[ATi7500]

Today I will be giving my impressions on the Monk Lite along with comparisons with the Monk+. First of all is the gold/black 40 ohm version.


gold/black 40 ohm Monk Lite and darth black Monk+

They have the same laid-back presentation of the Monk+ but they are tuned differently. Whereas the Monk+ has a warm tonality, the Lite is more neutral sounding, leaning towards a bright signature.

There is less bass than the Monk+ and possibly better quality, less bloom. The Monk+ has a warm midrange, the Lite in comparison will sound thinner with less body and weight, having said that, the Lite has better clarity and the mids will sound more clean and clear. Treble is brighter and more crisp on the Lite, while the Monk+ is on the smoother side but I do think the Lite's treble is also more refined, however I did experience some piercing treble on one of my recordings, having only listened to a fraction of my music library, there is the possibility that it can happen again.

Soundstage is quite decent with a good sense of space showing good instrument separation, it passed some of my test tracks showing no heavy congestion. Not the most detailed, you may have a harder time picking out details, they are still there but a bit more subdued. The size of the soundstage is similar between the two, but the Monk+ has better instrument separation and resolution is a bit higher.


silver/white 120 ohm Monk Lite

As mentioned in the first paragraph, the above opinions are based on the 40 ohm version, the silver/white 120 ohm version that I have, to my ears the only significant changes I can hear compared to the 40 is that they have a little more mid-bass, maybe an extra 2-3dB, they are a tad warmer sounding and have a bit less treble. Perhaps for the treble sensitive, the 120 may be the better option. If you listen to a lot of female vocals, then the 40 will most likely have the edge due to the fact that its upper mids are brighter.

My impressions are based on using the Monk+ thin foams, the included foams that come with the Lite and those in the Ex Pack Lite are slightly thicker than the Monk+ thin foams. They will add a bit of warmth but you also lose a bit in clarity so you need to weigh up the pros and cons.

In terms of SQ, the Monk Lite is not going to set the world alight and for sure they won't replace your better sounding earbuds, however the SQ is acceptable in this price segment and I think they are quite suitable for casual listening, for critical listening you should look elsewhere.

Would I recommend them? Well I would say they are not a must-buy, but I for one will keep hold of them as I prefer smaller shells for my ears due to better comfort, as opposed to the popular MX500 shell, and for $6 they are not going to put a big dent in your wallet either.

Thanks for the review! Would be nice to have a comparison with Qian39, as they share the same shells.

 

[hex182]

Hi guys,
quick question -
Faaeal Snow-lotus 2.0 or Seahf AWK-F32T??

which one to buy?
Already have EMX500 and Vido. Wanting a change of sound in my new earbud. Which one would complement these two?

As I own all of these buds the Faaeal Snow Lotus 2.0 would be my suggestion

I see all of these are marketed as heavy bass or just bass. How is the Snow Lotus 2.0 different enough to recommend it? Also have you tried the FAAEAL Narcissus 2.0, is that any better?

 

[theoutsider]

I'm really enjoying them, very smooth. I have to wear them over ear as they kept falling out if wearing down

Do you rank them near the best of your earbuds?

The inner shells seem smaller than MX500, maybe the protruded back shifted the center of gravity and threw the earbud out of balance.

 

[waynes world]

Update on the graphenes guys, after burning them a little bit and listening with a lot of music genre's i can say that the quality of this buds is really good, acoustics and edm sound pretty good and make them shine, sadly as far as metal/ rock goes they are not that great, i feel graphs can't handle drums well, they (drums) lack body, the natural reverb isn't there, every chop feels like a "tack" instead of a "tum" (lol at my sound effects i know), i'll keep my graphenes because im really enjoying them with some music styles, now I want to try something with smaller shells guys do some of you know if the diy pk2 has a good drum sound?

Nice update. If possible, please suggest some tunes that you find challenging for the graphenes. Or, just some metal band or tunes in general that you like (I've been listening to some Metallica lately, and wouldn't mind trying out some other metal). Thanks! Edit: I'm a bit familiar with Dream Theatre and Black Sabbath, but that's about it (unless you call Led Zeppelin or King Crimson metal lol).

 

[HungryPanda]

Do you rank them near the best of your earbuds?

The inner shells seem smaller than MX500, maybe the protruded back shifted the center of gravity and threw the earbud out of balance.

As I only got them today I will let them burn in for a bit before my final thoughts but at the moment they are as good as my OurArt Ti7's

 

[seanc6441]

Do you think it would be a good idea to get the pk2s keeping in mind that the graphenes didnt quite make it for my prefered music taste?

What did you dislike about the graphene’s?

Edit: Just read your previous post about rock eletronic and drums being an issue. Personally I think the diy pk2 handles drums better than pk2s and graphene because it has tighter controlled bass/mid bass but not much sub bass so it should quicker and a short decay compared to pk2s which has a little more bloom and graphene which is deeper bass but pretty emphasised and not as tight (albeit still of good quality overall).

Pk2 has the best signature for rock no question but i found switching to a full thin foam like the cheap ones (1$ for 100) on aliexpress or ve monk thins (new pack is thicker than before and works well here for seal) helps smooth out the texture and gives the midrange a better tonality (because the detail and sparkle is very present in this earbud.

PK2s is better for pop and generally anything with a bass beat. But initial impressions I don’t get the same texture and detail in the sound (possibly due to tuning and how the back vents are filtered with thicker foam which helps bass but at the cost of air flow) the pk2s definitely has more thump and is smoother but less airy overall and details don’t quite extend like the pk2.

This newer variant of Diy pk2 with the right foams is definitely a great choice for electric guitar, acoustic and drums if that gives you an idea of the sound signature here. I did note that the newer pk2 i received last week was improved over the last one so I can recommend it and the pk2s for different genres.

 

[gazzington]

As I own all of these buds the Faaeal Snow Lotus 2.0 would be my suggestion

I agree, snow lotus 2.0 is a special bud for the low price.

 

[Matija Osrečki]

What are the bassiest earbuds with Yuin PK shell?

And which have the strongest bass in general?
(I know about f150c, and have emx500, that's about it)

 

[silverfishla]

Nice update. If possible, please suggest some tunes that you find challenging for the graphenes. Or, just some metal band or tunes in general that you like (I've been listening to some Metallica lately, and wouldn't mind trying out some other metal). Thanks! Edit: I'm a bit familiar with Dream Theatre and Black Sabbath, but that's about it (unless you call Led Zeppelin or King Crimson metal lol).

If you really want to hear what the Graphenes can do, may I suggest an artist that I've only newly discovered? He's called.....Rahman, I don't know if you've ever heard of him before. Haahaha, just kidding. I'm going to have a bowl of noodles now.

 

[seanc6441]

What are the bassiest earbuds with Yuin PK shell?

And which have the strongest bass in general?
(I know about f150c, and have emx500, that's about it)

Sub bass or mid bass? Cygnus and DSQM PK2 has the most mid bass quantity. Shozy BK has the best overall bass response if you want balanced between sub bass and mid bass it reaches lower than cygnus and dqsm but has less mid bass bump slightly. Still considered slightly bumped mid bass though, cygnus just has more.

DSQM has a nice bass for a pk2 shell but it’s not the tightest compared to shozy bk and maybe slightly less quality than cygnus but not much in it. Cygnus can be abit bloomy too but not too much.

I think most will enjoy the bass of the cygnus the most but in budget range dqsm is good.

 

[mbwilson111]

I'm curious about the H190 because from their description, it's their pro model. I got those for 11.11 on a nice discount today.

Did you ever receive the Edifier H190? I love mine. I bought that from Amazon after you made me curious. Later I also bought the H185 and I enjoy that also. Both fit well.

 

[waynes world]

If you really want to hear what the Graphenes can do, may I suggest an artist that I've only newly discovered? He's called.....Rahman, I don't know if you've ever heard of him before. Haahaha, just kidding. I'm going to have a bowl of noodles now.

Spoiler: Ha!

 

[RodRevenge]

Nice update. If possible, please suggest some tunes that you find challenging for the graphenes. Or, just some metal band or tunes in general that you like (I've been listening to some Metallica lately, and wouldn't mind trying out some other metal). Thanks! Edit: I'm a bit familiar with Dream Theatre and Black Sabbath, but that's about it (unless you call Led Zeppelin or King Crimson metal lol).

Sure i can do that.
, Graphene makes drums in this song too snappy, especially cymbals can get piercing, also chorus (in this and other songs) feels clustered, metal tends to have this wall of sound effect and it gets accentuated by the graphenes nature of making everything sparkly.


You can look at those 3 let me know what you think

 

[waynes world]

Sure i can do that.
, Graphene makes drums in this song too snappy, especially cymbals can get piercing, also chorus (in this and other songs) feels clustered, metal tends to have this wall of sound effect and it gets accentuated by the graphenes nature of making everything sparkly.


You can look at those 3 let me know what you think

Cool! I'll find them on Tidal, and try them out with various ear buds. Thanks.

 

[seanc6441]

Sure i can do that.
, Graphene makes drums in this song too snappy, especially cymbals can get piercing, also chorus (in this and other songs) feels clustered, metal tends to have this wall of sound effect and it gets accentuated by the graphenes nature of making everything sparkly.


You can look at those 3 let me know what you think

I have the graphene, pk2s, diy pk2 and Cygnus beside me and I listened to all 3 tracks.

If you want the bass to hit deep the cygnus does all the 3 songs the best by a narrow margin

graphene doesn’t play well with the metal btw, it’s veiled effect is ‘the wall’ you speak of imo. It’s like a filter between you and the music. The first sounded good except the drum hits were a little brittle.

PK2 sounded the best for the mix of drum and beat but but misses the deep bass impact but I question the importance of sub bass in this genre of music so it just sounds a small bit less deep. Drum’s sound fantastic though.

DSQM was middling-good on the metal and very good on the first track.

Overall I gotta say assuming you don’t buy the cygnus as it’s not budget range get the diy pk2/dsqm pk2s and grab the 1$ thin foams. Great combo here.

Here’s how I see it. Diy pk2 does treble better and has a tighter drum roll and details are crisp. But lacks bass impact.

PK2s has bass impact but the treble is abit too smooth and not as sparkly, also the dynamics aren’t as quick/tight which doesn’t favour metal as much.