Monoprice Dual Driver Earbuds 14456
Mar 15, 2016 at 11:21 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 8

rally9x

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Did a couple searches for info on these and didn't find anything so figured I should start a thread. Would be interested in hearing any opinions, I will probably throw these in my next Monoprice order to check them out.
 

 
 
http://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=108&cp_id=10823&cs_id=1082303&p_id=14456&seq=1&format=2
 
Mar 19, 2016 at 7:12 PM Post #2 of 8
It's a pretty new product. I haven't seem much content about these either. I'm thinking of trying these out instead of another 8223 set. I will let you know the results when they come in.
 
Mar 20, 2016 at 7:50 PM Post #3 of 8
I was going to order these to compare them to the Xiaomi Hybrids but $35 to ship to the U.K is ridiculous and that is the cheapest!
 
I promptly cancelled as that is a rip off!
 
Mar 21, 2016 at 12:03 AM Post #4 of 8
Monoprice is simply that way so they can sell inexpensive things. I would wait until those earbuds finally reach Amazon. There is already a listing on the American site, but stock hasn't rolled in yet. 
 
Apr 7, 2016 at 12:31 AM Post #7 of 8
Sorry for the delay. I do have some brief impressions, what I lack is time.

So I'll just jump in: the housings are definitely big but I have not found fit to be an issue at all, and they are very comfortable despite their size. Build quality includes cheap plastic, no surprise there. Too early to tell how much of a beating they'll take.

Sound-wise, who are these for? I'd say the bassheads, but they are to my ears not overwhelming on the low end. What these have going for them is that they reproduce 80% of the sound quality of MEE Audio's dual driver model at a much lower cost. They sound quite similar. Definitely V-shaped tuning with warm and slightly recessed mids. Treble is nothing stellar but is also not sibilant which is a big deal for me as I'm quite sensitive to sibilance. At the low end, the driver designed for it produces punchy but not particularly fast sub bass, but that was never expected. I think the advantage if these is that due to the dual driver they're capable of producing a better sense of space and separation. I think they do an admiral job for the price with solid low end that does not subsume the mids, maybe warming them up slightly. In short, I want to emphasize that these are going to be excellent for hip-hop and like genres, top 40 type stuff, they're have an all around fun tuning, and with more burn in could impress even more as I don't think I've yet heard what these are fully capable of at maybe ten hours in.

The MEE dual driver model is the only IEM I know I've heard that would be direct competition (being a dual driver that is). I like Monoprice's DD model better I think, as MEE Audio really emphasizes treble more which seems to be their "house" sound, harsh treble. These are not neutral by any means but closer to a more balanced sound that I prefer given the V-shaped profile. Worth the money I think if you're into genres that emphasize low end, hell, I listen to mostly metal and am enjoying them even if I usually prefer more balanced IEMs.
 
Apr 7, 2016 at 12:52 AM Post #8 of 8
Another observation: they seem easy to drive with my HTC One A9 phone.

Also, to maybe qualify what I said above about the lack of harsh treble, I think this may be source dependent as well as how loud you're driving them. I'm keeping them at just over half of my phone's output which works best, but to my ears the louder you go the muddier the SQ.
 

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