Introduction

It would be fair to say most people reading this review have heard of Monoprice, either simply for its inexpensive and decent cables for everything audio and visual or it branching out into several tech segments with its own brands. I myself have purchased a Dark Matter display for work before, Monoprice pair of bookshelf speakers for the office room, and have had a few Monoprice keyboards in the past. The Monolith by Monoprice brand, especially as it pertains to audio gear, is new to me despite having heard many good things from others. So it was perhaps a combination of expectations and ultimately poor tuning which had me disappointed with the Monolith M-TWE true wireless earphones we covered before. But perhaps that wasn't representative of the brand, and when another chance came up, I was eager to figure out whether that was a one-off or not.


It was in a virtual CES meeting earlier this year that Monoprice showed off several of its new entries into the PC gaming sector, and that meeting ultimately led to this review happening. Monoprice had recently released some new headphones, including some fascinating air motion transformer driver sets we may get to take a look at eventually, but the Monolith by Monoprice brand has generally been known for its low-cost planar magnetic headphones. So when there were finally some closed-back planars by Monoprice, it seemed like an opportune time to get acquainted with them. The M1070C is the less expensive of the two new sets, and thanks again to Monoprice for a review sample for TechPowerUp.

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

Monoprice is a retailer and distributor first and foremost, so this Monolith M1070C set of headphones shipping directly from Monoprice makes sense. As such, we take a look at the shipping packaging to gauge whether the product box was packed properly. Monoprice is using a thick cardboard box with generic branding, which at least does not reveal what is inside. Indeed, even the inner flaps just list all the various product segments Monoprice now covers, and it is inside amid some plastic wraps and further protection that we see the product box itself.


This is a fairly large box, but one that again employs thick cardboard with a glossy banderole. In fact, the design language is consistent with the M-TWE wireless set we saw before, as there is a black and dark blue color scheme. There's the Monolith by Monoprice logo on the front in both a huge rendition and white text at the bottom, with the product name below. This continues on the back with some salient features listed, the Monoprice website URL, and retail barcode. The sides have nothing but the two seals to keep the contents inside in place during transit.


Opening the box, we are greeted to an impressively large round carry case. It's not a weatherproof hard case, but the puck-like form factor coupled with the carry-handle and plastic composition reduces the weight while keeping it functional enough to hold the headphones. No complaints about the build quality here, and the zipper feels fairly substantial, too. Opening the box, we see a separate compartment up top with the included paperwork and accessories, and the headphones are in the main compartment with a thick silica gel dehumidifier packet.


The headphones are snugly fit inside machined cutouts in a foam sheet of the primary case compartment, with a set of replacement ear pads between the ear cups, which also protects the ear cups as these touch the pre-installed pads. These velour pads are light and comfortable to hold, adopt an all-black color scheme, and appear to install using the typical mechanism with the stretchy plastic going through a gap on the side of the headphones themselves.