Made By: Monster
Retail Price: $149.95
Comes with: carrying travel case and 5 sets of earbuds
Onto the review.
Presentation & Style:
Even before opening the box you can tell that these are a very stylish pair of earphones. The overly done Apple-influenced Monster package looks nice, but isn't necessary, and most likely adds on ~$15-25 to the market price.
After taking the cover-sleeve off, a magnetically sealed case is inside. Inside the case we find the earphones and travel case housed in a nicely felt lined display along with a booklet insert with manual, warranty information, waste disposal information and a small advertisement for other Monster sound products.
The earphones themselves are definitely bold and unique looking. The red cable alone attracts attention.
The signature 'b' logo is placed on top of a brushed aluminum circle on each earphone. The red color used looks nice and gives them a unique style without looking overly flashy. I've taken these out in public twice and gotten positive comments on them both times.
Sound quality:
First off, I hope people don't expect these to sound as good as the full headphones, because they don't. That's not to say that they sound bad, however. These are obviously made for bass-heavy sound, specifically hip-hop music. I tried these hooked up directly to my computer and also on my ipod. On the ipod they seem to work best with the EQ's turned off, but some computer program's EQs enhance the sound. The sound gets too overpowered with 'Hip-Hop' and 'Heavy Bass' setting on the ipod. They also do a decent job of noise canceling, but probably not good enough for some people.
I ran through several Dre tracks to test them out with his own music, and they passed with flying colors. The bass isn't too heavy or overpowering and has a nice clear sound. The highs could be a bit louder, but the sound quality was still good. I tested them with all sorts of music, from hip-hop to emo to techno and they all sounded good.
Functionality/Practicality:
This is an area Monster has consistently made a selling point with its revolutionary tangle-free cord that took ten years to perfect. It's much thinner and slimmer than I expected it to be, and has worked out as Monster promised so far. The cable also has a piece that keeps the cable straight near the plug end of it, most likely to prevent the wires from bending harshly and going out quickly like most headphones do. The cord is a good size, probably too long for some though. The bulk of it is 3ft long, then it splits into the earphone cords which are ~15" long each, giving you ~51" of total cord.
Despite the tangle-free cord and hefty length, this is probably where the earphones take the biggest hit.
The first and probably biggest downside is with the earbuds. Although they come with five different sets, none of these seem to fit well for me, and many other reviewers. The default ones probably fit best, but still don't do a very good job. When sitting in place they work alright, but still aren't comfortable. I haven't used these for longer than a few hours at a time, but even then they get uncomfortable and start to hurt my ears. I think this is because of the large speaker size used. On the go these earbuds let me down even more. They consistently fell out of my ears about every 30 seconds while walking to/from class. I think part of this has to do with a rubber part on the cord acting as a weight, pulling them down out of my ears. They also stick out of your ears more than normal earphones, which is probably another factor. Unless you're going to sit perfectly still or have abnormal ears, plan on re-adjusting these earphones frequently.
Extras:
Some people complained about having a very hard time switching out earbuds, but I didn't run into any trouble at all. Directly pulling them straight off feels like i might rip them, but twisting them on/off seemed to work well for me. Also, you can definitely tell when you have these inserted in your ears properly from a sound quality that jumps up several notches.
Bottom Line:
The quality of these headphones are good, but the earbud fitting and bad build for on-the-go use ruins these for me. I feel like I can only use these when stationary, and I would have just gone and spent a little more for the full headphones if I had known that were the case. Also, it should be made clear that you aren't paying $150 purely for sound quality. You're paying for good sound quality and a giant markup price because of the Monster and Dr. Dre names attached and for the style. I see many people complaining about the overpriced pricetag attached to these headphones, but at the same time have an Apple computer. After so many years of Apple's form over function marketing it should be clear that anything with the name Monster, Apple, Louis Vuitton, or even Nike attached to the front of it is going to be overpriced. In the end, if these had fit my ears better I would have been completely satisfied with them for the under-retail price I got them for. If you do end up paying retail, I highly suggest you try a pair out first, or buy them somewhere that has a good return policy.
