Monster Turbine In-Ear Headphones

I got a pair of Monster Turbines for my birthday about a week ago. After I opened the box, I noted to myself that the smell wasn't that bad. I read somewhere about somebody complaining that they smelled atrocious, not the case with my pair. I took them out and listened to some Kendrick Lamar with them... I was extremely surprised at how good they sound. My other pair of headphones are XB500's, and I prefer these to the XB's to the point that I am considering selling the XB500's.

The bass is not as quantitative, but I just like it more. I'm a major bass head, more than others. In my car the EQ on my stereo is usually at about +5-6/7 (mostly because the mid range sounds terrible at +7, some songs I turn it all the way up though) and I find that these have the perfect amount of bass for me.

The bad: they are heavy. Heavy to the point that they hurt my ears, but it is never bad enough to take them out. However  take that with a grain of salt, that is coming from someone who has only ever owned comfortable headphones. I don't even know what uncomfortable is, probably. ( I have owned Bose AE2, XB500, had my brothers Beats Studios for a day)

Y splitter for the separate ear pieces is dead center when I try to fold up these things and put them in a bag, which makes it impossible to fold them up that way without potentially causing damage to the cable... Heres a picture below

Also, I can't seem to find the perfect ear tip with these. I will probably end up with some Sony Hybrids.

Overall, I love these headphones. They sound great out of my iPhone 4 and offer everything I could want in a pair of IEM's, but I am no audiophile so I can't say if some of you veterans out there would be pleased with them. To your average listener, I think these are of an outstanding value, even if you pay the MSRP at $100 (got them $80 at amazon)

Here are some pictures;

Sleeve that they come in

Magnetic box inside the sleeve

Contents of box (I had already taken the headphones out at this point)

In all their glory

2 magnetic pouches that were included

Here was what I didn't like. Folded 3 times they are too big to get in either of the pouches. They wont fold a fourth time because this splitter is in the way... It does not slide.

Splitter and L-jack.

В прошлом году, после скоропостижной кончины Sony MDR-EX38 купил a-JAYS Four. Обзорщики расхваливали на все лады дизайн и обещали фантастическое количества баса. Дизайн оказался крайне спорным (кромка корпуса натирала ухо, провода были тяжелыми и норовили вытянуть наушник), а баса там не оказалось вовсе. Проносил я их недолго и с удовольствием сменил на Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic (второго поколения) купленные на пару с iPhone в Баварии.
Уши неплохие - лёгкие, имеют отличные верха, удобный пульт. Плюс это самые дешевые двухприводные арматурные наушники на рынке. Жаль, что недостатков много больше и они существенны. У них ярко выраженный аналитический звук, а значит тут больше верхов и бас жиденький (что крайне важно для меня - 95% времени я слушаю электронную музыку). Хлипкая конструкция - даже с учетом того, что я крайне бережно обращаюсь с техникой - через год отказал пульт и пришлось каннибализировать другие наушники на предмет полной замены кабеля. Они плохо держаться в ушах - даже просто при ходьбе они норовят выпасть. Это конечно решается заменой штатного силикона на Comply Whoomp! Foam Tips, но они носятся максимум пару недель и потом надо покупать новые (что довольно дорогое удовольствие - три пары стоят 15 долларов, плюс доставка).
Года полтора назад мне довелось послушать Monster Turbine Pro Copper (если вы не в курсе - Monster Cable производила печально известные Beats by dr. Dre). Случилось это в не самом подходящем для прослушивания музыки месте - в шумной серверной одного банка. Но даже там я удивился тому, как они звучат. Остановила цена - всё-таки четыреста долларов за наушники это довольно много. Даже за такие.
Время шло, появились деньги, Яблочные наушники стали раздражать и было решено закупить Монстров. Но почитав обзоры решил поубавить аппетиты и взять модель попроще - Monster Turbine High Performance In-Ear Speakers (название под стать - монструозное). Судя по отзывам баса в них запихали даже больше, чем в более дорогого собрата. Не прогадал.
На моём лице играет глупая улыбка, когда я слушаю в них Landing Force - Levels of Tension. Сочный, упругий бас сжимает голову приятными тисками. Для полноты ощущений не хватает только звукового давления на диафрагму. Это изначально не bass-driven наушники, но баса сюда завезли столько, что любой basshead зажмуриться от удовольствия ощущая эту пульсацию в голове.
Очень теплый, "полный", насыщенный звук. Не сбивающийся в кучу бас, дополняющий его центр и четко различимые на их фоне верха. Верха конечно не дотягивают до аналитических наушников, но их достаточно - они не теряются на фоне остального звука. Да, надо учитывать, что нужно эти наушники уметь вставлять и подобрать правильный силикон, благо в комплекте его идёт более чем достаточно всех возможных форм и размеров. Сейчас я использую "ёлочки" - чудовищная звукоизоляция и могучий бас. Правда по улице с такими прокладками надо ходить крайне осторожно - хоть из пушки стреляй - ничего не услышишь. Приходиться крутить башкой на 360° дабы не угодить под машину. Ну и они давят на ухо - приходится отдыхать от них периодически.
Несколько пугал их вес - всё-таки корпус у них железный, но все беспокойства оказались напрасны - сидят они отлично, при движении не выпадают, к земле не тянут.
Пугали тонкими проводами, но после Эппловских тут просто толстенные кабеля.
Огорчает отсутствие гарнитуры и пульта для управления iPhone, но это легко исправляется штуками вроде iLuv iPod Remote with Third-party Headphones Adapter for VoiceOver.

These are one of the best IEMs I've heard hands down. It's perfect for those who are finding fun and dynamic earphones. Of course it's not audiophile grade, but it does set a good first impression. The bass is BIG, I think it's even bigger and more controlled than beats, but maybe not as tight compared to the higher end Sony headphones. The lows are clear, the mids being in the right place, not too forward, and not too recessed as well. The highs might need an improvement, as well as the treble. 

Only complaints I have with these is the flimsy cabling. It doesn't have very good housing and thick cabling. I'm always scared of breaking the cable when it accidentally comes off. Putting on the sports clips that came with the Turbines is also difficult. Monster Supertips would be a nice addition but then again that's asking too much.

The Monster Turbine in-ear headphones are very good bang-for-your-buck IEMs.  The bass seems slightly more powerful than other aspects of the sound signature to me, but some people like this type of sound and to be fair the bass is not bad.  Let me explain: some cheap earbuds have one generic bass sound.  Skullcandies have a kettle-drum BOOM.  Urban Ears have a pleasent THUMP.  Turbines have it all- they replicate many different bass sounds with relatively accurate precision (and yes, accuracy and precision are too different things).  The mids on the Turbines are also good- they lack some of the crunch that make some earbuds so fun, but they are pretty accurate and certainly not in any way disappointing.

The highs fluxuate.  On hip hop, rap, R&B, and other high-hat heavy genres the highs sound good.  On some classic rock or classical, they sound less so.  They are never shrill or painful, though.

The panning is not very exciting.  Sennheiser products tend (IMO) to exagerate the soundscape, whereas these seem to underperform where soundstaging is concerned.  However, they occaisionaly sound absolutely superb (like on the Bride and Prejudice soundtrack) so really, again, these earbuds seem to live up to my summary of "quite decent."

The build is tough, but it is far too heavy as a result.  Heavy earbuds can get uncomfortable, and hanging one earbud while listening to the other doesn't work because the hanging but is so heavy it pulls the other out of your ear.

The wire could be thicker, or even removable. Mine just broke after four months of four to five hour a day use, and I'm going to sauter it this weekend.

So, to conclude, these earbuds are superbly moderate, fantasticaly decent, and pretty much worth exactly (no more and no less) than what you paid for them.

Also, the buds themselves do not stay in my ears well at all.

One last note- this earbuds have amazing noise cancelation.  They isolate more than some active noise isolating buds I've tried.

Sorry for the typos and I hope this helped,

-Me

The Turbines are so-so IEMs with muddy sound that left me fairly disappointed.

BUILD: 

The build on the Turbines is stellar. I purchased these before I began taking-care of my belongings, and they survived even the heaviest abuse. They've been crammed in pockets, run through the washing machine, and dropped countless times, and they still look brand new. The metal buds are extremely durable, fairly heavy, and just feel expensive. They're also very beautiful, and fun to touch. 

SOUND: 

This is where the Turbine falls short. The sound is not bad, but it is beat by many cheaper IEMs. The bass is very heavy, and is almost always out-of-control. The mids are the best part of the Turbine's sound, but they are often destroyed by the overpowering bass. The highs are very disappointing, to say the least. Crash cymbals, screams, and synthesizers sound as if they're being muffled by a pillow. Even though the sound quality is nothing remarkable, the noise isolation is phenomenal. Even the noisiest buses are made nearly silent by the incredible Monster Super Tips. I often stick these in my ears while I'm drumming, because they isolate noise better than ear-plugs do. 

FINAL THOUGHTS: 

The Monster Turbines look and feel expensive, but they do not sound the same way. To the average listener who is often in noisy places, the Turbine is a fairly decent pair of IEMs. Unfortunately, with so many other IEM options (most of which are much cheaper), I cannot recommend these to anyone.

This is my first time using a pair of decent IEMs, I have to say, I am not disappointed. 

Fit : This is the turbine's worst aspect. I have rather small ear canals and used the smallest round tips it came with, it was perfectly fine, but the smallest tri-flange tip refused to go inside my ear canal and I am stuck with only one pair of usable tips. 

Build: The turbine's build quality is not impressive but it is not bad either. I'd say its above average. The cable is thick, but not so thick that some one could accidentally choke you by pulling it. The Y section was ok and does what is its supposed to do, which is pretty much nothing. The housing is made some kind of metal and definitely beats the cheap plastic you normally see on cheap earbuds. 

Sound: The bass on the turbines extends very well, I currently don't have a good amp on my macbook so I can't test exactly how low it extends but it should be lower than 35hz. The turbines are not the most analytical IEMs ever, but you can hear everything in your recording. The bass quantity is enough to satisfy most basshead but for the most hardcore bassheads out there, I'd suggest checking out the Hippo VB, some bassheads think they have too much bass. They can be used for Classical music but they definitely not the best choice for Classical listeners, the signature for the turbines is really meanr for Hip-Hop or EDM. The soundstage on the turbines are ok compared to my Ultrasone PRO550, not as good, but not bad either. 

Conclusion: If you are looking for a basshead IEM, these are definitely worth $100 IMO

I'll say right off the bat that this is my first pair of remotely high-end headphones, and one of my first major reviews. So try to forgive incorrect terminology or generally novice-sounding terms.

Moving on, I'd also like to note that I received an older edition of the Turbines; mine had the right-angle connector and 2 cases (both of which were suede-esque material).

On to the review....

I first listened to these right out of the box. I was impressed. Moving up from a decent pair of Creative in-ears that came with my Zen X-Fi, I found these had much higher sound quality. The packaging itself was quite nice, a high quality box with nicely organized accessories and such. 

I then started a burn-in, a combination of music and pink noise. As of this writing the Turbines have a bit more than 10 hours of burn-in time. 

With the right fit, the bass and low end/percussion on the Turbines is excellent. Drums are powerful and felt through my head at decent volumes, and bass is pronounced. On most songs, mids and vocals sound absolutely fine; nice, not oh-my-gosh-remarkable but good quality. Occasionally, particularly with a not so great fit, mids and vocals sound a bit muffled or suppressed. Nonetheless, the overall sound quality on the Turbines is good. 

But that quality is dependent on a good fit. I have weird ears; I'll admit that. But getting a nice fit with these is.... trying. I'd say every other day I have to switch from medium tips to small tips. Different medium tips seem to be slightly different sizes. The wrong tip completely ruins these headphones. The smallest triple-flanged don't fit in my ears at all; they're horrible. The largest triple-flanged serve as q-tips for me (gross, I know, but that's how they are in my ears). The smallest and medium single tips are what work for me, but as I said I have to change which I use with some frequency. This may just be me, I know I'm weird, but it just means that my experience with the audio quality changes. And the metal body of these is heavy, which means a not-great-fitting tip makes the headphones fall out of my ears. Is this a constant issue? Not at all. Generally, I have no trouble with the fit. But I have enough trouble that it's a noticeable issue.

The cord quality is decent. Tangling isn't much of a problem, and the cases are high enough quality to help, too. I don't worry that they're going to fall apart, and if they do I feel like I could probably get them replaced.

Are the Turbines perfect? No. Are they probably as good as I was going to get in the $100-$150 range? I think so. Going up to $200 I could've gotten the Pro Coppers which may have been much better, but for what they are the Turbines are quite nice. I chose them over a pair of Audio-Technica's, and I'm overall happy with my choice. 

In closing: I like the Turbines. They sound between good and very good, based on the fit I'm getting. They have decent isolation; I can't hear normal conversations around me when I'm listening. They're not entirely comfortable, they don't have the best audio quality, but they're a solid, punchy pair of IEMs with good bass. 

Given that I want to mainly use these as my super-portable headphones, I'm now off to look for a mid-quality pair of on ear full sized headphones for home. For on the go or for those who want to mainly use IEMs and not spend a fortune, I'd certainly recommend the Turbines.

UPDATE:

So I'm returning these. But it's not an issue that will affect everyone. I have slightly weird ears, and I just cannot make these fit right due to the heavy metal bodies. They hang down slightly and cause some pain and I can't get a seal I like. So I would still recommend the Turbines to someone looking for fairly nice IEMs that has absolutely no history of fit problems, as the heavy metal bodies can cause these to fall out and be uncomfortable. Call me stupid if you must; I'm getting a 100% refund.