CD / SACD players and transports — Moondrop DISCDREAM

The DISCDREAM is the first portable CD player from Moondrop, a Chinese maker best known for in-ear monitors and headphones. It was presented at the 17th Shenzhen International Audio Show in September 2023 with a retail price of USD 199, in the same announcement as the Para headphones, the Dark Saber in-ear monitors and the FreeDSP upgrade cable. Besides spinning discs it works as a USB sound card for a computer and as a player for music files stored on a microSD card, so one battery-powered box covers three kinds of source. It is now discontinued, and Moondrop has since moved to the DISCDREAM2 range.

Key specs that matter

Decoding is handled by a Cirrus Logic CS43131, a 32-bit chip from the maker's MasterHIFI series. The headphone socket delivers up to 500 mW, and a separate line output gives 2 Vrms for a stereo amplifier. Pressed discs are supported, and so are recordable CD-R and rewritable CD-RW media. From a microSD card it plays MP3, WMA, LC-AAC, OGG, FLAC and APE files. In PC mode it accepts PCM from 44.1 kHz to 384 kHz and DSD from 2.8224 MHz to 11.2896 MHz, which is DSD256. The 3500 mAh battery runs about 10 hours of disc playback and charges over a Type-C port from a DC 5 V, 2 A supply. The box holds the player, a manual and a charging cable.

Engineering and use context

Moondrop fitted parts more often found in home equipment. The clock section uses three NDK crystal oscillators, and six linear voltage regulator chips feed separate supply rails, with automotive-grade Ruby aluminium electrolytic capacitors on the power side. The headphone stage is an independent analogue amplifier circuit rather than an output taken straight from the DAC chip. For the transport the company chose a Japanese CD motor driver chip and a laser pickup it describes as high grade. Skipping on the move is handled in two stages, an electronic data buffer that holds audio ahead of playback and an elastic damping mount that isolates the mechanism from knocks. The microSD slot means a library of lossless files can travel without discs, and the USB mode lets the same device sit between a laptop and headphones.

Pairing

The headphone output is enough for most portable headphones and many full-size models. At home the line output can feed an integrated amplifier or powered speakers, with the unit left on its charger.

Alternatives

The Moondrop DISCDREAM2 is the later disc model with a 124 mW headphone output and a combined optical and line socket.