Monster Turbines: The world's best-sounding earphones?
In marketing materials for its new $150 in-ear headphones, Monster headlines its package with the question, "The world's best-sounding earphones?" I'm not sure if we should take this as a declaration or an actual question, but so far the answer from Amazon reviewers and some blogs is a pretty stiff "no."
Monster's new $150 earphones promise great sound.
(Credit: Amazon)To be fair, some blogs have reviewed the Turbines favorably. It's also worth noting that Amazon reviews can be written by anyone, including PR reps from other manufacturers (not that we're accusing anybody of anything). But it's rare that you see a product get a one-star rating from virtually every "reviewer" (at the time of this writing there were 11 one-star reviews and one four-star review).
Part of the problem stems from the fact that Monster has its share of both fans and detractors. As one reviewer from Amazon's End User blog notes, "Monster Cable has always had a bit of an embattled reputation amongst enthusiasts--strong opinions on both sides fly back and forth on message boards and newsgroups like verbal trebuchets whenever their name comes up."
Personally, I think it's risky for a manufacturer to go overboard with marketing hyperbole, especially when you're entering a fairly mature market. Yes, you want to make a splash, but there's the danger of over-promising and under-delivering.
In its press release, Monster says the Turbines are the "world's first high-performance in-ear headphones with specially engineered drivers that deliver impeccable audiophile-quality sound." Well, that's simply not true. Shure makes earbuds that deliver audiophile-quality sound. Etymotic, too. And several other companies would make the same claim.
What do you guys think? Is Monster getting a bum rap? Or are the Turbines as good as the company makes them out to be?
P.S. We'll have our own review of the earphones early next year, after the holiday break.
Hunkered down in New York City, Executive Editor David Carnoy covers the gamut of gadgets and writes his Fully Equipped column, which carries the tag line "The electronics you lust for." He's also the author of "Knife Music," a novel. E-mail David. Follow David on Twitter.
1. Often companies will offer their merchandise via the Vine program -- however, all Vine reviews are tagged as "This is a vine review".
2. Most of these "private review offers" are for very high-end items like an LCD TV or a laptop computer. They are very limited -- usually to just 10 people.
3. By going the "private review route", you post your review under your normal ID and unless you say something, no one knows that the reviews are not from someone who has plunked down 150 bucks for the headphones.
So basically, Monster is throwing 50 pairs of headphones out there hoping to garner more positive reviews without having to draw attention to the fact that the only way they MIGHT get these reviews is by giving the headphones away for free. This shows how desperate they are for some positive reviews -- especially to offset the less-than-stellar reception they have gotten so far.
It should be very interesting to see what happens with the 50 reviewers. I have NEVER seen reviews as consistently negative as they were on Amazon. I have a pair of Shure e500s that I love so I will definitely have some basis for comparison.
Okay! A lot of comments here so I'll address them in order.
fcg1502 -- Dude, if those $15 Skullcandy headphones make you happy, more power to you. But let me recommend that you at least try out our Turbines -- the difference will be like night and day.
ha.willie -- Thanks for the praise but we'll pass on the rest :P We don't overcharge -- really, we don't. We offer a range of products at a range of prices so people can choose what they need. Sometimes it can be difficult to sort that out because we make so much stuff! And regarding the Beats by Dre headphones -- see, when you buy Bose you're buying a pair of generic, good headphones. When you by Beats by Dre, you're buying a great looking, great sounding pair of over the ears that are going to blow you away. Pop into any Apple store and try them out for yourself.
J. Blow -- How can you say that never having heard the Turbines? No, really. Tell me. But I'll tell you what. If you're willing to write an honest-to-god review (no pressure about negatives or positives from us) then I could be persuaded to send you a set to try out. But the review will be public and will have your name on it. What do you say?
dpederse -- A long time ago we said our Beats by Dre kicked ass, and now we are saying the Turbines kick ass. We're not kidding.
nr962 -- Hey nr962, Monster has filed lawsuits against companies that infringe on its trademark. It doesn't matter if they make salt licks, baby clothes, or anything else -- if you use someone else's trademark, or try to register it for yourself, YOU ARE BREAKING THE LAW and the owner of the trademark must take action or risk losing the trademark. Again, it doesn't matter who is doing the infringing -- illegal is illegal. So why is everyone beating down on Monster for defending its rights? If you wrote a book or a song and everyone started using it and making money on it without your permission, you'd want to defend your hard work, wouldn't you? Think about it.
mahlers2nd -- You said it youself Mahler -- we want a substantive and honest review. We aren't forcing anyone to write something overly positive here. WHAT WE DO WANT is to get some genuine reviews up there, because right now we've got a ton of fakes from Monster haters who dislike us because they think we are wrong to defend our legally secured trademarks.
Another point is, Monster isn't exactly known for its headphones. So we are using this program to get the word out that our headphones sound every bit as good -- if not better -- than those our competitors make. We have a long, long way to go to catch up, so we are making an investment here. So what if the reviewer of the Turbines got them for free? They are posting their honest review (which, by the way, is basically them paying us for the product -- and do you know what journalists and copywriters charge per word?). Some of the negative reviewers said they had the headphones lent to them by a friend.
So I want to close this by inviting you, too, Mahler, to get in touch to get a pair of Turbines. You sound like an audiophile, and we'd love to have your honest-to-god review of them. My email address is above. With CES next week I can't promise I'll respond to you right away, but I promise to get to you.
Thanks for your time folks.
Also, again, we offer a range of prices and lengths so customers can buy only what they need. If you feel you've overspent on our products in the past, perhaps you can call our toll-free customer service group before you make another purchase -- they can steer you in the direction of the product that will fit your needs perfectly. That number is 1-877-800-8989, and our product support page is at http://www.monstercable.com/service/
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by emjc12345
June 26, 2009 4:54 PM PDT
- what are the difference betwen the DR.DRE in ear and the Turbine?
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(13 Comments)how come Monster NEVER put any specs on their product? how can we pair these headphones from the others if we dont have the specs to rely on. our ears can fool US sometimes.