A Colorful Monk!

You have to be living under a rock not to be familiar with Monks. These $5 earbuds became an overnight sensation in different audio communities, and then captured attention of many regular consumers by being one of the top selling audio products on MassDrop. I had an opportunity to write about Monk+ in my review HERE, where I covered the original Monk, their updated Monk+, higher end Asura 2.0, and flagship Zen 2.0 earbuds.

So how do you top this success? Without a doubt the sound is already there. So what’s next?  Leave it to Wild Lee, the man behind Venture Electronics (VE, https://www.veclan.com) – a company that brought to us Monk, Asura, and Zen earbuds, expanded with Duke IEMs, and ventured into RunAbout amps and various custom cables. He decided to take Monks to the next level with a lot of different customization options, from various limited edition colors and finishes to in-line remotes and balanced terminations, as well as spicing up the look with some funky multi-color cables. Every variation of his Monk line of earbuds is listed HERE.

Regardless if you choose Standard semi-transparent black version or deep rich color Royal Purple or Coffee Gold versions, they will all sound the same, and I see no reason to get into sound analysis again so please refer to my original review of Monk+. The Candy (limited for holidays) and Espresso (still available) spice up their look with multi-color soft braided cables that make these earbuds stand out.  If you choose balanced termination, depending on a synergy with your source supporting balanced output, you can expect a wider sound stage expansion. Or if you choose either universal 1-click remote or Android/iOS specific 3-button remote which supports not only Play/Pause/Call but also volume adjustment – expect a robust operation with your smartphone.  Especially volume control, everything worked perfectly with my Note 4 and the calls came through loud and clear. Also, keep in mind that standard 3.5mm TRS edition in various colors is still $5, but different bonus options will add to the price.

Here are some of the Monk close ups.

Standard Edition and Royal Purple with Android 3-buttons remote:

Candy Edition with a premium 3.5mm jack and y-splitter:

Espresso Edition with a premium 2.5mm balanced termination and y-splitter (comes with a premium packaging and a nice case):

Btw, it’s not a coincidence I featured Aune M1s DAP with a balanced terminated Monk (in my last picture) since I found this pair up to have a great synergy.  Of course, no surprises here since Lee and his team were helping Aune in fine tuning of this cool little DAP.