Обзор наушников Monoprice Monolith M1060

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	This item Monolith M1060 Over Ear Planar Magnetic Headphones – Black/Wood With 106mm Driver, Open Back Design, Comfort Ear Pads For Studio/Professional	Philips Audio Fidelio X2HR Over-Ear Open-Air Headphone 50mm Drivers- Black	HIFIMAN SUNDARA Hi-Fi Headphone with 3.5mm Connectors, Planar Magnetic, Comfortable Fit with Updated Earpads-Black, 2020 Version	Philips Audio Philips SHP9500 HiFi Precision Stereo Over-Ear Headphones (Black)	HIFIMAN SUNDARA Over-Ear Full-Size Planar Magnetic HiFi Stereo Wired Headphones for Studio&Audiophiles (Black)	Sennheiser HD 560 S Over-The-Ear Audiophile Headphones – Neutral Frequency Response, E.A.R. Technology for Wide Sound Field, Open-Back Earcups, Detachable Cable, (Black) (HD 560S)
Customer Rating	4.2 out of 5 stars (167)	4.6 out of 5 stars (4343)	4.5 out of 5 stars (397)	4.6 out of 5 stars (7295)	4.6 out of 5 stars (964)	4.6 out of 5 stars (403)
Price	$269.99$269.99	$148.99$148.99	$349.00$349.00	$74.98$74.98	$349.00$349.00	$179.95$179.95
Sold By	Amazon.com	PHOTOTECH	GenCoDeals	Bsd Wholesale	AmazinSavings	BrandsWalk
Color	Black	Black	Black	Black	Black	Black
Fit Type	Over-Ear	Over-Ear	—	Over-Ear	Over-Ear	Over-Ear
Headphones Form Factor	In Ear	Over Ear	Over Ear	Over Ear	Over Ear	Over Ear
Item Dimensions	11.8 x 12.2 x 4.9 inches	4.72 x 9.45 x 12.6 inches	10.63 x 6.3 x 11.81 inches	6.7 x 7.9 x 3.9 inches	11 x 6.8 x 12.1 inches	6.06 x 3.07 x 5.67 inches
Item Weight	4.16 ounces	0.84 lbs	0.82 lbs	0.66 lbs	0.82 lbs	0.53 lbs

Build and design

The Monolith M1060 is a beast of a set of headphones, weighing in at 1.1lbs (500g) with enormous ear cups, mostly-metal and wood construction, and 106mm planar magnetic drivers. That’s crazy big. While this is sort of a necessary evil with planar magnetic headphones, it can be a bit jarring to first-time buyers, especially if you saw the cans on Amazon and thought they’d be a lot like the dynamic cans you’re used to.

Deep, soft ear pads help support these massive headphones.

I will say that the ultra-deep and soft angled earpads do a great job of lessening the immense pressure on your head, but the sheer mass of the headphones is tough to deal with in a good way. The thinly-padded band is of a good design, but ultimately isn’t all that comfortable over long periods of time unless you make sure it’s cranked down to hug your noggin firmly. Even then, it probably could be made of another material or made a bit wider to distribute a little more weight over a greater amount of area. Still, it takes hours for the cans to become uncomfortable, and you can easily re-adjust if you get to that point.

I mention this because the Monolith M1060 is a set of headphones that have seen their fair share of revisions—so maybe that changes in the near future. Some people had a little trouble with the MMCX interconnects in the ear cups; so they were replaced by 2.5mm jacks. Others had issues with the wood cracking over time because the matte polyurethane wasn’t applied inside the earcups to properly seal the wood. Fixed. The grill was too sharp… you get the idea. Personally, I’m very impressed that these headphones have seen so many revisions in such a short time. Monoprice listened to consumers and polished their baby enough to make a complete product, and the end result speaks for itself.

Open backs mean no isolation, but very good audio quality.

If you were to unscrew and remove the rear grill, you’d find a piece of foam that separates the driver element from the outside world. I suggest keeping this in because it prevents the inevitable foreign-object damage from frying your cans, and also so you don’t accidentally do something to your new purchase.

Accessories & Packaging:

Accessories

Given how sketchy the build quality was, we were actually pleasantly surprised at the quality of the accessories. Chief among these was the cable: a long, winding, fabric-covered job that was among the more tangle resistant-cords we’ve used. While it wasn’t super thick, it was reasonably well designed, and even had a little plastic holder above the Y-bracket to rein in flapping cable below the chin. What we were a little more confused about were the connectors for the headphones. Not only were they slightly smaller than the standard 3.5mm, but they also contained the only left and right indicators on the whole package. Try as we might, we couldn’t think of a single reason to not have these indicators on the headphones themselves. It means you have to engage in a bit of positional guesswork while connecting the whole thing up. It’s a bizarre design decision, to say the least. Monoprice could learn from a company like AudioQuest – they may be out of the headphones game now, but they’ve always done things like this well. Their NightHawk Carbon (full review here) had clear left and right indicators. Incidentally, while those cans may be more expensive than the M1060s – $547 to the latter’s $300 – they are well worth it. Even if they aren’t planars.

We do like the right-angle 3.5mm connector on the other side of the cable, and the M1060 ships with a 6.3mm adapter. We were also rather impressed with the rigid, hard-shell zippered case to store the headphones in, which not only had a slot for them but also a capacious pouch with a handy Velcro seal. Like the headphones, it’s extremely large. Portable these are not.
 

Packaging

The packaging is basic – something we are wholeheartedly behind, as if you’re going to cut costs in any arena, this would be the place to do it. It’s a simple cardboard box with a lift-off lid, that relies on the headphone pouch to do the dirty work. No problems here, and you can simply dispose of it the moment you’ve taken the headphones out. We would have done that to ours, but we had to send it back to Monoprice when we were finished reviewing it, so that wasn’t going to happen. On a side note, if you ever decide to become an audio journalist, an underrated skill to emphasise on your resume is the ability to repack boxes that were not meant to be repacked. Just a pro-tip.

The M1060s have a pretty decent cable | The Master Switch

Conclusion

If you’re looking to break into the world of high end audio, there’s no better way to get as much bang for your buck than the Monoprice Monolith M1060—and it’ll be a while before something else takes that crown. The combination of high performance, low price, and improved durability makes for a rock-solid value purchase… as much as $299.99 can be called “value.” I didn’t expect this from Monoprice, but I suppose I should have. Despite their reputation as a purveyor of near-generic wares for less, gunning for the top end of the market is new for them—but their discipline to fix problems as they arise helped the Monolith M1060 stick around as a credible alternative to the ever-increasing crowd of planar magnetic headphones.

Sound quality

Holy hell.

In my six plus years covering audio equipment, I’ve never heard a set of sub-$500 headphones this clear. Even old mainstays like the AKG K701 and Audio-Technica ATH-AD900—both rockstars in their own right—are mismatched against the Monolith M1060. These are, without a doubt, the highest sound quality to cost ratio in the headphone world and only the Knowledge Zenith ATE comes close. That being said, they’re not perfect, so let’s dive in.

The flat line in the pink and green ranges mean your music will sound very much like it was originally mixed.

While the overall sound is fairly neutral, there’s definitely a bit of a mid bump and a few other ranges of tasteful emphasis. Really though, the deviations from a studio sound is under 10dB until you hit high harmonic sounds, so none of the changes in emphasis are things that can’t be equalized away—it’s more of an observation than an issue. So if you don’t mess with your settings, you may find yourself cranking the volume to make some highs come through, but pop-ish songs like Studio Killers’ Friday Night Gurus come through loud and clear.

Some people claim that removing the foam “opens up” these headphones, and while that is somewhat true, it does introduce the possibility of a very quiet “ringing” near 5kHz. However, given that not everybody seems to be able to hear this, it’s yet again more of an observation than a real issue. If you like how they sound with the foam in, don’t mess with it. These headphones are firmly in the territory where there are fewer objective upgrades, and a lot more competitors that offer something that’s simply different. These Monoprices aren’t going to turn pop into classical, after all.

If I were to distill how these headphones sound, it’d come down to being very “clear.” There’s no audible distortion, and there doesn’t seem to be any major channel balance issues either. Problems with mixing songs become very apparent, but it’s only in high-def files (think 320kbps plus) where it becomes audible. I’m quite pleased with how easy it is to pick out the separate stringed instruments from Samuel Barber’s rendition of Adagio for Strings, for example.

Many people compare the sound of the Monolith M1060 to that of the Audeze LCD-2, but that’s a bit unfair to both headphones—they’re in very different price brackets after all. But I will say that someone who is either over 30 or new to the equipment-as-hobby game won’t be able to reliably pick either as the “better” set of headphones. And that’s notable.

Sound:

Planar Sound

Firstly, the good news. The distinctive characteristics of planar drivers are present and correct in the Monolith M1060s. Most headphones – certainly most headphones around the $300 mark – are what’s known as dynamic driver headphones. These use a magnetic field to move a speaker diaphragm, creating sound waves. Planar magnetic headphones are a little different, in that they spread the magnetic charge across the entire diaphragm, resulting in sound that is clearer and more open. It’s a technology that demands a fair bit of power and some reasonably advanced parts, which is why up until this point it’s been the preserve of more expensive headphones. The sound has a refreshing openness to it, with an airy quality and an excellent level of detail that are the hallmarks of the technology. Ultimately, this is what anybody picking up these headphones should expect, and they deliver. The quality is helped along by the open-back design, too, adding an extra waft of air.

The M1060s are big and imposing | The Master Switch

Mid-Range Sound

Unfortunately, getting a taste of planar sound means you have to put up with some annoyances. Chief among these is the fact that the overall audio signature sounds rough and unfinished. It’s not bad, exactly: just not quite as polished as we were hoping. The mids, in particular, felt quite grainy and unclear, without the depth and richness that dynamic driver cans in this price range often excel at – headphones like the MEZE 99 Classics (full review) cost around the same amount ($309) and left us far more impressed. Vocals – and we felt this across genres – came off as slightly brittle and tense, as if the headphones were at an audition, and were nervous.

Big, squashy pads make these comfortable to wear for hours | The Master Switch

Low-End (Bass) and High-End (Treble)

Bass response was good, occasionally very pleasing, but like the mids it lacked clarity and drive. Kick drums didn’t hit as hard as we expected, and basslines often left us disappointed. While the highs had a nice sparkle and shine to them, they weren’t a patch on, say, a good pair of $99 Grados. It’s a little frustrating to encounter these issues. We weren’t expecting high-end quality, by any means, but we also weren’t expecting the 106mm drivers to sound so gritty.

One of the things that can be done to immediately improve the sound (or so we’re told) is to replace the pads with a pair of Audeze Vegan pads. We didn’t test this – at the time of writing, they were quite hard to track down, probably because of the M1060’s popularity. But discussions in the modding community suggest that this tightens up the bass considerably, and helps smooth out some of the brittle nature of the sound. If you do want to experience a bit of planar goodness, this is definitely something worth looking into. That being said: an extra $80 to help fix sound that shouldn’t have been an issue in the first place? Maybe not…

The build quality is seriously budget on the M1060s | The Master Switch

Comfort & Fit:

Headband and Earcups

The good news is that the fit of these is fantastic. By embracing the design aesthetic of planars, if not the construction quality, the M1060s end up being exceedingly comfortable to wear. The big cups may not be real leather, but they fit nicely over the ears, and are squashy enough to be comfortable over long periods. We spent several hours at a time listening to these, and although they could possibly be a touch more breathable, it wasn’t a big deal. For the most part, they performed extremely well in terms of comfort. Even the headband, which we were worried about, manages to keep the top of your head protected.
 

Clamping Pressure

The clamping pressure felt precise and manageable. And despite weighing over a pound, the M1060s never felt crushing, in the way Audeze cans sometimes are. Admittedly, they did start to get a bit weighty at around the three hour mark, but this was nothing we didn’t anticipate. They’re no Beyerdynamic Amiron Homes (full review here), but they are certainly far more comfortable than we expected them to be.

Yep. We like them. | The Master Switch

Подключение

1.Могут быть использованы в беспроводном режиме.
Monoprice Monolith M1060C

Monster DNA On-Ear-Headphone

Беспроводные устройства предоставляют пользователям большую свободу движений при прослушивании.

2.версия Bluetooth

Неизвестно. Помогите нам, предложите стоимость. (Monoprice Monolith M1060C)

Неизвестно. Помогите нам, предложите стоимость. (Monster DNA On-Ear-Headphone)

Bluetooth – это стандарт беспроводной технологии, который позволяет передавать данные между устройствами, расположенными в непосредственной близости, с использованием коротковолновых сверх высокочастотных радиоволн. Более новые версии обеспечивают более быструю передачу данных.

3.имеет 3,5 мм мини-джек
Monoprice Monolith M1060C

Monster DNA On-Ear-Headphone

Стандартный 3,5-мм разъем подходит для использования со всеми MP3-плеерами и компьютерными звуковыми картами.

4.Имеет Блютуз aptX
Monoprice Monolith M1060C

Monster DNA On-Ear-Headphone

Блютуз aptX – это аудиокодек, используемый для беспроводной передачи звука высокого разрешения с устройств с поддержкой Блютуз Разработанная Qualcomm, аудиотехнология aptX включает такие варианты, как aptX HD, aptX Low Latency и aptX Adaptive.

5.максимальный радиус (Bluetooth) блютуз

Неизвестно. Помогите нам, предложите стоимость. (Monoprice Monolith M1060C)

Неизвестно. Помогите нам, предложите стоимость. (Monster DNA On-Ear-Headphone)

Устройство может подключаться к другому устройству на большом расстоянии с помощью Bluetooth/ИК излучения.

6.поддерживает Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax)
Monoprice Monolith M1060C

Monster DNA On-Ear-Headphone

Wi-Fi 6, выпущенный в 2019 году, основан на стандарте беспроводной сети IEEE 802.11ax. Разработанный для работы во всех полосах частот от 1 до 6 ГГц, он предлагает более высокие скорости передачи данных и меньшую задержку по сравнению с предыдущими технологиями Wi-Fi.

7.Интерфейс 802.11ac WiFi
Monoprice Monolith M1060C

Monster DNA On-Ear-Headphone

Беспроводной 802.11ac работает на частоте 5 ГГц, а также на 2,4 ГГц (двухдиапазонный WiFi). Предлагает более высокую скорость передачи данных, повышенную надёжность и более оптимальный принцип энергопотребления. Даёт преимущества для игр и видеопотоков HD.

8.Интерфейс 802.11n WiFi
Monoprice Monolith M1060C

Monster DNA On-Ear-Headphone

802.11n – стандарт беспроводной связи, вышедший в 2009 г. Более высокая скорость передачи данных, повышенная безопасность по сравнению с его предшественниками a, b и g.

9.поддержка Bluetooth паринг используя NFC
Monoprice Monolith M1060C

Monster DNA On-Ear-Headphone

Данное устройство поддерживает Bluetooth паринг, используя технологию NFC для того, чтобы связываться с другими устройствами через Bluetooth. Вы можете быстро соединить устройства без введения кода, просто расположив одно устройство рядом с другим.

Дизайн

1.имеет встроенные стерео динамики
Monoprice Monolith M1060C

Sennheiser HD1 On-Ear Wireless

Устройства со стереодинамиками обеспечивают звук из разных каналов с левой и с правой стороны и создают более насыщенный звук и лучшее восприятие.

2.имеет полноразмерную форму
Monoprice Monolith M1060C

Sennheiser HD1 On-Ear Wireless

Удобные полноразмерные чашечки, полностью закрывающие уши. Эту модель любят за повышенную звукоизоляцию и за то, что она не пропускает звук и не беспокоит ваших соседей. Она имеет открывает возможности для максимальных басов и уровней громкости.

3.имеет разъемный кабель
Monoprice Monolith M1060C

Sennheiser HD1 On-Ear Wireless

Имя разъемный кабель, устройство позволяет использовать альтернативный кабель, и если потянуть за кабель, он просто выскочит из устройства вместо разрыва.

4.устойчиво к поту
Monoprice Monolith M1060C

Sennheiser HD1 On-Ear Wireless

Невосприимчивость к поту делает его идеальным для использования во время занятий спортом.

5.Всепогодный (брызгозащищенный)
Monoprice Monolith M1060C

Sennheiser HD1 On-Ear Wireless

Устройство защищено дополнительной изоляцией для предотвращения повреждений от пыли, дождя и водяных брызг.

6.вес

483g

Неизвестно. Помогите нам, предложите стоимость. (Sennheiser HD1 On-Ear Wireless)

Мы считаем, что меньший вес лучше, потому что более легкие устройства удобнее переносить. Меньший вес также является преимуществом для бытовой техники, поскольку транспортировка становится удобнее, а также для многих других видов продукции.

7.можно складывать
Monoprice Monolith M1060C

Sennheiser HD1 On-Ear Wireless

Складные устройства удобны для транспортировки и они занимают меньше места при хранении.

8.сумка для транспортировки прилагается
Monoprice Monolith M1060C

Sennheiser HD1 On-Ear Wireless

К устройству прилагается собственный чехол или сумка, которые можно использовать для безопасной транспортировки.

9.имеет незапутывающийся провод
Monoprice Monolith M1060C

Sennheiser HD1 On-Ear Wireless

Дизайн провода уменьшает риск его запутывания.

Product description

The Monolith M1060 planar headphones are the perfect way to experience your music collection. Featuring a 106mm planar driver technology that produces a detailed aural landscape and resolves all the sonic detail from the best recordings. Spectacular imaging, low distortion, and perfectly balanced sound make the Monolith M1060 a true audiophile listening experience. Planar Drivers: Not your typical headphone driver! A planar magnetic driver is a flat membrane that is surrounded by magnets. When current is delivered, the membrane produces sound that has lower distortion, better bass, and pinpoint imaging that is usually not found in your typical headphone driver. The size of the driver in the Monolith M1060 is 106mm. Open Back Design: Instead of an “”inside your head”” isolated experience that traditional closed-back headphones provide, open-back headphones provide a holographic listening experience. It’s as if you’re in the middle of a live performance, instead of being closed off from the world. Comfort: The Monolith M1060 has been engineered to be comfortable for extended listening sessions. Large, comfy earpads made of faux leather and a padded headband are designed to keep you comfortable as you listen.

Connectivity and power

Like most headphones, the Monolith M1060 uses a standard 3.5mm plug to hook into your phone, amp, or whatever. On the base of each earcup lives a 2.5mm single-channel jack, so you could easily replace the cable should something happen.

A 2.5mm female jack is a basic-yet-solid connection in each ear cup.

As far as powering these headphones go, you’ll probably be surprised to hear that an amplifier isn’t absolutely necessary. With a sensitivity of 96dB/mW and an impedance of 50Ω, most phones that we’ve tested on our sister site, AndroidAuthority, can handle these… However: a phone is a very inappropriate tool to use with these as using open-backed headphones away from a quiet environment severely clips their wings from a sound quality standpoint.

But there’s a catch; if you’re going to be listening to high-quality music, you might need a DAC for 16 or 24-bit music, and whatever DAC you choose may not offer enough juice for the M1060s to work properly. If you want to be completely sure you’re getting the most out of your headphones, you could go for a low-cost integrated DAC/amp setup. I personally recommend the FiiO E10K because it’s more than enough power and quality for less than $100, but if you think that you’ll end up buying more headphones or continue with home audio as a hobby, the absolute best performance for the money is the JDS Labs O2/ODAC integrated combo.

A simple 3.5mm plug is the ideal connector for high-end audio.

A lot of people disagree for various reasons surrounding taste and gadget lust, but that combo is the closest you’ll ever get to the Platonic ideal of an amp (being simply “wire + gain”). The pro-tube crowd might tell you otherwise, but that’s more enthusiast/hobby territory, and changes how your music sounds—and I say that as someone with one tattooed on his arm.

Design:

Size and Look

We’d say the model name – Monolith – has never been more appropriate. These cans are huge – not quite as big as the monstrous AUDEZE LCD-4, but still. The dominant feature is the pattern on the outside of the housing: a metal grid that is both eye-catching and evocative, a superb design choice that immediately gives the headphones their own personality. And picking the headphones up, the second impression is of size and stout capability. While not overly heavy, they feel solid, and the earpads have a pleasing squashiness to them. They are a pair of headphones that all but beg to be tested out.

Unfortunately, a closer look reveals just how Monoprice was able to knock a digit off the price. It’s not that they cut corners – it’s that the design is really lean, with materials and build quality that probably wouldn’t stand up to much abuse. The headband is a single strip of metal, with nothing but a thin set of foam bumps to keep it from scratching the top of your dome. The cups are free to rotate in about any direction, which sounds good until you realise that they can get severely disjointed – and there are no left and right indicators on the headphones themselves to help you orient them (they’re on the cable, which we’ll get to in due course).

Comfortable, if slightly slapdash | The Master Switch

Build Quality Issues

Although it didn’t happen to us, there have been reports of the wood ring between the pads and metal outer plate cracking – something that appears to have been an issue with an early batch. Again, not something we experienced, and we do need to stress that at no point did any part of the headphones fall off or otherwise inconvenience us, but it was very clear that we weren’t dealing with a pair of hand-tooled, individually-numbered wonder cans here. And on balance that’s…fine, we guess. There are bound to be some sacrifices to get this level of technology out at an affordable price point, and if it means that the build quality and materials are slightly less than optimum, we’re okay with that. We can’t see them lasting years and years, but the construction isn’t slapdash.

The giant cups deliver good, if unspectacular, planar sound | The Master Switch