[macky112]

wow, guess what I found out, as I was packing for the RMA, I noticed the red 2.5mm connector labelled R looks a bit tilted/crooked, and I was like "no... this cant be... right?"

and yup, it was the cable causing the boominess, whichever side driver the red connector is attached has the boominess

wow... cant believe I need to go through the RMA process just because of a cable, feelsbadmang~~~ GG Monoprice

They can just ship you a new cable, no need to ship the headphones.

ok, Murphy's Law strikes again, they shipped me a MMCX replacement cable... GG WP

 

[GU1DO]

So I am looking for a headphone in or around $300 and so far I am looking at 1) HiFiMAN HE400S new for $300. 2)Monolith m1060 also for $300. 3)HiFiMan HE400i factory refurbished for $230.
Any suggestions? Even other headphones around this price range?

Never heard the 400s ,, M1060 for me is more exciting than 400i ,, (i own both)
m1060 ,, have better mids , much much better bass , smaller sound stage ,
400i ,, have better build quality larger sound stage , more relaxed sound (very nice with jaz)
i would take the m1060 over the 400i , but if not 400i come second ..

 

[Sajakhaki]

Just got my M1060 and gave a quick listen. Here are my initial impressions:

- Found them a little on the bright side.
- They sounded pretty good but I wasn't blown away.
- Vocal seems to have an "edge" to them, not sure how to describe it.
- I felt as these was some grain or somehow lacking clarity. Maybe it's just adjusting to the new headphone.
- I do see promise in these.
-I'm content with the build quality, though I do find the gimbal (I think that's what it's called) a little thinner than I'd like.
- They also double as desktop speaker... lol they leak a lot more sound then my HE-500s.

I'm not a big believer in burn in. I know I can have a different opinion on second and third listen with or without burn in, but will burn them in today regardless, as to not incur the wrath of those here.

The Audeze pad I ordered from B&H are back ordered, so I wont have those for some time. But I hope they make as big a difference as suggested here.

The paper towel mod really fixes that. Just that little bit of extra dappening reduces the reflections that are causing the echo-y, edge-y sound and really makes them much clearer. I haven't received the Vegan pads to try yet, but the paper towel mod is a must IMO. @cskippy really nailed it on that.

 

[fpantalone]

Same here man. I wasn't blown away by them either. IDK maybe my ear is not there yet but I was hoping to be wow'ed by them. Either way I left them playing all night and today to burn them in. I'm a beginner in the audio space but I been into Video for awhile and TVs do change in color saturation after multiple hours of viewing.. So maybe there something there...

Expectations go up to an unrealistic level when there is this much excitement/hype ... it's natural.

 

[bhazard]

I don't normally recommend too many mods, but you must, must at least do the paper towel mod on the M1060 to reach it's potential. It is easily reversible, easy to do, costs nothing, has measurements to show the actual improvement, and it's simply not as enjoyable without it.

 

[johanchandy]

So I tried the paper towel mod, wasn't expecting much tbh and was really surprised by the difference it made, made them much clearer! The initial disappointment I had with them is gone, I felt like it was a side grade to my bassport modded q701's but now it's clearly superior, have to try the vegan pads now.

 

[denox]

Good suggestion. Any idea how to tighten that joint? My left one wobbles but I can't seem to get it to tighten.

It's frustrating, but I'd hate to return working cans for some squeaks. Maybe I'll be tempted to replace everything from the cups up with the entire LCD-3 headband mechanism. $130, but maybe safer for long lifetime use.

Will lcd mechanism work this?

 

[SirZalez]

Expectations go up to an unrealistic level when there is this much excitement/hype ... it's natural.

Agree with you. Hype something too high and it will always let you down but I didn't hype it that much.

I guess wanted to by wowed being my first pair of planars. The same way I was wowed when I got my first "real" headphones or my first amp/dac.

Having said that I had them going for a day and they do sound better to me. Burn in or placebo, if it sounds better it sounds better...I won't fight it

 

[allaces305]

let me ask a quick but i think interesting question..if i was to spray the vegan pads with some sort of 3m stain guard/protectant type product to keep them clean or be able to clean them easy would it affect the sound in any way??? thanks in advance.

 

[theangelboy]

Good suggestion. Any idea how to tighten that joint? My left one wobbles but I can't seem to get it to tighten.

It's frustrating, but I'd hate to return working cans for some squeaks. Maybe I'll be tempted to replace everything from the cups up with the entire LCD-3 headband mechanism. $130, but maybe safer for long lifetime use.

Will lcd mechanism work this?

I'm dying to know this as well since my headband doesn't go quite big enough for true comfort. But I don't think anyone will know until some intrepid soul forks over $130 for a non-returnable LCD headband...

 

[sabloke]

Would you guys think the M1060s would fit in the HiFiMAN Travel Case for HE-560 and HE-400i? Do you know a case in which the M100 would fit folded flat?

 

[Terja]

I’ve been following the conversations on how to mod the M1060s with interest because I’ve had them in constant comparison mode with the Hifiman HE-500s since I got them. From the get go I’d been hoping they would quickly dethrone the HE-500s as my daily go-to headphone. Ah yeah, it didn’t happen right away despite the overtime hypetrain.


Just as a sidenote mine are V1 and I got them after adding my name to the contact list as soon as I found out Monoprice was coming out with these. I could see the potential right away.


From first listen I was quite impressed with the tone and clarity of these phones, even on the lower frequencies the bass remained clear and in that regard they are better than the HE-500s which tend to lose tautness in the lower frequencies. What the M1060s were lacking in my auditory terms was BODY! This is something the HE-500s excel at. The Hifiman HE-500s produce what I call full-body music, especially when you give them the current they need. I’ve got mine hooked up to the speaker posts of a Luxman LV-103 tube hybrid amplifier. And yes they are very good that away! (I have the M1060s plugged into the headphone out, it is far easier to drive than the HE-500.) So now how to make the M1060s play in the same league?


So back to the mods. First of all I had no interest in changing pads. I quite like the stock pads and did not want to add more expense to a budget phone, so the mods had to take that parameter into account. The paper mod has been suggested many times in this thread so I tried that. For me it thinned out the sound even more than stock. I then tried acoustic cloth on top of the foam and in my recollection that took away some of the bass and muffled the lower frequencies. I also tried going foamless but that resulted in piercing highs, aargh! All along this watchtower I was comparing the resulting sound with the HE-500s and the M1060s were coming up short. And then . . .


Why not try using the acoustic cloth next to the driver underneath the foam? I did that and the result -- a superlative headphone that is bringing it to the Hifimans and is full-bodied with the added bonus it still has all that crystal clear tonality and pulling more detail from the music. Finally, in this modded form the M1060s are clearly better than the HE-500s.


I do not have a measuring rig nor am I technically inclined that way. Anyone else who is so inclined can do the measurement. For me the challenge was auditory, trying to bring this phone to the performance level the HE-500s.


Here are some pictures that tell the story. The acoustic cloth is similar to what you would find outside desktop size speakers for example. As you can see from the pictures the material is thin and see-through. I cut it into a circle slightly smaller than the diameter of the foam pad. Caveat: this mod is geared towards keeping the stock pads in place so I am not sure how it would play out for those using third-party pads like Audeze.


If anyone else tries this please report back with results.

 

[theangelboy]

I’ve been following the conversations on how to mod the M1060s with interest because I’ve had them in constant comparison mode with the Hifiman HE-500s since I got them. From the get go I’d been hoping they would quickly dethrone the HE-500s as my daily go-to headphone. Ah yeah, it didn’t happen right away despite the overtime hypetrain.


Just as a sidenote mine are V1 and I got them after adding my name to the contact list as soon as I found out Monoprice was coming out with these. I could see the potential right away.


From first listen I was quite impressed with the tone and clarity of these phones, even on the lower frequencies the bass remained clear and in that regard they are better than the HE-500s which tend to lose tautness in the lower frequencies. What the M1060s were lacking in my auditory terms was BODY! This is something the HE-500s excel at. The Hifiman HE-500s produce what I call full-body music, especially when you give them the current they need. I’ve got mine hooked up to the speaker posts of a Luxman LV-103 tube hybrid amplifier. And yes they are very good that away! (I have the M1060s plugged into the headphone out, it is far easier to drive than the HE-500.) So now how to make the M1060s play in the same league?


So back to the mods. First of all I had no interest in changing pads. I quite like the stock pads and did not want to add more expense to a budget phone, so the mods had to take that parameter into account. The paper mod has been suggested many times in this thread so I tried that. For me it thinned out the sound even more than stock. I then tried acoustic cloth on top of the foam and in my recollection that took away some of the bass and muffled the lower frequencies. I also tried going foamless but that resulted in piercing highs, aargh! All along this watchtower I was comparing the resulting sound with the HE-500s and the M1060s were coming up short. And then . . .


Why not try using the acoustic cloth next to the driver underneath the foam? I did that and the result -- a superlative headphone that is bringing it to the Hifimans and is full-bodied with the added bonus it still has all that crystal clear tonality and pulling more detail from the music. Finally, in this modded form the M1060s are clearly better than the HE-500s.


I do not have a measuring rig nor am I technically inclined that way. Anyone else who is so inclined can do the measurement. For me the challenge was auditory, trying to bring this phone to the performance level the HE-500s.


Here are some pictures that tell the story. The acoustic cloth is similar to what you would find outside desktop size speakers for example. As you can see from the pictures the material is thin and see-through. I cut it into a circle slightly smaller than the diameter of the foam pad. Caveat: this mod is geared towards keeping the stock pads in place so I am not sure how it would play out for those using third-party pads like Audeze.


If anyone else tries this please report back with results.

Very interesting! Do you have good source to buy acoustic cloth like you used for your mod? I would like to try this if it isn't too expensive.

 

[Terja]

I happened to have some lying around. A good fabric shop should have something similar for single digit dollars.

 

[SomeTechNoob]

Since I just received a $204 Amazon gift card credit for trading in several items I no longer used (about 2/3 from a wireless Sennheiser RS185), Monoprice's Amazon pay option looked very tempting. However, when I tested it (was not ready to buy yet), using my Amazon account on Monoprice gave no option for using a gift card.

Amazon Pay does not allow the use of gift cards. Gift cards are exclusively used only on Amazon.com.