Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I have eclectic and diverse tastes in music. My first love is classical music -- particular Bach Unaccompanied Violin and Cello, Mahler, Brahms, and piano music. But, as a "child of the 80s", I also like Annie Lennox, Police, Jesus Jones, Alanis Morrisette, Beastie Boys, Guns and Roses... you get the idea.
I live in cubicle-ville and my music is my salvation. I have two sets of headphones that I will rotate depending on comfort. The first is a set of Shure Shure E500PTH Sound Isolating Earphones which cost close to $500.00 bucks. They are great in-ear headphones and really close out the sounds from the rest of the world. Unfortunately, you have to jam them in pretty good to get a good seal and being in-ear head phones, you have ear-hygiene issues where you can wind up giving yourself a middle ear infection if you don't keep them clean.
When I don't feel like jamming something into my ears, I also have a set of Denon Denon AH-D5000 Reference Headphones that are over ear closed design. These also run about 500 bucks. Again, great sound. However, big and bulky and they don't block sound as effectively as in-ear headphones.
I decided to try the Monster Turbine because they claim to be comparable in quality with the high-end headphones (like Grado and Shure) but at a fraction of the price.
First thing I did was use the tree-shaped tips. I have these on my Shures and find them very comfortable for staying in the ear and blocking sound. I plugged them into my Nokia N96 phone and turned on one of my songs. The sound quality was TERRIBLE! Buzzing, muddy. I thought, uh oh. Then I decided to try them on our home stereo system (using an adapter plug) and so glad i did. The sound became crystal clear. I realized it must have been the source of the music -- not the headphones themselves.
Finally, I plugged them into my computer figuring that would be the ultimate test. I'm happy to report that they sound WONDERFUL. Every bit as good as my Shures but more comfortable because you don't have to jam them in as much. In fact, if you do stick them in too far, you will find the sound quality is not as clear and is more muddy.
There is solid base -- just listen to Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue to hear the deep rumble. However, the high ranges are crystal clear as well -- listening to the Bach Chaconne sounds so sweet and beautiful. Rock and Roll, alternative and grunge also sound great.
A word about keeping these things clean. The instructions recommend removing the tips regularly and washing in warm water. However, my experience is that you really should wipe these off every time you where them to kill the germs. If you use the same type of wipes that are designed for LCD screen, you will be able to remove the bacteria and crud that builds up but not damage the ear pieces themselves. You can also buy replacement tree earpieces that are designed for the Shures but will also fit on these: Shure EA306 Triple Flange Sleeves for E3c, E3g, E4c, E4g, E5c, I3, I4c, E3c-n and E4c-n models. Clean ears are happy ears ;-)
Before I got these, I was skeptical because of all the one-star reviews. However, after doing some research, I realized that one's preference for headphones (and their makers) can turn into something akin to a holy war and took some of those reviews with a grain of salt.
[NCJAR]
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Monster Turbine High-Performance In-Ear SpeakersWhat Critics Are Saying About Monster Turbine
"Looks like Monster is doing more than just diversifying itself: It is serious about being a player in the headphone market." --David Worthington, Technologizer
"We got a chance to try them out for ourselves and they are indeed very powerful and with an amazing amount of clarity for in-ear headphones...from the time we've spent so far with them - they're worth every penny." --Helena Stone, Chip Chick
"Monster's Turbine in-ear headphone delivers excellent sound quality, with strong bass; robust, all metal construction; handsome carry case." --Steve Guttenberg, CNET.com
"Monster hit their mark with the Turbines and listeners, both casual and discerning, will be satisfied with both their quality and value." --Sal Cangeloso, Geek.com
"All in all, the Turbines are a nice entry into the in-ear headphone arena by Monster, and fantastic sound quality for the price—just make sure your music lives up to their high standards." --Benny Goldman, Gizmodo.com
"…big sound, good bass, and comfort that you\'d expect from full size high-end speakers." --Richard M. Sherwin, ElectronicHouse.com
"How do they sound? In a word, fantastic." --Aric Annear, End User
"At last, killer ear buds!" --Tommy Shaw, Styx
"When paired with any of my portable devices (or non-portable ones for that matter) the Turbines sounded great. As promised, they deliver better bass than almost any other product at the price level, balanced out by solid mids and pretty clear highs. If volume is an issue for you, don\'t worry, the Turbines can get quite loud without distortion, a feat that many in-ear headphones cannot accomplish." --- Sal Cangeloso, geek.com
"... let\'s do talk about sound. It\'s stellar. Monster calls these "in-ear speakers" instead of "in-ear headphones" because they feel the sound is that good, and it\'s not far from that. The audio is clear and full with impressive (but not muddy) bass for both music and games; sometimes annoyingly so, but that\'s my own fault. Remember when you thought a 128 kbps bit rate was fine for your MP3s? You\'re going to be paying for that with these headphones, because you\'ll definitely hear all of the imperfections. It\'s a fair trade-off, though, because you\'ll also hear bits of your music that are lost on cheaper headphones."- Kirk Hiner, appletell.com
The Turbine Pros are surely the best ear-bud-type headphones I've heard and ones I could be happy with for years to come. The Turbines are stylish, perform strongly across the board, are comfortable and built to last.- Todd Whitesel, Audio Video Revolution
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