Monoprice Monolith M1060 and M560 Planar Headphones
May 20, 2018 at 11:05 AM Post #7,141 of 8,051
Grabbed a pair of m1060s...I really like these. I don't notice any of the complaints that people have mentioned, and it sort of hits the "all around" mark that my SHP9500s also does. It's got a nice representation across all frequencies to me, but still has a very fun "groove" to it due to bass quality and the overall warmer tilt. It's definitely not as gritty or bright sounding as the SHP9500s and has a very smooth character to it. I don't want to say that these are "relaxed", but they're not as up front and edgy as I was thinking they could be; these are just very easy to listen to. The most noticeable thing to me is that it just sort of feels like the bass/mids/treble all sort of happily coexist, and that everything in the song sort of sits in the mix on its own without being overwhelmed/blurred/overshadowed by anything else. These are winners.

Build quality though is just funny...flippy, floppy, sort of creeky feeling stuff...but the pads are great and it does sit very steadily on my head without any problems. A headband upgrade would probably make these really great to wear. I can also see immediately where people would get the idea to try a more breathable pad on these...SHP9500s do sound more open and airy, and I think it's due to the porous cloth pads vs the glued/sealed leather pads. I'm interested in seeing how these sound without the foam inserts and can see why people try to put those vegan pads on these. I like them a lot as they are, but I bet they would sound amazing if opened up a bit.

I have a pair of the m560s coming on Monday, but I'm pretty sure I'll be sending them back and keeping the m1060s. Still going to test them out though, but the m1060 is such a good thing and I can't see how I could let them go now.
The m560's will have more detail at the treble region, it will be more refined, the bass will sort off lack but it will be very fast and tight and respond very well to EQ. However, if you want to turn them into steroids and get real great bass without it going into the mid-range, get the shure1540 pads and enjoy. It a completely different ball game. You will lose a bit of that treble refinement but will still sound great and sort of relaxed like you explained on the1060s. I have the Shure pads on my m565 and when I tried them out on my m560s, the signature became exactly the same so I returned the m560s to regular stock pads because I don't need two hps with the exact sound signature.
Also, I just turned my m1060c into open back and I'm impressed of the sound. Truly remarkable driver's.
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May 23, 2018 at 2:27 PM Post #7,142 of 8,051
And back again...

So my M560s came in the other day; I grabbed an open box pair for $119.99. But Everything arrived in-tact with box/case/cable/paperwork, so nothing was missing. The only thing that I can figure is that somebody returned it due to one of two things: 1)The revised tiny ear pads(more on that in a second), or 2) one of the wood cups had a magnet that had come loose and was seated above the surface of the wood cups when placed back in. I did about 5 minutes of work with the ear cup and now the magnet is glued back in and sits slightly below flush with the surface of the cup like the other one does...they both fit perfectly when seated over the drivers now. But as a fun idea, instead of doing the nickel under the wood cup trick...you guys could probably just pry the magnets loose from the cups, stuff some filler material in there, glue the magnet back in, etc and create the same effect. That's sort of what the one ear cup was doing when the magnet was seated above the surface of the wood; kind of funny stuff and it definitely sounded a bit more "open" because of this compared to the other side. The magnet system for the pads needs to be done across the board everywhere for everything, it's such a good idea.

But anyway...build quality of the actual headphone is 10/10. Everything is miraculously perfect on this thing from stitching to materials to fitment; people who rave over these were not kidding. On to the new "small opening" ear pads...I have small ears, and these things JUST BARELY allow me to awkwardly shove my ears into them with a bit of jostling around. For people with large ears or even medium-sized ears, these things will never work for over-ear fitment and I almost think that Monoprice is trying to repurpose these as on-ear now due to the m565s. But the weird thing about these pads...they seal beautifully with small ears and are actually comfortable once you get them situated. I'm hearing these things at their best with what has to be the most optimal seal out of anything that I've ever tried, and it just sounds phenomenal to me. I don't know if the pad change corrected some of the earlier complaints/descriptions about lacking in the bass department, or if it's just how these things fit/work with my ears, but I hear ZERO problems with a lack in bass from these. They have less in quantity than the bigger drivers of the m1060, but it's all there and it's all good to me at least.

Tony51 described these perfectly...compared to the m1060s, they've got a "closer" sound to them that focuses more on upper mids and treble; I'm loving these for rock music so far. They don't have the sound stage of the m1060s, but they overall sound more aggressive to me in a good way...the m1060s kind of have a warm and happy sort of thing going on across the board with everything sitting in the mix; it's really easy to just sit back and relax to, while the m560s have a bit more energy to them and are more involving. They don't sound as big/wide as the m1060s, but what's there is really energetic and fun to me at least due to the mids/treble presentation; they sound "faster". Bass is there, and sounds good to me; I'm a fan of the whole planar thing for sure. They're also very easy to drive, which is a plus. And as far as open vs closed goes...you have no business listening to these things closed unless you have to.

I hate this hobby...I'm keeping them both because I can't decide which is "better". So more money down the drain.
 
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May 23, 2018 at 8:12 PM Post #7,143 of 8,051
And back again...

So my M560s came in the other day; I grabbed an open box pair for $119.99. But Everything arrived in-tact with box/case/cable/paperwork, so nothing was missing. The only thing that I can figure is that somebody returned it due to one of two things: 1)The revised tiny ear pads(more on that in a second), or 2) one of the wood cups had a magnet that had come loose and was seated above the surface of the wood cups when placed back in. I did about 5 minutes of work with the ear cup and now the magnet is glued back in and sits slightly below flush with the surface of the cup like the other one does...they both fit perfectly when seated over the drivers now. But as a fun idea, instead of doing the nickel under the wood cup trick...you guys could probably just pry the magnets loose from the cups, stuff some filler material in there, glue the magnet back in, etc and create the same effect. That's sort of what the one ear cup was doing when the magnet was seated above the surface of the wood; kind of funny stuff and it definitely sounded a bit more "open" because of this compared to the other side. The magnet system for the pads needs to be done across the board everywhere for everything, it's such a good idea.

But anyway...build quality of the actual headphone is 10/10. Everything is miraculously perfect on this thing from stitching to materials to fitment; people who rave over these were not kidding. On to the new "small opening" ear pads...I have small ears, and these things JUST BARELY allow me to awkwardly shove my ears into them with a bit of jostling around. For people with large ears or even medium-sized ears, these things will never work for over-ear fitment and I almost think that Monoprice is trying to repurpose these as on-ear now due to the m565s. But the weird thing about these pads...they seal beautifully with small ears and are actually comfortable once you get them situated. I'm hearing these things at their best with what has to be the most optimal seal out of anything that I've ever tried, and it just sounds phenomenal to me. I don't know if the pad change corrected some of the earlier complaints/descriptions about lacking in the bass department, or if it's just how these things fit/work with my ears, but I hear ZERO problems with a lack in bass from these. They have less in quantity than the bigger drivers of the m1060, but it's all there and it's all good to me at least.

Tony51 described these perfectly...compared to the m1060s, they've got a "closer" sound to them that focuses more on upper mids and treble; I'm loving these for rock music so far. They don't have the sound stage of the m1060s, but they overall sound more aggressive to me in a good way...the m1060s kind of have a warm and happy sort of thing going on across the board with everything sitting in the mix; it's really easy to just sit back and relax to, while the m560s have a bit more energy to them and are more involving. They don't sound as big/wide as the m1060s, but what's there is really energetic and fun to me at least due to the mids/treble presentation; they sound "faster". Bass is there, and sounds good to me; I'm a fan of the whole planar thing for sure. They're also very easy to drive, which is a plus. And as far as open vs closed goes...you have no business listening to these things closed unless you have to.

I hate this hobby...I'm keeping them both because I can't decide which is "better". So more money down the drain.

I keep telling myself, don't buy the M560's.....but I might have to. I love my M1060's and they are my most used headphone. Music, gaming....they are nearly perfect.
 
May 30, 2018 at 7:30 PM Post #7,146 of 8,051
Well...after a couple months listening to my unmodded M1060's I have come to the conclusion that these need a loooong break in. Going between other headphones for a few days trying to see if I am the one adjusting to the M1060's, I can see that these are in fact breaking in. A song I always test a headphone with is Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams". The cymbal crash in the first few seconds can really irritate me with some headphones. So when I first got these, that cymbal was pretty harsh, yet now it sounds fantastic.

Basically, I am really happy with these and feel they are worth more then the retail price of $300 and a steal when they are on sale.
 
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May 31, 2018 at 2:24 PM Post #7,147 of 8,051
Well...after a couple months listening to my unmodded M1060's I have come to the conclusion that these need a loooong break in. Going between other headphones for a few days trying to see if I am the one adjusting to the M1060's, I can see that these are in fact breaking in. A song I always test a headphone with is Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams". The cymbal crash in the first few seconds can really irritate me with some headphones. So when I first got these, that cymbal was pretty harsh, yet now it sounds fantastic.

Basically, I am really happy with these and feel they are worth more then the retail price of $300 and a steal when they are on sale.

I totally agree -- the harshness has totally mellowed in mine as well since I got them last xmas. Now they are smooth as butter
 
May 31, 2018 at 4:23 PM Post #7,148 of 8,051
Anyone interested in a Chinese hifiman style headband and pilot pad. It will fit the m1060 I just couldn't be bothered with it.
 
Jun 1, 2018 at 2:38 AM Post #7,149 of 8,051
How do these compare to HD650's? Just got a my 4xx and I'm thinking I won't keep these very long.
 
Jun 1, 2018 at 6:33 PM Post #7,150 of 8,051
How do these compare to HD650's? Just got a my 4xx and I'm thinking I won't keep these very long.

I do not like HD650 at all. I really enjoy the M1060. They're nothing alike. Thread search, it's been talked about thousands of times.

Edit: just for fun I threw in a random page number. 2nd post had a 650 comparison,:joy::joy:
 
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Jun 3, 2018 at 2:53 PM Post #7,151 of 8,051
I recently did the fuzzor mod to my m1060's, using some adhesive felt I found on Amazon, but it sounded a bit muffled to me, even though a lot of the ringing was gone. Since I'm using stock pads (and I'm planning to get Eikon suede pads when they come back in stock) I decided to try ripping off the fabric on the back of the pads. WAY clearer, even though it's a little too bright. Has anyone else tried this?
1
 
Jun 3, 2018 at 3:04 PM Post #7,153 of 8,051
I recently did the fuzzor mod to my m1060's, using some adhesive felt I found on Amazon, but it sounded a bit muffled to me, even though a lot of the ringing was gone. Since I'm using stock pads (and I'm planning to get Eikon suede pads when they come back in stock) I decided to try ripping off the fabric on the back of the pads. WAY clearer, even though it's a little too bright. Has anyone else tried this?
1

Yes, I did this quite some time ago. At first I thought it was too bright as well, but I ended up using pantyhose to cover the new opening to the drivers. So, in summary, I also have fuzzor on the ear side, and the felt removal mod replaced with a small amount of shear material to protect the driver.

Overall I think it is much better, but a tiny bit more bass might be nice. I thought about poking a hole in the felt rather than removing it completely, but that would be non-reversible rather than semi-reversible as it is now.

I wouldn't mind a mod to add back a small amount of bass; if anyone has a good idea for that I would like it.

I had the paper towel there for a while, but removed it once I took off the felt because I wanted the better soundstage with the paper towel removed. I liked the effect on frequency response of the paper towel, but felt like it kinda killed the 'air'.

I hope that helps!

Edit: I am using an Emotiva BasX A-100 for my amp. DAC is just my laptop out for now.
 
Jun 9, 2018 at 12:30 PM Post #7,154 of 8,051
For those using m560, those headphone are really good, but somehow their response is opposite of Harman response curve. After 1k, there is a huge drop and seems like most people won't like it (tested on friends and teammates for a year).
I'm attempted to created a EQ profile to make it flater, works well but you will need a good amp (-9db in the file) .
 

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Jun 9, 2018 at 1:55 PM Post #7,155 of 8,051
So recently ran across a song recommended over on AVSForums. HOLY CRAP does it pressurize my house on my Home Theater setup, so I figured I'd see how some of my headphones fared with it as well........

EU and Canada might not be able to see the video (Region locked), but it's Bass Mekanik "Suck My Bass" Low and Slow Remix



It was graphed at AVSForums, and appears to extend down to 8hz or so, with much of the ULF (ULF = <20hz) activity at the 3:40 mark.

I won't bore you with the losers I found, but the 2 possible winners were TH-X00 Purpleheart and M1060.

Long story short; while I prefer the presentation of my Purplehearts more overall, my pair runs into distortion with this song at about 60% volume on my Jotunheim on High Gain (using 1/4" stock cable). It's great up until this point though, and most people would be more than satisfied with the output.

My M1060 has vegan pads, paper towel mod, and custom XLR cable. XLR on Jotunheim means a LOT more power on tap! At 75% volume on my Jot, the M1060s are still loud and clear, and I haven't tried louder because I fear hearing damage. Snare drum is too sharp for my tastes at this level. Lots of head-shaking bass though, and it even vibrates the eyeglasses on my nose :p

I extol the virtues of my TH-X00 Purplehearts quite a bit, and at pretty much most (sane) volume levels I do prefer them. But in this particular scenario, I'll reach for M1060 from now on.

If you can't listen to the YouTube clip, I have found the song on Tidal too.

*edit* I'm not claiming either PH or M1060 extend much below 20hz....or if they do, it's probably falling off pretty quickly, unlike my home subs. But at least TO 20hz, they're strong.
 
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