The Moondrop Space Travel 2 Ultra are about the fanciest looking buds I’ve had in a while. Everything from how these look and feel to how they’re marketed is just hip so to speak.
I love me myself fancy things so naturally I was excited to get my hands on these. Let’s see if that fancy look goes beyond the surface and if these are actually fancifully good.
Design
Nothing looks like the Space Travel Ultra 2 on the market right now, nothing that’s not from Moondrop that is. It’s got this alte theme going on about it, Moondrop says it’s space themed stuff but I prefer alte. Right from the packaging to the carry case and then the buds themselves, this has got the I’m the Goth kid trying very hard to stand out vibe going on with it.
Can’t say I don’t like it. It’s cool in a weird way and anything that’s different from the vast trove of similar looking buds we have on the market now gets a pass from me.
The build quality on the buds is however not as impressive as it would seem. The panel close to the touch sensitive area for instance is a little bit overlapped and you can tell that’s not how it was intended to be because when you look at the the same segment on the right bud it’s more aligned.
Then there’s the plastic design bit that attempting to cosplay a metal trim. Problem is I can tell it’s plastic from a mile away and honestly it just cheapens out the look on these buds. Somehow these buds feel more plastic than they should which is a way of saying the quality of the materials used doesn’t feel all that premium.
The carrycase much like the buds has a lovely and eye catching. The transparent top half paired with the space themed inscriptions and silver inserts really lends to the futuristic vibe going on with these buds.
As you can see these don’t have any cover and at first I was concerned about them falling out when the case is upside down but there’s a magnet somewhere in there that holds them in place.
There’s a bit of a practicality issue because of the coverless design choice. Taking out the bud or putting it back in is kinda clumsy, certainly takes some getting used to. Coverless also means this buds are perpetually exposed to the elements and considering these don’t come with any IP rating that’s sort of an issue.
That said, somehow the carry case manages to feel more well put together and more solid than the buds themselves. And although I do fear that this transparent top half might easily pick up scratches it feels solid and I think it should stand the test of time.
Fit and comfortability
These slide in ear quite easily and the fit is as secure as can be. Probably one of the snuggest fit on a bud I’ve tested in a while and I think that’s down to how big this part of the bud is, so not the most ideal buds for someone who’s got small ears.
Comfortability is great. These weigh about 4.1 grams one of the lightest buds I’ve tested recently only heavier than my cheap AirPod knockoffs. There is some bit of a full feeling in ear with them on, but not that bad.
Ear fatigue minimal at worst even after long periods but I should add that this only holds true if you’ve got large ears like me – the bud part of Space Travel Ultra 2 is quite large and I imagine that if you’ve got small ears it’ll crowd it all up and ear fatigue might be worse off than I’d experienced.
Feature list
On these buds, you’ve got:
- Support for LDAC audio
- ANC
- Bluetooth 6.0
- Touch controls
So no fast pair tech or wireless charging and very surprisingly, no IP rating. No fast pair tech is sort of a downer for me but usually this is something I can excuse. However no IP rating at all for a fantasy, space themed bud in 2026, that mind you features a coverless carry case just doesn’t cut it.
How are you supposed to use this on Mars where the dust can cut your skin and it’s literally raining ice. Does it rain on Mars? Don’t quote me on that.
Anyway, support for LDAC audio means these can stream audio at high resolution if you have a compatible device. Nice touch but this is something you’d find on most buds made in 2026 at this price point.
So also is Bluetooth 6.0, fairly standard for a recent gen bud at this price point and while there’s a whole lot of hype about it, I’m yet to notice any tangible difference in performance when compared to Bluetooth 5.3
Touch control
Touch controls work quite well on these buds. This area right around here is the touch sensitive panel and unlike most buds in this price category it doesn’t have any form of differentiating factor. Not too much of an inconvenience all things said and done, most times I attempted to use the touch control I got the touch sensitive area on first try and it’s as sensitive and accurate as can be.
Active noise cancellation
Moondrop gases up the noise cancelling tech on these to levels I’ve never seen before. You get talk of a new single feedforward system, increased cancellation, improved comfort and whole lot more.
In the real world, based on my tests I don’t think this outclasses basically any of the buds I’ve reviewed recently in terms of ANC performance – certainly doesn’t beat the Melobuds N70, or the CMF buds Pro 2 or Soundcore’s liberty 5.
It’s a decent system, did alright in suppressing background noise and talk from my TV in my living room, again not better than the Melobuds N70 in experience, but good enough all things said.
Outdoor on a walk and it did good at suppressing surround background chatter. There’s still the now universal issue of high pitched noises passing through but every bud I’ve reviewed had that problem.
Sound quality
If you’ve been following carefully you’d have noticed by now that the Space Ultra hasn’t really lived up to expectations, and what we’ve covered so far are the easy places to score cheap points.
Good news is they went to town when it comes to the difficult stuff – sound quality. These are easily the most balanced sounding earbuds I’ve tested in a while, nothing comes close.
It’s so balanced and ‘natural’ sounding that you might come off it thinking it’s uninspiring especially if like me you’ve subjected yourself to bass thumping buds like the Melobuds N60, or the absolute mud waters that is the Soundpeats C30.
But if you take a moment to soak in your favorite songs with this bud you kind of reset your ears and all of a sudden you can appreciate the calm and deeply stimulating vibe of something that sounds as natural as can be.
So bass is punchy and deep without being too punchy and deep if you get what I mean. Mids are an absolute joy on these buds. They’re super clear, super precise with what I’d say are very great representations of instrumentals across pretty much every music genre.
These days I’m hooked to a rather atypical song, at least for me, Premier Gaou by Francis Mercier & Magic System, and I’ve got to tell you the representation of the mids on that song by the Space Ultra 2 just takes me to heaven. There’s a particular segment midway in that song that kinda builds up to a crescendo mix of some deep hitting drum beats, a piano score, paired to a really sublime vocal performance plus as always adlibs.
The way everything just comes together without coming together – so that you hear everything as they mix while they remain very separate on Space 2 Ultra is crazzzyy. No muddling of the vocals, no overly warm sounding instrumentals, no excessive shimmer on the vocals, just the right amount of texture and a very rich presentation.
Add all of that to the very balanced soundstage and top tier surround sound performance, rivaling and probably matching what you’d get from QCY’s Melobuds N70, and it’s easy see why these buds literally put butterflies in my stomach when I’m listening to music with em.
Call quality
Moondrop says this comes with an NPU hardware level AI noise cancelling algorithm that works to suppress all forms of environmental noise when in call while also boosting voice audio. As was the case with ANC, all that talk and in call this felt exactly like the 20 other budget TWS earbuds I’ve tested recently.
It does an okayish job at minimizing background noise when in call and the audio output from the mics is decent as well. Had no issues with taking and receiving calls even in noisy settings, but lets not pretend that this is some ground breaking technology cos it’s not.
The Moondrop app
Fairly standard app for a budget TWS earbud. The app scheme is very similar to what you’d find from brands like QCY, CMF and the likes. So a tab for ANC settings, another for EQ, then something Moondrop calls Online Interactive DSP which is essentially an online store for custom EQs made by other users.
Two things tho. This doesn’t come with a find my bud feature, at least I can’t find it anywhere. Might seem minor and the first time I encountered that feature on a bud I thought I wasn’t gonna need it until it was 2am and one of my earbuds was no where to been seen. Find my bud came to my rescue.
Every darn bud I’ve reviewed comes with this so I down know whey they’ve not included it.
Number two, the settings to customize the touch input is kinda hidden. You have to touch the image of the buds on the app to bring up the menu. If like me you skipped past the onboarding page you’d miss the how to that points this out.
It’s so counterintuitive and again I don’t understand why they don’t just add a simple tab on the app that says touch controls just like every other manufacturer. Trying so hard to be different.
Battery life
On it’s best days. on a full charge these last up to 6 hours when you’re actively listening to music even with ANC on. You get 24 hours of standby time. Okayish numbers, could be better but this is good enough for a bud at this price point – the best buds top out at 8 hours of active listening time.
No wireless charging but this doesn’t even come with an IP rating so not surprised at all.
What’s good, what’s bad
What’s good
- Superb audio quality
- Great comfortability
What’s bad
- Cheap design
- Poor quality of life features with no fast pair tech, IP rating and the shoddy omissions on the Moondrop app
Should you buy the Moondrops Space Ultra 2
At about $35 a piece and with the whole unique goth vibe this had going on for it I really wanted the Space Ultra 2 to be an all rounder I could recommend. Anything that attempts to be different in the sea of lookalike buds on the market now gets huge praise from me.
It’s hard however to ignore its shortcomings. Poor build quality, no IP rating, and an ANC system that’s just okayish, not exactly the stuff of my dreams.
But if you put those away and focus on the sound performance and how comfortable these are (if you have big ears) then it’s also hard to pass them off. So what I’ll say is if you dig the design and just want good sounding buds without the modern bells and whistles then yeah this is an okay buy.
