Monoprice Monolith: A new planar?

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by MrTie, Sep 13, 2016.

  1. AllanMarcus

    AllanMarcus Friend

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    Hey @cskippy, any thoughts on burnin time? Did the sound change at all over time?
     
  2. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

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    No, not really. I think burn in is as much your brain getting used to the sound as anything. Not saying it doesn't exist, as my HE-6 had face tweeters upon first listen. I think any change with the M1060 will be subtle, it already has a loose diaphragm so that won't need as much time to settle.
     
  3. MrTie

    MrTie Friend

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    These things sound terrible stock, like overbloated bass, shouty as hell upper midrange burying everything, utterly painful.

    Currently running them grilless with vegans and the difference is not subtle. Still early impressions, but stock I would have returned these full stop.

    If you pad swap them be very very careful the gimbals have enough play that that if the drivers flip they can pancake the very strong magnets combined with the glue residue and cheap wood cups made for very nerve wracking separation. we'll give them some break in before I compare them back to back with the HE-500. current impressions are pretty positive modded.
     
  4. Grahad2

    Grahad2 Red eyes from too much anime

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    There has been complains of cracked wooden housings, so yeah, better take care.
     
  5. MrTie

    MrTie Friend

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    Been playing around with the cans all evening.

    Thus far I have settled on leaving the grills and foam on the outers.Vegan pads and I removed the ear side driver fabric, it's a very thick weird synthetic fleece like material.
    The vegans seem to fix the nasty upper midrange peak, even without the stock driver fabric. However removing the stock fabric and the rear foam lends the can to a bit too much bitchiness. I would like to experiment with alternate rear damping material in the future maybe felt. Foam + 2 ply paper was a bit too deadening.

    If I end up keeping these I am going to dremel out these jokes of a cable connector and just hardware the damn thing.

    As it stands currently I like what I'm hearing, with compare vs HE-500 tomorrow.
     
  6. MrTie

    MrTie Friend

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    damp1.jpg damp2.jpg

    Attempt at replicating the Pre fazor LCD3 damping, fleece on driver/felt circle. More bass and impact, but it may be bleeding over, overall sound is fairly dark now with Vegans. Will try Marv's Famous "Toilet Pants" layer after listening a bit more.
     
  7. MrTie

    MrTie Friend

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    TP = Bingo! This is now the most tonally balanced I've heard these cans sound, very very similar to a LCD2.2 with a little bit more lit up upper midrange.

    Still overall a dark can, darker than I generally prefer, but this is now at a place that I think it should have been stock. Who ever tuned the damping on these cans for monoprice either didn't care, wanted excitement over neutrality, or was imho deaf. Now I can play them at spirited volumes without fatigue. I don't know if I'll keep them, I need a spend a few days in post modded form and see if i can live with the laid back sound.
     
  8. svperstar

    svperstar Acquaintance

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    With all the hype I am tempted to buy these but since I already own the LCD-2 seems like a huge waste to me.
     
  9. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

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    Honestly, probably would be. An HE-560 would be the better buy if you can find a good deal.
     
  10. SSL

    SSL Friend

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    I know somebody offering a good deal on them :)
     
  11. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

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    Totally forgot about your sale! If he doesn't buy them before I have money I just might.
     
  12. Valolilol

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    These cans are very good if you want to "try things" because you get a fairly good pair of orthos which you can easily mod for the price. They do have a darkish sound in my opinion (which I actually like) and they will remain my personal experience of how headphones's response can be tuned with pad's replacement. I give me time before posting any detailed review because I want to feel all differences, I spent few days on stock (one week or so) before changing pads to leather free from Audeze. The next step will be related to this toilet paper thing mentioned by @cskippy but it will be for next week.
    On a side note, thanks again @cskippy I am aware that I would not have found these mods on my own.
     
    Last edited: Mar 8, 2017
  13. MrTie

    MrTie Friend

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    "
    Dear New User,



    Hello,
    Thank you for contacting us! In regards to your inquiry,

    For the Monolith M1060s the pads are glued on but you can replace them.
    Damaging the headphones would void the warranty though so if you are going to replace them be careful not to damage anything.
    I'm not seeing anything concerning replacement pads but we may in the future.
    EmailMessage.html

    The following Customer(s) have been CC'ed:



    Ticket Information:
    Ticket #: 41053-570384
    Date Created: 2/25/2017 09:45 AM PST"

    So pad rolling won't invalidate the warranty, good to know.
     
  14. MrTie

    MrTie Friend

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    and my headband broke lol.
     
  15. TurbinoZ100000

    TurbinoZ100000 Acquaintance

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    Last two posts were a real rollercoaster!
     
  16. AllanMarcus

    AllanMarcus Friend

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  17. StarClassic

    StarClassic New

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    Thanks for the mod ideas @MrTie! Bought a pair of these on a whim a few weeks ago. I'm new-ish to the audio hobby, and they'll be the first set of planars that I've owned. I'm a bit surprised at the number of problems I've read about...since they feel pretty well-built for a $300 headphone - maybe I just haven't used them enough yet to break something :-D

    Connectors seem OK, although they are definitely a bit wobbly, even when connected. I can wobble the connector around and not experience any cutting in or out fortunately. Time will tell if this is going to be a long-term issue. I can confirm that they work just fine with all of the Shure 1540/1840 series cables. I have a balanced cable for my 1540s that fits the M1060s, too. The Shure 1540 stock cable forms a more solid connection with the M1060s. It wobbles less and is signifcantly harder to disengage than the stock M1060 cable.

    One thing that seems odd about the M1060 is that I have the headband just one notch shy of fully-extended. I don't have a large head - on most other headphones I sit somewhere around 40-50% of the total range. It's the first pair of headphones I've owned in in the HIFIMAN / Audeze style that has a suspension strap...so maybe this is to be expected. But I do wonder whether folks with big brain cages might have fit issues with the M1060.
     
  18. MrTie

    MrTie Friend

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    For shits and giggles.

    Marv's SUPER/Not Veilded LCD3
    1a.jpg

    My M1060

    M1060.jpg

    Looks like they may have cloned the driver decently.
     
  19. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

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    I'm so happy I was able to buy an LCD 3 for $300. Thanks Monoprice!

    Seriously though, these are good if you know the sound that you're going to get a la Audeze. Mine haven't had any issues whatsoever. I've pulled the cable from the adapter a couple of times too since the cable is so damn short!
     
  20. MrTie

    MrTie Friend

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    Yup, I think I'll keep them, I ended up settling using your damping scheme with a felt disc layer between the PT and the stock foam.

    Honestly my pair even has pretty decent channel matching, here a pic of that and my final modded FR.

    LRFelt.jpg

    Next step I think is going to be ditching connectors and hard wiring/making a cable.
     

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