[jude]

NOTE:  If you can't see the embedded video above, please CLICK HERE to see the video.​

 
 
In this episode, Jude sits down with the "Head Monster", Noel Lee, at Monster Headquarters to talk about the Diamond Tears Edge, the Inspiration, and Monster in the "post-Beats" era.
 

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Products mentioned in the video:

 

1. Monster Turbine in-ear headphones
2. Monster Miles Davis Tribute in-ear headphones
3. Monster Miles Davis Trumpet in-ear headphones
4. Monster Gratitude in-ear headphones
5. Monster Diamond Tears Edge over-ear headphones
6. Monster Inspiration over-ear headphones

 

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Interview with Noel Lee "Head Monster" of Monster Products, Head-Fi TV  produced by Joseph Cwik and Jude Mansilla
 

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We will occasionally post Q&A episodes of Head-Fi TV.  If you want to submit any questions (or comments), you can do so via email to tv@head-fi.org.

 

[MrViolin]

Whoa. Thought it was beats since monster became synonymous w/ beats in my mind.

 

[xnor]

He doesn't seem to understand negative feedback in amplifiers...

 

[audionewbi]

With all due respect Head-fi has access to all this wonderful industry insiders why bother with companies whose only concern is mass production/mass profit. Shine some light on smaller guys, give them the heads up they need.
 
I was really excited when head-fi tv first episode well over one year ago was released.
One of the very first video was about Practical devices amp which I have never heard of before that video. I ended up testing that amp because of that video and indeed it was a great little amp with excellent feature. 
 
I was super excited about where the channel was going to head towards but currently the videos are not quiet what I hoped for. Lets focus more on the products than the people who run it. Lets focus on the smaller guys who with little more audience have great potential to make a great product. More product critics, more product feedbacks, more community awareness on what product they want, what products are hot and why?

 

[Tsujigiri]

As much as I respect transparency and interfacing with the customer base, I can't bring myself to support a company as unethical as Monster, what with them suing small and large businesses alike with no grounds.
 
Lol and at 11:45 you can see his face fall when Jude mentions that he'll be comparing the Monster headphones to other products... I suspect these new models won't be that competitive anyway.

 

[Makiah S]

As much as I respect transparency and interfacing with the customer base, I can't bring myself to support a company as unethical as Monster, what with them suing small and large businesses alike with no grounds.

Lol and at 11:45 you can see his face fall when Jude mentions that he'll be comparing the Monster headphones to other products... I suspect these new models won't be that competitive anyway.

Lol n that is why i read this thread

 

[jude]

Quote:

With all due respect Head-fi has access to all this wonderful industry insiders why bother with companies whose only concern is mass production/mass profit. Shine some light on smaller guys, give them the heads up they need.
 
I was really excited when head-fi tv first episode well over one year ago was released.
One of the very first video was about Practical devices amp which I have never heard of before that video. I ended up testing that amp because of that video and indeed it was a great little amp with excellent feature. 
 
I was super excited about where the channel was going to head towards but currently the videos are not quiet what I hoped for. Lets focus more on the products than the people who run it. Lets focus on the smaller guys who with little more audience have great potential to make a great product. More product critics, more product feedbacks, more community awareness on what product they want, what products are hot and why?

 
audionewbi, thanks sincerely for the constructive feedback.
 
Regarding the smaller guys: I think they get plenty of light shone on them at Head-Fi (as do the bigger guys). Companies big and small serve this market, and so both should be discussed. If you look at the Gift Guide (currently updated twice yearly), there are many products by small companies covered. And as a business owner, I don't see profit motivation as inherently bad--every company making things (and/or providing services) here needs to profit to continue doing so.
 
Regarding episodes interviewing industry folks: We'll get back to more gear-specific episodes soon. Right now, though, we have a lot of interview footage from past shows, and we need to put this material out there before it becomes outdated. We may include more gear-specific episodes in between a couple of those.
 
Again, audionewbi, thank you for the feedback.

 

[audionewbi]

Always appreciate the great platform head-fi is, if it was not for this forum I would be still using apple earbuds.
 
With warm regards and I do apologies. 

 

[jude]

Quote:

Always appreciate the great platform head-fi is, if it was not for this forum I would be still using apple earbuds.
 
With warm regards and I do apologies. 

 
I was serious, man--I really do appreciate constructive feedback. No apologies needed or expected.

 

[obobskivich]

Interesting interview - one thing, and maybe it's just the awful speakers on this laptop, but it was kind of hard to hear what Noel was saying. Kind of curious to see his claim about "the best noise-cancelling headphones" tested; the Beats ANC wasn't exactly known as top-dog. Would be neat if they're doing what Tyll called for a while ago - letting the engineers (and their likely huge R&D budgets) produce the products they're capable of, versus just pandering to the mass-market. Even if it was just one flagship product, I think they have the ability to produce something good - or am I being too optimistic?

 

[Lenni]

let's hope they will produce a real good quality product aimed more toward the audiophile market. with their market dominance means a huge size of the population would experience and get used to better quality audio - and that can only be good on so many levels. fingers cross...

 

[xnor]

I don't think many people have €330 left to spend on over-ear or €200 in-ear monster 'phones. That's far from affordable like Noel mentioned.

 

[Lenni]

Quote:

I don't think many people have €330 left to spend on over-ear or €200 in-ear monster 'phones. That's far from affordable like Noel mentioned.

 
I'm not sure what you mean... for example, Sennheiser doesn't make affordable 'phone either. the difference is that Sennheiser spends their budget more on R&D and quality, than marketing, imo. the sad part is it works for Monster's - they managed to sell cheap-built, poor-sounding cough'phones at outrageous prices in their millions.
 
I don't like Monster's any more than you or anybody else does here, for obvious reasons. fact is, they've the budget and likely the ability to produce something good if they really want to, I think... and with their marketing awareness more people maybe will appreciate better sound quality. 
 
so go Monster. hopefully they won't start suing everyone that uses the word audiophile in their product...

 (J/K)

 

[xnor]

Quote:

 
I'm not sure what you mean... for example, Sennheiser doesn't make affordable 'phone either.

You can get proper full-sized ones for € 40 and in-ears for even less from Sennheiser.

 

[Lenni]

Quote:

You can get proper full-sized ones for € 40 and in-ears for even less from Sennheiser.

that's true.