Tried these out yesterday (my cousin bought his pair on a HMV staff promo at like 50% or more off).
Straight out of the iPhone, they sounded good. My immediate feeling about the sound was, it's quite a dark sounding IEM. Lots of sub bass presence (likely too much), less mid bass, but a surprisingly open soundstage as well as a very good overall balance meant everything had a good distance and space around it. The bass didn't cloud or get in the way too much, but it was there. I was able to switch attention from different sounds in recordings with relative ease, which is always a good sign. Felt vocals were a little stretched out and at times thick, but the biggest negative for me about these was the high's just weren't particularly sharp or detailed (though still comfortable and present), and because of the IEM having a low emphasis, vocals lost a tiny bit of a peakyness or accuracy in pitch.
However, like the W4's, this can be EQ'd out. In-fact, they're in some ways quite similar.
A quick and easy comparison of IEM's.
SE535 - The most energetic and dynamic of them. Very busy on all fronts. Solid mid bass, good punch, forward mids, sparkly high's. Not a huge soundstage but certainly a fun sound. Detail is great, but can get lost in the vocals at times, but overall this IEM imo does better than the others at default without EQ. Having said that, there's less room for it post EQ. It's an intimate and energetic fun sounding IEM. But it can also be a touch more fatiguing.
Westone 4 - Un EQ'd, they have a slightly annoying creamy veil over everything. Detracting from detail and clarity. However, soundstage is very wide, and instrumental separation fantastic. These are quite neutral, verging on laid back. Good balance across the board, but slightly mild bass and high's. EQ'd however, another dimension. High's come to sing, and bass hits nicely. The wide soundstage helps to really open them up and allows for fantastic instrumental separation. Negatives post EQ are that in order to bring them to life, you do lose some bass tightness and the vocals do have an ever so slight thiness to them. But like the Monsters, the upper mids need a tweak to clear the air.
Monster Copper Pro - Un EQ'd. Lots of sub bass presence. A warm pounding bellow to the bass that hits quite heavily, just without as much of a detailed punch due to less mid bass compared to sub bass. Bass also clouds things a touch (similar to the W4's slight veil). But this bass is very good for hip hop, RnB etc. Nice large soundstage (in-between the W4 and SE535). Well balanced, leaning on warm or dark sounding. Overly laid back high frequencies, but every where else the balance is decent, with a good separation of sounds. Vocals the thickest or more stretched wide than the other IEM's. Post EQ, again, like the W4's they come alive, with a much cleaner, clearer and more vibrant sound. With vocals a bit more natural and the highs more detailed. Still not quite as detailed as the W4's, but with more sub bass presence and quantity.
For those that are curious. Here's my quick and dirty initial Monster Copper Pro EQ (using the iPhone app eQu). Feel free to drop the farthest left dot (lowest frequency) a bit, as the sub bass is already so strong. But the added mid bass certainly gives it an extra punch. Let me know your thoughts.
Edited by Naim.F.C - 1/17/12 at 5:52am
