Наушники — Moondrop KATO

The KATO is a Moondrop earphone for in-ear monitoring that uses a single dynamic transducer in each ear, housed in a metal body. Moondrop states that the driver was developed over more than two years. Its stainless steel shell is produced through metal injection moulding, and the earphone comes with two sets of swappable nozzles, one pair in stainless steel and one in brass. The package also includes a cable, a carry case, a pocket bag, three pairs of spring ear tips and three pairs of T41 tips, each set covering small, medium and large, a QC certificate, a manual and an anime postal card.

Key specs that matter

Moondrop fits a 10 mm ULT dynamic driver whose diaphragm is its DLC composite type in the third generation. The full frequency range is 10 Hz to 45 kHz, measured under IEC 61094 in free field, and the effective band is 20 Hz to 20 kHz to IEC 60318-4 at the minus 3 dB points. Impedance is 32 ohm plus or minus 15 percent at 1 kHz, and sensitivity is 123 dB per Vrms at 1 kHz. Distortion is below 0.15 percent at 1 kHz, measured with an AES17 20 kHz filter and A-weighting. The earpieces carry recessed 0.78 mm 2-pin sockets, and the supplied cable ends in a 3.5 mm stereo single-ended plug.

Engineering and use context

The ULT driver uses a composite magnetic circuit with magnets placed both inside and outside the voice coil, together with a linear air circulation structure. It sits in a larger brass acoustic cavity, its coil is wound from extra-fine imported CCAW wire, and a waveguide in front of the diaphragm controls high-frequency phase. The DLC coating on the diaphragm is a diamond-like carbon layer applied to a composite base. The interchangeable nozzles let the owner switch between the steel and brass versions, which Moondrop offers as two tuning choices. The cable uses high-purity copper conductors with thick silver plating, and the sunken 2-pin sockets protect the pins at the joint between cable and shell.

Pairing

Its moderate impedance and very high sensitivity let the KATO run from a phone output, a USB-C dongle or a portable player. Because it reaches volume with little voltage, a quiet source with low noise matters more than power. Listeners who plan to connect a balanced 4.4 mm output will have to buy a separate 2-pin lead terminated in that connector.

Alternatives

The Moondrop CHU II is the brand's entry-level single dynamic driver option, with an aluminium-magnesium diaphragm, a zinc alloy cavity and an 18 ohm impedance.