Monster Supertips First impressions

[Aevum]

First of all, english aint my first language, so grammer nazis please abstain.

The first thing i want to say here is that i´ve been looking for a review of these before actually picking up a sampler pack and its been a basicly a fruitless effort. no one has actually expressed an opinion beyond the standart monster PR bullshit that basicly states "these are super good and will make you have eargasms all the time".

Considering these have been on sale for a while now in the US its amazing no one has sat down and written something about them. and it had to be someone who resides in europe, where these tips are hard as hell to find and aquire should be the one to write a first impressions.

anyways... so much for my bitching.


Item was purcheased from a amazon market place seller by the name of puremac-UK (which is funny since the tips came by DHL Germany).
the price was €36.07 for a set of 10 pairs of tips. i proceded to test them with my senhaiser IE8.

5 pairs of Silicon tips filled with some sort of transpartent gel, the gel is fully dry and is elastic. will not deform permanently. the external silicon is very soft but does have a very thin ring "molding mark", going around the equator of the tip. the opening is a bit more narrow then the avarage silicon tip. one thing i noticed is that some of the tips have a soft a bruising, this would indicate that they are not totaly filled with the gel or might have internal bubbles which created a void that would cause slight bruises or collapses in the shape of the silicon dome shaped tip. this does not present a problem when inserted. colours are usualy soft white, black and gray with the exception of the XL tip (more like tampon sized. more on that later) which is a very cheap silver colour which i can only define as "skullcandy plastic silver", its that cheap nasty silver that tends to peel off those lead rich chinese toys. even if they did fit me i would probobly try to remove the color before using.

5 pairs of Foam tips. similar to the Shure Olive and the Comply product line its a basic silicon stem glued on to a foam exterior with the differance that while on the olives and complys the core does not extend till the external end of the tip in the mosters not only does it reach the end but mashrooms a bit outwards creating a sort of umbrella shape on which the foam is glued on to. the thing is that this hinders a bit the collapse of the foam. making them a but difficult to wear. the foam is soft and nice but dosnt seem as fragile as the comply crap where you basicly rent your tips. a pair of complys use to last me 2 weeks on avarage. not a good investment, these seem to be able to easly excede the general lifespan of a comply tip, but not sure it can live up to the Olive´s lifespan. colours are the same as the silicon/gel tips.

One thing you notice about these tips. they are big, very big.
you notice that whatever size monter brands then, its probobly one size larger on the scale of any other manufacutrer. and the XL size foam tip could easly be used as a feminine hygine product.

i use to wear medium complys with my triple fi and medium olives with my Atrio M8 and i have not been able to comfortly wear any of the foam tips from monsters range, they all feel like they are too tight to wear for long periods and irritate my ear canal because of their size. and from the silicon/gel tips i´ve only been able to wear the XS tip for long periods without ear canal irritation, maybe i could wear the S size with a bit of getting use to. part of this is probobly due to the ubmrella shaped core of the foam tips which hinders their collapse inside the ear and might be corrected by the tip being easier to mold once warm from being inside the ear for a few minutes.

the silicon tips were more of the same. i could only wear the S size with relative comfort. and the gel inside the space between the outer dome and core hinders their collapse. i suspect body heat wont improve this much due to the differance in texture and construction compared to the foam tips.

As i was testing these with a set of senhaiser IE8 its hard to judge isolations, but my general instinct compared with my daily use senhaiser hard foam medium tips is that isolation has worstened insted of improving, even when using tips 1 size over the size i was comftarble with to make sure i was getting a good seal. but then again considering im using open IEM´s. isolation is very hard to judge.

as for the sonic qualities of these tips, i cant say they sound much worst. theres an improvement in soundstage compared to my usual tips. aswell as a bit more sparkle in the treble. aswell as a bit more bounce is the bass. its not as dramatic as monster would like you to believe. but it does show a bit.

i could not pass fair judgment of foam tips as i can not wear them for long periods with relative comfort. i´ll give them another try in the next few days see if i can get along with with them in the long run.

So in conclusion.
- These are for people with wide ear canals, if you use a small from your normal tips, dont bother.

- They do little or nothing to improve isolation but i cant give 100% on this point since i was testing them with open IEM´s (IE8)

- Theres a slight improvement in quality of bass and trable to some extent as well as a widening of the soundstage.

- the price which was 36 euros shipped, 30 if you pick them up at a shop for the set was WAY too high compared to the price of complys, Shure Olives or Sony hybrids. i have seen nothing here that would allow them to command such a price.

As most monster products. they do have some redeeming qualities which are instantly overshadowed if not automaticly discarded by mosnters impression that their logo/brand allows them to automaticly overprice everything.

if the set was 15 bucks. i would have no problems recommending them to anyone. but at 30 euros + shipping. i can only recommend you try a set of sony hybrids insted.

[CrowdAds]

[dfkt]

Thanks a lot for your impressions. I always wondered how those tips are, but never considered buying them, mainly for the highway robbery prices they go for in Europe (if you can even find them).

[sideways]

Thanks for the write up and yeah like dfkt said tips in Europe are grossly overpriced.

[Aevum]

now im wondering about the new foam filled hybrids

[dfkt]

The foam in those looks very porous. I doubt they give any better isolation than the old Hybrids.

[WalkGood]

Aevum, nice write up for someone who claims “English isn’t my first language,” thanks, good read

[Adub]

Indeed thanks for the write up Spaniard.

[IDvsEGO]

glad I didnt grab these. almost did on impulse at the local Frys but exercised patience and ordered olives. great tips.

[selectortone]

I'd never buy anything from Monster Cable on principle. They spend far more time on frivolous lawsuits bullying small businesses than they do actually making stuff. Just google 'Monster Cable' and 'lawsuit'.

[IDvsEGO]

I would, but Monster might sue me for using their name in a search without paying royalty.

[dfkt]

Their idiotic lawsuits are really a bucket of chuckles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster...ark_and_Patent

Monster Cable's targets include:

* Snow Monsters (a kid's skiing group)
* MonsterVintage, small used clothing store
* Monsters, Inc., an animated feature film[12]
* Monster Garage, a television series[12]
* Monsters of the Midway, a nickname of the Chicago Bears football team
* Fenway Park's Monster seats
* Monster Energy, energy drinks
* Monster.com employment website
* Monster Mini Golf[17][18]
* Monster Balls Paintballs manufactured by JT Sports
* Monster Transmission

[Marvin the Martian]

That's a ludicrous bunch of crap! lol