Monoprice M1060 Measurements and Stream of Consciousness Review

Discussion in 'Headphone Measurements' started by purr1n, Apr 27, 2017.

  1. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Monoprice M1060 Measurements and Stream of Consciousness Review

    EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
    1. Sounds less impressive than it measures. A lot of mids, more mids than expected. Hollow coloration. Bass is there, yet lacks sense of foundation and body.
    2. Funky ergonomics. Gimbals and cups swivel around all over the place. Backwards, forwards, over-under. There are no stops or friction fittings to control axle rotation of the pieces. Metal elements are sheetmetal and bent to shape. Suspension headphone less comfortable than expected. Think a cut-down HFM.
    3. You are much better off with a HiFiMan HE400S plus Focus pads.
    Monoprice M1060 Frequency Response
    Monoprice M1060 Frequency Response.png

    Monoprice M1060 CSDs
    Monoprice M1060 L CSD.jpg
    Monoprice M1060 R CSD.jpg
     
    Last edited: Aug 4, 2017
  2. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    reserved for more measurements.

    Monoprice M1060 Distortion
    Monoprice M1060 L Distortion HD.jpg
    Monoprice M1060 R Distortion HD.jpg
     
    Last edited: Apr 27, 2017
  3. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    Would the sound being inferior to what the measurements have to say be due to said poor ergonomics? Was considering picking these up for my first planars, but I might just save up (even longer, sob) for something decent like a used HE-560. Also, is the spike at 5.4kHz any painful, if I may ask?

    Looking forward to updates, woo!
     
  4. MrTie

    MrTie Friend

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    My measurement stock looks almost like dead ringer for your green line. I also was not impressed with them, as is.
     
  5. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Yes. There's some channel level and diaphragm tension imbalance with this unit. I'll take measurements again tonight. If I get different results, I will record and post. Otherwise I won't bother. It's very rare these days that I do bad measurement (at least with headphones) on the first try.
     
  6. Hrodulf

    Hrodulf Prohibited from acting as an MOT until year 2050

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    Might be a good candidate for calibration. Orthos usually have no problem taking extra energy where needed.

    Let's see if THD and waterfalls doesn't show too much horribad.
     
  7. Scott Kramer

    Scott Kramer Friend

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    @Marvey

    Are those Rev2 ?

    1. Metal sides smoothed out, no longer sharp
    2. Headband pieces fixed, no longer metal on metal, different padding
    3. Replaced the mmcx connectors with 2.5mm
    4. Included 3.5mm adapter

    Maybe they fixed the cracking wood?
     
  8. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

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    They should be Rev 2.

    @Marvey please try Audeze Vegan pads if possible I was ready to return them with stock pads. Audeze Leather Free pads plus a 3 inch paper towel under the outer grill do A LOT to improve these headphones.
     
  9. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    All orthos seems have a little bit of a spike (seen as a well on CSDs) that is surmised to to related to the tension of the diaphragm. There is debate to whether these are audible with music, maybe because of the narrowness of the spike, and also because 4-5kHz peaks can be less annoying to some people. There is also the possibility of hearing damage. People with hearing damage tend to have nulls in this area. I could be one of those people. See here for background: http://superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/ortho-wall-for-lack-of-a-better-term.2119/

    In this case, the spike (and the CSD ridge) seem quite excessive, especially on the R channel. If anything, I do hear a slight glare or hardness, but this usually manifests as a spike at 6kHz. The CSDs illustrate a semi-broad bump at 1kHz. As I wrote in the first post, this might be the most bothersome element, especially since the bass and the lower mids seem to be gently presented, maybe even compressed, which tends to highlight the middle-midrange of the M1060. Just too much for me. On the positive side, there is nothing outright difficult from the lower treble onward, fairly smooth actually.

    CSDs are up in the first post BTW.
     
  10. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I no have Vegan pads. No time for mods. Life getting busy for me, but I will send to @Hands and on to a loaner program.

    They appear to be rev 2. There is still some metal on metal contact points that creak. Feels cheap, not $300. This should be $149.
     
  11. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

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    That's cool. I've already shown what the mods improve in the main M1060 thread, so those that are interested can look there. The mods basically fix most of your issues with the headphones, although technicalities are still lower than HE-6/HD800/HD650 etc.
     
  12. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    *sees CSDs*

    I've seen ortho walls of death before, but that's a wall of DEATH. Still wouldn't mind demoing these, but not likely to buy em at all, haha. Thanks for the measurements!
     
  13. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

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    Yeah, Ortho walls that Trump could be proud of. Here is my stock CSD measurements and modded for comparison:

    Stock
    [​IMG]

    Modded
    [​IMG]
     
  14. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    Anyone have a spare set of those vegan pads for the loaner?
     
  15. TMRaven

    TMRaven Friend

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    Needs some HE-400 love? With the HE-400, switching from pleather to velour got rid of the 1khz weirdness. The treble post 5k is very clean, but that amount of decay in the upper-midrange looks kinda mid-fi.

    I have a pair coming in 2 days, I hope to chime in with impressions as well.
     
    Last edited: Apr 28, 2017
  16. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Distortion plots posted in post #2.

    I'm not totally sure if the ortho walls are audible. As I've indicated before before, my concerns (subjective) are with the "midrange city" sound, lack of authoritative bass, foundation, and body, and unimpressive construction. I'm positive better results can be obtained via mods. But really, most people are much better off with a HFM HE400S with Focus pads. The HFM's construction is a bit better. These Monoprice seem like a cheap knock-off of the HFM, but at the same price, with slightly worse sound subjectively, at least stock.
     
  17. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    I did read up on how ortho walls seem to be largely inaudible some time during my lurking days, but I was still surprised since the CSDs show these to have a markedly more pronounced wall than other ortho measurements I've seen hereabouts. Having said that, I do apologise if my remarks might have placed undue emphasis on this particular characteristic. I was also tempted to make the same Trump joke @cskippy made but thought better of it.

    ... Not that it didn't get a proper chuckle out of me, though.

    Eh, I think it'd be more prudent to just save my money and then get a nicer source down the line (maybe add a couple pens to the rotation), but the relative affordability of the 1060s makes me wanna toss the cash just so I have something new to play with for however long it lasts. Incidentally, if anyone is willing to sell them for $149, I'm willing to cover shipping just to sweeten the deal! /wishfulthinking.

    I will be keeping tabs on potential mods for these, though, and fingers crossed they end up being worth the mid-fi price.
     
  18. TMRaven

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    I was going to suggest that maybe a higher amount of distortion in the bass lead to some mushiness, but that's some of the lowest distortion I've seen measured on a headphone on your rig. Even the D2 remains around or below .1%, besides that short area of ringing in 4-5k.
     
  19. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Yeah. Sometimes the measurements just don't show certain things. Ether's measure clean in the bass, but the bass quality just isn't quite there compared to other top planars such as Audeze (assuming good sample) or HE-6.
     
  20. Vansen

    Vansen Gear Master (retiring)

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    @Hands I have a spare set of vegan pads I can loan. PM if you want me to send 'em your way or something.
     

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