I have purchased the Monk plus because of
a.) The hype
b.) Nostalgia on earbuds.
Note: I am reviewing the Espresso Edition monks
Build:
I respect the build of these CHi-Fi(Cheap HiFi or Chinese HiFi, pick your poison) earbuds. The cable is not so much tangly, but they still know how to do kinks. The Earbud shells feels like they are good enough as far as the build(Except being stepped on, the shells are still plastic). The weakest link would be the earbud foams which may get holey over time, and my Symmetry OCD makes me bother on the holey earbud foams, making me resort to buy earbud foams. No regrets on that though because they changed tonality.
Sound:
To be honest, I understand why these earbuds are being hyped. They have a good frequency response and they have a nice Transient Response as well. Soundstage can be sometimes wide on some recordings, Like real wide for such an earbud. Imaging is ok, but they are a little vague on the imaging. No frequency bleeds over the other. and the vocals are well presented well with a touch of airiness. On my case, the subbass is heard but not felt, which is a turn-off to some bassheads, but for me, it just does fine. The bass still has punch, but sometimes it also just sounds artificial. One thing is for sure, the people will respect the sound of these.
At one time, my parents are quite the suspective on my audio gear purchases, like my FiiO K1 USB DAC/Amp and AudioQuest Jitterbug, and recently I received these monk plus, they are quite curious, they tested the monks on my phone, and they have been enlightened on why I am willing to spend cash on Audio Gear because these monks has shown the way (My father is still bothered on why I should be still be buying Amps, especially he found the Monks to be already sounding amazing on just a phone).
I modded my monks by replacing the earfoams from a japan store out of curiosity and it was worth it, The foamies are quite smaller than the monks, but they would fit just fine.
With the replacement earbud foams, The bass have a gentler presentation compared to the stock earbud foams. but it has now a more proper articulation where the bass guitar sound guitar sounds like bass guitar(I am a bassist so I know) and it doesn't bleed on the mids much. Mids become a little less forward with the replacement foam, though it still has that fullness.The treble is quite rolled off, where they become just borderline screechy, because the stock earbud foams would still screech on strident music. The replacement foam also affects the imaging for the better. This mod would sacrifice the sound area covered by the earbuds where the earbuds just sound like headphones. But I have a full sized headphone so it doesn't quite matter for me.
They do excel in Bossa, Jazz, Rock, Classical, Metal, and the best genre to play with this is live concert music. The soundstage is so wide for an earbud. You may have reservations for the monks if you listen to more modern stuff where you want the meaty, catchy sound and vibrations, go for IEMs.
Comfort:
Comfort wise, they are comfortable, though I feel the heavyness of the earbuds on my ears. The foams quite vary in comfort at some point, some are quite scratchy in my ears when i twist to fit the eartips so you really have some need to find the perfect foam(Good thing there are 4 foams per each color, and there are two colors, so a total of 8 foamies to find your best comfy foamy. P.S. I use foams in same color because Symmetry OCD won't allow).
Sound Isolation and Leakage:
The foam thickness affects the sound isolation of these earbuds, Using thick foams, and cranking the volume, you are well isolated enough. Sound leakage, well, this is a turn off if you watch "those videos" because it basically leaks sound(which helps in soundstage and imaging so if you are alone, and you want that positional audio in movies, especially in "those movies", why not).
Comparison:
If there is something I will compare against, I will compare it to my Audio-Technica ATH-CLR100(w/modded eartips because stock eartips are bad on those). It may be unfair to compare an Earbud to an IEM but here is the thing, They both have the ability to present most of the frequencies smoothly, though the ATH-CLR100 has quite the less forward midrange, fast decay of vocals and a more snappy presentation on the bass and a stronger subbass(because bass is good when really felt). The ATH-CLR100 is quite the more forgiving on bad recordings, but a good recording is quite better to be heard on the monks.
Soundstage is better on the monks, but the imaging is more clear with the ATH-CLR100.
Conclusion:
They are a good Starter HiFi or CHiFi (because cheap $5, and again, pick your poison on your definition of CHiFi) device. If you are the someone who is on Audio Quality yet scared on Spending lots. Start with these. These CHiFI things are scary in the audio industry because they have a good price to performance ratio that the market will surely become real competitive because the CHiFi industry (FiiO, HiFiMan, SMSL, Superlux and of course the maker of these Monk Plus, Venture Electronics) is moving forward to better build and better sound (I suddenly realized I am also hyping as well). To be honest, this has almost become my best Audio Device, that it competes with my ATH-CLR100 on who will become my daily driver. It is just one order from your local shop or online store, and you might find these your end game for portable audio, again, portable audio. The monks are good just as they are.
Subjective Side notes:
At last, something that is good sounding as is. I have modded my ATH-CLR100 and Superlux HD661, and for the very first time ever, an Audio Device where I don't have to do Modding(to correct the sound signature(because DSP Correction/Equalization is just applied on one source so I still find modding to be a better way to change the sound signature)).
^I quite take it back. I still mod them with replacement ear foams to have that balanced tonality. I still do find it needs some work on earbud foamies and it could be better.