Thanks to Ken, my good friend over at Things Is Cool, I was able to take Monster's newest in line of well-received noise-canceling headphones for a spin. Of course, the company had some big shoes to fill, what with their previous endeavor being the huge success that was the Beats by Dre line. The obvious question that arrives is whether the newly minted Inspirations live up to the massive movement that came with Beats, so you would understand my excitement when the opportunity to answer this query presented itself.
The design is on point, from the sleek iridescent surface to the square caps that provide nice over-the-ear cushion. The pair encompasses the attention to detail expected from Monster, so you know the style is there. Monster even threw in interchangeable multicolored headbands, in case you feel the need to accessorize.
The headphones come in two available builds - the passive or the active noise-cancellation sets. The pair has no problem holding its own in the former, traversing a diverse amount of tunes with ease. A welcome upgrade is noticeable with the activation of the noise-canceling feature. By no means am I an audiophile, but I can confidently declare the sound quality to be up to par with that of Monster's previous efforts. In fact, the Inspirations respond positively to a multitude of genres in comparison to the Beats.
