After nearly 2 months of wait, finally received my Monk(s) this morning (been listening for last 1 hour or so). IMHO, It was worth the wait.
Source Gear used: Fiio X1 with headphone out (had to use 75% volume to get comfortable enough sound for my ears with EQ turned off)
When used through X1's Line out in conjunction with Topping NX1 for low gain setting I have to use approx 60% volume while with high gain setting approx 30% volume for comfortable sound.
Audio files: 320 kbps MP3, 256 kbps AAC files
Genres/Music listened: A playlist with a mix of Indian Tamil movie soundtracks, Yanni, God is an Astronaut, Caspian, Explosions in the sky, Mogwai, Sigur Ros
OOTB without any earbud covers, these sounds fantastic (a wee bit brighter which i expect to get subside with more usage). Build quality is amazing, both the cable and the driver housing looks very sturdy and of high quality. Comfort wise also these are great, do not feel the pain that i usually associate with hour long usage of my other and only earbuds Philips 1360/97 (pretty airy sounding ones, though). I would definitely say this is one of the best audio device purchase I have made under 9 US$ (along with Panasonic RP HJE 125 and 180s) in the last few years.