Monolith M1070 Over Ear Open Back Planar Headphones, Lightweight, Padded Headband, Plush and Removable Earpads, 106mm Planar Driver

First issue I had with these - they are huge. You need a suitcase to haul them around. However, they come with one so that is covered. They are just not very portable. Second, the sound is good but only just above somewhat average. If you are looking for the clarity of the new DSD recordings done properly, these sound dull in the high end. Results of both of the above - a three rating. I would also say without listing the make that I have earphones 1/3 the size with crystal clear highs and the cost was about half of these. Sorry I could not be more flattering. If I were not so tied up on some other issues at the moment, they would be going back.

I definitely recommend this headphone. I enjoy the detail and the natural timber that can deliver. Also does a fantastic job with the live performances records, either the Tchaikovsky's 1821 overture or the Nirvana and Cafe Tacuba Unplugged. Tidal/Audirvana/Zen air Dac/Liquid Spark

Compared against a Philips X1 and Letshuoer S12 planar IEMs: Mid-range was terrible: veiled and muffled. Sounded like I was in a tunnel, and claustrophobic. But very upfront, with no distance from me, and no height. The X1 and S12 presented notes with much more space front to back and top to bottom. The M1070 didn't have much sub-bass either. And it didn't respond well to EQing, not like the S12 can. When boosted, the S12 can turn thunderous, the M1070 turns muddy. The X1 and S12 were both much better in the technicalities, especially the S12. Much more energetic and bigger soundstage. All this was disappointing when considering the reviews. I also bought the M1060 and found it to have the same bad characteristics. So it's doubtful that I received two bad units... Tried the velour pads and they didn't make hardly a difference.

It's a treat to hear music through these. When I take these off I just find myself smiling.

An accurate headphone without the exaggerated bass of many. The bass is present and deep, and quite tight. Vocals come across particularly well, maybe male vocals a little better than female. Piano seems to have a slight timbre deficiency, otherwise massed orchestras sound quite good, with pretty good instrument resolution. I do notice that the very top high frequencies seem a bit shy, making cymbals and bells and snares lack a bit of shimmer. These are very listenable, without peaks or ringing or distortion. I liked the clamp force. I don't move around much when i listen to music. The weight is present, but it didn't bother me for sessions lasting over 2 hours. I mostly listen to large classical works like Carl Nielsen's 4th Symphony, female vocal jazz, and female vocal pop through a good streaming service.

I got the M1070 shipped to me by mistake when I had ordered a M1570 but that gave me a chance to compare them . If you don't mind the weight the M1570 is the superior headphone but like all things it's a matter of percentages... The M1070 is 80% as good as The M1570 in sound but much lighter. If I had never heard the M1570 I would absolutely have kept the M1070 which completely outclassed my other Planar's like my Sundara or HE400 and HE4XX . In order to get better sound than either Monolith would take triple the investment and not have the 5 year warranty that Monoprice offers . The complaining about the lack of clamp just hasn't been an issue for me

The first thing you should do is replace the think ear pads with the supplied thinner pads. It make a sound much better! I was thinking about returning them before making the change.

crisp, raw, immersive. see title for thoughts on why i didn't dock a star for clamp issues

Great sound, clear and precise. No weird peaks or drops across the frequency range. I would recommend these to anyone looking an excellent sounding headphone. BUT - as they come out of the box they are not wearable. The clamping force is way to weak. The only way to fix this is to bend, yes I did say bend the metal part of the headband. Yes it is that soft. And that is the problem. The head band will continue to bend as you adjust them to fit. Other than that I would recommend these without hesitation. your review here. It must be at least 10 characters long. Consider whether you would recommend this product and what you like or dislike about it.

Pros The sound quality is extremely great and fairly noticeable from the M60! Compared to other brands, the specs exceed or match for it's affordability with the same type of headband design. Lastly, the earcuffs are extremely comfortable and sometime I can't notice them. I like to use these for video editing to ensure the best in sound quality. Cons The only problem is the design of the headband. There isn't a lot of force in the design to keep these on your head which is a nearly a complete deal breaker which is unfortunate. Slight swivels or nods of your head and they can easily fall off. If the headband was the same as the M60, then these would be 100% perfect as the M60 headband design keeps the headset on your head with enough force without worry of head movements. I think Monoprice nailed the M60 headband 100% perfect, and would buy a conversion kit for the headband to keep ear pieces.

I’ve tried the following: DT 1990, Sundara, Aeon X, Philips X2, 58x, and Philips SHP 9500. These M1070 sound better then all the above. However the DT 1990 (because this is their purpose imo), has pretty incredible detail due to its high treble, but they are way too analytical to the point I can only see them being used in a studio or sound mixing. I could never enjoy the 1990s because they felt like every song I tried to listen to, I was trying to find every imperfection with the song (which I did) instead of just trying to enjoy the music. The Aeon X Open were really good too, but sounded more like closed back headphones which I’m not a fan of, but were very comfortable and lightweight. The Aeon X were not as good for gaming in terms of locating footsteps as well as the DT 1990s and M1070. The M1070 work great with every genre and also has amazing detail, although the detail isn’t quite in your face like the DT 1990s (which is a good thing to me), but still easy to hear. These like the DT 1990s, are also pretty great at gaming. Footsteps are easy to detect even from far away to the point where the M1070 and DT 1990s could be considered cheating at times. Now for the bad...this headphone could have been end game but the headband, metal and yokes are really bad. The quality and comfort are not there at all. The metal that attaches to the yokes bend and move around very easily, not a lot of clamp force which is good and bad, and the headband foam is not enough and has a pleather headband. On top of that the headband is pretty hard to change. Truthfully I broke my first pair and ordered another pair right after, except this time through Amazon. The pins/screws that go into the actual drivers and holds them into the yokes, does not have a fitting so you can’t unscrew them. I couldn’t believe it, which caused me to take apart the headphone more than I should have and caused me to break them. I just couldn’t believe they would use a screw that: 1. Is hard to remove regardless of the screw, due to the limited space 2. Requires the tiniest pliers in the world to remove or maybe even a drill bit If they could improve the headband this headphone could be lighter and more comfortable, or simply change the screws so I can easily swap out and put my own headband on. With all this said I highly recommend these headphones, although the headband might be an issue I was able to get around this by putting a piece of extra foam underneath the headband. This improved the comfort at least, allowing me to wear them for hours. Also note the position of the headband (due to the weight of these headphones) is pretty important. If I had it too far back I could feel it my neck depending on how I was sitting, but once I would adjust them I felt fine and wore them for 6 hours straight. Finally you can sometimes find these for $350 on Monoprice website, which then competes with Hifiman Sundara. The Sundara's were nice but they sounded too airy, I can’t put my finger on it but something felt off when listening, almost like I was in a very detailed concert. The detail on Sundara’s were great, although bass was lacking a bit. The clamp force on the Sundara’s was also so strong, that it would hurt my jaw only after a few hours. Even with its headband flaws I still love the M1070. Monoprice if you read this please on the next iteration let me easily change the headband or simply improve it. I know they’re had to be budgets cuts somewhere for these to sound as amazing as they do at this price, but just change the screws and I’ll be happy.

These are a bit different from their 1060 open back planar headphones which I also have. I’m running them through a Monoprice Liquid Spark headphone amplifier. The 1070 did not sound as good as the 1060 initially. I tried switching from the vinyl to the velour ear cups, but with those it sounded worse to me. I honestly set them aside for a few weeks, thinking I’d made a mistake buying them. I went back to my 1060. I almost returned them, but decided to put the vinyl cups back on, and gave them another chance. As I put the hours in on them, they began to improve noticeably. They need more power than the 1060 to sound good; I run them often at 60-70% volume compared to usually less than 50% for the 1060. I now use them exclusively. Better bottom to midrange, and a more even and overall balance to the sound. They need at least 20-25 hours of use to break in though, and they are heavy which causes fatigue after a couple hours. Still, they’re a great value for the money.

I've had the 1060 and 1060c... the 1070 is a clear upgrade over both. There isn't much mention of these headphones around yet, but there should be. It would be nice to see some frequency response graphs to verify what I'm hearing. It's clean, has a good soundstage, and doesn't sound overly peaky in any area. Running these off the Monoprice THX amp and Topping DX7s is a stellar combo.

All I can say is WOOOOW. I AM AN AUDIOPHILE AND LOVVEE THESE. CANS WORTH EVERY PENNY. BETTER WHEN YOU GIVE THEM PURE POWER!!!

This is best Monoprice headphones I have heard. I have owned the M1060, M570, Monoprice Electrostatics and M650.. I like the M570's, as well ,.but the M1070 's just have more body and sound is bigger.. I It is in my top 8 headphone.s. Sounds like the Audeze LCD-2.

Excellent product, not superior to the M1060 but different, with a wider soundstage and a ligher tone. Reminds somehow of the LCDX but with a more pleasant frequency response.

Coming from a Hifiman HE4xx, ATH M50 and a couple of Superlux's so my listening experience isn't what you would call vast. I spent a lot of time at my local audio store auditioning headphones that costed way more before I pulled the trigger on these (Sundara, LCD2, LCD2C, Meze 99 Classics, HD 650, HD 660s, HD 800, Ananda). Initially, I was sold by the LCD2C. Then I found out Monoprice was releasing these. Without waiting for reviews, I pulled the trigger since Monoprice has proven that they've been consistently improving on their products (M1060 v1 to M1060 v2 to M1060C). I somehow trusted that they would be in for the kill this time around with their ongoing rivalry between Audeze. My first listening experience was with my Essence STX sound card. It was impressive, but my immediate impressions were that they were lacking a bit of bass, a little sibilant on the highs. Though even with this they absolutely put my HE4xx to shame. So I thought ok, a bit of EQ might fix this. Initial impressions were not too bad. Then I decided to test this with the Liquid Spark amp which I bought in a package together with these. The moment I hooked this up with the Liquid Spark (with 0 break-ins on both), my mind was absolutely blown away... I had goosebumps... I found myself just indulging in the music without being analytical at all (which is absolutely unlike me). The highs were perfect, sitting in that sweet spot below my treble threshold. The bass was the right amount without creeping into the mids at all. The separation... I could hear everything!! I listened to the song Our Origins by Armin (Yes I'm a massive trance fan) and it transformed me back to the time I was in a rave on my birthday. Right now I'm on to my Deadmau5 playlist. I just can't seem to take these off... And I can't help but think of the amount I spent comparatively to the performance ratio. These are a class way, way above itself. I would put these against any other headphones that cost way more any day, and I will still be wowed. I can only imagine once the Liquid Spark amp gets broken in. I've read from another reviewer that these scale pretty well too. Thank you Monoprice for the introduction in the Audiophile world. You've done it!!

Headband made these unusable for me. They fall off when I look down and are only held on by my ears. Sounded awesome but have to return them, it really sucks.

This is my first planar headphone after owning HD650s for the past few years. I'm struggling to find anything that these don't do very well. The bass extension blows dynamic headphones out of the water while not overwhelming the mids and highs (there is no veil). Imaging is crystal clear as its easy to pick out individual instruments and their location on many songs (these seem especially adept at classic rock). I have not listened to the 1060s but after reading countless reviews, I'd suspect the 1070 is very similar while improving upon what the 1060 did and removing any imperfections (there is no spike at 5K). To my ears, the highs are not sibilant at all and the only area where I might like just a tiny bump (probably easily increased by fiddling with the foam).