[ChanSP1970]

I haven't visited Head-Fi for a while and I regret I did this time......

No more new IEM after this one!!

 

[eat2na]

I am also getting micophonics unless I wear them over my ears. I only tried them for a few minutes. The Radio Shack Auvio silicone tips are too loose around the stem. I wonder if that will affect the seal properties?

 

[immtbiker]

I recently got a pair and am burning them in, because they sound quite sterile out of the box.
Monster attended the NYC Spring meet this weekend, and donated 3 pairs towards the silent action. That was very generous of them. The 3 pairs went for around $160 which I think is lower than the proper price point for them.
I am going to review them and can safely say that these should MSRP for $199 and not $399.
The presentation when you unseal the box, is beautiful upon opening. Two quality carrying cases, wire management, and tips that can make every user happy (I believe there art close to 20 different ones. I prefer the mini tri-flanges, they are sort of like the baby blues (now gray) offered by Etymotic. Also a nice mini to 1/4" adapter.

I wish that I can help Monster with their PR, because I've found that their representatives know very little about audio.
First of all, John, the representative was displaying multiple pairs at the meet with little or no time on them, and we all know that is a Bozo no-no. They are dynamic driver-based headphones and they need at least 100 hours on them before showing them off at meets, where tenured audiophiles are going to be critiquing them. Second of all, with the invasion of so many good Chinese headphones flooding the market, they need a lower selling price.
But, like Bose, they will sell because of their name to unsuspecting non-audiophiles due to their glitz and company name. But when push comes to shove, many products like Head-Direct's line of iEM's blow these puppies away at less than half the price. For $199, they would be a viable mid-entry IEM (especially with all of the amenities).
The cord is too short and the sound is a bit hollow. Monster makes some great lower to mid priced IC's, speaker wire and HDMI cables for the brick and mortars and are trying to break into a higher quality market, but they have a ways to go, yet
I give them an E for effort, for the amenities, but in the end, sound is all that matters.
Maybe after 200 hours, my opinion will change.

 

[3DCadman]

I find they sound MUCH better than the Shure SE530 I owned. The Shures's treble was not there for me, and they sounded "honky".

To me these are much more coherent. The highs are perfect, and the bass is nice. I can't imagine what the Golds would sound like. These have bass that is full, the Golds must be like car subwoofer rattle all the rearview mirrors in the cars around you bass.

And I have less than 3 hours on them.

 

[3DCadman]

If you're finding you don't like the sound on these, don't give up on experimenting with tips. I got my Sony Hybrids at Best Buy for under $10. The teal colored ones were perfect for me.

I couldn't get the gel filled ones to go in my ear properly. How are you supposed to compress them before they go in? Not like foamies.

They would have sounded good if I could get them in.

The comply included were very comfortable, but the bass was too much and the highs were muffled. When I pulled them out they scoured all the wax out of my ear. Yuk.

I still have not tried the soft silicones included, nor the triflanges.

Keep trying if it doesn't sound right.

 

[dabulls3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by immtbiker /img/forum/go_quote.gif I recently got a pair and am burning them in, because they sound quite sterile out of the box. Monster attended the NYC Spring meet this weekend, and donated 3 pairs towards the silent action. That was very generous of them. The 3 pairs went for around $160 which I think is the proper price point for them. I am going to review them and can safely say that these should MSRP for $199 and not $399. The presentation when you unseal the box, which is beautiful upon opening. Two quality carrying cases, wire management, and tips that can make every user happy (I believe there art close to 20 different ones. I prefer the mini tri-flanges, they are sort of like the baby blues (now gray) offered by Etymotic. Also a nice mini to 1/4" adapter. I wish that I can help Monster with their PR, because I've found that their representatives know very little about audio. First of all, John, the representative was displaying multiple pairs at the meet with little or no time on them, and we all know that is a Bozo no-no. They are dynamic driver-based headphones and they need at least 100 hours on them before showing them off at meets, where tenured audiophiles are going to be critiquing them. Second of all, with the invasion of so many good Chinese headphones flooding the market, they need a lower selling price. But, like Bose, they will sell because of their name to unsuspecting non-audiophiles due to their glitz and company name. But when push comes to shove, many products like Head-Direct's line of iEM's blow these puppies away at less than half the price. For $199, they would be a viable mid-entry IEM (especially with all of the amenities). The cord is too short and the sound is a bit hollow. Monster makes some great lower to mid priced IC's, speaker wire and HDMI cables for the brick and mortars and are trying to break into a higher quality market, but they have a ways to go, yet I give them an E for effort, for the amenities, but in the end, sound is all that matters. Maybe after 200 hours, my opinion will change.

I'm guessing you're an audiophile. I think because of your poor experience with the representative, your mentality is somewhere else and that's in disfavor of Monster. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you said you bought them at $160? I would think you would think that price as the one. I'm speaking out of the mind now, so what I'm saying might be confusing...

I bought Bose in-ears at $60 instead of $100 and I think they're pretty good, but I think that's because I bought them for cheaper.

 

[a_recording]

Okay I've been having an interesting exchange with Headroom about trying to get these price matched to Dell.com, since they offer international shipping and Dell won't accept my credit card (though I have a US address.) They seem fairly unwilling to do it, first by not responding to the price match request until I had to prompt them again with an email, by which time the Dell deal was no longer immediate availability, and their response was this interesting story:

"HeadRoom / Headphone.com has contacted Monster Audio about the low price offered by Dell on Monster Turbine PRO Copper earphones.

As it turns out, that was an illegally displayed price and an advertising error on DELL's part according to our senior Monster Audio contacts. Frankly, that short-lived and illegally advertised price was well below what we actually pay for that Monster product and, as such, falls outside the purview of our stated HeadRoom price-match policy."

This sounds pretty unconvincing to me, particularly as Dell still actually hasn't changed their price which they would probably do within 20 mins if it was a mistake.

Is there any way I can approach this?

 

[Alec E]

I have no desire to listen to these one second longer.

 

[jjmai]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dabulls3 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm guessing you're an audiophile. I think because of your poor experience with the representative, your mentality is somewhere else and that's in disfavor of Monster. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you said you bought them at $160? I would think you would think that price as the one. I'm speaking out of the mind now, so what I'm saying might be confusing...

LOL, I am guessing immtbiker is an audiophile for sure, with post counts over 9000 and administrator status.

 

[immtbiker]

Don't ever go by post count and status on Head-Fi. i have been on Head-Fi since inception, and have had the luxury of trying almost every thing that has been out there. Yes, I can be trusted because I am a MOD/Admin, because Jude hand picks his mods. But that doesn't mean we have the same tastes. So please, take everything that you read, with a grain of salt.
Before Head-fi, I worked in the audio industry while attending college at night. I have a degree in electrical and computer engineering.

But music has been a huge part of my life since I was 7 y.o. and my father bought the the Beatles White Album and he said, trust me son, this album is going to change music as we know it...boy, that was an understatement. I remember waiting on line for "Houses of the Holy to be released.

I was the only kid in my Jr. High school that listened to Count Basie and Ella Fitzgerald.

Don't be fooled by high post count. Check feedback and read threads by a person you may want to take advice from.
check and see if he/she is trusted by his peers.

I didn't pay $160 f0r the MTPC's, the three winners of the silent auction did. I got one because I host large NYC meets, and I do reviews. Basically what I wrote, was a mini review. I believe that the Monster's are extremely overpriced, but give other IEM's a run for there money in the <$200 range. I don't feel that they are worth $399, but that is for the consumer to decide. I only offer my opinion based upon all that I've heard, in various price ranges.

The best thing to do, is go to a local meet and listen to it and compare it to other things in it' s own competitive price range. If you buy it and really don't like it, the free head-fi FS forums are a wonderful place to buy and sell things without the fear of losing a large amount of money.

This is, of course IMHO.

Good luck on your future purchases. Sometimes the thrill of the chase is more fun that the actual purchase.

 

[rawrster]

just under $400 for these. are any universal iem's worth that much really?

 

[immtbiker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dabulls3 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm guessing you're an audiophile. I think because of your poor experience with the representative, your mentality is somewhere else and that's in disfavor of Monster. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you said you bought them at $160?

Not at all. I have a pair of MTPC that I was sent to review, and they are average at best. They would be wonderful at the $199 price point, but at $399, you are stepping into the ER4P and E530 world, which are worlds above.
I do no base my love or dislike of a product because of my experience with one salesman.
I just felt that they needed better representation at a meet where 70 people were going to be discussing the pros and cons and merits of a new top of the line product. I liked John personally, I just feel that they sent us someone who really didn't know a whole lot about audio.

For example, he was using an amplified bar, to supply power to multiple pairs of Coppers. The source was an Ipod that was playing mp3's. If I had an opportunity to have exposure to critical listening audiophiles, who were going to be writing to a membership of over 100,000 people, I would have been using lossless files. Also, he was using his source out of the headphone jack. This means he was taking an already amplified signal and re-amplifying it through the sound bar.
Ipods have a decent line out LOD at the bottom which bypasses the built in amplifier circuitry, and acts as a pre-amp which enables the amplified bar, which also was a low-fi component, to do it's job properly.
How can you demo a new state of the art headphone to, people who listen to music critically, without the use of lossless files?
It would be like test driving a Ferrari with 86 octane gas. Now, I'm not blaming John for his setup, because he was probably sent there with it, but if it was me, I would demand a better way of showing my premier product.
It's not like Monster is a new kid on the block. The have a huge reputation in the cable industry, and need to carry that over to their foray into the headphone market.
If I was their representative, I would have made darn sure that I am offering the best possible scenario to sell my products. This setup was not thought out properly. If it was, then their generous donation would have fetched an lot more money.

 

[immtbiker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3DCadman /img/forum/go_quote.gif I find they sound MUCH better than the Shure SE530 I owned. The Shures's treble was not there for me, and they sounded "honky". To me these are much more coherent. The highs are perfect, and the bass is nice. I can't imagine what the Golds would sound like. These have bass that is full, the Golds must be like car subwoofer rattle all the rearview mirrors in the cars around you bass. And I have less than 3 hours on them.

The Golds are a step down from the Coppers, not a step up.
Also, in my opinion, the 530's are 5 leagues above the coppers. Everyone hears differently.

 

[lc483]

Quote:

Originally Posted by immtbiker /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Golds are a step down from the Coppers, not a step up. Also, in my opinion, the 530's are 5 leagues above the coppers. Everyone heats differently.

Just curious, how do you rank the Copper to the Klipsch X10 and TripleFi 10?

Thanks

And really interesting posts, it's disappointing perhaps?, that Monster would demo their top product in such a way.

 

[immtbiker]

You're quite welcome.
Look, it is my desire that everyone in the audio industry makes a nice living.
But it has to be a labor of love and not just sales. A god salesman can sell everything from cars to curtain rings (John Candy), but if they are not passionate about what they sell, it is going to show. There has to be interest, desire. There are to many fishes in the sea, and if you don't really love what you are selling, then people are going to move onto the next product.
Someone like Fang from Head-Direct or Ray Samuels of Craig from Eddie Current or Cesar from Portaphile, or even Tyl from Headroom, etc. have an undying passion about what they design and what they sell. They eat, sleep and drink it, and it shows. Those are the people who I want to give my hard earned money to...not Sony or Panasonic. That is a big part of the hobby.
I have not had a chance to listen to the Klipsch X10 and TripleFi 10's yet, but if you want to lend me your pair, I'd be glad to give you my opinion.