Monolith M300 In Ear Planar Earphones
Nov 4, 2017 at 12:50 PM Post #361 of 659
I thought that would be the case, but one can wish.
 
Nov 4, 2017 at 3:00 PM Post #363 of 659
Whats the point of these headphones, I can see that they are portable but they are open back and leak sound. Is the SQ better than iems at that price range?
They sound great and have amazing sound stage for in ear. They are a good value compared to the isine. They don't leak very much sound, but quality is affected by surrounding noise. Great for walking, but not for busy bus rides. But i use them everywhere because open planar magnetic. Hope that helps
 
Nov 4, 2017 at 4:20 PM Post #364 of 659
So I've been listening to them for about a month now and here are my first impression.

I'm an audiophile on a budget, when I seen the isine's I told myself I wanted a pair but would have to save up. But then I seen these were announced and said to myself how much "I wonder how much performance am I going to get out of these for the price compared to the isines?". I immediately decided to order a pair on a whim.

I've used the fiio q1 1st Gen dac/amp with my other gear for a while now. I always knew that the q1 was on the warm side. My m300's came and I immediately plugged them in to get a first listen, something was off. My first impression was ok great soundstage but everything sounded loose and the mids sounded honky and there was no treble to be found. So I decided to just take them off and run a 100 hr burn in. After the burn in I put them on once more and as I did one of the black ear hooks snapped (I figured it was bound to happen given peoples testimony here on headfi over it's poor build qualities.) So I proceeded to used the clear ones. Upon listening to a few tracks I noticed everything opened up across the entire frequency spectrum. They resolved the music amazingly well, with a few issues still lingering. The mids still sounded honky and I can distinctly hear some serious resonances going on in the mid-range. The treble was better but no where near the presence I prefer. I had pre ordered the fiio q1 mark 2 about a week before I ordered my m300's so I knew I had something coming in to do some back and forth. I was able to EQ out some of the honky mid-range, boost the treble and bass slightly and boom I was satisfied slightly. There was just something the q1 gen1 wasn't giving me, it just wasn't scaling these planar drivers to their potential. When my q1 mark 2 came in is when the magic happened, the treble OMG finally some treble, the mid-range extended naturally and somehow removed some of the mid-range resonances without EQ. The bass is wonderful, I love a little extra bass in my earphones, not bass head levels(maybe sometimes I enjoy some heavy bass) but enough to give me a room effect. The one thing the q1 mark 2 did that I didn't think it was going to do was it expanded the soundstage even further! So to make this short out of the box people will hate them, but with some burn in and some proper dac/amp pairings and EQ adjustments these things are sublime. These remind me why I fell in love with planars in the first place. I used to have a pair of LCD-2's pre-fazor before I had to sell them due to financial difficulty. Now these m300s I think will settle my hunger for the time being. All though the LCD-2C has my attention. Sorry for rambling and grammatical errors I'm typing this on my mobile.
 
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Nov 5, 2017 at 10:51 AM Post #365 of 659
So I've been listening to them for about a month now and here are my first impression.

I'm an audiophile on a budget, when I seen the isine's I told myself I wanted a pair but would have to save up. But then I seen these were announced and said to myself how much "I wonder how much performance am I going to get out of these for the price compared to the isines?". I immediately decided to order a pair on a whim.

I've used the fiio q1 1st Gen dac/amp with my other gear for a while now. I always knew that the q1 was on the warm side. My m300's came and I immediately plugged them in to get a first listen, something was off. My first impression was ok great soundstage but everything sounded loose and the mids sounded honky and there was no treble to be found. So I decided to just take them off and run a 100 hr burn in. After the burn in I put them on once more and as I did one of the black ear hooks snapped (I figured it was bound to happen given peoples testimony here on headfi over it's poor build qualities.) So I proceeded to used the clear ones. Upon listening to a few tracks I noticed everything opened up across the entire frequency spectrum. They resolved the music amazingly well, with a few issues still lingering. The mids still sounded honky and I can distinctly hear some serious resonances going on in the mid-range. The treble was better but no where near the presence I prefer. I had pre ordered the fiio q1 mark 2 about a week before I ordered my m300's so I knew I had something coming in to do some back and forth. I was able to EQ out some of the honky mid-range, boost the treble and bass slightly and boom I was satisfied slightly. There was just something the q1 gen1 wasn't giving me, it just wasn't scaling these planar drivers to their potential. When my q1 mark 2 came in is when the magic happened, the treble OMG finally some treble, the mid-range extended naturally and somehow removed some of the mid-range resonances without EQ. The bass is wonderful, I love a little extra bass in my earphones, not bass head levels(maybe sometimes I enjoy some heavy bass) but enough to give me a room effect. The one thing the q1 mark 2 did that I didn't think it was going to do was it expanded the soundstage even further! So to make this short out of the box people will hate them, but with some burn in and some proper dac/amp pairings and EQ adjustments these things are sublime. These remind me why I fell in love with planars in the first place. I used to have a pair of LCD-2's pre-fazor before I had to sell them due to financial difficulty. Now these m300s I think will settle my hunger for the time being. All though the LCD-2C has my attention. Sorry for rambling and grammatical errors I'm typing this on my mobile.
Nice review.
 
Nov 7, 2017 at 4:06 PM Post #366 of 659
So far I've received 3 sets of these and all 3 have been defective in some way. QC on these from the OEM seems to be very poor. :head_bandage:
 
Nov 8, 2017 at 12:06 AM Post #367 of 659
Screw it. I went ahead and ordered 3 more sets (6 total), 2 from Amazon and 1 more from Monoprice and I'm going to see how many are bad and how much they vary. We'll find out.
 
Nov 10, 2017 at 9:49 AM Post #368 of 659
Don't even bother getting replacement ear hooks from Monoprice, they sent just the 2 black clips and they are as flimsy as the ones that came with the iem's, the left one just broke, after a couple of minutes holding the monitor in my ear.
 
Nov 10, 2017 at 11:44 AM Post #369 of 659
My other 3 sets will be in today, can't wait to see the carnage and get a better idea just how bad their QC is. Stay tuned! :confounded:
 
Nov 11, 2017 at 5:08 PM Post #371 of 659
For those of you looking for a new cable and comfort fix... I have a potential solution. I ordered this on eBay and didn't realize it came with ear hook things. I think I can glue them on for a better fix. 1510437915243646726155.jpg 1510437980496667563327.jpg
https://m.ebay.com/itm/MMCX-Silver-...678773?varId=561996750723&txnId=2110721023016
 
Nov 11, 2017 at 6:31 PM Post #372 of 659
I am selling my HEK, and they come with a free M300!!!!!!. Ive put them on eBay. I am still waiting for replacement ear clips. When I Emailed Audeze, I had hair, but its fallen out, in the time I have waited, and am still waiting!.
For the price you're asking, you could've included a pair of iSine 20 instead :ksc75smile:
 
Nov 12, 2017 at 12:56 PM Post #373 of 659
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