Monoprice Monolith: A new planar?

Yup, ideally I would hardwire but I'm a little weary about the wood cracking, plus I want to still take advantage of the 5 year warranty as I can return them to stock if an issue ever arises. I'll probably just get a MMCX to TRRS cable and a TRRS to 4pin XLR adapter.

 

Hopefully they release a resin or aluminum edition in the future.

 

I am currently still testing the leather free pads version and I find these headphone quite engaging. I may understand the extra foam/toilet paper behind the driver, because I noticed that some pitches are going a "lil'" to high for me. I don't know if you went for that mod on that purpose @MrTie and @cskippy ? Can you tell some noticeable facts that made you going for this mod ?

I did a comparison this morning of the M1060 with a LCD3 (pre fazor) and a HD800, yeah I was quite rough for the comparison, but the result was quite pleasing, you'll see. I would sum up my results this way :

• Lows are dark, not extremely good extension but good enough, better extension on the LCD3. There is also a sort of "throaty" sounding thing, I don't know, it's quite cool for me.
• Mids are engaging, I actually do like them (for me LCD3 lacks of them)
• Trebles may be the "main" problem of these cans. There is a cut somewhere which makes snares sounding not well extended. Voice is also a bit veiled. I believe you can counter the effect with a good equalizer or notch filter.

For me these cans, are very good for Metal, I do recommend the darkish/throaty sound and they are not on the rest for any other aspects regarding this kind of music.

The leather free pads rounded the whole frequency response. As mentioned previously by @cskippy mountains and valleys are smoothed which results in a more pleasing sound, less aggressive. On the other hand I think I lost in spatialization (reducing trebles most likely) but I am okay with this because the mod really brought a better overall sound to these cans.

So, for the price, I find these cans outstanding. I can't emphasize more what @cskippy said regarding pads, you just do want other pads than the stock ones. If you are okay having a cut in trebles (which is not exactly my case) and a slightly lower lows extension, I would say that these are superior to LCD3 pre fazor (they are also lighter than LCD3, which is quite a nice thing ^^). On the other hand... this cable dude... Okay I think they targeted a "bit" smartphone users, hence the short cable plus 90° jack cable. But come on ! These cans deserve better.

Note : These cans have a very good mod potential to me. I just do not have the experience. Any clue how one could bring back these lost trebles ?

Testing setup : Flac files ==> Modi 2 ==> Lake People G109

 

Paper towel pushes down the 1kHz bump and raises bass and treble slightly. It basically linearizes the frequency response.

Red is stock pads, Green is stock pads plus 3" diameter paper towel circle under outside grill. If you place the paper towel under the foam that covers the driver the effect is even stronger. I don't recommend it because the foam does two things: offers protection for the diaphragm and gives some room so the driver can breathe.


Give the paper towel mod a try and see if you like it. It's simple to undo if it's not to your tastes.

 

Does paper towel disks have to cover the whole surface ? Cause with 3" these disks are slightly more little (by 0.5" or so).

 

According to Monoprice Description:

Monolith M560 :

Open or Closed Back: The M560 has magnetic wooden cups, allowing them to be easily removed. Go open back for a slightly larger soundscape, a more natural sound, and a live music feeling; or a closed back configuration for isolation, no sound leakage, and a studio sound experience.

P.S. If someone already mentioned this in this thread, I apologize, I must have missed it.

 

I made mine smaller to allow airflow for the driver. Bigger should have a greater effect but might adversely effect other areas of the frequency response.

That's for the M560 which has the removable cups for open or closed back. We're talking about mods for the open back M1060.

 

ah , the first post talked about both the m560 and M1060 Planars from Monoprice. Sorry about that.

 

@Valolilol I didn't realize that you have the Audeze pads? If so, do the paper towel mod and don't look back. It makes these sound like new headphones.

Reposting for convenience but red is stock pads, green is Audeze pads plus paper towel.

 

I have leather free pads from Audeze yeah. I installed the paper towel mod this morning. I got to say that you are right, these headphones are way different. I feel that I lost this darkish side that I liked. I am not really sure though. Further impressions will come .

 

Not very good picture, but driver is looking like this one https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Planar-magnetic-headphone-with-great-bass_60452908630.html
Damn, if it is true, I have no idea how they were able to set $300 msrp..
Metallic plate opening is a bit different, however. But trace pattern is the same it seems

 

I've had some better luck both with raising highs and treating the 4k peak by using foam filtering on the earside anf felt/cotton ball at the rear.

 

Does anyone have a pair of the M1060? I am interested in thoughts on it.

 

@MrTie your result looks very interesting, what kind of foam on the ear side ? And you also think that something is missing in highs, right ?

 

@The Alchemist I think pages 5-10 of this thread are almost exclusively talking about the M1060. What do you want to know ? I did a small review few messages earlier.

 

oh I must have missed it, thank you @Valolilol

 

@Valolilol

Earside: The stock rear foam in place of the stock fabric driver cover and Vegans.



Backside: A rectangle of creatology felt double side taped over the entire driver opening, followed by 2 entire cotton balls pulled apart, sandwiched off with a circle of felt between cotton and grill.

I grabbed some polyfil and I have some denim battling that I am going to test this after noon versus the cotton, I'm also trying to improve my measuring coupler.

 

Polyfil is measuring and sounding very nice.

Redline is stock, I've been informed this is a better scale to use as well. Still a measure noon.

 

Thanks @MrTie, it looks like wanting to kill the 4k-5k peak you achieved it but you sent it 7 yards underground too ^^.