Moondrop Blessing 3 Review

The Moondrop Blessing 3 buds are an ok earbud option if all you want is a loud, clean midrange and not much else.

Performance Comparison

Sound Quality

We had our panel of expert listeners spend time with the Moondrop Blessing 3, scoring and describing their experience listening to an extensive playlist. We found that these earbuds have a neutral, somewhat bland sound profile, with mellow bass, mismanaged mids, and unremarkable treble tones. The experience is inoffensive but not particularly pleasant. While the sound is clean, even higher volumes, the sound lacks depth and warmth overall.

Without any punch or power in the bass frequencies, these earbuds don't hold up when playing bass-heavy music genres like EDM, hip-hop, or pop. The lower frequencies feel a bit muddy, and the earbuds seem tuned to highlight very specific high frequencies, making the sound signature feel disproportionally treble-heavy. “California Dreamin” by The Mamas and Papas highlights this elevated treble at mark 0:54.

Ultimately, we determined that these earbuds are very niche, lending themselves to users who only listen to treble-heavy music (folk, classical, jazz, etc.). And even the mids are underwhelming at moderate volumes, lacking clarity and presence, while the treble tones still feel harsh. As a result it's hard to recommend these earbuds at this price point.

Soundstage

Like all speakers, earbuds create a sense of where music is located in three-dimensional space around you. This characteristic is known as soundstage. Although a broad, immersive soundstage is rare in earbuds, technological progress is making it more common for music to feel like it's coming from beyond your ears.

These earbuds don't rise to the challenge in the way that we had hoped, and can't muster the layered, immersive sound that other wired models offer. While they do allow you to differentiate between textures and voices with relative ease, the clarity isn't top-tier, leaving the overall experience feeling a bit flat compared to higher-quality options.

To round out the sound quality testing, we set the buds up in our testing rig with a good seal and then had them play frequencies across the listening spectrum to measure their frequency response. We then compared those measurements to our GearLab House Curve and gave them a score for how well they followed our curve.

While the Moondrop Blessing 3 followed our curve well in the mid-to-high ranges, it struggled more in the bass ranges. Our panel of experts noted that because of the lack of bass, music ended up feeling less layered or immersive. They do have clean mids and highs, but they can end up sounding raspy and harsh at even moderate volumes. It's worth noting that these earbuds can be turned up louder than any other we tested.

User Experience

We tested the Moondrop Blessing 3 fit and comfort on several different people with different ear shapes. Then, we stress-tested them to gauge how well they perform during physical activity. Since these buds are wired, there is no app or other user experience metrics to test.

Comfort

Our panel of experts found the fit of these earbuds to be difficult to sort out and once they are securely fit, the seal is uncomfortably tight, creating the feeling of needing to pop one's ears.

Stability

Despite this discomfort, once they're in, they're in. There is no chance that these buds will fall out of your ears in really any circumstance, making them usable during any activity you could want.

Customization

These are wired in-ear monitors, so there is no accompanying app or adjustability provided by the manufacturer whatsoever. Though there's no tunability here, it is worth noting that the Moondrop Blessing 3 buds were very aesthetically pleasing to us, almost appearing jewelry-esque.

Noise Cancellation

While the Moondrop Blessing 3 buds don't have any active noise cancellation (ANC), we still tested their ability to passively seal out background noise. We did so by setting them up securely in our testing rig and then playing various noises in the background that the average user could encounter day-to-day.

These earbuds had the second-best passive seal performance of any of the buds that we tested, which is due to just how tight these things seal within the ear canal. This allows them to be used in moderately noisy environments, like an office, without too much distraction. However, these will not perform well in high-noise environments like the subway or a plane.

Though the Moondrop Blessing buds don't have active noise cancelling, they have stellar passive noise cancelling just from the seal in the mid and treble ranges.

Battery Life

Because the Moondrop Blessing 3 buds are wired, there is no battery component to test here. We gave them a perfect score in this metric for being able to play indefinitely, allowing for listening sessions of any length.

Call Quality

There is no mic on the Moondrop Blessing 3, so we were unable to test or score them for this metric. Keep in mind that you will not be able to take calls with these earbuds.

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The Moondrop Blessing 3 are for a very niche audience and cannot be recommended to the average consumer. If you're a musician and you need to hear your own vocals high above the rest of your band's mix, or you're a folk or classical aficionado who relishes treble clarity above all else, these are a fair option. At this price point, however, there are many better options for the majority who don't fall into these niches.

What Other Earbuds Should You Consider?

If you're willing to spend what it would cost to get yourself a pair of Moondrop Blessing 3, you can consider pretty much every other premium earbud on the market. The Bose QuietComfort Ultra buds offer a slew of premium, well-executed features, like great sound quality and noise cancellation, for slightly less than you would spend on the Blessing 3s. The Apple AirPods Pro 2 also have great sound quality, adjustability, and other premium features if you're more locked into the Apple ecosystem. We recommend you consider any of the other earbuds in our lineup if you do not fall into the target audience for the Blessing 3 as described above.