Monster Turbine High-Performance In-Ear Speakers

Other products by Monster

Product Details

• Item Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001LNO722
• Item model number: MH TRB IE
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (81 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 2, 2008

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The World's Best-Sounding Earphones?

Monster Turbine In-Ear Speakers: Built for The Love of Music

At Monster, we love music. But we're not just fans, we're also audiophiles and sound professionals. We're fueled by a passion to get the best sound possible, so we're constantly developing cutting-edge technologies in search of perfect sound reproduction. With Monster Turbines, we've redefined the performance of in-ear headphones. Turbines represent state-of-the-art engineering, designed to deliver your favorite music with incredible accuracy and natural sound.

Life is Too Short to Listen to Bad Headphones

These days, we spend a lot of time listening to music with headphones. Every minute you spend enjoying your music should be the best it can be, but ordinary headphones can't deliver the rich dynamics, full range, and emotional impact of your favorite music.

Sound So Incredible, We Had to Call Them In-Ear Speakers

Monster Turbines truly deliver the big sound, power, and clarity that you'd expect from full size high-end speakers. That's why we had to call them speakers, not headphones.

Bass So Deep, it Sounds Like There's a Subwoofer

Unlike other headphones that can't reproduce deep bass, Monster Turbines accurately reproduce even the lowest bass notes without distortion. You'll hear thunderous low-end for incredible sound with every kind of music, from the thumping bass beats of hip hop tracks to the deepest pipe organ notes in classical compositions.

Less Noise, More Music

We live in a noisy world that can interfere with your listening. Monster Turbines include multiple sound isolating eartips to give you a perfect fit that seals out unwanted noise for a pure listening experience.

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A Personal Message From the Head Monster

"Hi music lovers, this is Noel Lee, The Head Monster. Let me take a few minutes to talk about how Turbines came to be, our Monster design philosophy, and the unique approach we took to engineer the sound that you will hear with Turbines.

We're Passionate About Audio

I founded Monster Cable because I was passionate about music and getting the best sound possible. At Monster, we're all critical audiophiles and music lovers, and we want you to experience every nuance of your favorite music whether it's hip hop, jazz, vocals, classical, or rock. We want you to feel the full impact of seeing a live concert.

The "Little Monster" Kevin Lee and Kevin Karth walks you through Monster Turbine's features

Our Monsterous Design Approach

Our design approach to headphones is that they must reproduce everything that full size speakers can. Today, people aren't listening to speakers because we're all listening to headphones with our portable media players. We wanted to deliver the same sound that recording engineers, performers, and producers hear in the studio on their big wide-range monitor speakers, with a compact in-ear headphone design.

The Head Monster's Audio Specifications

These days, it seems like everybody publishes a bunch of specifications for their headphones, numbers that are for practical purposes, meaningless. For instance, most headphones have a frequency response rated at 20-20,000Hz. But all headphones sound different, so what good is that spec? Because we're passionate about audio here at Monster, I'd like to share what my specs are for great sound, for things like frequency response and dynamic range, and what we've achieved with Monster Turbine In-Ear Speakers.

Overall: We wanted Turbines to be able to reproduce EVERY detail of the music. Firstly, we engineered Turbines to present a balanced, smooth frequency response without the peaks and valleys typical of other headphones, where some things are overemphasized to the point of fatigue.

Low Frequency Response: The impact of low-end bass needs to be like a great subwoofer. Many headphones can't handle the low frequencies of an organ pedal note or the deep bass you hear in today's hip hop music. We engineered Turbines to deliver extended low frequency sound at real life volumes, without any distortion. You'll hear and feel the impact of a foot pedal of hitting the bass drum head.

Midrange Frequency Response: This is where vocals and most instrument fundamentals are reproduced. Vocalists need to sound like they're in the room with you: clear, clean, unobstructed, and uncolored, real, and live. The body of acoustic instruments must sound natural, as they do in real life. Turbines are precisely tuned to reproduce the natural timber of every performer's instrument and voice.

High Frequency Response: Everything must be as clear as a bell: all the details of delicate percussive sounds, such as the crisp ring of a triangle, to a drumstick crashing a cymbal. You have to be able to hear the "air" in the room. Those of you who are real audiophiles will notice Turbines deliver more sense of space, air, and openness than any other headphones in the world.

Full Range Dynamics and Efficiency: The Monster Turbines sound incredible, with any MP3 player. Most MP3 players don't have the power to drive today's in-ear headphones to life-like levels. The efficiency of the Turbine driver lets you experience the full dynamic range from the delicate sounds of the softest violin to the boom of the loudest kettle drum. The "attack" and dynamics of Turbines is first rate. You'll hear every detail even at low volumes, with full dynamic peaks without compression or distortion.

Transient Response: Lastly there's what we call the bite of the music, what gives it the "you are there" feeling. The incredible speed of the Turbine driver lets it respond with perfect accuracy when the music tells it to, so you'll hear everything that's there, and nothing that isn't.

So music lovers, sit back and relax, and enjoy the sound that comes from the advanced engineering, the care, and the passion that we put into Turbines. When you listen to your favorite music with Turbines, I'll bet it will sound as though you were listening to it for the first time again.

Good listening, and may you always hear the music. Remember, life's too short to listen to bad headphones!

Best,
Noel Lee, The Head Monster"

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What 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

Product Description

Unlike other headphones that can’t reproduce deep bass, Monster Turbines accurately reproduce even the lowest bass notes without distortion. You’ll hear thunderous low-end for incredible sound with every kind of music, from the thumping bass beats of hip hop tracks to the deepest pipe organ notes in classical compositions.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Impressive BUT... Quality will vary depending on your device, January 12, 2009

By	Mahlers2nd "Mommy of Many Interests" - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

Amazon Verified Purchase

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]

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My recommendation, March 20, 2009

By	Finn Christensen - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have had the opportunity to listen to the Monster Turbine for a month or so. In my experience the earphones I have purchased, especially the ones with dynamic drivers, they often need a certain amount of burn-in time before they reach their full potential. I have burned in the Monster with a mix of pink noise and a variety of music for around 100 hours before I started listening to them seriously.

In the past couple of years I have "collected" earphones in my search for the ultimate sound. I have used these to compare to the Monster Turbine and I have categorized them into three groups:
Lower budget earphones($15-40): Koss Sparkplug, Skullcandy Ink'd JVC HAFX66, JVC HAFX33, Sennheiser CX300, Soundmagic PL-30 and 12, Maximo IM-390. Mid budget earphones($50-90): Ultimate Ears Super fi.3, NUFORCE NE-7M, Denon 551, Shure E2c Crossroads mylarone Bijou 3 and Altec Lansing IM716. Upper budget earphones($100-200) Audeo PFE 112, Shure SE310, Q-Jays and Yuin OK2.

The music I have been listening to The Turbines with has been a mix of different artist and genres.
Classical rock (Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Eagles, Neil Young, The Doors, Dire Straits, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, Rush). Electronica (Infected Mushrooms, Daft Punks, Kraftwerk, Aphex Twins )
New wave/eighties music (Spandau Ballet, Lloyd Cole, Talking Heads, The Clash, New Order, Peter Gabriel). Alt.Rock ( Nirvana, REM, Pearl Jam, Coldplay, Smashing Pumkins, The Pixies). New Metal (Nightwish, Dream Theatre, Porcupine Three, Evanescence, Metallica). Female artists within Jazz/folk/opera ( Diana Krall, Kari Bremnes, Joni Mitchell, Sara Brightman) Jazz/fusion (John Mchauglin, Al di Meola, Andy Mckee, Charlie Parker John Coltrane, Pat Metheny) And many more..

My sources has primarily been a very portable Sansa Clip, a less portable Creative Zen Vision M and an old classic, but great sounding Rio Karma. Also PC with an internal creative soundcard, also been listening through USB D/A converter amped with an ibasso headphone amplifier.
I have on the portable primarily been listening to 192-320 lame mp3 or wma compressed files. On my PC I usually listen to FLAC lossless files.

The Monster Turbine comes in a very impressive, classy and well designed box, making them look like a much more expensive item. The build quality is as impressive as well. The Monsters metal housing has a sturdy, solid and smooth looking design and build. The build quality is in general much better than any of the earphones I'm comparing them with. It has been mentioned that the cable looks a little weak, but I have encountered no problems so far.

The supplied eartips works very well for me. I usually use medium sized eartips, but with the Turbines I get a decent fit with the small ones.
The same type of Shure eartips(small) fits me slightly better.
The large triple flange tips gives a great seal and isolation, but not as comfortable over an extended period of time.

Soundwise I will characterize the Monster Turbines as an bassy type of earphone, but also with very decent presentation of mid and higher frequencies.
The bass is in a total different league than any of the lower and mid budget earphones I'm referring to. It's definetely not bloated, muddy or over dominating the mid and higs, but the bass has great quality. It's very well defined with a nice airy and punchy sound that sounds great with electronica or rock type of music, where you may want to hear the lower frequencies being emphazised and presented in a dynamic and powerful way. It's a diffent quality of bass that you can hear with for instance the Audeo PFE or Q-Jays where the bass tends to have a more lean sound.

The mid frequencies are well presented in the Turbines. Many bass oriented earhones (basically any earphone below $100) lacks a decent mid representation or almost have none at all, but with the Turbines the voices of for instance Dina Krall or Joni Mitchell sounds very forward, natural and clear. This is something where I experienced that the Turbines really benefitted from the long time burn-in before they adjusted to this level.

The higher frequencies benefits from a burn-in time as well. The higs sounds clean and undistorted, maybe not as detailed as the PFE, IM716 or Q-Jays, but more pleasent to listen to if you are listening for a longer period of time.

The soundstage of the Turbines in width and depth is much better than most of the lower and mid budget earphones I have mentioned. It's pretty much close to the Audeo PFE, that I reckon has the widest soundstage of the ones I have heard.

The Monster Turbine is a very fun and enjoyable sounding earphone. The sound and build quailty is in any aspect way above any cheaper $15-70 earphone I have heard so far, so is it worth the price 2-4 times as much? I believe they are.
Comparing the Turbines to a pricely evenly match earphone like the Phonak Audeo, which today is regarded as one of the better earphones on the marked and by many regarded very close to high end earphones like Shure 530 or Sennheiser IE8. The Turbines may not be a detailed or accurate as the Phonak PFE, but I would say that enjoy both evenly for different reasons since they complement each other well. The details, tonal balance and soundstage of the Audeo PFE are prefered for some type of music or time of day.. The Monster Turbine with it's wonderful deep, punchy and subwoofer like bass and at the same time very smooth balanced mids and highs, is preferable for other types of music and moods.

If you enjoy the sound signature I been trying to describe and also listen to some of music I have mentioned, you won't be disapointed listening to the turbines. Defenitely a step up from budget earphones to a pleasent entry level of a Hi Fi(End) experience for your ears.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome sound on the go, January 22, 2009

By	Gen of www.LibraryOfEden.com (California) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Length:: 1:51 Mins

I'm a gardener by profession, so I listen to my MP3 player a LOT. I love that I can get concert-quality sound out in the field and while being active. The no-tangle wires actually work and save me a lot of hassle. I'm very glad I got them!