Consumer Electronics, Gadgets & Accessories

OneOdio Monitor 80 in test – open headphones with great spatiality

This month, headphone specialist OneOdio is expanding its in-house Monitor series. Instead of the Monitor 60, which is offered for 90 US dollars, the Monitor 80 is to be the flagship in the future, which will be launched for a starting price of 100 US dollars.

OneOdio promises a lot for this price. The Monitor 80 are supposed to offer excellent sound quality with 40 mm polymer drivers and an open design, as well as a high level of wearing comfort thanks to several degrees of freedom and suede ear padding. Whether the company can really keep these promises, and whether we would recommend the Monitor 80, we clarify in the following test.

Technical data

Driver: 40 mm
Sensitivity: 100 dB ± 3 dB
Impedance: 250 Ω ± 15%
Frequency range: 10 – 40,000 Hz
Distortion: ≤ 1%
Maximum power: 1.6 W
Weight: 296 g
Connection: 3.5 mm jack, 6.35 mm jack

Scope of delivery

The OneOdio Monitor 80s come in a silver packaged box with a color printed slipcase. Inside is a hard case, which in turn contains the headphones and the rest of the accessories. In addition to a short product overview, OneOdio also provides a three-meter long connection cable with 3.5 mm jacks on both sides.

There is also another 1.5 meter cable with a spiral insert. This should make it possible to extend the cable up to 3.5 meters. The cable has a 3.5 mm jack connector at one end and a 6.35 mm jack connector at the other. This means that the Monitor 80 can also be used with audio sources that only have a large jack connection.

Design & Workmanship

The Monitor 80, according to OneOdio for the first time for the company, relies on an open design. So unlike most common gaming headsets, the sound from the built-in diaphragm is not only directed toward the ear, but also outward. Compared to a closed construction, this ensures fewer resonances and thus a potentially better sound quality. The disadvantage, however, is a tendency towards poorer attenuation of ambient noise.

Away from the open design, the Monitor 80’s construction is quite ordinary. The two earpieces are connected by joints to two support arms each, which in turn are connected by two joints to the spring-loaded headband. On the outside, most of the headphones are made of plastic: in most places, this is matte black, but there are also some silver trim elements. Metal, on the other hand, is used for the height adjustment and thus probably also in the core of the headband, as well as for the shielding grids on the earpieces. In addition, the OneOdio Monitor 80 still uses a faux leather cover for the head cushion and a faux velour cover for the earpieces. The latter in particular makes for a comfortable wearing experience – more on that in the next point.

In terms of build quality, the OneOdio Monitor 80 do largely well. The headphones are visually and haptically flawless, and all components make a stable impression. However, the joints directly on the left earpiece of our model were probably not properly lubricated, causing them to squeak slightly. We couldn’t determine any such conspicuousness in the other earpiece, so it could be an isolated case – in this price range, such a thing shouldn’t happen, of course.

In addition to the Monitor 80, the pictures also show the headphone stand that OneOdio offers for its own products. This is simply plugged together and then stands quite stable, although a heavier base would probably have been even better. Here, however, optical preferences are likely to be more decisive in the purchase anyway.

Comfort

As already mentioned, OneOdios Monitor 80 have numerous joints, which should allow the headphones to adapt to the shape of the head. Right on the earpieces are joints to tilt them, and also the entire arms with the earpieces can be rotated or folded in a wide angle. In addition, there is also a height adjustment in eleven 11 steps, through which the headset can be made a full 3.5 cm higher per side.

In practice, this generous adjustment range ensures that the Monitor 80s are very comfortable, even over extended periods of wear. Due to the various joints, the ear cups nestle well on the sides, and the contact pressure of the headphones is also pleasant. Probably due to the open design, the heating of the ears feels a bit lower than with typical headsets, and sweating is not a problem due to the velour cover. In terms of ergonomics, the Monitor 80 are thus, in our eyes, very well done.

Practicality and sound quality

Unlike many other headphones, the Monitor 80 offer not just one jack socket for the audio cable, but two. On the left ear cup, there is a jack for 3.5 mm jack plugs, whereas the right ear cup is suitable for 6.35 mm plugs. This not only gives you more flexibility in your choice of connection, but you can also decide which side the cable should be on. Furthermore, OneOdio’s Monitor 80 are also advertised with the fact that you can connect multiple headphones and thus listen to music simultaneously. We could not test this due to the lack of a second pair of headphones, but since the signal is simply looped through, this should not have a significant impact on the signal quality.

As soon as you connect the Monitor 80 and put them on, the first thing you notice is the almost non-existent noise reduction, which is typical for the open design. This makes the headphones unsuitable for public use, since you can hear background noise and the music being played is also perceptible to others. At home, the low attenuation has the advantage that you remain responsive and do not drift away quite as much.

We can’t say whether it’s due to the open design or the Monitor 80’s construction in general, but either way, the headphones do well in terms of sound quality. We tested the audio quality of the Monitor 80 on a FiiO E10K Olympus 2, and were particularly impressed by the three-dimensionality: you simply feel like you’re right in the middle of it. Furthermore, the sound image is very detailed, so instruments sound good and can be clearly distinguished from each other.

With regard to the tuning of the Monitor 80, however, the target group of the headphones probably makes itself felt, because with the bass – which is emphasized in many headphones – the model is rather restrained in comparison. It is rich in detail, but not overly voluminous with standard EQ, and with an onset from just above 40 Hertz, it does not go too deep either. Without adjustment by an equalizer, the Monitor 80s are therefore more suitable for focused listening of fine details than for bass-heavy music. However, if you boost the lows a lot with an EQ, you can definitely use the Monitor 80 for those as well.

Conclusion

With the Monitor 80, OneOdio offers headphones for $100 that know how to convince in many points. The Monitor 80 are well-made and stable. Both the velour covers on the ear cups and the many adjustment joints also ensure a comfortable wearing experience even after several hours. We would like to mention in this context that our sample had a squeaky joint – but this should be an RMA case and thus not a problem in practice.

The Monitor 80 can also convince in terms of the particularly important sound quality. The sound is very spacious and detailed, even if many users would prefer a tuning with a bit more bass. Fortunately, if this is the case, you can easily adjust the EQ and thus elicit a more voluminous bass from the headphones.

Whether the Monitor 80 are suitable for you depends on the intended use, because the open design makes the headphones unsuitable for public use. But if you have a reasonably quiet environment, they impress with a very detailed sound and good ergonomics. If that’s on your wish list, the Monitor 80 are a good choice.

OneOdio Monitor 80

Workmanship
Comfort
Sound quality
Features
Value for money

90/100

Very pleasant headphones with detailed sound.

Simon Lüthje

I am co-founder of this blog and am very interested in everything that has to do with technology, but I also like to play games. I was born in Hamburg, but now I live in Bad Segeberg.

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This month, headphone specialist OneOdio is expanding its in-house Monitor series. Instead of the Monitor 60, which is offered for 90 US dollars, the Monitor 80 is to be the flagship in the future, which will be launched for a starting price of 100 US dollars. OneOdio promises a lot for this price. The Monitor … (Weiterlesen...)

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