Monolith Over Ear Planar Magnetic Headphones - with 66mm Driver, Closed Back Design, Comfort Ear Pads for Studio/Professional, 20 Ohms, 2 Watts Maximum Power Handling, Black/Wood

Wanted a set of closed back planars and something that wasn't huge. Not a lot to choose from. Saw some negative reviews about these but I already own a pair of Monolith M570's and love them so I pulled the trigger. They couldn't sound more different. However, with some EQ I have them pretty much exactly where I want them. Sound is subjective but they soundstage incredibly well for being closed back. They are also light for a planar and the comfort is nothing short of amazing for me. My ear touches the drivers on many other headphones that I own and it irritates the heck out of me. For some reason, these pads are exactly right on my ears.Some will mention the build quality being substandard. I kind of disagree. They're slightly odd and can rotate in strange ways if one isn't careful with the way they store them. Hasn't been an issue with me.I kind of know what to expect from the Monolith line of headphones though. In my opinion, one gets the performance of significantly higher priced headphones with caveats. Headband is kind of flimsy. I can foresee maybe some issues with loose screws or something build wise that could go wrong. I'm totally willing to accept those as they come. Even to the point of having to fabricate a new head band if I need to. I'm cool with that.If you want these to be a pair of beats or AT's that you can just throw in a backpack these aren't for you. I don't think these can be abused and I'm not going to. If I travel with them they'll go into their case. I'm also not going to unplug the 2.5mm connections from the cups if I don't have to. They are very tight when connected and could see a very strong "tug" causing some issues. So I'm just going to leave them plugged in and store them that way. It should also be noted that these have a 5 year warranty and from my understanding, Monoprice has stood behind all the headphones they make and have made things right with any issues related to build. As one reviewer put it about a Monolith headphone... you've got to know what you're getting yourself into with these. Brilliant performance with maybe an occasional tweak here and there.I love them. They sounded similar to me as a pair of Audeze LCD-1's that I returned. These are also half the price and closed back. I don't love the stock sound but I love them how I have them EQ'd. I actually like the build of the headband too. It's a little quirky and different and I like that in a sea of Bose and Beats they stand out and they should. I'm a big fan of what Monoprice is doing with their Monolith line. I also have a pair of 1060's on the way and their portable THX amp.Edit 6-15-20: took the pads off and switched them out with a set of brainwavz hybrid pads and the sound is excellent. The existing pads actually obstruct the driver which I think makes the sound signature much darker. They are now crystal clear and full. It’s a bit of a trick to get the pads to adhere though as the stock pads are held on by Velcro. I basically cut a Velcro cable tie in half and stuck it to the driver side and then put super glue gel on the opposite side and then stuck on the pads. Not the best but at least I can change them if I need to. Great headphones and even better with new pads.

The foam covering on the ear cup came apart 6 mos. later and there is no replacement available. This ring is held on with hook and loop fastening so I believe they knew that this was going to happen and they made it easy to replace. They just don't do it! My research found others are having this problem.

These sound great. The ear cup pads are covered in very thin material that will soon start to tear. Find ear cup replacements for this model by searching auction sites for this model number. The 3.5mm jacks will get loose and some plugs may not fit snugly resulting in intermittent loss of one channel or the other. Annoying.

Best sound I have ever heard in a headphone. Seriously, the lows were great without blooming into the mids and the highs were beautifully neutral. The mid range was just a little bit warmer than I'm used to but still exceptionally clear. Overall these sound very smooth, I wish I could have kept them.So why the one star rating and return?Sadly, like others here have noted, there is a cable connector design flaw. Brand new right out of the box, when I connected the cables to the cans they felt "loose", like they were held in with magnets and they had "wiggle room". I didn't think much of it, these are pretty premium looking cans after all but while listening if I turned my head a little either one side or the other would cut out. If I touched the wire they would cut out. i could jiggle the wire a bit and they would work again until I moved.Really too bad, these are great sounding headphones that I was excited to get but if they cut out its worse than having bad sounding cans. I returned these and ordered the Sennheiser HD 600 headphones from Amazon. I looked at the other monolith versions and would have gotten the $500 ones but it looks like the connectors on those are the same as these, with people reporting the same issues.