As promised in my dCS Bartók APEX review, I am following up with a review of the Moon Audio Bronze Dragon Premium Headphone Cable. This is not my first review of the Moon Audio Bronze Dragon cables, but it is my first chance to seriously listen to their take on a headphone cable. Fact is that Moon Audio’s Dragon cables have been an integral component in my reference systems for many years now in the form of interconnects, speaker cables, USB cables, and power cables. That being said, most of my experience with Dragon Headphone cables has been in the nature of IEM cables (Silver Dragon IEM cable Review), so this was a pleasant opportunity. Ironically, the headphone for which I received the Bronze Dragon to review with is the one Headphone for which I have the most cables, and that I have reviewed the most cables for, the HIFIMAN SUSVARA UNVEILED.

The Moon Audio Bronze Dragon Premium Headphone Cable

Moon Audio offers four flavors of their Dragon cable line: the Blue Dragon, the Black Dragon, the Bronze Dragon, and the Silver Dragon. The Blue, Black, and Bronze are all copper-based, while the Silver is silver-based. Thus, the Bronze Dragon cable represents the pinnacle of their copper cables, and the Bronze Dragon Premium is a step above that.

As I understand it, the Bronze Dragon Cable line began life using the same configuration as the Silver Dragon, but using high-purity copper rather than silver for the mellower sound signature that copper provides. According to Moon Audio, the Bronze Dragon Headphone Cable uses a new process of adding Graphene to their UP-OCC copper strandings (UP-OCC stands for Ultra-Pure Ohno Continuous Casting (OCC). This is not a material, but a process for extruding silver and copper to prevent any impurities and fractures in the crystalline structure of the wire. The wire is drawn very slowly to cast as an almost perfect single-crystal small-diameter conductor. The resulting purity and the size of the cast wire prevents any crystalline fractures or minimal grain boundaries improving consistency and conductivity.), Graphene being a single-atom-thick, 2-dimensional material composed of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice geometry which is 200 times stronger than steel but incredibly flexible without added weight, it adds strength, flexibility, and conductivity to the metal it is bound with, thus it provides a more efficient transmission of electrical signals while making the cable more sturdy and reliable.

 The base of the Bronze Dragon Headphone Cable is composed of OCC copper–single-crystal continuous cast copper, or Ohno Continuous Cast. The copper used in the Bronze Dragon Headphone Cable is devoid of all possible impurities that can change the coloration of the sound. Knowing that all materials have different coloration and the key to keeping the tonality consistent or slightly changing the coloration is to omit other metals or add other metals to the conductor stand, Graphene was determined to be the perfect choice. This not only improved the UP-OCC material but also changed the tonality of the Dragon UP-OCC conductor, delivering increased dynamics with a very musical flavor to the sound. The intended sonic profile of the Bronze Dragon Headphone Cable is incredibly tight and controlled, with a powerful bass response with improved dynamics, and maintained musicality.

So, what is the difference between the Premium and Standard Dragon Cable? The Premium Cable offers the same quality construction as the standard line, featuring UP-OCC 99.99998% pure conductors and matching cable designs with a few upgrades; Cardas Silver Solder is replaced with Mundorf MSolder SUPREME SilverGold mix at every connection point, and premium Furutech Rhodium connectors are employed.

Handcrafted from quality materials in Moon Audio’s headquarters in Cary, North Carolina, Bronze Dragon Headphone Cable is a new Graphene Copper conductor-based cable using 4 x 99.99998% GUP-OCC Stranded Graphene and Copper 24 AWG Teflon insulated stranded conductors. The Graphene Copper strandings are mixed with Kevlar strands to reinforce the conductor, making it stronger overall and less prone to failure. The geometry of the wire, along with the Graphene, helps improve conductivity to assure the purest signal transmission. Each conductor is encapsulated in a Teflon casing and then surrounded by cotton and a thin layer of aluminum foil. It is then protected by a 100% coverage braided tinned copper secondary shield and placed in a polyethylene jacket for further protection.  Moon Audio custom builds each cable in-house to your connection specifications, and a variety of connection options are available for your downstream connection and the Bronze Dragon Headphone Cable can be used in either a single-ended or balanced design.

To reiterate, the key features of the Moon Audio Bronze Dragon Premium Headphone Cable are as follows:

• Graphene-enhanced UP-OCC copper conductors for improved dynamics and maintained musicality
• Warm yet detailed sound signature ideal for bright or edgy headphones
• Handcrafted in Cary, North Carolina, with ultra-pure materials
• Multiple termination options for balanced or single-ended connections
• Advanced varying-sized stranded geometry reinforced with Kevlar strands
• Comprehensive shielding against interference for cleaner signal transmission
• Perfect tonal balance with controlled, powerful bass response

Living with the Moon Audio Bronze Dragon Premium Headphone Cable

As mentioned before, the Moon Audio Bronze Dragon Premium Headphone Cable was sent to me for use with the HIFIMAN SUSVARA UNVEILED, but for this review, I’ll be using my HIFIMAN DEVA PRO and HIFIMAN HE6se headphones, as they are most affected by cable quality, and I have already given my impressions with the SUSVARA UNVEILED in the Bartók APEX review. For source, I’ll be using my reference system consisting of a dCS Bartók APEX DAC with Headphone Amplifier, a Black Dragon USB Cable, Black Dragon Power Cables, and a Core Power Technologies A/V Equi=Core 1000.

Starting with the HE6se and a stock 4-pin XLR cable to get a baseline, I selected “The Universe Smiles Upon You ii” by Khruangbin (24-bit/48kHz – Qobuz), which starts out with acoustic guitar, electric bass, synth, and brushed drums. As with all of my experiences with Dragon cables, the first thing you notice is about a 10dB gain in volume, which denotes a significant increase in current flow, also notable is increased clarity of the brushes, allowing you to perceive the subtleties in the rhythms and the openings of the high-hat. The increase in resolution also gives the impression of a larger soundstage and a sense of space.

I followed this up with Hüsker Dü and “1985: The Miracle Year” (16-bit/44.1kHz – Qobuz), the live club recording well served by the extended dynamic range of the Bronze Dragon, while the added musicality made the distorted recording a little more palatable. There was a definite stage edge feel, with the vocal up close and the instruments slightly behind in a poorly dampened club.

The quiet studio recording of “There Is Beauty, There Already” (24-bit/44.1kHz – Qobuz) by Sarathy Korwar was a completely different experience, a mix of a plethora of percussion instruments and synth gave an aethereal atmosphere to the Contemporary Jazz performance. The speed of the bottom end was palpable, providing snap and impact. As with the previous recordings, the soundstage was natural and spacious.

This meant it was time for a real in situ live recording of the classical kind, in this case Klaus Mäkelä and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with the Netherlands Radio Choir performing Gustav Mahler in the form of “Mahler: Symphony No. 8 (Live at Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, May 2025)” (24-bit/96kHz – Qobuz), which caused me to turn the gain up on the Bartók APEX to capture the full dynamics of the piece which included extensive vocal and choral material. The timbre of the voices and instruments was outstanding, as was the exceptional air around the performers in the vast soundstage.

I am always astounded by the performance of the Deva Pros with a quality cable, and the Bronze Dragon did not disabuse me of this notion, listening to “House of the Rising Sun” as performed by Eric Burdon and the Animals (24-bit/96kHz), dynamic, clear, detailed, and musical.

The transient response of Liz Story’s virtuoso piano for her piece “Wedding Rain” (“Solid Colors” – 16-bit/44.1kHz) spoke volumes about the magic that is the Bartók APEX’s ability to wring music out of 16-bit/44.1kHz recordings, as well as the Bronze Dragon’s ability to reproduce that faithfully through a simple $200 headphone. The soundstage was massive, and the tonal balance was perfect.

Conclusions on the Moon Audio Bronze Dragon Premium Headphone Cable

Simply put, the Moon Audio Bronze Dragon Premium Headphone Cable delivers on all of its promises: dynamic, resolute, balanced, and musical, while presented in a high quality, sturdy, and attractive package. The cable is light and flexible enough to meet almost anyone’s ergonomic requirements, while it is not IEM thin or able to coil up to fit in a pocket, that is not really its use case, and I don’t see it being cumbersome in its 5’ configuration with a 3.5mm TRS, 3.5mm TRRS, or 4.4mm TRRRS for portable use.

Also impressive is the ability of a 10’ cable to offer up better conductivity than a 6’ cable of equal heft. As always, I am left awed by the performance of Moon Audio’s Dragon cables regardless of the flavor, and as always, they receive a whole-hearted recommendation for sound quality and value being priced at a fraction of many of their competitors.

Price as tested (10’/4-pin Furutech Male XLR/[Rhodium]/HIFIMAN (Mini 3.5mm plug): $690

Manufacturer’s Website: https://www.moon-audio.com/products/bronze-dragon-premium-headphone-cable

Cable Design Specifications
Conductors	4 x 24AWG Teflon-Insulated
Material	99.99998% GUP-OCC Stranded Graphene and Copper
Construction	Varying Size Stranding
Solder	Cardas Silver Solder
Shielding	Teflon, Foil, 100% Coverage Silver-Plated Copper Shield
Jacket	Bronze Polyethylene
Product Features
Application	Full-size Headphone
Sound Signature	Warm and Musical with Dynamic Detail
Break-In Time	40 Hours
Warranty Information
Coverage	One-Year Limited Warranty
Protection	Against Material or Manufacturing Defects