Monolith M1060 Headphones

BalooToo

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Having just moved into a flat I am finding that any kind of volume on my main system is upsetting the neighbours. So last week I decided that headphones were the way to go especially for night time listening. With this in mind I splashed out a whole £25 for a pair of Superlux HD681F and a little headphone amp (Sabaj PHA3) so I could listen to vinyl. I wanted to see if I could actually stand having something on my head for long periods of time. The only time I had ever listened to headphones before was my grandfathers 8 track and I hated it. ( I was very young and the headphones were very large.)

So for the last week I have been listening to the Superlux through a Dragonfly Black Dac running off the pc into the little tube headphone amp and though I still prefer speakers this cheap set up is not half bad. However start playing complex bits of music and the headphones just cannot cope with it especially when played loud.

So to the point, I have been looking at what is available and think I have settled on the Monolith M1060 as a good upgrade to begin with. Has anybody got or had a pair that they can give me their opinion on, or any reason why they would not be a good choice to begin my upgrade journey with?

I prefer a warm sound to any excess treble and a wide soundstage this is why I am leaning towards the above having read hundreds of reviews over the past week.
 

Lawrence001

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Yes I have a pair and they are very good and exactly what you like I would say. I've actually upgraded to the m1570 as I liked them so much and was planning on putting them on eBay soon. PM me if you want to buy them and I'll send you photos etc.
 

griffo104

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The Sabaj PHA3 was my first headphone amp, I swapped the valves for Mullards and use an IFI xpower2 PSU on it and I'm still using it today and still think it's a great little amp. I also have the M1570 and the PHA3 really drives it very well so it would still work pretty well with the M1060.

Another option would be a Hifiman Sundara which has just had a price drop and is very well regarded.
 

BalooToo

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The Sabaj PHA3 was my first headphone amp, I swapped the valves for Mullards and use an IFI xpower2 PSU on it and I'm still using it today and still think it's a great little amp. I also have the M1570 and the PHA3 really drives it very well so it would still work pretty well with the M1060.

Another option would be a Hifiman Sundara which has just had a price drop and is very well regarded.
I have already ordered a pair of Mullards for it from Watford tubes it has had about 30 hours playing now and is warming up quite nicely, do you think the IFI psu makes a big difference? Hoping to complete a deal with Lawrence for a pair of 1060s
 

griffo104

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I have already ordered a pair of Mullards for it from Watford tubes it has had about 30 hours playing now and is warming up quite nicely, do you think the IFI psu makes a big difference? Hoping to complete a deal with Lawrence for a pair of 1060s
I think I bought my Mullards from Watford tubes.

Give it time with the Mullards first and let them settle, I quite liked what they did. I bought the IFI after reading an article on the net about the PHA3 where they reviewer swapped the stock PSU for another one (not an IFI) and was very happy with the result so I thought I would try it.

I have lots of headphone amps, the Lake People G109-S, Xduoo MT-602, Topping L30 and the built in amp on my RME, I have several systems setup, and I still enjoy using the PHA3 so the changes must be doing something right.
 
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BalooToo

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An update on the M1060, first tried playing from PC into Dragonfly Black and Sabaj PHA3 they did sound very good at all, piecing treble and booming base they made Melody Gardot sound like a baritone with a lisp which takes some doing. So I tried them with the Sabaj fed straight from a Creek phonostage, sounded lovely, wide open soundstage, not sibilant even when playing 4000 week Holiday by Ian Dury which I think is a poor recording "your my Inspiration" has always sounded a touch sibilant. The 1060's sounded fine!

Back to the Dragonfly and Sajab for another try, bloody awful again, so I took the Sabaj out and played them just from the Dragonfly, back to being lovely. So my conclusion is there is some kind of mis-match going on between the Dragonfly and the Sajab. Not an issue as I can just use the Sajab when listening to vinyl. Added bonus is the 1060's sound great even when the Dragonfly is just fed from my phone, I did not think they would like this combination but they do.

All in all very happy was listening through them until 3 in the morning last night, time fly's when the music gets you!
 

JANDL100

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Interesting about the Sabaj PHA3.
I don't think it's got a lot of whoomph behind it.

I find it very good with easy to drive Oppo PM3, but not good sounding (a bit thin and scrawny) with the much more demanding 600 Ohm Beyerdynamic DT990.

Are the Monolith 1060 a difficult load?
 

BalooToo

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Interesting about the Sabaj PHA3.
I don't think it's got a lot of whoomph behind it.

I find it very good with easy to drive Oppo PM3, but not good sounding (a bit thin and scrawny) with the much more demanding 600 Ohm Beyerdynamic DT990.

Are the Monolith 1060 a difficult load?
The Sabaj drives the M160 beautifully from the Creek phono, it is only when you drive it from the Dragonfly Dac/ headphone amp, so it is just that combination that does not work.
 
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griffo104

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The Sabaj drives the DT1990 Pro, a 300 Ohm load, with no problems at all.

I wonder if the output from the Dragonfly, which is a headphone ouput, is maybe just a touch too much with the Sabaj maybe???

Right now I'm listening to the Sabaj being driven from the RME driving the Denon D5200 and it's really rather nice.

Glad to see the M1060 kept you up late, always a good sign.
 
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Lawrence001

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The Sabaj drives the DT1990 Pro, a 300 Ohm load, with no problems at all.

I wonder if the output from the Dragonfly, which is a headphone ouput, is maybe just a touch too much with the Sabaj maybe???

Right now I'm listening to the Sabaj being driven from the RME driving the Denon D5200 and it's really rather nice.

Glad to see the M1060 kept you up late, always a good sign.
Quite possible it's because the dragonfly is overloading the Sabaj, would be interested to know if the same issue was there with the dragonfly set to low volume. Could also be an impedance mismatch (but not so sure about this as it's designed for loads of say 10-600 ohms and shouldn't have an issue with higher it's lower that normally cause problems, with noise etc, but I could be wrong).
 
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BalooToo

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I cant believe its a year already since I bought these, I have used them into the early hours nearly every night and I love them. However the earpads are falling apart now and need replacing. Anyone know where I can get some, the only ones I can find come from China so I am a bit dubious of them.
 

JANDL100

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Very solid and substantial, those earpads, I'd imagine they have a significant impact on the sound.
Any variation in design or materials could have a noticeable difference.

I'd guess that the Chinese earpads are OK in terms of quality, but I'd not be surprised if the materials differ from the Monoprice originals leading to a change in sonic character.
I should think you'd rapidly get used to it, though.

(I own M1060c and M1570, and have owned the M1060).
 
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