Monster Clarity 101 AirLinks Truly Wireless Headphones Review

These earbuds are stylish, sleek earbuds. The silver Monster logo centered on the touch controls and the matte stability fins make these earbuds look sleek and minimalist. When on, these earbuds have a blue ring around the controls, which also gives them a slightly futuristic look.

These earbuds are reasonably comfortable. As the Clarity 101 sit a bit deeper than regular in-ears, they can put a bit of pressure on the inner ear. The stability fins can also be uncomfortable for some as they don't sit flush to the ear but stick out.

The Monster Clarity 101 have mediocre controls that aren't very intuitive to use. Located on both earbuds, the touch controls have the same double-tap action for volume and voice assistant. While it should trigger volume control when you're listening to music, our tests opened voice assistant half the time we tried to change the volume.

These earbuds are very portable. Their small, sleek size makes it easy to take them with you, and they should easily fit into most pockets.

These truly wireless earbuds come with a unique charging case. To open it, you have to turn the black knob until the earbud compartment clicks into place. It has a 360-degree rotation so it doesn't matter what side you turn from. The earbuds are magnetically kept in place and while the case is completely made of hard plastic, it seems very sturdy.

These earbuds feel very well-built. While they're all made of plastic, they're solid and could take a few falls without suffering too much damage. They're also rated IPX5 for water resistance, although we don't test this.

These earbuds are fairly stable. The stability fins don't really improve the stability of these earbuds as they don't sit flush with your ear but stick out. However, the three included tip options should help to find a better fit if you need them to stay put in place.

• Monster Clarity 101 AirLinks headphones
• 3x tip sizes
• Charging case
• Micro-USB charging cable
• Manuals

The sound profile of the Clarity 101 is dark and dull. The slight emphasis on bass adds rumble and thump but it's not enough punch and body for fans of EDM and hip-hop. The treble is also noticeably weak, which makes these earbuds poor for genres like classical and jazz that rely on instruments like the violin or flute for their melody.

The frequency response consistency of the Clarity 101 is almost perfect. Once you find the proper fit and seal with one of the three included tips, you'll likely get consistent bass and treble response every time you use these earbuds.

The bass accuracy performance of these earbuds is great. You'll get a little more thump thanks to the bump in the low bass; however, the dip in the mid to high bass will lack punch, warmth, and fullness.

The mid accuracy performance is okay. The negative tilt of the mid-range will result in leads and instrumentals getting pushed to the back of the mix. Leads and vocals may even sound weak and distant.

The treble accuracy performance of the Clarity 101 is terrible. The negative tilt which starts in the mid-range continues into the treble range, making these earbuds sound dull and dark. Leads and vocals will lack detail and although the rise in mid-treble will reduce the dullness overall, the treble will still be weak.

The peaks and dips performance of the Clarity 101 is acceptable. The peak in the low bass will provide some rumble and thump while the immediate dip between mid to high bass will reduce the overall warmth of your audio. Another peak in the low mid clutters instruments in relation to the bass range. The deepest dip in between the low to mid-treble also reduces the clarity of notes from leads and vocals found in this range.

The imaging performance of Clarity 101 is excellent. The group delay response, although it slightly peaks in the low bass above the audibility threshold, the rest of the group delay response falls below the audibility threshold, which should result in a tight bass and a transparent treble production. Our unit's L/R drivers were also well-matched in amplitude, frequency, and phase so there were no gaps in the stereo image: objects, like voices or footsteps, were accurately placed. However, these results are only valid for our unit and yours may perform differently.

These earbuds have a poor passive soundstage. Just like other in-ear headphones, these headphones are unable to create a spacious, out-of-head soundstage by design: the pinna or outer ear needs to be activated by different resonances. Since the in-ear design bypasses the pinna altogether, the soundstage will feel small and within the listener's head. The Clarity 101 are also closed-back, so their soundstage also won't feel as open as that of open-back headphones.

The Clarity 101 don't have a virtual soundstage feature.

The weighted harmonic distortion performance is decent. While there is a peak in the low treble and again in the high treble, this might not be noticeable to all listeners. The frequencies otherwise fall within good limits, which should result in clear and pure audio reproduction.

The Monster Clarity 101's results are only valid for these settings.

However, we were unable to determine the firmware version. If you own these headphones and know where to find it, let us know in the discussion section below.

The noise isolation of these earbuds is good. While they don't have active noise cancelling, they can slightly muffle low sounds like the rumble of planes and car engines. However, they do a better job of cutting noise like chatter and high-pitched hums like ACs.

The Clarity 101 have superb leakage performance. Low bass sounds like rumbles or thumps will be the most of the leakage but even then, this is below the noise floor of most offices, so your coworkers shouldn't notice it.

These earbuds have an integrated microphone.

Their microphone recording quality is okay. While you'll still be understood, your voice won't sound deep or full to the person on the other line. Your voice might not also be picked up well if you're whispering in a quiet environment like a library, either.

The noise handling of the Clarity 101's microphone is disappointing. This microphone struggles to separate background noise like car engines or traffic from speech. If you need to talk to someone, you'll be heard best in a quiet environment.

The battery performance of these earbuds is fair. At just over seven hours of continuous battery life, these earbuds should get you through most of your work day. If you do need to charge them, the case comes with five additional charges and is charged with a micro-USB cable.

The Monster Clarity 101 have an app but can only be used to play music. It's also only available on iOS. Because this app doesn't offer features specific to these earbuds, we don't consider this a companion app.

The Monster Clarity 101 don't support multi-device or NFC pairing. Like most Bluetooth headphones, the PC latency is high so they might not be the best choice for binging TV shows or playing video games. The high latency on Android also makes them less than suitable for videos or games. They have impressively low latency on iOS, though. However, your mileage may vary during regular use since apps on both iOS and Android both seem to compensate for lag.

The Monster Clarity 101 are Bluetooth-only earbuds.

These earbuds can't be used wired.

The Monster Clarity 101 aren't compatible with the PS4 and can only be used on PC with a Bluetooth connection.

The Clarity 101 aren't compatible with the Xbox One.

The Clarity 101's case holds five additional charges and charges via micro-USB.