Monoprice M-1060 Planar-Magnetic Headphones
1. Disclaimer: I do not work for Monoprice. This particular pair of headphones was loaned to me by a friend who is curious what I think about them.
2. Introduction: After finding out what a big fan I am of my HiFiMAN HE-500 headphones, a friend of mine got curious about what I’d think of the Monoprice M-1060.
3. Design: It’s not like these are new headphones, so I’ll keep this brief. The Monoprice M-1060 are planar-magnetic, over-the-ear headphones. They have a detachable cable, with 2.5mm TR (phono plug) connections at each ear cup. My friend supplied me with a cable that has a 3.5mm TRS plug at the source end, and another cable with a 4-pin XLR plug at the source end. The supplied pads are cushy and angled, covered with synthetic leather.
4. Fit, Comfort, Isolation: The M-1060 fit me just fine. The head band is stiff enough to keep the ear pads against my head, without undue pressure. Compared to my HE-500, they are quite light. Since they are open-back, the M-1060 don’t really have much isolation. Overall construction isn’t as refined as my HE-500. While some might think the M-1060 appear cheaply made, I don’t worry about them falling apart (like I’ve heard some comment about the newer HE-560). But then I don’t toss my head phones down onto my desk. Others might do that.
5. What I Listened to: I used both my Astell&Kern AK70 Mk II and my Aune X7S (fed from my AK Jr.) for listening.
6. Soundstage: I listened to Aaron Copeland’s “Appalachian Spring” to get an idea of the M-1060 soundstage. It was a bit strange. The horns were panned far to the left, behind the violins, rather than behind the violas. The clarinets were close to center stage where I expected to hear them. But the flutes sounded like they were right on top of the clarinets. Sometimes, it sure sounded like there were violins stage right, where the basses should be, lots of violin sound in my right ear. There wasn’t much depth evident in this recording, either, all the instruments were lined up across the stage. Contrast that with Pete Fountain’s clarinet, right of center and up front, on “Columbus Stockade Blues”. The trumpets and trombones are further right and behind Mr. Fountain, while the saxophones, drums and bass are all stage left. One final example: “Wasteland” the eponymous track from Riverside’s latest CD. Vocals are front and center, but the strummed acoustic guitar appears in both ears with no center fill. The bass fills the entire space between hard left and hard right, and the electric guitar is solidly in the center. My other head phones did that, too, so I guess it’s what the band intended.
7. Highs: One test that lots of head phones fail for me is Rush’s “Limelight” from Moving Pictures. Near the end of Alex Lifeson’s guitar solo there’s sustained note that almost sounds like it’s whistling. The M-1060 do that note justice. While Art Blakey’s cymbals in “Drum Thunder Suite” didn’t shimmer as much as they should have, the difference between the high hat and brushed crash cymbals was easily apparent rather than being lost is a sibilant static.
8. Mids: One place where the M-1060 didn’t sound good was Keith Richard’s “Make No Mistake” from Talk is Cheap. The drums sounded muddy, and I couldn’t tell if it was a snare drum or not providing a slow beat, but it sounded bad. That said, Richard’s voice was up front and clearly rendered, with all its weary raspiness. For contrast, I listened to Peggy Lee’s “Fever”. Her voice, at least on this recording, came across as brassy and a bit biting. I’ll admit that the toms on Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers’ “Drum Thunder Suite” are at the low end of the midrange, but they did rumble well. The trumpet had a bit of brass bite as well. On something a little less involved, like “Peace Piece” from Bill Evans’ Everybody Digs Bill Evans, I could hear the resonance of the bass strings and the decay of the treble strings. Perhaps those details get lost when the Monoprice are asked to deliver more complex, congested music. Transient attack of each note was better in the Bill Evans piece than on other tracks I listened to as well.
9. Lows: Bass plumbs low enough to be satisfying for rock fans like me. When listening to Rush’s “Limelight”, Neal Peart’s kick drums thudded in a satisfying way. However, Geddy Lee’s bass was way back in the mix (except during Alex Lifeson’s guitar solo). There isn’t a lot of bass information in the string and woodwind-heavy “Appalachian Spring”, but when the basses did have big notes, they were resounding in my right ear. That said, rap, trance and other fans of subterranean bass may not find the M-1060 satisfying.
10. Gestalt, Zeitgeist, Fahrvergnugen (and other German words meaning “the whole enchilada”): I’ll get right to it and say that I didn’t like the sound of the M-1060 straight from my AK70 Mk II. The poor DAP is under powered and the head phones sounded unsatisfying powered with it alone. However, when powered by an external desk-top amp, their sound filled out and dynamics opened up. They were able to handle the big sound of one of my favorite Earth Wind & Fire songs, “Africano” quite well. I especially like the ensemble playing the horn section does throughout the song, blaring away over the bass and drums. Good stuff that the M-1060 made fun, just like it should be.
11. Conclusion: I will say I didn’t do any back-and-forth comparisons while listening to the M-1060 (but I did listen to my other head phones after listening to the M-1060). The M-1060 are really fun to listen to, and they get lots of things right. What they don’t get right are errors of omission, really. Compared to my HE-500, the M-1060 bass is one-notey, it goes deep enough to satisfying, but lacks the nuance the HE-500 can display (for example, kick drums have more “skin” sound). In the mids, vocals are well presented, but what is missing are micro-details like the reverberation of the hall and other spatial cues that let a listener know the size of the recording venue. Similarly, the highs are missing that last bits of shimmer that make cymbals sound splashy rather than crashy; triangles are <ting> rather than <ting-ring-ring-ring>. Decay is missing. That all sounds quite doom and gloom, but I think if you’ve never heard more complete sound, you wouldn’t know what you’re missing and would really like the M-1060. Heck, I know what I’d be missing and I like the M-1060. A great entry into headphone sound, or an economical way to find out what that planar sound is all about.
1. Disclaimer: I do not work for Monoprice. This particular pair of headphones was loaned to me by a friend who is curious what I think about them.
2. Introduction: After finding out what a big fan I am of my HiFiMAN HE-500 headphones, a friend of mine got curious about what I’d think of the Monoprice M-1060.
3. Design: It’s not like these are new headphones, so I’ll keep this brief. The Monoprice M-1060 are planar-magnetic, over-the-ear headphones. They have a detachable cable, with 2.5mm TR (phono plug) connections at each ear cup. My friend supplied me with a cable that has a 3.5mm TRS plug at the source end, and another cable with a 4-pin XLR plug at the source end. The supplied pads are cushy and angled, covered with synthetic leather.
4. Fit, Comfort, Isolation: The M-1060 fit me just fine. The head band is stiff enough to keep the ear pads against my head, without undue pressure. Compared to my HE-500, they are quite light. Since they are open-back, the M-1060 don’t really have much isolation. Overall construction isn’t as refined as my HE-500. While some might think the M-1060 appear cheaply made, I don’t worry about them falling apart (like I’ve heard some comment about the newer HE-560). But then I don’t toss my head phones down onto my desk. Others might do that.
5. What I Listened to: I used both my Astell&Kern AK70 Mk II and my Aune X7S (fed from my AK Jr.) for listening.
6. Soundstage: I listened to Aaron Copeland’s “Appalachian Spring” to get an idea of the M-1060 soundstage. It was a bit strange. The horns were panned far to the left, behind the violins, rather than behind the violas. The clarinets were close to center stage where I expected to hear them. But the flutes sounded like they were right on top of the clarinets. Sometimes, it sure sounded like there were violins stage right, where the basses should be, lots of violin sound in my right ear. There wasn’t much depth evident in this recording, either, all the instruments were lined up across the stage. Contrast that with Pete Fountain’s clarinet, right of center and up front, on “Columbus Stockade Blues”. The trumpets and trombones are further right and behind Mr. Fountain, while the saxophones, drums and bass are all stage left. One final example: “Wasteland” the eponymous track from Riverside’s latest CD. Vocals are front and center, but the strummed acoustic guitar appears in both ears with no center fill. The bass fills the entire space between hard left and hard right, and the electric guitar is solidly in the center. My other head phones did that, too, so I guess it’s what the band intended.
7. Highs: One test that lots of head phones fail for me is Rush’s “Limelight” from Moving Pictures. Near the end of Alex Lifeson’s guitar solo there’s sustained note that almost sounds like it’s whistling. The M-1060 do that note justice. While Art Blakey’s cymbals in “Drum Thunder Suite” didn’t shimmer as much as they should have, the difference between the high hat and brushed crash cymbals was easily apparent rather than being lost is a sibilant static.
8. Mids: One place where the M-1060 didn’t sound good was Keith Richard’s “Make No Mistake” from Talk is Cheap. The drums sounded muddy, and I couldn’t tell if it was a snare drum or not providing a slow beat, but it sounded bad. That said, Richard’s voice was up front and clearly rendered, with all its weary raspiness. For contrast, I listened to Peggy Lee’s “Fever”. Her voice, at least on this recording, came across as brassy and a bit biting. I’ll admit that the toms on Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers’ “Drum Thunder Suite” are at the low end of the midrange, but they did rumble well. The trumpet had a bit of brass bite as well. On something a little less involved, like “Peace Piece” from Bill Evans’ Everybody Digs Bill Evans, I could hear the resonance of the bass strings and the decay of the treble strings. Perhaps those details get lost when the Monoprice are asked to deliver more complex, congested music. Transient attack of each note was better in the Bill Evans piece than on other tracks I listened to as well.
9. Lows: Bass plumbs low enough to be satisfying for rock fans like me. When listening to Rush’s “Limelight”, Neal Peart’s kick drums thudded in a satisfying way. However, Geddy Lee’s bass was way back in the mix (except during Alex Lifeson’s guitar solo). There isn’t a lot of bass information in the string and woodwind-heavy “Appalachian Spring”, but when the basses did have big notes, they were resounding in my right ear. That said, rap, trance and other fans of subterranean bass may not find the M-1060 satisfying.
10. Gestalt, Zeitgeist, Fahrvergnugen (and other German words meaning “the whole enchilada”): I’ll get right to it and say that I didn’t like the sound of the M-1060 straight from my AK70 Mk II. The poor DAP is under powered and the head phones sounded unsatisfying powered with it alone. However, when powered by an external desk-top amp, their sound filled out and dynamics opened up. They were able to handle the big sound of one of my favorite Earth Wind & Fire songs, “Africano” quite well. I especially like the ensemble playing the horn section does throughout the song, blaring away over the bass and drums. Good stuff that the M-1060 made fun, just like it should be.
11. Conclusion: I will say I didn’t do any back-and-forth comparisons while listening to the M-1060 (but I did listen to my other head phones after listening to the M-1060). The M-1060 are really fun to listen to, and they get lots of things right. What they don’t get right are errors of omission, really. Compared to my HE-500, the M-1060 bass is one-notey, it goes deep enough to satisfying, but lacks the nuance the HE-500 can display (for example, kick drums have more “skin” sound). In the mids, vocals are well presented, but what is missing are micro-details like the reverberation of the hall and other spatial cues that let a listener know the size of the recording venue. Similarly, the highs are missing that last bits of shimmer that make cymbals sound splashy rather than crashy; triangles are <ting> rather than <ting-ring-ring-ring>. Decay is missing. That all sounds quite doom and gloom, but I think if you’ve never heard more complete sound, you wouldn’t know what you’re missing and would really like the M-1060. Heck, I know what I’d be missing and I like the M-1060. A great entry into headphone sound, or an economical way to find out what that planar sound is all about.
