Customer Reviews

Monster Turbine PRO High-Performance In-Ear Speakers (Copper)

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I'm a recording engineer with almost twenty years of experience in the recording industry. I had heard that in-ear monitoring systems have greatly improved in the past few years, but I would never trust them for critical mixing or mastering applications. Out of curiosity, I listened to Monster Cable's entire line of in-ear monitoring systems while I was attending the Audio Engineering Society convention in San Francisco in November, 2010. They have a fine line of earphones, but the Coppers absolutely blew me away! I had my iPod with me. I listened with incredulity and astonishment to a new molecular level of detail in music I had mixed as well as songs I knew intimately since childhood. It was as if I had been seeing the world through my own eyes my whole life, then given the opportunity to view the world through an electron microscope, or conversely, going from watching a 13" TV screen to watching a movie screen-the difference in resolution was that dramatic. I've been privileged to listen to music through the highest-end monitoring systems in multi-million dollar mastering suites, and the Monster Coppers stand with the best of them-or better-in my opinion.

After the AES show, I immediately ordered a pair of the Monster Coppers through Amazon. I've purchased a multitude of audio equipment items, but for under $400, these Monster Copper in-ear monitors have been the best investment I've ever made. I've mixed all subsequent projects monitoring with the Monster Coppers and my mixes have translated beautifully to all other listening formats without fail. One mastering engineer even sent one of my mixes back to me recently. He quipped that outside of some minor compression he added, the balance of my mix sounded perfect as is.

I attribute the mastering engineer's high praise to the fact that the Monster Coppers are merciless in revealing every flaw, every minor detail in the program material you are listening to. If you demand the very best in audio reproduction, you'll be hard-pressed to find a better monitoring system (and certainly not at this price point) than the Monster Coppers.

My only qualm with the Monster Coppers is that they act like a stethoscope, in that, any movement of the wiring from the connector to your ears results in extraneous noise. I certainly wouldn't recommend using these in a workout environment. You do have to remain fairly still when using these to get the best effect. Also, in-ear monitors (except expensive custom-molded models) have never felt to me to be suited for long-term use; that is where free-standing speakers and over-the-ear headphones excel. However, to Monster Cable's credit, the supplied rubber ear-molds are quite comfortable (I've worn them for up to 8 hours continuously without ear fatigue), and they do sell innovative ear-mold packages separately to comfortably fit every type of ear (the Monster Cable rep at AES showed me their SuperTips eartips kits).

The Monster Turbine Pro Copper (MTPC, or just Copper, below) is, without a doubt, the *BEST* *SOUNDING* *HEADPHONE* I have ever used, and I've used a lot... couple of specific points.

Bass response. I love organ music - and organ music sometimes has deep bass that (almost) no other recorded music approaches. For example, on some of the recordings of the Saint-Saëns 3rd Symphony (the "Organ Symphony") there are fundamental tones as low as 16Hz. No home speaker system will reproduce these accurately at reasonable volume without a subwoofer - at least, none that I know of. You might get a "doubling" of the fundamental tone (2nd harmonic) at a fairly high level at 32Hz, and think you're hearing the right note, but you're not. In fact, you can't really "hear" it - you more or less "feel" it. My Sennheiser HD600 headphones can hint fairly strongly at the deepest notes, but you're not going to feel like you're in a concert hall with a massive organ moving enough air to lift you out of your seat. The Coppers, uniquely in my experience, actually got the tone and timbre, the shear majesty of the music, right. I've heard this performed live a few times in a concert hall that had an organ that could perform this piece the way the composer wanted - and the Coppers made me feel like I was back there. I tried many IEM's before I tried these, and none of them came close in the really, really deep bass department. Which makes me all the sadder (see below.)

Impact (transient response, speed, whatever you want to call it.) Wow. No, wait a second... *WOW* Sit in a small club with a rock band. Sit close. Wince when the drummer starts letting loose. *THWACK* and you blink and jump back a bit in your seat. There's a visceral impact you get live that you (almost never) get listening to a recording. Most recordings don't really capture it, and for those few that do, finding a way to play it back so recreate that impact is not easy. Really good speakers with enough power from a really good source can sort of do it. Really good headphones properly driven can also do it, though it's different - the "thwack" is there, but it's outside coming in, not inside letting loose. ("What did he say???") With the Coppers, the first time I put on Muse - Uprising I not only jumped and blinked, I realized I'd never, ever heard a recording that sounded "real" in this regard. Never. Which makes me all the sadder...

Other stuff - midrange, high end, transparency, soundstage, imaging, tone, timber, pace, rhythm, vocals, yada yada yada - the Coppers were at least as good as any other headphone (or speaker, for that matter) that I've ever used. The only possible criticism I could offer of their sound is the dynamics might even be a bit expanded - sort of like running a non-encoded signal through a dBX decoder, for you old guys out there. Of course, I have no way of knowing whether the Coppers are more right, and simply reproducing the dynamic range with less compression than I'm used to hearing, or whether the Coppers are editorializing a bit. They're dynamic as all get out, though. Which makes me all the sadder...

I simply cannot use these. I spent hours and hours fussing with every tip included with the Coppers - and that's a lot of tips - and not *ONE* *SINGLE* *ONE* of them fit me right. I guess I have weird ears or oddly shaped canals or something, because I've not heard others with this problem, but it drove me absolutely nuts. I could, at times, by pushing and prodding and twisting and tweeking and pulling and swearing, get a fit that let me hear what these things could do. But it only lasted until I took the phones out - the next time I tried to put them back in, I'd start with the rigamarole all over again, sometimes achieving a good seal, mostly not. I even tried 3rd party tips - head-fi dot org has many suggestions - but even those didn't work for me. One Saturday afternoon in a fit of extreme stubbornness I spent (literally) five hours trying every which way with every tip I had to get a decent seal, and all I managed to do was mess up my left ear to the point where it was two days before I could hear properly out of that side. Think all the popping caused by the vacuum when pulling the phones out (and in and out and in and out and in) caused some significant irritation.

I finally gave up and sent them back.

This is not unique to me with the Coppers. I've tried other brands of IEM's and none of them fit me either. Go figure. I guess some people just aren't meant to use IEM phones. Which is a real bummer, because they really do sound wonderful.

Please don't let this review steer you away from these - far from it. I promise you they sound simply amazing. Just be aware that for at least one person who wrote a review, they couldn't get them to fit. Which is a good reason to by from Amazon, of course - if you get these and they don't work, you can always return them.

Be careful with you ears, though. If they don't fit, no amount of stubborn attempts at jamming them in will solve the problem. Trust me on that.

Introduction:

Before I begin this review, I'd just like to thank the folks at Monster for their dedication and generosity in putting together the review program that gave me this opportunity. Do note that after the review program ends, the reviewer (or better known as me. ) does get the opportunity to keep the review unit. While I try to keep an unbiased tone in my reviews, I just wanted to put this disclaimer out there. For more information on this review program, please refer to here.

I have always been an IEM user from the very beginning. In fact, my first audiophile-worthy equipment were in-canal earphones. As I ventured deeper into the depths of high-fidelity audio and more specifically the full-size headphone "arena", I began to lose touch with the portable earphones world. I am happy to say that this new jewel from Monster has brought me back.

Head-Fi is known for, among other things, the overzealous hype surrounding new products, especially within the portable audio world, where new earphones seem to pop up everyday. Because of this, I was understandingly hesitant and cynical when Monster debuted its Turbine Pro line to overwhelmingly positive feedback. I am pleased to say, after trying these little devils out firsthand, that none of the applause was hype.


Packaging, Accessories, and Build Quality:

Packaging-
The Monster Turbine Pro Copper IEMs (hereby denoted by MTPC) arrived in a plain brown box. I was immediately underwhelmed, thinking, "[...] earphones arriving in this?!" A second later, and I realized that I was staring at a FedEx shipping box.

A minute into unboxing the earphones from the clean, minimalistic magnetic black box, and I was instantly hooked. Calling this luxury was an understatement. The MTPC's packaging was superb, to say the least.

Accessories-
Unlike some of the cheaper, if you will, earphones and headphones I have purchased over the years, the MTPC came with a multitude of accessories, including:

A velvety "clasp" case
A magnetic button case
Bag of SuperTips
Bag of gel-filled tips
Bag of tri-flanges and foam tips
Bag of generic silicon tips
Anti-microphonic clothing clip
Holster-style tip holder
Antibacterial cleaning cloth
Documents

On the topic of accessories, the amazing array of tips the MTPC comes with really speaks to how much Monster cares about its customers. There has been a lot of interest on Head-Fi over the variety of tips Monster offers. At the pinnacle are the SuperTips. Called everything from the ultimate sleeves to "the best foam earphone tip on the market". Monster's SuperTips are hybrid foam tips encased by an external layer of soft, cushiony foam and sustained internally by a thick, sturdy silicon of tube. This combination resulted in excellent isolation and comfort, combined with minimal impact on the overall sound quality of the MTPC, a perfect aggregation that no other tip has reached. However, one caveat of the SuperTips is their relatively low durability compared to silicon tips. The silicon tube is easily separated from the exterior, and this might result in degradation in isolation and sound quality after a few months. In the end, nevertheless, SuperTips last far longer and sound better than foam tips, yet provide a more comfortable alternative to traditional silicon tips.

Build Quality-
On to build quality! Even the best earphone is no good if it can't withstand the stress of our daily routines and activities, which is why the build quality of an IEM is so important. One of the first things I noticed after looking at the MTPC was its heftiness. The brass earphones looked and felt practically indestructible, especially compared to the flimsy OEM earphone shells many other audio companies are using. Well, to adequately test the build quality of the MTPC, I decided to take my pair along with me on a 1500+ mile road trip! Needless to say, the MTPC survived the exhibition in tip-top shape, while my stock iPod earbuds died along the way. One downside of the excellent brass design is weight. The MTPC felt heavier in my ears than other comparably sized earphones, but it did not bother me too much.

Monster's highly acclaimed cable management system is also included on the MTPC. A very well-built cable complete with a metal "L-jack" and "Y-split" added to the already glorious build quality of the MTPC. The included clothing clip also reduced microphonics to an almost non-existant level.


Sound Quality:

Most of the attention surrounding the MTPC was centered around its unnaturally excellent sound quality. Of course, seeing as the MTPC retails at $400 and is marketed as a top-tier earphone, I was prepared to also be unnaturally critical. Yet, one minute into the first audition, and I was stunned. Blown away, even. The MTPC is unlike any earphone I have ever owned. More on that in a second.

Bass-
The MTPC is a bass-centric earphone. There's no way around that. And it's not a bad thing either. While its bass quantity falls short of the Sennheiser IE7/8's bass quantity, the MTPC makes it up in quality, producing some of the tightest, best-controlled bass I have ever heard on an earphone. The bass extends low enough for deep bass aficiandos, while staying strong and punchy enough to satisfy anyone from "bassheads" to lovers of lean, audiophilic bass. Impact is excellent, and bass detail retention is above par. There is a hint of muddiness, however, but I'm really just nitpicking now.

Mid-
Liquidy, natural, full, warm are just some of the words I'd use to describe the mids of the MTPC. Keeping in line with the overall balanced natural of the MTPC, the mids are no exception. They are slightly warm, yet still realistically detailed. They are full and weighty, yet still fast and agile. They are forward when needed, yet laid-back enough to not seem tiring. The mids of the MTPC are, in two words, almost perfect. A slight bit of mushiness combined with perhaps a little too much fullness prevents me from giving the MTPC's mids my utmost adoration. In the end, however, these are still some of the best mid frequencies I have heard on any earphone, barely falling short of the Shure SE530.

Treble-
Fans of treble will enjoy the MTPC's sparkle and smoothness in the upper frequencies. However, when compared to the other frequencies, I found the treble to be slightly lacking. In my opinion, there was a hint of recessiveness in the treble, especially in the upper-treble area. And while the MTPC can still be considered one of the most balanced earphones, it's bass-centricness does take just a nibble away from the treble. Compared to the Etymotic IEMs, the MTPC loses a bit on treble detail and aggresiveness. Overall, the MTPC's smooth and relaxing treble still won me over, giving me a much-needed break from the bright, hyper-aggresive upper frequencies of my Etymotic IEMs and my Grado and Ultrasone headphones.

Soundstage and Imaging-
Both two-dimensional and three-dimensional soundstaging was excellent on the MTPC, especially compared to the large majority of IEMs. Imaging was also very good, though it suffered a bit compared to my Etymotic IEMs due to the slight lack of detail in the treble region.


Overall-
The key word to describing the MTPC's sound signature and quality is balance. Unlike just about any other earphone I have had the pleasure of listening to, the MTPC, though focused on bass, does not fall tremendously short in any one area. The magnificent soundstage and imaging with a wonderful musicality made listening to the MTPC was a very enjoyable experience.


Summary:

Transducer: Dynamic
Cord Style: Y-cord
Mini Jack Style: {''L} style, Heavy build.
Eartips Used: Monster SuperTips, Monster Gel Tips
Physical Properties:
' Packaging: '''''5/5
' Accessories: '''''5/5
' Build Quality: '''''4.5/5
' Isolation: ''''4/5
' Microphonics: ''''4/5
' Comfort: '''''4.5/5
Sound Quality:
' Treble: '''''4.5/5
' Mid: '''''5/5
' Bass: '''''5/5
' Soundstage: Great / Wide
' ABF: [Mid]
' Overall SQ: [4.85 / 5]
Overall Value: [5 / 5]


Conclusion:
With a collection of accessories unlike any other, a tank-solid build quality, an extremely generous life-time warranty, great customer service and a stunningly good sound quality, the Monster Turbine Pro Copper In-Ear Monitors have set a new standard for earphones and headphones alike.

I received the Pro Turbine Copper In-Ear-Monitors as a generous "sample pair" in the recent MONSTER CHALLENGE by my own request...in exchange for an honest review. I had always wanted to hear them and so I jumped at the chance to put them through the paces. I feel incredibly lucky that I have been able to listen to and even own some incredible high-end gear, all within about a year and a couple of months of using Apple iBuds! There's a lot to learn about and enjoy in this hobby (audio, music, gear). One of the things that I'm most thankful for is knowing that I'll never be going back to "bad" sound again...

As for earphones, I have had all of the Yuin PK Series earbuds, the HiFiMan RE-0's, Sennheiser IE8's, and have settled on the Ultimate Ears Triple-Fi 10's and the Ultimate Ears In-Ear Reference Monitors.

For Large Headphones, I have settled on the Grado RS2i, the Grado HF-2, the Alessandro MS1 (being modified), and the Sennheiser HD600.

I did less comparing and more listening to understand what the Coppers sounded like. If I compare to the Triple-Fi 10 often it is because I actually have them right now as opposed to making comparisons by memory.

SOUND FIRST:

BASS: Warm, lots- some really good slam. These "ear speakers" go low and give some rumble like I have not heard a Balanced Armature iem do (yet). Wouldn't want more bass than this. Great amount of full/fun bass to me.

MIDS: Good amount of midrange, very warm though...not the clearest.

TREBLE: Here they seem "just right" or "just north of neutral" (which I seem to prefer in my treble). I think they balance well in the presentation to add detail to the warm bass and midrange. A little peaky. I tend to like treble so some might think it a bit much. I certainly don't think it's too much, I think it is necessary. (But then I like Grados!)

OVERALL: A nice balance/amount of everything, but a bit warm/natural/relaxed in the midrange and full in bass so the Coppers can give a feeling of a lack of speed/clarity. Lush, warm, relaxed, enjoyable listening without "digital" harshness. Sounds like a nice warm speaker set-up with some "Loudness" and some treble EQ'd up instead of a "bright" or "analytical" neutral monitoring system to me.


In comparison to my Triple-Fi 10 which many have heard and are not <too> far off in price ($188 vs. $219 on Amazon.com):

-Coppers win on warm bass + slam by a bit and TF10 win for sparkly treble/upper mids by a bit.

-Coppers win for natural or laid back listening presentation and TF10 win for speed/clarity (though there is bloom in the TF10 bass too).


I recently found this updated repository of Frequency Response and other data:


The charts won't tell you everything but it seems pretty consistent with what my impressions are...



(Now I will try some different set-ups of gear with reference tracks to get a sense of how the sources/amps can work with or tune the Copper "sound"...here are some notes.)

GEAR USED:

-Mac G5 via Optical out to Benchmark DAC1 and built-in amp (Main System)
-Sony X portable player (no effects or EQ unless noted) ~$230
-AMB mini^3 portable amp (made to gain of 2, High Performance option by Mister X- no relation to Sony) $130
-iBasso D12 portable DAC/Amp (with stock L/R opamps and dummy buffers installed) $285

The Coppers are very revealing of source and amp characteristics. They can be used straight out of a portable player and I recommend to do that for a while to learn and get used to the Copper "sound" and also to see how well you can get the Coppers to sound with your player. Then when you have an idea of any areas you would like to improve or modify, you can start shopping for an amp if you want to try one. A headphone amp can add bass impact, widen the soundstage and provide more imaging of instruments, or make the instruments more "punchy" and/or clear. I'm now surprised when I see purchases of portable amps before receiving and listening to the phones that will be used. (Hey, a year ago I didn't believe in any change from a headphone amp at all...)


Starting out listening with the Sony X and the AMB mini^3 portable amp to some Pop, Rock, Classical, and Soundtracks...

David Gray, White Ladder "Please Forgive Me": No sibilance (my sibilance test track), but there is still sparkle on the percussion...lots of low and midrange warmth for a big, lush presentation with some detail. At 4:28 you hear the cymbals clearly AND get the sub-bass hit. Listening with the Benchmark DAC1, there is much tighter, defined imaging and instrument separation on the cymbals, more control of the bass (tighter), but mids seem a little more recessed. More bass impact with Sony and the mini^3 plus the mids are a bit more forward. The mini^3 seems a bit brighter so it all seems a bit clearer, but also closer together in instrument presentation (narrow soundstage).

Massive Attack, 100th Window "Everywhen" (with Benchmark DAC1): Massive Attack has been a reference band for all of my phones. I am not always listening to Massive Attack (or drinking Dos Equis) but when phones have impact, Massive Attack shows it. In fact, the BIG bass of Massive Attack may be causing a little sporadic crackling in the right driver which has "flexed" under the pressure of the ear vacuum seal...I will have to monitor that. (See my description of "driver flex" under these listening notes.) As far as the sound goes, nothing is harsh though there is high-end shimmer. I find I turn it up and don't get harsh high-end but a big and full low to the midrange sound. There's impact but it isn't too much high-energy in the treble or too hard hitting in the bass so as to cause fatigue. (Might actually be able to listen to Massive Attack all day and enjoy it with these...) The warmth here is a plus.

Need to explain "driver flex": At first I had some problems with "driver flex" which may occur when there is too much of a vacuum (or air pressure that affects the driver). I could make the right driver "flex" out of position within the housing. I could hear the driver "flex" or "pop" out of position and stop working. After playing with the driver and the pressure in my ear, it adjusts or "pops" back into place and makes sound again. The Quick Start Guide warns not to place the tips too far into the canals or to get too much of a vacuum built up. I have also found in customs that you want a decent seal but not "too much of a vacuum" or the drivers can't work properly and/or sound can't travel properly. So, after warming up the tips and then twisting them to get a better (but-not-too-strong-of-a) seal, the driver flex occurrence became rare with practice. (I might have caused it by wanting to stick the whole thing in my ear when I got them since I am now used to customs. (One of the benefits of customs is a very positive fit and a great seal but you can still be aware of them filling your whole ears, one of the benefits of Universals is that the tips can be comfortable enough as to not really feel them. They both take practice and getting used to them. It's worth the hassle to get the sound wherever and whenever you want it.)

Elbow, The Seldom Seen Kid "Mirrorball" (with the Benchmark): Wow...the kick-drum just seemed to move air in my head and the strings are smooth and beautiful while the vocals remain very intimate and detailed. This is a showcase for how beautiful the Coppers can sound. I wondered if this would test the Coppers' resolution and sound congested as Elbow tests some phones and systems with complex sound. Instead, I don't want to move to the next track...very, very nice! In fact, I did jump around more Elbow and to Cast of Thousands "Fugitive": Something works really well here and Elbow is just amazing with the big-sounding Coppers. ANTHEMIC, not anemic (at all).

Jeff Buckley, Grace "Hallelujah" (with Benchmark DAC1): Thought this warm track would be smooth and pretty. It is, but with some added warmth of the Coppers it loses a bit of "space" or "air" that gives the track an even more intimate and disconsolate feel...

Talk Talk, Laughing Stock "New Grass" (with Benchmark) is just a big, lush, warm field to lie in. Everything sings, resonates, and rings. A touch "wooly" in the midrange with regards to clarity, however.

Pink Floyd, DSOTM "Time" (with Benchmark): The intro is a good way to check for treble "sparkle" and the Coppers have it, not too bright either. Then the guitar and drums come in and you can hear that the vocals are nice in quality, the sparkle is there, and the bass is prominent in quantity. Big Bass.

Mozart: Requiem In D Minor, K 626 - Sequentia: Rex Tremendae (Sony X with mini^3): The Coppers sound great with a lot of classical music to me, I was especially impressed with the way they sounded with this track. The Coppers didn't sound recessed or bumped along the frequency range with this piece.

Radiohead- Extra Track, The King of Limbs "Supercollider" (with Benchmark): The glitchy, reverberating bass tells you that you have one heck of a seal because it feels like a really big, tight rubberband is being snapped in your ear canals. Vocals are floating on top and are definitely at a lower level than the bass. But it is such a cool sensation that it doesn't really matter right now...

The way the Coppers sound with the bit of classical music I tried led me to guess that these are really good iems for soundtracks. A problem with some iems is that they cannot produce the fullness or the rumble that you get and expect in a theater...since the Coppers have a strong bass presence they should be good (and they are)...

TRON Soundtrack: Big, full-sounding body with nicely detailed horns and strings up top. Handles the purely orchestral passages with impact and the electronic pieces with even more impact. Probably what they intended you to hear/feel.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: There is more space/air in this Soundtrack (nowhere NEAR as compressed as TRON), so the warmth/fullness of the Coppers can be a real benefit if out in the real world. Too thin/lacking in bass of an iem can be hard to enjoy if there is a lot of ambient noise or even bone induction from just walking around (found that out with this soundtrack and other iems). Beautiful and dreamy presentation, if I may get so poetic.


As with any phones, be they head/ear/iems...you can create combinations of sound with source, amp, and/or EQ. The Coppers respond well to mixing up the gear. It has been a lot of fun learning about my sources and amps with the Coppers.


SYSTEM and ACCESSORIES:

Accessories are usually not a huge factor to me in choosing a headphone but this is an earphone. And a universal in-ear monitor which requires a seal with the use of silicone tips. Opening the Turbine Pro Coppers box is pretty much like Christmas when you were a kid (um, if you grew up in the U.S. and got to open a bunch of little presents). It seems like the Monster team used their development resources to design, create, and include a TON of stuff for you to open up and try. It's a great big starter kit to get you into universal iems and to help get that elusive seal PLUS comfort. I now have one set of tips on the Coppers that I like in my ears right now and I still see 15 other pairs in front of me. So, there should really be something that fits everyone in this set. There will probably still be a process of trying different tips and getting used to a set though...especially if this is your first universal iem.

I wasn't looking forward to the universal tip fitting process as it took months and all sorts of different tips to find some that I really liked with my first iems (IE8s) that also didn't adversely affect sound signature. I bought Auveos, Sony Hybrids, Comply, and also replacement tips from Sennheiser. Finally, I liked the "plastic foam" Sennheiser tips the best. Well, Monster includes a bunch of tips including those that are kind of a "plastic foam" with harder plastic sound tubes inside to lessen the dampening effect that foam can have on frequencies- they give you FIVE SIZES of this type. Because all of the tips are made for the Pro-Turbine line, they also actually FIT the nozzles. This should not be underestimated as a benefit. Many of us were worried about breaking the plastic nozzle off of the IE8 while trying out other brand tips. These tips fit and are easy to put onto the METAL nozzles. This reduces stress and you kind of want to try all the tips to see what they sound and feel like. (Putting the triple flanges on are the most difficult but not that bad and you aren't going to break the metal housing.)

My favorite tips are the extra small and small ones, I rotated around with them and liked them all at different times.

A BIG pet peeve of mine is buying a pair of sunglasses for $200 and getting a cheap case that SQUEEZES the glasses in and bends the arms. Really??? So I made sure that you can ACTUALLY fit the iems in each of the cases plus some other stuff. Why 2 cases? Well, I love it...the one with magnetic flap for the iems and the 1/4" adapter in the pocket. The other, fabric with metal spring-clasp pouch fits all of the tips while you are trying to figure out how big the holes in your ears are. After you narrow it down you also have the choice of using a supplied tip holder. Then you can put an extension cable or storage cards in the spring-clasp pouch.

I personally have a bunch of little black nylon zipper-pouches that I got as product sample prototypes at my day job and can tell what is in them by feel. Monster offers a cool solution to the "useless case phenomenon" with the two cases. (They could have made the magnetic flap pouch thinner, it takes up unnecessary space in the pocket with its padding... These are metal iems with a great warranty. That combo already makes them portable and tough enough!)

The iems come with two small Velcro cable ties. Most people will lose them the first day. I really like having them but the two sides aren't stitched together so the hook and loop sides are coming apart at the glue. Need superglue or stitching.

Cable? Thicker than many, but kind of spring-loaded. Would make it more difficult to wear cable "over the ear", I would think. (I like them worn down. At first they feel like they aren't in that securely but I am used to them now.) I did hear some microphonics (rubbing noise transmitted through the cable) which I didn't used to notice that much in iems but now that I listen for it I do hear it...so I attached the clip and haven't noticed it much since.

Ear guides are adjustable wire with matching copper and color coded for right/left. I wasn't able to really get these to hold tips for a good seal but I don't have problems without them, thankfully.

Because these iems prefer a lighter seal and shallower insertion than some iems, I don't know if I could run in them. They are lighter than they look but unless there is memory wire and they are worn over the ear, I find iems a bit difficult to run with.

Fit and finish and overall quality are surprisingly good for everything in the box. You feel like they tried to deliver everything. And, if you like the sound signature and presentation that I described, then they did.

For around $219 on Amazon currently, I think this could be a great way to get into universal iems. The experience of getting tips to fit and sound good can be trying and is a learning experience. This system gives you everything you should need to go through that process, keep it all organized, and carry it with you.


WRAP UP:

If you don't want to feel like you are missing anything in bass, mids, treble, tips, iem construction (minus the driver flexing), carrying cases, experience of owning a high-end iem "system", and enjoy a pleasing speaker sound...you should love these. If you don't like a good amount of bass and warmth though, you might be better suited to a pair of iems that have a different "flavor" or presentation. Remember that the Coppers are pretty revealing and can be improved or tuned by source or amp!

HAVE FUN on your journey to great sound.

I just got the coppers a few days ago and love them. The packaging was very nice with a great selection of ear pieces. The foam fit me the best. I have not tried any of the other turbines but these sound amazing. This is my first pair of high quality IEM headphones and they just change the way all music sounds. I have listened to everything from classical, Latin guitar, rock to rap. Great bass, highs and lows. Crisp clean sound. I only have probably 4 hours of break in time but as I've read in other reviews they might get even better with time.

As a fan of audio gear and owner of several high-end headphones, I was selected to be one of the reviewers of the Monster Turbine Pro Copper iems. The design goal of these headphones is high accuracy/fidelity, which might not appeal to bassheads, fans of euphonic music, etc. but it is fine with me. In my opinion any added emphasis of some frequency range not mixed in by the audio engineer is not intended to be in the music, and so takes away from the aesthetic experience as intended by the artist and audio professionals.

I own several quality iems, including the original Turbines, Klipsch Custom 3 and Shure SE530 which I used as reference for evaluating the sound of the Coppers. The Coppers have noticeably more refined bass and much greater detail than the original Turbines, which cost about half as much. So I compared them to the Klipsch and Shure iems, two well-loved and well-reviewed iems with dual and triple armatures that cost considerably more than the Turbine Coppers.

With regards to their comfort and fit, they come packaged with an impressive number of silicon eartips, silicon tips with gel and foam eartips with what appears to be a silicon center ('supertips'), which make it easy to find a matching size for your ear canal. I normally use silicon tips because they are very easy to insert, but I found that the small foam tips could also be inserted without compressing them first, which makes them just as easy to insert as silicon tips. These tips seem to distribute pressure over a larger area, giving them a light touch that was very comfortable. The foam tips also block noise almost completely, which offered good isolation on a long airplane trip. The center posts of the Turbines (original and Copper) are rather large, so they weren't quite as comfortable as my other iems.

To evaluate their performance, I used both an iPod (Touch 3g & Nano 1g) and a uDac dac/amp. My full-sized headphone amplifiers have written warnings against using iems, so I used low-power sources intended for portable headphones & iems. I used a variety of tracks that test the technical abilities of headphones and their ability to convey the pure bliss of music. These included rock albums by Death from Above, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Wolfmother, Broken Social Scene, a jazz album by Dexter Gordon, classical music by Mozart, and electronic music by Goldfrapp and Boards of Canada.

The standout feature of the Coppers is their extension both in bass and treble. Their bass has much more presence and impact than the Custom 3 & SE530, but is also well defined and controlled. This makes drums more noticeable in rock and electronic tracks, and while sometimes intense, they were usually better proportioned than the other iems that were slightly lacking in deep bass. For example, in tracks by Death From Above, the double kick drum is more audible and crisp, while it sounds a little more than a low rumble with the other iems.

The treble is also noticeably more extended on the Coppers. Compared to the other iems, there is considerable clarity and detail in the upper registers of music. For example, there are drum brushes in Dexter Gordon's Ballads that I barely noiced on the SE530 that became vivid and clear on the Coppers. However, I found that the additional treble could get a bit intense on certain tracks. In the same track by Death From Above where the bass drum had improved, there are relentless cymbals that were at times sharp. But on balance, I felt that the treble and bass were better on the Coppers than the Custom 3 & SE530, which sounded relatively narrow and limited in their extension.

The extension of the Coppers gave them a more open and expansive sound, and on tracks with heavy instrumentation, individual instruments and voices could be heard more distinctly. In an album by Broken Social Scene with over a dozen musicians, the SE530 obscured some details that I could hear clearly on the Turbines. And far from making the Coppers sound 'clinical', these details made many songs more blissful. For example, in Wolfmother's White Unicorn, as drums, bass, electric guitar and vocals build and layer over each other, each detail is presented with sense of clarity and crisp intensity that gave me chills on the Coppers. In comparison, the same song sounded relatively constrained and congested on the Custom 3.

One area where the SE530 pulled ahead was in the presentation of middle frequencies. In Yeah Yeah Yeah's Pin, the early guitar solo is much more forward on the Shures, and seems a bit distant and airy on the Coppers. Here I preferred the sound of the Shures, but in other cases, the two were different but equally good. With classical music, there is a similar trade-off, where the Coppers emphasize the sound of the symphony and the space of the concert hall in Mozart's Requiem, but the Shures seem to favor the voices in choir and strings. In electronic music, the Turbines similarly emphasize bass, keyboards and cymbals while the Shures emphasise the voices.

On balance, I think the Coppers do a better job with the bass and treble, beat out the Custom 3 across the board and they are edged out by the SE530 in the mids. After several weeks of close listening, the limitations of my beloved Shures became more obvious and I grew to appreciate the strengths of the Turbine Coppers. While the Coppers do not beat them in every area, overall they are on par with what I consider to be one of the very best universal iems and they have very impressive sound quality for an iem that costs a little more than half the price.

i bought these headphones on sale just slightly north of $200, a good price for this pair. first off these are made of metal thus are heavy, not for jogging or any kind of physical activity. build quality is top notch as are the accessories that come with it. my comparison for this pair will be the original monster turbine and the ultimate ears triple.fi.

the coppers have the same sound signature as the original turbines but more refined, though the highs and mids are a bit recessed and the bass is full and powerful. the highs and mids, though recessed, sound very smooth and well defined without the minor shrill and blurring of the highs as are in the original turbines. the amount of detail is extraordinary, as if john coltrane himself is seated about 8 feet in front of you wailing on his horn. the bass, on the other hand, is powerful and full. more bass than the original turbines but not boomy. each bass note is defined and not individually overpowering. the lower bass octave as a whole is powerful and complete but can not be considered a 'bass-head' earphones.

the triple.fis have a different sound signature. the sound stage is broader and over all more smooth sounding compared to the coppers. the highs on the triple.fis are sparkly but not too bright. the mids are a bit recessed but otherwise good sounding. the bass is full and deep, not as powerful as the coppers but still very warm with good impact.

keep in mind a thorough burn-in process is highly recommended for an IEM with dynamic drivers, at least several days. you initial reaction to earing the coppers without a proper burn-in with be one of grave disappointment. all bass, over powering bass, and very recessed sound. also the three compared IEMs are of top tier headphones and should not be compared to stock earbuds or othewise crappy headphones of the skullcandy variety. in light of above stated differences, these three headphones are in fact still far superior to earbuds and/or any crappy headphones that one might find at your local cell phone superstore. having said that, steer clear of the monster beats tour and the jamz, just dreadful. cheers, rosco

This is a shortened version of my review from Head-Fi.

Intro/Packaging:

The doorbell rang. I saw the FedEx truck leave, so I walked out the door to see if a package had come. Strange. A medium sized box with Monster written on it. Could it really be the Lady Gaga Heartbeats I've been wanting for ages!? I quickly bring the packing in, and take a knife at the box to open it. Much to my dismay, it was not the lovely Heartbeats. Instead, even better. A pair of Turbine Pro Copper Editions! I was chosen to review these for FREE. (Thanks!) Despite this, I'll try to be as unbiased as possible. To be honest, I had low expectations for these after being disappointed with the Beats. Even more so by the Solos. Don't get me wrong, the Beats sound "okay", but nowhere near the asking price. I'd certainly buy them for $75. I'd have liked some accuracy and neutrality, and some good dampening. And the bass to actually reach 20hz on a frequency response graph. I'd like to think the Beats Pro are much better. If they improved the driver and dampened it properly, I'm sure they are, and I'd like to hear them. Monster, are you listening? J The Solos however, depress me, mostly because I know Monster can make a better sounding headphone. I wonder how they'd do if properly dampened though. I'd like to hear them. Anyways, if Monster does as well with its full sized headphones as they've done with the Coppers, they'll surely lose that stigma.

Beautiful packaging, and the famed quote, "Life is too short to listen to bad headphones." is all too true. Once the box is opened--it comes with a very nice smell--, you see the Coppers in all their glory with a very nice magnetic flap case. Under the magnetic case is another magnetic pouch-case. I probably could have done without the "For Audiophiles and Audio Professionals Only" phrase on the other case. Sounds too condescending and snobby to a normal user like me. Like that Acura commercial. "This is a tube amp! It has gas in the tubes!" The point of a vacuum tube is that it is a vacuum. If there were gas, I'd duck and cover. That tube would blow up faster than a slug injected with salt. And that's pretty fast mind you. I would like the Jolida amp used though. I'd also like to have a review sample of each of their cars.

Under the velvet lined top portion, you find everything else you need. You find the awesome Supertips, a new innovation by Monster; it comes in foam-silicone hybrid and gel filled silicone. You also have some normal silicone tips, and some triple-flange tips. There's a--unnecessary, in my opinion--cleaning cloth too. I don't see the purpose because the Coppers are miniscule, but why not right? There's also a nice shirt clip, a necessity, and a really snazzy 6.3mm adapter for those who want to use them in their receivers or headphone amp. There's also a really cool tip holder. And there are manuals. Obviously. The earpieces are pretty weighty in your hand, but when worn, you barely notice them on. I honestly expected them to fall off, surprisingly, they hold up well. The cable joiner has a pretty cool rubber section that I know has a use, but I haven't really found it out yet. I was told I had to say something about the "cable management system". This is actually just a pair of Velcro strips. They could be convenient if you weren't absentminded like me, but I personally don't find much use to them except as something to lose.

Build Quality:

Put simply, these are pretty well made. In bigger words, this is a two-piece earpiece made of metal. Despite being named Coppers, these are not actually made of copper. Don't think that they are going to turn green on you, they're just plated with copper color. The cable is pretty beefy, flexible, and tangle resistant, but it's somewhat microphonic and has a bit of memory. The strain reliefs going into the earpiece are really well made, but the strain relief to the plug could be a bit better, nothing to complain about though. The "turbine" slits on the earpiece seem to be overkill, but they look nice and don't seem like they'll break off.

First impressions:

I tried every tip on these and the foam Supertips gave the best seal and least tradeoffs in sound, in my opinion. I'll post my thoughts on each tip in the actual review.

Okay, so as giddy as a schoolgirl (I`ve never understood that simile to be quite honest), I plug these in my HTC HD2. I was too lazy to look for my iPod. The first album I played was Like A Virgin Losing A Child by Manchester Orchestra, a band (Think Modest Mouse, but with more emotional lyrics with biblical allusions) that really should be getting more fame.

The first thing I noticed after making a good fit was "This has pretty good head stage." Wolves at Night's drumstick clap intro had amazing positioning for an IEM. It was like I could almost measure the exact distance. Guitars have decent, not great crunch to them, vocals are forward but lack body. It's like the singer is suspended in the air. I Can Feel Your Pain is a simple vocal/acoustic guitar song. The key to portraying this song right is to convey the emotion in Andy Hull's voice, which I don't feel the Coppers do. The guitar does have really good timbre and tone though. Where Have You Been sounded pretty good. The drums have good impact, vocals are much better than the previous song. The power in Andy's voice is finally shown. Guitars seem to be less "there". They began to sound recessed. Again, headstage is wonderful. I Can Barely Breathe wonderfully shows how great the headstage is. Andy is about three feet from me to the left. I understand most of you people on Amazon and Monster reading this will think I'm insane, but trust me, that's how great positioning is with a perfect fit. Detail is also one of the highlights. Breaths are easy to recognize, along with swallowing, which also sounds weird, but you guys know what I mean. Vocals and guitars are more of the same. The drums seem to take a back seat though. There are some incomprehensible words at the end though which slightly upsets me. Golden Ticket has nothing new worth saying, except the end where Andy seems to walk away from the microphone. Positioning again is great. Don't Let Them See You Cry is, like I Can Feel Your Pain, is a vocal/acoustic song. Emotion is actually shown in this song. Don't know what changed, but I like it. I like placebo. Placebo is good. Like $100,000 cables. Placebo is good.

In short, mids and highs are pretty decent. Lows shine on these. Detail is great, head stage is pretty good.

Okay, so long first impressions right? Time for actual review. For this review, I'm using three different sources. An HTC HD2, A Sony A726, and an iPod Video 5th Gen. The HD2 is, frankly, nothing special. There isn't really enough power to fully appreciate these, and the mids are thin. Bass has a nasty dip with these, most likely because of power constraints. The Sony A726 is a warm sounding player with nice soundstage. For you laymen, a warm sound is a boosted low and lower mid frequencies. And the iPod, despite what most anti-Apple people say, sounds decent. Now, I have no Apple bias, on the contrary in fact, but these have one of the flattest frequency responses I've heard in a digital audio player. There will be no headphone amp used for two reasons. First (For you Head-Fi folk) is because most people have never heard of a headphone amplifier, so I don't really want to confuse the people reading this on Amazon and Monster. Second, probably more paramount, I broke mine. Whoops. As an aside, did you know that "whoops" is an actual term in the Word dictionary? Anyways, I burned these in for 100 hours. Now, I'm not really a believer of burn in, more of "brain in", but I figured I might as well to please all of you. Anything else? No? Well on to the review!

...Hold on a sec. You might me wondering what kind of sound I'm used to and expecting from these. My reference that I can readily compare to is the AKG K271, a neutral headphone. I really like a mid forward sound with bass being the last thing I nit pick about because I'm not really a fan of huge bass. I've never gotten the point of having an earthquake in your head. If you want an earthquake in your head, I have some fireworks I need to get rid of. I'll provide instructions. BUT WAIT, I'll give them to you for free if you put me in your will. Anyways, I know this is probably a rather long review, so I'll try to make it as entertaining as I (a soulless boy with nothing to look forward but despair, not really. Just wanted to see if you`d make a double take. I`m pretty sure you did. I just saw you read that again. Big brother sees EVERYTHING.) can.

This review isn't meant to be the end-all definitive review, as I just don't have enough experience to do that. This is more of my personal view on these more than anything. If you disagree, fine. I'd like to know how you have the same hearing as me. And if you don't like my review, cool, you write one that impresses everyone (and I mean Every. Single. Person.) and then you can flame me. But if you have issues with my grammar, please tell me what I did wrong. I'd like to improve on that.

Review:

I'll be exploring quite a few genres in this review to try to cover everyone's preferences. I know well that I can't get everything, so sorry about that. And I've been in a school band since 4th grade, so I know what instruments are supposed to sound like and how quickly/slowly they decay. And this review will feature the iPod headphone out as the source because of its neutrality. I'll post snippets of how the others sound too. And all music is 256kbps and up. Caveat, everything I say is FOR AN IEM. Especially the soundstage. I'm used to almost no soundstage with iems. I would not be surprised if a full size headphone of the same price wiped the floor with them. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if these wiped the floor with some other manufacturers' high end headphones. Not like Bose or the Beats, the Coppers just laugh at them and do the, "Hey, what's that on your shirt?" "What?" *flick* trick. Skullcandy? What? Skullcandy ingests fecal matter don't talk to me again. I'm talking about Audio Technica, AKG, Beyerdynamic, Denon, Grado, maybe not so much Hifiman, Sennheiser, Sony, and Yamaha`s older orthodynamic headphones, actually scratch that last one. Don't want any ninjas at my door. That's probably more of a Head-Fi joke than anything...


Highs: These do highs great, in their own way. Now, there are quite a few bases to judge highs, and different types of treble. Well in my view anyways. Rock needs a good bit of treble energy for aggression. Classical needs, or at least likes, treble that extends to dolphin ranges while being refined and smooth. Maybe a bit exaggerated, but I'm here to entertain you instead of boring you. Electronic and pop likes treble that's a bit of both. More leaning towards rock, but without as much aggression. The Coppers do all of these well. But not perfectly. They don't go infinitely high for classical music, but they make up for that by being incredibly smooth and for the most part, unfatiguing. They can be slightly aggressive for rock music when the song calls for it though, which is quite impressive.

Mids: My favorite part of the spectrum. This is where the magic happens. This is the backbone of music. This is...Sparta? ("Nice magic three" I hope you grammar people are thinking. I couldn't really think of one for the last one, so I reused an old meme. Hope that`s okay.) The mids on the Coppers are admittedly forward, just how I like it. Vocals are conveyed really well, along with instruments in the same frequency range. If anything is precedent in the Coppers, the mids may well be it.

Bass: This is probably what most of you were waiting for, sadly. The bass in the Coppers is more than I'm used to. There's something special about these. The bass is polite when the recording calls for tight and fast bass. The bass can also be thunderous yet quick when the recording calls for it. These probably have some of the best controlled bass out of all the universal iems. Please take note on the word PROBABLY. I haven't heard nearly enough to make a guess that bold, but just to express my enthusiasm of the bass.

Soundstage: So to have PROPER soundstage, you need a lot of air for the drivers. Iems just aren't able to do that, so I don't expect any out of head sound for these. Thankfully, I was wrong, to an extent. They don't have huge soundstage, in an absolute scale, but they have great soundstage for an iem.

Detail: For $400, I expect to know if a saxophone player is wearing a corduroy shirt. Not really, but I expect to hear some micro-details. I don't think I heard enough to justify the price tag, but I heard some details that I didn't hear in others. Some whispers were hearable, but in a "What was that?" way. You could hear them, but not make out what was being said. It made me feel kind of sad and left thinking my hearing's not that hot.

Decay: Decay, for you non-music savvy people, is how fast the vibrations an instrument causes to stop. Decay on the Coppers is about a bit better than average. Not completely realistic, nor do I expect them to for an iem.

Sibilance: Pretty much no sibilance. If you'd like the "ssss" sound, give me your address. I might have a snake for you.

Isolation: Pretty decent. I was able to mow the lawn while listening to these and not hear the lawn mower. Provided you listen to aggressive music. Don't expect to not hear anything while listening to mellow acoustic music.

PRaT: These have a good amount of it.

I think that's basically it.

Basic sound: If any of you read a review saying these are neutral, they are most likely bassheads. Or there are discrepancies with the sound of the different Coppers between batches. I hope it's the former. The bass is a good bit more than neutral headphones should have, and the mids are pretty forward. These are not neutral, in my opinion. These are purely fun headphones, no way around that. Etymotics are my basis of neutral (only heard the ER6is though), and apparently the head Monster used the ER4s as a reference, There isn't all that much they have in common. For example, the treble on the Coppers is smooth (really pleasant) whereas Etys' treble is almost anything but. You can also hear some veil in some songs. Not too sure whether it's the recording or the Coppers though. One more thing, these like to be turned up loud to perform their best. Probably more of a bad thing than good.

Tips:
There were many different tips that came with the Coppers. I'll be illustrating the differences with words.

Silly con: Your basic tip. The sound is pretty average with these, nothing particularly special or bad.

Silly con tri phlangee: I really don't like inserting these in my ear. I feel violated whenever I insert something longer than a fingernail inside me, which only happens for iems, mind you. And they hurt. These are for maximum isolation, obviously. They are farthest inserted into the ear and make a deeper seal. The soundstage is wider, with the expense of sounding more distant (dur dur dur?) Well I mean everything sounds more hazy, but resonance of the lower frequencies is more prolonged. Vocals sound veiled though. Like those cliché running-on-a-treadmill-with-something-cool-in-front-of-you things. Imagine Diana Krall backpedaling just a tiny bit faster than you can run while singing to you. That's pretty much what's going on. Not that that made any sense to most of you.

Jello-silly con Sooperteep: Alright, so this is one of Monster's innovative (teehee, I sound like a PR agent. Maybe not "innovative", but pretty cool) new tips. The silicone gel hybrid if you cringed trying to read the title. It's your average silicone tip with some gel injected inside them. I couldn't get an optimal fit until I spent about half an hour messing with it. Provided you have a good seal, they sound bassier than the other provided tips, at expense of the closed in soundstage.

Foam-silicon Supertip: Couldn't think of any spelling play for this sadly. These are my preferred tip for the Coppers. They are the tip and the shaft of a silicone tip wrapped with foam that does not need compression. They have the best combination of the frequencies and have the least amount of drawbacks to the sound. The bass was a bit more prevalent in these than the Monster and Ultimate Ears silicone

Ultimate Ears silicone: These tips are pretty good, my second favorite of all the tips I have. They make the Coppers the most balanced out of all the tips, and the soundstage is the largest while preventing the echo-y effect from the triple flanges.

Comply tips: Ick, the bass is disgustingly huge and mixes in with the mids. Good if you're a hardcore basshead, but if you're one of those, skip these in entirety and get Beats. Treble is harsh.

Comparisons:

Ultimate Ears Super.fi 4: This isn't really a fair review because they cost me less than one tenth of the price of the Coppers` retail price. There isn't really any comparison. The Coppers do everything much better, probably not 1000 times better though. I'm not really going to waste time comparing them. In short, the SF4's mids sound grainy, bass is unrefined, and treble...is actually not that bad. Not good, but not horrible.

AKG K271: So, a $200 (retail price) full size headphone against the $400 (retail price) iems. Amped from my receiver, the mids on the K271 absolutely smoke the Coppers. The K271's mids are so smooth and entrancing where as the Coppers' mids seem almost grainy in comparison. Valiant effort though against the king (again, in my opinion) of closed headphone mids under $200. Treble is where it gets interesting. I prefer the smoothness of the Coppers in comparison to the K271's detailed but nothing special treble that`s a bit rolled off. Bass is where the Coppers easily win. The K271s just don't do deep (I'm talking 40hz and down) bass. What's there is pretty good. Detailed, and tight, but the Coppers' is an improvement in every way. Soundstage is kind of hard. K271's is a bit bigger than the Coppers', but is more smeared. However, the Copper's soundstage is almost annoyingly small in comparison. If this sounds hypocritical from the review, it isn't. Remember I said FOR AN IEM? Yeah, they have large-ish soundstage for an iem, but in general, not really. Detail and timbre, the K271s win. No explanation needed. These are studio headphones, so they better have won. Still couldn't hear the corduroy shirt though.

Conclusion:

Okay, so for the two of you that read this far down, I applaud you. The Coppers are a great pair of iems, there isn't too much to fault about them, and what is faulted is almost negligible. That being said, at $400, it's a princely sum to pay, and I'd be a bit annoyed if I paid $400 for these. They're great, amazing in fact, but not the end all in ear monitor.

I'd again like to thank Monster for giving me the opportunity to review these!

Peace!

I consider myself an entry level audiophile (if there is such a thing) and have listened to many different brands of IEMs through the years looking for "my perfect sound" and have finally settled on the Copper edition of the Monster Turbine Pros. I like good punchy bass when a song needs it, but I am not a bass head by any means. My preferred type of sound is one that is very clean from the highs to the lows with good sound stage. In my opinion the Coppers deliver this very well. I was blown away by the original Monster Turbines, which I own, and thought that it couldn't get much better without spending $1000's on top end equipment. But I was blown away yet again by the clarity and sound stage of the Coppers. They are amazing! They have had between 40 and 50 hours of burn in time and the sound keeps improving.

That being said I do realize that the "perfect sound" for anyone is subject to many variables like the individual's ears, music tastes, audio sources, cables, DACs and amps to name a few. Personally, I run the Coppers through a Mac Book Pro hooked up to an external USB DAC/AMP FiiO E7 and I really enjoy the quality of the sound that comes through.

Normally, with cheaper head sets and low quality digital sources I had to turn up the volume to get my perceived better sound, but with better digital sources (Apple lossless and FLAC) along with the external DAC and amp and the Coppers, the sound is perfect for me. I can keep the volume fairly low and still get the great sound that I want. It's awesome! I just sit back and smile and find myself lost in music from the likes of Blue Stone, Rush and Delain. I often find myself turning around thinking that someone is talking behind me only to find that no one is there.

I highly recommend the Coppers.

I have this earphone for almost 6 months now, I use it with my iPhone 4, and I'm very satisfied with it. It sounds better everyday, vocal is good, bass is amazing. The list price is quite expensive for me, so I bought the open box version from authorized reseller for an amazing price. This earphone has counterfeit everywhere, so make sure you buy from authorized reseller.