Monster wants you to swap your smartphone buds for the affordable new ClarityHD

By Parker Hall November 10, 2015

Monster has unveiled a new pair of headphones the company is claiming to be its most affordable pair of high quality in-ear headphones ever. The ClarityHD High Performance Earbuds were designed to convince listeners to trash that muddy pair of smartphone buds in favor of something a bit more refined.

A handsomely designed set of earbuds, the latest in the ClarityHD lineup come in black, white, or black with pink or green accents, sporting inline controls. They’re available in both wired and wireless formats, and retail for $50 and $90 respectively.

“The free earbuds you get with phones and portable devices break easily, fail on sound, and are uncomfortable with poor isolation. Still, we’ve found that many consumers that settle for these inferior earbuds pay to replace them, often multiple times, with the exact same models, despite their dissatisfaction,” said Monster CEO Noel Lee in a press release.

The headphones were designed as an addition to Monster’s Clarity line of audio products, which aim to buck costly frills in favor of the highest possible quality audio reproduction for the price. It’s a marketplace that the primarily high-end audio company needs to break into — and creating a product that’s a cheap, high-quality upgrade for the average smartphone user is an excellent way to branch out.

Historically we’ve liked most of the headphones we have tested from the audio company, but just like Beats offerings, Monster is often regarded as a style-first brand, and the cost of its top-tier offerings too often outpaces the performance, in favor of flashy designs. It appears that, with the ClarityHD, Monster is looking to take a more sensible approach to target the average mobile user.

We’ll have to go ears on with the buds to know for sure, but if they can deliver on their promise, consumers looking to buy some affordable new in-ears may now be able to add Monster to the list.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Parker Hall is a writer and musician from Portland, OR. He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin…

Audio / Video

What is hi-res audio, and how can you experience it right now?

Dlyan Wireless Headphones

High-resolution audio, hi-res audio, or even HD audio -- whatever you decide to call it (for the record, the industry prefers "hi-res audio"), it's a catch-all term that describes digital audio that goes above and beyond the level of sound quality you can expect from a garden-variety MP3 file and even CDs. It was once strictly the domain of audiophiles, but now that major streaming music services like Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, Deezer, and Qobuz have embraced it, almost everyone can take advantage of what hi-res has to offer.

But what exactly is hi-res audio? What equipment do you need to listen to it? Where can you download or stream it? And does it actually sound better? We've got the answers.
What does the term 'hi-res audio' mean?

Music

How to download music from Spotify for offline listening

How to download music and podcasts from Spotify: The downloads folder.

If you're a Spotify Premium user paying that premium Spotify fee, chances are you've taken at least some time curating playlists, liking songs, and using the platform's easy-to-use (and recently revamped) user interface to discover new and old music.

But sometimes all that music or your favorite podcasts aren't available if you find yourself without an internet connection to stream them from — like on a long plane ride or weekend camping trip in the sticks. That's where Spotify's offline listening feature comes in handy, allowing you to download playlists, albums, and podcasts through its desktop and mobile apps so you can still rock out while you're off the grid.

Audio / Video

How to switch from Spotify to Apple Music

Spotify and Apple Music transfer on a smartphone.

Spotify is the world's most popular music streaming service for a reason. It has a massive catalog of music and podcasts, is full of cool music discovery and sharing features, and is really easy to use.
However, with its recent price increase and the fact that it still hasn't joined most of its peers in offering a hi-res audio quality option, you may be considering jumping ship for its closest competitor, Apple Music, which counts lossless hi-res tracks, mind-bending spatial audio, Dolby Atmos Music tracks, and a catalog that rivals Spotify's among the many attractive reasons to switch.

But there's one problem: you’ve spent a lot of time creating playlists and marking songs and albums as your favorites in Spotify. Is it worth the switch? Will all that hard work be lost in translation?