American electronics brand Monoprice has launched a pair of noise cancelling headphones with spatial audio for just $130.
The Monolith M1000ANC feature a padded headband with pivoting earcups and memory foam earpads for lightweight comfort that twist down to pack away.
The 40mm drivers are designed to deliver high quality sound with crisp highs, smooth mids and deep bass, though we’ll of course have to test that ourselves to say how good these headphones sound.
The most interesting feature here is the spatial audio support. Dirac Virtuo offers a more immersive and natural-sounding listening experience by expanding the soundstage beyond what a standard pair of headphones can offer.
“With Dirac Virtuo, Monolith M1000ANC customers will experience an expanded soundscape that includes all spatial cues of the original stereo content – as if it were coming from a pair of high-end home speakers”, explained Dirac’s head of business development in Streaming & Headphones, Lars Isaksson.
As you can probably guess from their name, the M1000ANC also support Active Noise Cancellation. The hybrid ANC is capable of cancelling out up to 35dB of environmental noises to keep music clear.
There’s also an ambient mode to let you listen in to your surrounds when necessary, along with Qualcomm Echo Cancelling and Noise Suppression support for clearer phone calls.
Finally, the headphones pack a 40 hour battery life with ANC on (up to 60 hours without ANC) and the USB Type-C cable can be used to provide up to two hours of listening with a quick 5 minute charge.
This increased battery life is in part thanks to Bluetooth 5 support, which also offers higher data transfer rates and a reliable connection compared with previous pairs.
“Our Monolith headphones have an excellent reputation for superb performance at unbeatable prices. These headphones are no exception”, said Monolith Business Unit Manager at Monoprice, Hobie Sechrest.
“As with all Monolith products, the M1000ANC headphones were engineered for excellent sound quality. Not only did we achieve that, but we also further expanded their capabilities by teaming up with Dirac to deliver an immersive and high-quality soundscape”.
The Monolith M1000ANC are available to buy now for $129.99. Monoprice told us this should work out at around £98.73 in the UK and €117.94 in Europe.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
