like Jacky Cheung or Koji Tamaki the tonality comes across as too bright with insufficient body and the grain in the throat sounds not rough enough making their voices sound noticeably younger This tendency is even more pronounced than with the MOONRIVER Ⅱ or MOONRIVER Ⅱ Ti or rather the MOONRIVER Ⅲ s tonal character is closer to that of the MOONRIVER Ⅱ Ti On the other hand if you are not concerned about the richness of vocal breath and prefer a sound that emphasises clear lines and throat texture such as with Yoasobi or Nanjo Yoshino or even Sakai Izumi whom MOONDROP s founder is known to appreciate the MOONRIVER Ⅲ still offers an enjoyable even slightly addictive character Tracks like Goodbye My Loneliness with their strong rhythm and weighty bass make it very easy to get carried away But if your preference leans towards classic Cantonese pop or jazz the MOONRIVER Ⅲ tends to make vocals sound thin and lean Even folk music which does not heavily rely on vibrato or breath dynamics still feels lacking in flavour with the MOONRIVER Ⅲ Taking Japanese female vocals as another example I find that when listening to artists like Mika Nakashima Aimer or Utada Hikaru the MOONRIVER Ⅲ s strong definition of note outlines and insufficient breath richness result in a lack of vocal nuance during their more lyrical tracks
In terms of pairing the MOONRIVER Ⅲ with MOONDROP s own LIUXING feels more complementary and well rounded than pairing it with the Kato Or to put it another way the MOONRIVER Ⅲ is better suited for earphones that already have a certain level of midrange thickness allowing it to maximise its technical performance and tonal strengths
Another point I want to make is that I hope users do not blindly use the MOONRIVER Ⅲ to drive over ear headphones just because of its powerful output especially many models from Beyerdynamic and those with a monitoring or instrumental focus For portable devices to sound good and by good I mean musically satisfying modern dongle DACs already have more than enough power on paper and the more critical factor is tonal matching For example the BlueDAC with only 30mW output can still open up the soundstage of the HD800 Given the MOONRIVER Ⅲ s relatively refined imaging framework it can sound somewhat lacking in body even when driving MOONDROP s own over ear headphones unless you do not care much about vocal reproduction I would not generally recommend choosing the MOONRIVER Ⅲ for headphone driving purposes just because it has the strongest specs in its price bracket Much like when Lotoo released the W2 Ultra specifically for driving headphones and it indeed performed better than the W4 with headphones not because it has higher power but because its midrange is fuller and offers better imaging support for headphones avoiding the lean and spacious character of the W4 Therefore in my view the MOONRIVER Ⅲ is primarily a dongle DAC that excels at driving in ear monitors
That above sums up what I consider to be the gains and losses of the MOONRIVER Ⅲ The loss aspect is based on the assumption that you do not plan to use the DSP features If you have some experience with tuning you can even use the professional MOONDROP web based tuning platform to make fine adjustments which can improve these aspects to a certain extent Conversely if you are buying the MOONRIVER Ⅲ purely for its performance as a standalone dongle DAC without any intention of tweaking then the vocal tonality is the area that deserves the most attention But for instrumental performance without relying on external power the MOONRIVER Ⅲ is currently a T0 level product in the thousand yuan price bracket The world s number one dongle DAC might be a bit of a joke but MOONDROP delivering such a technically capable dongle DAC at this price point and coming from a brand that is not a dedicated source device manufacturer shows genuine commitment It is not merely an accessory meant to complement their own earphones but a product that stands among the best in the current dongle DAC competition ranking among the very top tier
Source: Li Ling Jia Qi
