About the manufacturer
Monster Cables Products – this is very popular in the US and Europe, but not the most famous manufacturer of high-quality audio equipment in Russia. The company was founded by design engineer Noel Lee in 1978 and is currently one of the most respected among music lovers and audiophiles brand, competing with the largest representatives of the industry.
Until recently, the Russian market remained outside the zone of Monster’s interests, but now the situation is changing for the better, and we are particularly pleased that the Monster representative office in Russia suggested that the Layfhaker editorial staff test their products and give it an objective assessment.
Classic vs Bluetooth
Very often you can hear arguments about the superiority of one or another type of connection, and so we wanted to better understand what is lost and what the user wins by choosing between Bluetooth and wires. To do this, we decided to test the line of sports headphones Monster iSport: wired iSport Victory (7 790 rubles in the official store) and Bluetooth-headphones iSport Super Slim (11 590 rubles in the official store).
Selected headphones are almost identical in design and have similar characteristics, which was confirmed during the tests. For this reason, we will talk about two headphones as one device in cases where both models showed themselves identically, and if there are any differences, we will specify them separately.
Headphones – this is a very isolated category of personal audio equipment with high demands on sound quality and ease of wearing. When it comes to sports headphones, then such an accessory should be just perfect.
Sharp movements in any direction and an aggressive external environment are not the best conditions for the work of the device, whose duties include the comfortable translation of music into the human ear. The shape and size of the auricle, as everyone knows, are all different. That’s why picking up suitable headphones for sports is so difficult. We appreciated how well Monster iSport adapts to different ears.
About design and ergonomics
Both models iSport are made in the form factor “plugs” with additional locks, in the role of which are elastic silicone spacers.
Headphones are not afraid of sweat and moisture, calmly withstanding watering. The coating material does not become slippery when wet, making sure the headphones sit securely throughout the workout, even when you sweat.
The set includes spacers of three sizes and five pairs of gauges of different diameters.
We specifically selected two testers: a male with typical male ears and a girl with neat miniature ears. As a result, the largest spacers and the fourth-largest gags were at the time a man, and the second-sized gags with the smallest braces approached the girl.
It can be concluded that the range of sizes is sufficient for comfortable wearing by both the man and the woman.
The spacer is gently placed in the recess of the auricle and literally after a minute of wearing it completely ceases to be felt.
Either we were lucky, or the struts are really anatomically thought out and exactly repeat the contours of the average ear. The pressure on the auricle is evenly distributed evenly. The headphones themselves are very good at this, they do not fly out and do not lose their vacuum effect even when jumping with a rope.
In addition to replaceable plugs and spacers, both models include a cover made of bulk porous material. The wireless iSport Super Slim also has a rather long USB charging cable.
About wires
Unfortunately, the excellent ergonomics of the headphones is smeared not by the most successful execution of the connecting cable of the Bluetooth model iSport Super Slim. To the three-button control panel there are no complaints, but it seemed to us that the wire is too rigid and constantly strives to twist.
The length clamp allows to achieve an optimal position of the wire on the neck, but the loop that forms while doing this does not hang freely, but flexes arbitrarily.
We are sure, if you wire a little softer, this would not happen.
The wire model iSport Victory, by contrast, is characterized by an excessively thin “noodles”. We did not test it for strength, but the sensation does not seem to be able to withstand a strong short-term pull.
In plus wire iSport Victory there is an additional clothespin-clamp, resistance to tangling and extreme ease.
The control panel is the same here as in the wireless model. Three buttons for controlling volume and playback.
The plug iSport Victory is executed qualitatively, correctly and richly. In our experience, the L-shaped form extends the lifetime of the wire approximately three-fold, preventing the junction from the plug from kinks. As a corrosion protection, gold plating on the contacts is used.
About Dimensions
Make a compact wired headphones can everyone, but Bluetooth headsets often sin unjustifiably large dimensions. The manufacturer needs somewhere to place the battery and other parts, which, in fact, make the construction cumbersome. If the headphones are too bulging, then wearing them together with the headdress is uncomfortable, and sometimes it is simply impossible.
According to our measurements, iSport Super Slim protrude from the ear for no more than its own thickness of the earpiece, that is, only 5 millimeters, and the overall streamlined design makes it comfortable to wear headphones with a hat and even a helmet.
About sound
Both models of iSport use technology under the marketing name Pure Monster Sound. We do not know what it is, but we can evaluate the results of the technical research of the company’s engineers. The headphones produce a very clean, balanced sound with deep bottoms, and the wireless model, as it seemed to us, the basses are slightly more saturated.
The power is enough with a large margin, when listening through a smartphone at a loudness of more than 50-60% of the maximum there is frank discomfort.
The soundproofing works remarkably in both directions, but the iSport Super Slim wireless model blocks the surrounding sounds noticeably better.
Too good soundproofing can be a problem when playing sports near the roadway, so we recommend wired iSport Victory for bike rides and other activities in the city, while iSport Super Slim is more suitable for training in safe areas of the city and in indoors.
Outside Sports
Sports headphones are called such only because they are able to work in extreme conditions without compromising comfort and convenience. These same features allow them to act as ordinary headphones for every day. If it is convenient for you to run and jump in them, then just sit or go – even more so.
Problems can arise only with prolonged wearing, and therefore we conducted an experiment with a continuous four-hour listening to calm music in both models of headphones. There were no negative consequences in the process and at the end of the test. The experiment could be continued, but the charge of wireless iSport Super Slim lasts a maximum of 4.5-5 hours. For training this time will suffice with an excess, but for daily long listening to music without surprises it is better to take wired iSport Victory or to buy a portable battery.
Winner
It’s time to take stock and choose the best model of Monster iSport headphones.
Both candidates showed an equally high level of comfort when wearing and compatibility with ear shells of different shapes and sizes.
At the same time, iSport Super Slim has an excessively stiff connecting cable that goes into the minus device, but the seemingly too thin “noodle” of wired iSport Victory is just an unproven assumption, which can not be considered an objective drawback.
Bluetooth-headphones by default win wired in mobility, and in this case freedom is achieved even without damaging the dimensions of the accessory. For this iSport gets its two pluses.
Wires can constrain movement and are prone to breaks and breakages, but the combination of a successful plug shape and additional wire fixing improves the life of wired iSport Victory. Put here a minus does not raise the hand.
Both models sound great, but iSport Super Slim has better bottoms, and this is an absolute plus.
The higher soundproofing iSport Super Slim makes them less suitable for cycling on the roads, but does not deprive you of the opportunity to hear what is happening around completely, and so there is no obvious minus here. At the same time, in the model iSport Victory, it seems to us, the ideal balance of audibility of music and what was happening around was achieved, and this is a plus.
We wanted to give the minus iSport Super Slim for a short battery life, but then we remembered that these are all the same sports headphones, very light and compact. It is unlikely that there will be a person who trains for more than five hours in a row, and therefore the battery life is sufficient.
A simple mathematical calculation shows that the combination of pluses and minuses with a minimal margin is won by wireless Bluetooth headphones Monster iSport Super Slim. So it goes.
Competition
We decided to play some Monster iSport headphones among our readers. Both models participate in the competition. The winner will choose the one that he liked best. The rules of the contest are very simple.
- Be sure that you live in the territory of the Russian Federation.
- Join the official group “Monster Russia” in the social network “VKontakte”.
- Place on the wall of your profile “VKontakte” (the profile should be the same as the one you entered in the group “Monster Russia”) record: “Here they are! Headphones of my dreams! //lifehacker.ru/2016/05/26/monster-isport/ ».
- Leave in the comments to this review a link to your entry “VKontakte”.
We will carefully look at each participant, make sure that the conditions of the contest are fulfilled, exclude frank fakes and assign each number a comment. Then the random number generator selects the winner. The results of the contest will be announced on June 10 here, as well as in our Facebook groups, “VKontakte” and Twitter.
Results of the contest
Well, it’s time to sum up. In order not to offend anyone, we, as promised, used a random number generator.
In general, the headphones Monster iSport was won by Pavel Platonov. It was he who left the 60th comment, which meets our requirements.
Ms Luck was not favorable to you? Then buy headphones at the official Monster store at a 10% discount. To do this, enter a promotional code when placing an order LH05MON. Promotional code is valid until June 30, 2016.
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