MOONDROP COSMO Open-Back Planar Magnetic Headphones Review
The MOONDROP COSMO is a premium set of open-back planar magnetic headphones which uses in-house developed drivers that can compete with flagships costing significantly more. It has issues with comfort and stock tuning, but benefits heavily from aftermarket pads and EQ.

- The MOONDROP COSMO is a set of over-ear, open-back planar magnetic headphones that sells for $899 from the SHENZHENAUDIO store and other authorized retailers, as of the date of this review.
- TOTL-class planar magnetic drivers
- Exceptionally low distortion makes for a clean sound
- Great value for those willing to EQ
- Dark, relaxed treble can be appealing to those who find a neutral-bright tuning fatiguing
- Imaging is quite good throughout
- Fantastic channel matching
- Nice stock cable included
- Clean aesthetics and good build quality
- Easy to repair and mod as desired
- Stock tuning holds back the drivers tremendously
- Everything generally feels soft and closed-in
- The headband is not very good, makes the COSMO less comfortable
- Not enough sizing options, especially for those with smaller heads
- Stock ear pads are thin and may touch your ears
- Current-hungry, needs a decent amplifier
What stops this from being a disaster throughout is the part where the actual headphone drivers are actually very, very good. Don't worry about all the technical jargon MOONDROP throws at you in the product page, all you need to know is that the engineers who have designed and built these planar magnetic drivers have done something we usually see in headphones which cost significantly more. While the stock tuning is not to my liking, it showed enough to know the COSMO is easily capable of more. Even a simple pad swap with MOONDROP's EP-100A pads changed things tremendously for the better—at least for my preference. It still has a weird honk in the 1-2 kHz region and the treble is more relaxed than optimal in my opinion, but at least now you have the bass notes hitting harder and vocals having some weight behind them, as opposed to sounding like they were being played through a balloon before. EQ really makes the COSMO though, and I can't think of any other headphones which benefit so much from it. The COSMO has ultra-low distortion in the first place, and the drivers are highly resolving. A $900 set of headphones with another $30-40 for more comfortable pads lays a base for you to customize the COSMO to your preference, and can arguably compete with some flagship headphones too. Too bad the comfort can't likewise be improved with EQ though! This will ultimately be a dealbreaker for many, and I can't see myself recommending the COSMO as a result of just too many cons.
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