Apple's AirPods Max are a popular pair of wireless earphones for anyone who wants to try out the surround sound of spatial audio, but a new alternative option from Monoprice could be a huge cheap contender for anyone who doesn't want to part with it. / AU$899 for a pair of headphones.
The Monolith M1000ANC wireless headphones are just €XNUMX (around €XNUMX / AU$XNUMX) and come with their spatial audio version, which runs on Dirac Virtuo.
According to Monoprice, this technology extends the soundstage "far beyond the physical limits of headphones, allowing listeners to experience their music in a more immersive and natural way."
A more affordable way to get spatial sound
While there are plenty of headphones capable of producing 3D audio (whether it's the Apple AirPods Max with Spatial Audio or the Sony WH-1000XM4 with Sony XNUMX Reality Audio), the Dirac Virtuo is particularly clever at taking normal stereo content and transforming it into sounds more expansive.
Whether the Monolith M1000ANC will sound as immersive as its more expensive counterparts remains to be seen. After all, Dirac Virtuo is built to reproduce the sound of a pair of high-end stereo speakers, rather than manually putting different elements of a piece of music into a virtual sphere to make the sound come to you from each and every one of the speakers. angles. , as with Dolby Atmos soundtracks.
Still, a massive pair of stereo speakers can deliver impressively captivating sound; More audio channels are not always and always better, and most audiophiles still employ a left/right speaker setup for natural and accurate audio performance.
Also, stereo content is considerably freer than Atmos-mixed tracks, though Apple Music and other streaming services are gradually offering more 3D audio versions of their songs.
Although we haven't yet tested the Monolith M1000ANC for ourselves, the specs suggest they have a lot going for them. Active noise cancellation should let you hear your music without being interrupted by the sound of the real planet around you, while Qualcomm's echo cancellation and noise removal technology should mean your calls are clear and clean.
Most amazing of all is the battery life. At sixty hours, that's more than most wireless earbuds on the market and 3 times longer than AirPods Max, which can only manage twenty hours of playtime on a single charge.
If these over-the-ear headphones meet the specs, they could be a great alternative to some of the best headphones on the planet, and we're curious to see if Monoprice can compete with Apple and Sony with its latest model. .