- All right, so in this video
we're gonna be talking about the Moondrop Kato.
Now, just as a quick disclaimer,
HiFiGo did send these over for my honest opinion and review,
but as many of my longtime viewers will tell you,
that's not gonna effect my opinion in any way.
So let's get right into it.
So, now, the Moondrop Kato
are available in two different colors.
So let's go ahead and bring that up right here.
So that's the Moondrop Katos right there.
You can see them.
This is the color that I have.
That's basically their Mirror Silver.
So they kind of have that like chrome, silvery type of look.
But they're also available in a Matte Steel color.
The Matte Steel would have been super dope.
I actually wished I would have gotten them
in the Matte Steel
but I'm not gonna complain
because we are here for the sound quality.
But the Matte Steel does look pretty dope
and, you know, obviously if you get them in a Matte Steel,
they are not going to be fingerprint magnets.
So that's just something to kinda keep in mind.
Now, unboxing experience with Moondrop,
like this is a flagship,
like the way that they packaged everything in here
was pretty wild.
So you get this in here.
You just see the box right there says Kato.
Pop that open.
Shows you the different designs here, Moondrop Presents.
Normally you would see the IEMs right here.
They give you the case right there.
A ton of different ear tip options.
You also have the nozzle options.
Everything's included in the box.
They give you a ton of stuff.
So let's get that box, we'll get that out of the way.
All right, so let's get straight into them.
So first, some of the things that came in the box
is going to be the carrying case for the IEMs themselves.
It's actually pretty nice.
It's got a felt lining on the interior.
So you get right in there and you can see that.
Pretty sweet.
Sit your IEMs in there and keep them nice and safe.
So no problems with that whatsoever.
Appreciate that they do that.
They also give you a bunch of different ear tip options.
So they are including their brand-new silicone spring tips.
Now, these are the closest tips that I have experienced,
they're very similar in the material feel
to what you get from SpinFit,
which is pretty interesting.
So they definitely upgraded their ear tip design.
But they also included some memory foam ear tips also.
So you've got six different options
of both different styles right in the box.
Love seeing that.
I wish more companies would do something similar to this.
So they got those right there.
On top of that, you're also gonna get the,
you're gonna get this silver cable,
sorry, it's a silver-plated 4 core cable
that's included with the Moondrop Katos here.
So pretty sweet if you ask me.
Let me see if I can get myself to focus in right here.
There we go.
So there you go, the 4 core braided cable right there.
It's even got a little neck cinch,
but we've got them here.
And then you've got the IEMs themselves.
So I've got the spring tips on them right now.
That's what we're using here.
But if you're looking for an alternative option,
I mean, they do come with a bunch of tips,
but if you do want an alternative,
you can use a SpinFit CP100.
That is another option for you
if that's what you're looking for.
So pretty sweet.
Now, these are also offering you
the classic Moondrop shape and style.
So if you've had a Moondrop KXXX, a Moondrop Aria,
or a Moondrop Starfield,
you're gonna recognize this shape and design.
They just come with different finishes.
That's mainly what's kinda going on here, but yeah.
So overall, it's that standard style.
So very comfortable.
No issues with having them cause you
any sort of ear fatigue or anything like that.
So not gonna experience,
you know, you're not experiencing
any kind of issues there with comfort
with the Moondrop Katos.
So overall, pretty straightforward
when it comes to the IEM design here.
Now, before we get into the sound quality,
because, you know, these are just wired IEMs,
so there isn't gonna be a bunch of Bluetooth testing
and all that other connection stuff,
none of that really applies here,
so testing wise, it was done with the THX Onyx.
That is a dongle DAC.
I was using that with Apple Music Lossless
and I also used my iFi hip-dac with Amazon Music HD.
So that's what I was using for all of the testing
when it came to the Moondrop Kato.
Now, when it comes to the sound quality
of the Moondrop Kato,
these are gonna bring you a warm Moondrop type of sound.
So if any of you have ever listened to a Moondrop IEM,
they normally have a very similar tuning
amongst their different products,
especially the ones that use a single dynamic driver.
So it's kind of a warm sound.
You're gonna get nice bass to it as well.
It's a mild V shape.
That's what they call it.
It's where you get a lift in the bass
and where you get a lift in the treble
with some very smooth mids.
But let's break down the actual specifics of the sound.
So when it comes to the bass,
now, these are bringing some excellent sub-bass extension.
That's one of the things
that really kind of caught me off guard with them
because it really brought it
but there's no boominess to it, right?
So it's got nice punch but there's no bloatiness,
there's no bleed.
So the bass is right where it's supposed to be.
It's gonna hit you in that sub-bass,
it's gonna hit you in that rumble,
but it's not gonna bleed into the mid-range
and muddy things up.
So no problems there whatsoever.
Now, if there's a track that I would want you to check out
to really feel the rumble on these,
if anybody out there's listening
to this female called Doja Cat,
she's got a song that's called "I Need to Know,"
and that bass response,
you've just gotta listen to the track.
There's no specific timestamp,
but listen to that song, "Need to Know" by Doja Cat,
and trust me, you're gonna feel that bass.
It is serious in my personal opinion.
When it comes to the mid-range,
it's smooth and it's rich
and it's slightly more forward.
It's a little bit more in your face
than what you get with the Moondrop Aria or the KXXX.
The voices sound detailed and clean.
So both male and female vocalists,
but I think the male vocalists shine a little bit more
in my personal opinion.
It's full bodied and natural sounding.
That's the thing that I took away the most,
is that it just feels
like it's not overly colored in my opinion.
The soundstage on it is very wide,
so it feels like you're in a larger space
when you're wearing them and listening to them
and there's good instrument separation.
So that's one of the things that I really took away from it,
but a little bit more on that in just a sec.
Now, if you wanna check out a song,
check out "Blast Off" by Silk Sonic.
That is an excellent track
when it comes to testing out the Moondrop Kato.
There is natural drums
because this is a live recording for the most part
and it's mixed with a bass guitar and vocals.
Man, I'm telling you, it sounds so good
because nothing gets in the way of each other
and it's just (lips smacking) chef's kiss, man.
It sounds so, so good.
So then moving over to the treble,
now, the treble on these guys is crisp and clear.
You've got good detail retrieval here
but there's no fatigue and no sibilance.
So it's enough treble to give you everything you want
but it rolls off right at the right point
so it doesn't become shouty,
it doesn't give you any sort of pain in your ear
from having too much treble
being slammed into your earholes.
So very, very good as far as that tuning goes.
So just enough energy
to give you that top-tier sound quality
without being painful.
Now, if there's a track that I would want you to check out,
it's gonna be "Don't Speak."
It's a cover of a No Doubt song
but it's done by Postmodern Jukebox with Haley Reinhart.
And in that song,
you would wanna go to two minutes and 29 seconds.
That's right in the middle of the bridge
and this is where you can hear the guitar come in
but it never drowns out the strings, the bass,
or Haley's vocals.
It is simply beautiful.
And then when it goes into the chorus
and she starts belting out her notes,
I swear I legit got an involuntary tear in my eye.
I was like, I was shook.
I was shook by how good it sounded, man.
So incredible, incredible.
It was so, so good.
So when it comes to a recommendation for the Moondrop Kato,
I 100% recommend them.
If you're on the market for a solid IEM,
I mean, these are the creme de la creme.
If you were looking at Moondrop
and you were looking to spend under 200 bucks,
this is really the way to go.
Now, for me personally,
the Ikko OH10 has been my number one IEM now
for nearly two years,
but now with the Moondrop Kato coming in,
that's it, man.
The Moondrop Kato are my number one IEM.
Like this is the one that I can't put down.
The tuning is so smooth.
It is so natural sounding.
Like your drums sound like drums,
your cymbals sound like cymbals,
and the voices sound like you're right there in the room.
And with live recordings,
it almost feels like you're the microphone
and you can hear the instruments over here
and the singer over here.
It's so, so good.
I cannot say this enough, man.
So if anybody's interested in the Moondrop Katos,
I'm gonna leave a link to them
in the description right down below.
It's a link to our friends over at HiFiGo.
They're the ones who sent over these IEMs.
If anybody is interested in checking them out,
definitely, definitely check them out.
They are worth every single penny.