Review on 🎧 Monolith M1070 Over Ear Open Back Planar Headphones, Lightweight, Padded Headband, Soft and Detachable Earpads, 106mm Planar Driver, Black by Sharon Griffin

The almighty (and obviously controversial) M1070. So here's the thing. I'll say right away that I'm an audio snob, so only the best sound touches my ears. But this time, I tried to stay within the $600 maximum budget. I'll divide these headphones into four groups: build, comfort, performance, and sound. CONSTRUCTION: Chunky but beautiful. It can feel fragile and not feel very stable at all. As mentioned by others, the headband has no tension out of the box. Clamps are made of bendable metal, and adjusting them to your fit will add tension. Very nice (wrong?) leather headband, great cups. Overall nice, big and meaty cans with a solid weight. Top case and cable included. COMFORT: I find them very comfortable, especially when using faux leather upholstery. Velor is also comfortable, but thinner. So my stupid ears touch the flat tread when I use it. I could wear these headphones for hours. PERFORMANCE: Not as demanding as say Audeze or many other higher impedance headphones. Connecting to my Samsung S10 doesn't directly justify these cans. Installing my cheap portable headphone amp (Topping NX1S) is definitely game changing. My Cayin N5MKII DAP works great with an unbalanced output and balances even more. My built in Onkyo amp in my main stereo drives them beautifully and really makes them shine. AUDIO: As I write this review, I'm listening to the "Reduction" Edit Select through the balanced output of my DAP. The sound is amazing. There are a few things to consider here. Maybe the soundstage is a bit narrow. These are definitely NOT flashy headphones. They're deeper and mid-forward, but don't bury the high frequencies at all. Everything sounds warm and solid. They sound less full out of the box, but I'm a fan of equalizers and tone controls and I never listen to my music flat. Is always. So if you need bass heads, you'll find them here. You just have to turn them on properly (not directly from your phone) and connect an equalizer. The M1070 are vinyl headphones. They are warm, rich, attractive and long-lasting. Really nice sound when driven properly and I have no complaints. I compared them to: Hifiman HE400i 2o2o, Cleer Next Audiophile headphones and Sivga SV007. These banks are far superior to any of the above (although the HE400i has a higher presence, it's absolutely nowhere near the low to medium presence of the M1070). The only exception in this group I would say are the Sivga SV007s which are AMAZING headphones. The signature is very similar to the M1070 but with a little more grit on the top. Damn it, buy it. UPDATE: The M1070 comes with two sets of pads. leather and suede. The leatherette pads are very thick, which in turn reduces clarity and high frequencies. Velor pads bring clarity, but muffle the bass. The pads in the link below (very lucky to say their brand) are the PERFECT balance and great combination as they combine the best of both worlds both in terms of comfort and sound. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07G3D3P1L/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_eR-VFbTKFV1W8?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1