I know these are very unpopular speakers, so I wanted to create this thread just to put some notes down for me and maybe for any future Mon Acoustic Speakers owners in the future. I tried searching for other people impressions to see if they lined up with mine in forums like Audiogon and Whats Best forum, but like 1 post came up and its not really a sound impression post. So, similar to Allnic HPA-5000XL amp, I will probably put some notes down here and see if I feel the same way monthslater. I like to call myself a slow listener. I usually donāt get it until like a month or so. With the ATH-L3000, it took me a couple of months to understand what I liked about it because it sounded good, but I didnāt understand why it sounded good at that time. With the Susvara, I think it took me about 2 - 3 months to actually start to appreciate it. For the Mysphere 3.2, it honestly just took me a week to realize that I love that headphone. Its cause the midrange is just that dang good and the design is really crazy that I really dig it. For the Onkyo A800, it only took 1 song for me to know I love it lol. Thats cause the Onkyo A800 bass is so unique on that headphone and I havenāt heard any headphones that do bass like the Onkyo A800 yet. But I was so distracted by the bass on the Onkyo A800, that I didnāt appreciate its midrange or its balance treble until many months later. Now, with the Mon Acoustic Platimon VC, I feel a similar passion just burning up in me. It honestly only took me 1 song to get me hooked on the Platimon speakers. Unlike the other headphones except the Susvara, itās really hard to cherry-pick what really stands out on the Platimon speakers. Iāve been mostly talking about its picture perfect imaging and deep soundstage on the Platimons because Iām coming fresh out of the headphone world. I never heard anything that takes imaging and soundstage to multiple levels, like it was too mind blowing. I honestly really thought Susvara was the end of the road for at least imaging and layering in the soundstage, but apparently not lol. Before I get too deep into talking about sound impressions again, lets get back on track. I want to save my sound impressions post later when I fully setup the stands and use them. But yeah, I think itās rare for me to really like an audio gear this quickly as I am usually a slow listener, so I think these speakers are really special. Or maybe I am more of a speaker type of guy and not really a headphone type of guy and I never realize it. Anyway, creating this thread for maybe a bat signal to other Mon Acoustic speaker owners, or maybe to help future Mon Acoustic owners, or maybe just notes to myself so when I look back months later, hopefully I still agree with me.
So I have been watching this creator interview Youtube video and found a lot of interesting things about the Platimon speakers and other Mon Acoustic Speakers. I recommend watching the interview if you are interested in Mon Acoustic as the creator seems like a really cool dude.
While watching the interview, the creator said some stuff about the unique left and right speakers. So it seems one of the reasons the creator did that is because it resulted in a unique sound width and a deeper soundstage. I said it in the general speaker thread, but I knew the soundstage was really deep, but I didnāt know if that was just a general high-end speaker trait or if it was with this speaker. Itās nice to know that I am already hearing things as the creator intended.
Nemo had a pretty straightforward review of the mini.
Yep, I think I saw that one as well. Edit: I only saw Nemo Platimon review lol. Havenāt checked out the mini, but I heard the Mini Mon bass is really big despite its size.
Platimon is super unpopular. The only impressions I ever found was from reviewers. So I saw his, Jay, New Record Day, 6moons, and Darko Audio reviews. I think all of them have a general consensus that the imaging on the Platimons is really good. But there are a few differences in opinions. I believe Nemo really like vocals on the Platimons while New Record Day said the chest vocals just doesnāt do it for him on the Platimon speakers. To me, everything in the midrange is super clear, but I havenāt really push the bass on the Platimon speakers as I donāt want to play the speakers too loud during weekdays. Waiting until the weekends to test bass.
Really wish I could find a non-reviewer sound impression, but I guess I will take what I get lol.
Speakers are just very different, took me a lot of time to get used to and appreciate head stage after coming from using speakers for decades. Itās just a VERY different experience.
FWIW I think most people given the option are really speaker typeās of people.
But it requires space, and often in intrusive to others, I could probably make a dedicated space for speakers, but Iād have to listen to them outside of work hours and I wouldnāt want to subject my wife to that.
Iām glad youāve found something you love.
Forgot who I was having a conversation with but in as basic a way as I can put it, with speakers thereās a feeling Iām in the environment, sharing the space the music is being played. With headphones, the music is being played in my head space, sharing the immediate space around my head.
I knew it would be different, but I didnāt think hi-fi speakers would be THAT different lol. I did a test run if I liked speakers with the Polk R200 for a year and it never sounded like the how the Platimons does music. Its really wild, pretty much the same feeling as cultural shock to me. I never heard music been played like this before. I experimented a little with desktop speakers using the Tiny Radials. I think those gave me an experience closer to headphones. But a hi-fi speakers in a good distance away is just a whole new world to me. Canāt really put into words right now, but Iām just speechless on this new experience.
That makes sense. I think a lot of people grew up listening to speakers, so it just feels the more natural way to listening to music. I never owned hi-fi speakers before (unless the Polk R200 and Tiny Radials count), so I didnāt know how to set my expectation. The hi-fi speakers went beyond anything I could imagined, so it was just a mind blowing experience for me lol.
Thanks! Iām looking forward trying all the cool isolation stuff that came with the Platimons and the improvements I can make with room treatment. 1 of the big reasons I gotten the Platimons is because its 4 ohm and 91dB sensitivity. I heard its really flexible in small rooms like mine, so I can try out a lot different tube amps or SS amps. Imma try to get a good feel of its house sound before I buy any amps for it though.
I think we had that conversation before a couple months back or maybe I saw you post that in a thread somewhere here. When I was listening to the Platimon speakers, it made me remember Ben from Mojo Audio. I forgot the phrase that was used to describe his DAC, I think it you that said it or maybe someone else, sorry in advance if its was someone else. That feeling of you just reaching out your hand and interacting with the musician. I think I finally understand that feeling lol. I think headphones are more intimate, but speakers are just more immersive and believable to me? Maybe the driver being so close makes it feel intimate to me, so thatās why I think that. That probably didnāt make sense, but I will find a better wording one day. I think your wording is more right on the money with the speakers makes it feel like you are in the environment and headphones is more headspace and around your head. The presentation between headphones and speakers are really different. I do want to go back and forth with headphones and speakers cause it can really change how music is presented to me. It makes me really think what genre would I prefer on the more intimate headphones or the more immersive speakers.
Basically where Iāve wound up.
Iām in a similar situation, however my wife and I have always had similar musical tastes. Itās how we met each other and started dating in the first place. Sheās okay letting me listen off hours, I can get rid of 2/3 o the bother by closing the door. Iāve made sure to isolate it and sealed gaps etc so itās not obnoxious. I donāt listen loud when sheās watchigng tv etc. And sheās pretty much living on BT buds while watching YT and her shows.
Most of my listening is done during the work day when I donāt have calls and Iām just working on shit. But then itās more background and listening to theme radio on Roon to discover new artists. But even in that scenario I often stop and just turn at sounds that catch my attention that are so there in the room with me that they catch me off guard.
Susvara vs Platimon Only Focusing Imaging
Comparing these two because the imaging on the Susvara is probably my favorite part of the headphone and I did compare it to a 2 channel speaker a while back, but it was an entry-level speaker. Its not a good comparison as everything is unoptimize, but I just pretty happy that I got I wanted compare to my previous comparison I did with Susvara vs speakers. This imaging comparison seems really hard to describe in words. You can see a lot of music with the Susvara, but with the Platimon just seems more sharper and images sound clearer. Because the Platimon has sharper images, it allows me to pick up a little more details from the instruments because it became much easier to focus on those details and in return makes me think the Platimon is the more detailed equipment. With the Susvara, I can easily tell which instrument is being played and where. With the Platimon, itās much more than that. With the Platimon, not only I can just pinpoint where everything is being played at. But because I have a much clearer image of where the instruments are placed, the little details are much easier to notice and I can pick out all the little changes in notes and riffs much easier than the Susvara. Itās crazy to say because I think Susvara pull details like a champ before, but I guess there is always a next level for everything. I also think the Platimon has a much wider soundstage and that might contribute to its better imaging and details because the music has more room to breathe if that makes sense. The little sound has more of its own space. Because all these little details now have more of their own space, it just makes it easier to know where all these details are starting from and what direction they are going.
I used a couple of different songs, but this one I actually wrote as it was the first test song and then I realized its going to take forever if I go into detail for every song lol. So I stop writing stuff and just put highlight notes.
Click for more details on song I used to describe the above and actually wrote out
āFukushÅ«" (å¾©č® Revenge) -Supercell (Yanagi Nagi as vocalist) Soundstage Placement:
This song is pretty interesting as the electric guitar is all over the place depending the time frame of the track and they seem to add an additional guitar for its own solo riffs. The electric guitar starts on stage right. Then at 0:20, itās on both stage right and left. Then a 10 seconds pause at 0:30 in the song. And then another pause at 0:50. The electric guitar begins to pick up at 1:03 at stage right and left. At 1:29 - 1:40, they added an electric guitar taking center stage and take a step forward where itās no longer behind my head and in my head. At 1:57 the electric guitar playing its own riff only at stage right. It all comes back to stage left and stage right at 2:10. At 3:04, they added an additional guitar far stage left to play its own riff and then the song is wrapped up. I cover most of it, but itās a lot going on and thatās why I like this song a lot lol.
Drums center stage, but cymbals leaning stage left ; vocals dead center; bass guitar center stage next to vocals but leaning more towards stage left and feel a couple steps back; and rhythm guitar stage left. These placement donāt move, itās mostly the electric guitar placement that moves all over the place throughout the song.
^That took me like 10 - 30 minutes to write, didnāt keep count but I played the song like 5 times in a row. Then I looked at my playlist which had way more music to go through, I changed my mind about going into deep details lol.
When sub bass gets involved, the images of the Susvara fog up a small bit. Donāt know if it will have the same effect if I add a subwoofer to the Platimon, but subwoofers usually feel separate enough when I use a sub woofer with the Polk R200 that I think that wonāt be a problem.
My brain can only handle 1 thing at a time lol. So I have been mostly focusing on imaging. Other notes not relating to imaging. I really think the Platimon surpass Susvara in almost every way except Susvara got Subbass on my 1st comparison. The Platimon midrange clarity is better than the Susvara. Havenāt heavily test bass, as I want to install the isolation balls and custom stand first. So I might heavily test out bass 1 day. Things like a drum set and the electric guitars sound much more amazing to me on the Platimon vs anything I ever heard from an audio equipment that I owned. Vocals are very high clarity on the Platimon, but I want to test it against the Mysphere 3.2 as that is my go-to for high-quality vocals. I also want to test out bass vs the Raal SR1a instead of the Susvara as the SR1a is the cleanest bass I heard from my collection before the Platimon arrival.
Presentation-wise, they are two big different experiences. For Headphones (at least with the Susvara), pretty much all the instruments play behind my ear except vocals which are more in my head. So headphones really do played in my headspace as dB_Cooper described. The only time I had headphones that really played out of bounds was the Raal SR1a. If you donāt count the SR1a as a headphone, then I donāt think I can name any lol.
I will say this note as well. When I started my day listening to the Susvara, I thought I heavily underestimated the Susvara because it sounded so dang good and clear. Then I turn on the Platimon speakers and reality kicks in again and I remember why I was so blown away with the Platimon sounds.
My gears is still the same which is Schiit Vidar 2 > Mon Acoustics Platimon VC One and Allnic HPA-5000XL > Susvara with Evo DAC and Supratek 45 tube preamp. I am not using the Platimon special speaker stands or the Platimon isolation ball feet. There is also the big giant TV like slightly behind in the middle of the speakers. I will get rid of that eventually.
I will try cheap speaker stands vs the custom Platimon Speaker stands and ball feet tomorrow or next weekend.
Add On: I am talking with the Mon Acoustic US Rep and he informed me a lot of interesting things that I donāt think he was supposed to tell me so I wonāt say in public yet until its been officially announced. But I was asking him on the difference of the isolation ball feets and he told me this, āWhat Jun mentioned briefly was the placement of each color or combination colors the sound differently.
So try rotating them and see if you notice any differences.ā. That is going to be interesting to try out when I get thereā¦
Platimon Speakers Stands and Isolation Balls
My speaker stands I got from Amazon are 28 inches. The Platimon speakers AMT tweeters are 8-9 inches above ground. So its 28 + 8 = 36 inches off the ground which is about 3 feet which is perfect ear level for me (the middle of my ear to the ground is 36-37 inches) using the stands I got from Amazon.
The Platimon speakers stand is 22 inches. Plus 8 is 30 inches the AMT tweeter is to the ground. 30 inches from the ground is to my shoulder level when I am sitting down in my listening chair. 34 - 38 inches is the top woofer on Platimon speaker stand to the ground. 39 inches the speaker as a whole with the Platimon speaker stand. From my head to the ground, I am about 41 inches. The Platimon stands also do not turn like my old speaker stands, so I had to position them where the speaker is facing me manually (by picking up the whole stand and rotating the entire stands). Based on my room, I had to switch up my seating position from 5 feet away to 6 feet away so I can get a seating position where I see both speakers looking at me when I turn my head.
I applied the Platimon speaker stand and monochrome isolation ball feet and here is the result. I donāt know if it was any difference in terms if it no longer vibrate my room as I donāt really feel a difference on the floor. My speaker stand is always on the carpet and my listening spot is on the rug which is on top of the carpet if any of those details make a difference. 1 difference is that things sound clearer to me. I was expecting bass to be cleaner, but I guess everything got cleaned up and sounds more clear which is a little crazy as it sounded really nice before.
Because the speakers are shorter than my head when Iām sitting down, I was expecting a different type of speaker presentation like maybe from a balcony view instead of a floor view. The soundstage did lower slightly, but itās very small lower. Besides that, everything feels improved. Donāt know if 6 feet was the actual magic number instead of 5 feet of these speaker stands and isolation feet are the real deal, but I like this combo and can see why the creator sold the speaker, stands, and isolation ball feet as the whole package because the speaker comes together with the whole package.
I will say it did felt pretty dangerous putting the speakers on top of the stands. Without the isolation balls, the speakers did not feel secure. With the isolation ball feet, the speaker now wobble if you apply a little force (a little finger push), but it feels more secure vs without the ball feet.
I got 3 types of isolation ball feet. The US rep told me that the creator Jun sent the previous owner the special ball isolation as an āIām sorry giftā because the 1st set of speakers got damaged being shipped to the 1st owner. They learned that shipping the speakers in 1 box is not a good idea, so the speakers are now shipped in 3 boxes (a speaker for each box and the stands with the accessories on the other) which they did with his replacement speakers (which is now mine). The US rep told me each isolation ball is made of different materials. I am also the only person in the US with these āspecialā isolation balls so far and I donāt think you can buy them yet. The previous owner told me he had no idea, so he never used them before. I could be the first person in The US to use these special isolation balls right now, but I think imma save that until I am more used to the Mon Acoustic Platimon house sound. One thing the Mon Acoustic US rep told me that stuck out is this, āJun wanted you to explore the sound changes with ball bearings to your taste as he was having fun with them.ā So I can mix and match the isolation ball feet. I can mix and match: 2 black and 1 pearl white; or 1 black, 1 monochrome, and 1 pearl white; or 2 monochrome and 1 pearl white/black. A lot of options. I never played with isolation feet before, so this will be my first time doing so.
Ok, so now I can officially begin listening to the Platimon speakers and really test it out. Unless I get a email reply back on more information on the different ball isolation feet or information on a product I may not supposed to saw, my next post should be an impression post. Thinking how I am going to do the impression post as I donāt want to talk all about just all positive especially if I have no experience with high-end speakers. I need to find some fault in this Platimon. If I canāt find any fault, I will probably come back and say these speakers are fantastic and thatās it. I will probably try to compare it to the Mysphere 3.2 and Raal SR1a, but I gotta find what genre the Platimon really excel in before I do that which will take a pretty long time.
Difference In Height
Different Isolation Ball Feet
Isolation Ball Feet Applied to the Speaker Stand
What The Bottom of The Platimon Speakers Look Like
Platimon Speaker With Platimon Speaker Stand Measured Height
Sneak Peak On Mon Acoustic Platimon Two
It looks like the information is public, so I will go ahead and share this.
I was talking to the Mon Acoustic US rep and he mentioned to me a new product from Mon Acoustic. It is called the Mon Acoustic PlatiMon VC Two. I ask him if its going to be another variation targeted to the US audience like the Mon Mini where the 2nd version of the Mon Mini is more tuned to the Western audience for more bass. The US rep informed me that this is not the case. The PlatiMon VC Two is the bass extension of VC One. VC two will feature super tweeter and adding 8-inch woofer to VC One, making the PlatiMon as floorstanding speaker. Its in the final stage, buts its not officially done. So that may change by the end product. It looks like I now have an option if I like the Platimon VC One a lot, but wanted floorstanding speakers instead of bookshelf speakers, I could get the Platimon VC Two. Maybe one day if I get a bigger listening room, Iāll consider that option.
Here is a Youtube video of what it looks like in real life (not the final product):
POWER AMP POWER RECOMMENDATION
I was talking to Mon Acoustic US rep some more about recommended power amps for the Mon Acoustic Platimon since I got pretty curious about my power amp starting point. The Mon Acoustic US told me,
āWe rate our PlatiMon VC One need to be driven by 40 WPC RMS, but if you are using a tube amp, 10 wpc amp is sufficient to drive them. In fact, if you are not spending big money, a good 20 wpc amp will drive them fine.
With Class D amp, I would highly recommend something that can drive speakers with musicality with 100 wpc. But really, you should listen to amps before making any purchase.ā
I really liked the reminder to try things out because Iāve been blind buying expensive products like there is no tomorrow lol. Iāve been getting lucky so far, but I canāt always rely on āgutsā on buying expensive products. I think depending on your room size and the genre of music you listen to, everyoneās requirement on wpc might be different, so thatās probably good to keep in mind as well.
Shoutout to the Mon Acoustic US rep. Donāt want to say his name here just in case, but he been really nice and answer a lot of my curious questions on weekends, late at night, and even the start of the work week. He seems pretty passionate about the speakers as he seems like he was enjoying replying to me about his experience and gears use for the Platimon and even advised me different pricing tiers of amps I could try with the Platimon. It was very enjoyable to talk to him.
I think it will be ok to list his recommended amps here. I think the amps he recommends are integrated amps, probably because I forgot to tell him I already have a preamp I am planning to keep. I still appreciate the useful advice and will probably share it here just in case there is any new Platimon owners in the future.
āMy starting point amp is Peachtree audio amps, as the price point of GAN1 amp($1199.00), itās one of the most economical amp that has massive power to stream music and produce great sound.
Then the next tier up I recommend would be Choco sound. Then the next one would be Sugden A21SE.
One of the best amp I liked with PlatiMon VC One are Mcintosh MA352 and Chord Electronics Ultima Integrated.ā
Just Thinking Out Loud
Iāve been listening to a lot of Platimon since last week, I think I only touch my headphone system once ever since. I have a pretty good grasp on what I want from the Platimons and want to go all in not in soundstage, but see what the next level of clarity, midrange, and detail sounds like. I really canāt imagine what the next level would sound like, but Iām remembering going from the Cayin HA-3A to the Allnic HPA-5000XL and using the ATH-L3000. That jump in performance was insane, especially for vocal clarity. Iām hoping to receive a similar experience with the Platimon, but donāt know how good they scale with better equipment. I just hope they scale well lol. So now I have my eyes set on a very interesting Class D monoblocks amp made in the home sweet home USA that seems to fit the bill of what I want. Luckly, I think I am good for preamp. So I donāt have to worry about that. I still really like having that sweet DHT 45 tube injection into my system thanks to the Supratek preamp. I will probably push my DAC upgrade now to 2025 since I still like the way it sounds and my bottleneck is really just my room and power amp. Solve my room first and then power amp hopefully in that order.
Why class D amplifier? My least favorite, iām sure there are some that are done well but other than for HT, subwoofers, or very particular situations my love for the class D is measured tightly. I have had extensive time on the HifiRose products, (one of the better current class D products) which despite having very cool retro look really IMO canāt touch even the lowest level class A/B, so again i ask you why class D? 
Iām curious with so many choices, how/why you decided to go w/ class D monoblocks? Lower price, smaller size, fancy advertisement somewhere?
I have a pair of 130W class A tube monoblocks Iāll sell you. Only 9 tubes per monoblocks. Will heat pretty much any room you put them inā¦ā¦
Much better than class D 
Donāt let @NickMimi be a classist, itās all about implementation and heās poopooing your choice of the class D monoblocks before youāve even mentioned which they are! lol
I very much like @SaberPunch and we thus far have had very similar tastes in pieces and enjoyed very similar characteristics of certain pieces so I am genuinely curious and since he is spending hard earned dollars, i threw the question out seriously because he is straying from his usual product market and i want to know why 
Honestly, itās pretty much fancy advertisement lol. With the power of Google ads whenever I open Google Chrome on my phone and the Youtube algorithm, the looks of the AGD THE AUDION MkIII Monoblock capture me. I looked into it and was surprised it was an SS Class D amp. It was a huge turnoff that it looks like a tube and its actually a fake tube, but I still look into it since it did still capture my interest. The more I looked into it and saw peopleās praise, the more I became interested in this amp.
The price seems to be within the range I am willing to spend, especially the used price if I can find one. I really like the small footprint on it as I already have a huge preamp and a lot of chassis in the room already like the network streamer, DAC, headphone amp, etc etc. I think the biggest selling point for me is the upgrade path. You can replace the tube for say a MkII for the newer MKIII for a decent price and the upgrade is basically just switching out the fake tube. I read in Audiogon from owners going from the MkII to the MkIII and a lot of them seem very happy with their upgrade as the overall sound just got better. I really like having the option to upgrade my already owned product just to āfuture-proofā it more. Honestly, this hobby is pretty unpredictable as most people including me switch out their equipment a lot. But I want to try to start owning things and try keeping the same setup. Iām interested in amps that are more neutral and transparent sounding as that might match my preamp a lot better. Its because I really like how the Allnic headphone amp sounds with the DHT preamp, so I guess I am trying to translate it to speakers, but hopefully better than my headphone amp. The last thing is the description of the Audion MkIII providing really good clarity and details seems to be what I want more for my Platimons (Its not lacking clarity or details, maybe best I have heard, but Iām really curious on what the next level sounds like for it), but its really early to say as I only owned the Platimon for 1 week (feels like 2 weeks to me for some reason).
Their official website with more description on the amp:
I wonāt make a big power amp purchase anytime soon as Iām still new to the Platimon sounds and speakers in general. I do want to go to at least one audio speaker show to at least get more exposure before committing to anything big. Only time will tell as I never really fixed my impulse habit.
My other two choices were maybe Parasound amps and Allnic amps. There is a Allnic A-2000 25th Anniversary Power Amplifier in the used market currently for about $4500, but I donāt want to rush things and will see how things will unfold for the rest of the year.
INTRO To My 1st Impression That Took 2 weeks
So, I wrote a bunch of notes about the Mon Acoustic Platimon VC One and read it back to myself. Then I thought about if I wanted to post it and decided to scrap that idea. I donāt have enough experience in the high-end speaker market, so itās just me gloating at how glorious the Platimon is. Plus, there are 5 professional reviews people can watch for a better impression of the Platimon speaker. So, I thought I would do what I always do and just compare with what I have. Comparing headphones and speakers is like comparing chicken vs beef, but they both bring me audio joy so lets see what makes me happier.
For this 1st impression, I will talk about the pros and cons of the Platimon speaker first and then song comparisons focusing on only 1 specific thing. The below screenshot was my original test songs, but I threw it out the window after listening to them because this is my 1st impressions for probably mostly for me, so after I burned in the Platimon or maybe after the replacement of the power amp, I would like to go back and see how much the Platimon improve or how much of its āmagicā wore off on me. I still listened to the test songs, but that was on the rough draft of my Platimon 1st impression which is much longer and not really worth reading.
HOW IS IT SETUP RIGHT NOW
So my Platimon speakers are 7 feet away from each others. My listening chair is near the dead middle and 5 feet away from the Platimon speaker. With this, the speaker is almost outside my field of vision, but I can still see it in the corner of my eyes. I like to try to keep the speakers not in my field of vision, but itās the best I can do with the current room and speaker stands.
Right channel Platimon bass port is about 1.5 feet away from the wall. Left channel Platimon bass port is about 1 feet away from the wall.
So when I do serious listening, I do like to close my eyes just to help āvisualizeā the music.
Reviewers says that the Platimon if close to each other provide insane amount of details. I much prefer soundstage, so I try to widen them out as much as I can in my small room without having to move everyone when I want to listen to them.
In between my Platimon is my TV and junk, but itās nothing I can do about it for now.
My current audio chain for the Platimon is: ROON Rock - Intel NUC 7i7 > EMM Labs NS1 > [AES] Mojo Audio Mystique EVO B4B 21 > [AES] Custom 45/6SN7 Tube Only Supratek Cabernet DHT > [RCA] Schiit Vidar 2 > Mon Acoustics Platimon VC One
Headphones setup is the same except my amp is: ā¦ > [AES] Custom 45/6SN7 Tube Only Supratek Cabernet DHT > [RCA] Allnic HPA-5000XL > Headphones
How Many Hours Of Burn In?
The original owner did less than 30 hours of burn-in
My Burn In since I got it:
1/22 - 4 hours
1/23 - 2 hours
1/24 - 9 hours
1/25 - 10 hours
1/26 - 2 hours
1/27 - 8 hours
1/28 - 10 hours
1/31 - 10 hours
2/1 - 12 hours
2/2 - 6 hours
73 hours of burn in on my side so farā¦
Pros:
This is probably the most highly detailed and overall clarity audio equipment I owned/maybe even tried. The soundstage is deep and wide. Imaging is the best I heard. Music overall just sounds brand new to me again, so the Platimon is a new experience even though I owned a Polk R200 for a year and I heard a lot of variety of headphones. Electric guitar and drums are the best I heard on a piece of audio equipment is isnāt a live show. Music genres with a lot going on are really fun to listen to because of the Platimon imaging, wide soundstage, and great separation. The Platimon just layers everything so nicely and you can hear everything in the music very similar to the Susvara, but better to me. I am getting all these āProsā and I am using an entry-level power amp.
Cons:
So, I watched 5 reviews of the Platimon since the Platimon took a while to get to me. A lot of the stuff in New Record Day review is pretty spot on. He talked about how female vocals to him on the Platimon sounded odd to him. He said when a female singer uses her head vocals, itās forward. When the female singer uses her chest vocals, she takes a step back thus making the singer move when she switches her vocal technique, and that overall makes it sound unnatural to him. I did a test on male vocals and I got the same result where if a singer switches his/her vocal technique and goes to a higher frequency, their vocals will now be placed in a different spot on the soundstage. That is why I didnāt want to talk about vocals and just say the midrange is clear. I do agree that it takes away the illusion that this song could be real when that happens, but after about two weeks of listening, I think I know why the creator did that. The company Mon Acoustic has a YouTube channel to show the viewers how they test things and progress reports on their products. If you have seen the creatorās test songs and his interview, the creator of the Mon Acoustic speakers is for mainly Jazz and Classical music. There are Jazz singers, but I donāt know if that was accounted for when he created his speakers. The reason I am saying this is because Iāve been blown away every time I hear the Snares and Tom Tom being hit and the Platimon honestly makes drums seem to have more room in the soundstage. That maybe is not natural, but I donāt really care cause it sounds so awesome lol. They should change the slogan from chasing natural sound or whatever marketing gimmick they say and just change it to, āWe Do Drums Really FuKing Good!ā. The Platimon still sounds natural on pretty much everything, but I think that is to be expected from a piece of audio equipment costing $6500. The Susvara is around that price tag and I thought it sounded pretty natural as well until comparing it to something like the Mysphere. The Platimon is still natural sounding, its just vocal placement can get weird if your singer uses different techniques in a song. If it is things like rap where it is pretty monotone, itās not an issue. If you like dry vocals with an acoustic music, that might be an issue for you. For pop songs, I think it adds more of a fun factor because I really enjoy vocals being all over the place in my pop songs. So dry music, the Platimon presentation on vocals will take away your immersion, but for vocals songs that already have some reverb here and there with other special effects in the song, the Platimon will probably add some flair to the music.
Lets Start A Showdown between the Platimons and My Current Favorite Headphones In My Collection
Platimon vs Susvara on Imaging
Song: Holy Diver - Dio
At 2:24 - 2:27 listen to the drums. On the Platimon itās on stage left to center stage and you got a clear image of the drums the entire time. On a headphone like the Susvara, at 2:24 - 2:27, the drums start from behind my left ear and go toward the center. For some reason, I keep rewinding this back cause sometimes I get and sometimes I donāt. But it felt like the drums skipped my left eye and went toward the center. You gotta REALLY listen to hear all the drums rolling through from stage left to center.
5:00 - 5:03, the drums going from stage left to stage right were just so clean and badass on the Platimons. Feels like I can clearly hear the entire drums being hit the entire way from stage left to stage right. With the Susvara, again itās similar to the last paragraph. Itās something around my left eye that itās hard to get an image for. I am not too sure if itās me or my ears are biased or maybe the Susvara might be faster. The Susvara still gets a really good image on the drums, but it just feels a little blurry whereas with the Platimon I feel like I got the complete image.
3:25 - 4:12 The electric guitar solo was just too magnificent on the Platimon. All I am imagining is the sound of a shredding guitar on top of the mountains with the rock gods 
. The Platimon soundstage just give this a huge advantage. Because the Susvara still got a headphone presentation the guitar solo is in my head and itās still pretty cool, but not nearly as impressive vs a speaker. Itās also because the Platimon is pretty much the best I heard for an electric guitar, so it was more than just imaging that made that guitar solo so damn great.
Platimon vs Mysphere 3.2 on Midrange Vocal
Song: Stellar Stellar (FROM FIRST TAKE) - Suisei Hoshimachi
The Mysphere 3.2 is the champ here. I never cried once from the Platimon nor any audio equipment, even the Shang Sr on the Grand Cayman, the Sennheiser HE-1, and even the Sony MDR R10. Yet, even after owning the Mysphere 3.2 for 6 months, these ear speakers from time to time again always get me to shed some tears during a listening session. I cannot express this enough, the emotional connection you get with the singer using the Mysphere 3.2 and honestly the entire music. From the violin and piano in the background, there is this tinge of pleasantness that I canāt really describe that I really enjoy hearing that I only get from the Mysphere 3.2. There is something so magical about the Mysphere 3.2 that just convinces my brain that this is real, no mics, no studio production, she is there with me and performing right here. This is some sick lunatic talk, but that is what the Mysphere 3.2 does. It makes me go so crazy into believing that this digital music is real.
No matter how high spec the Platimon is or any other audio gears out there are, I always have this disconnect with the music and some little detail will remind me that this music is digital and this isnāt real. For the Platimon case, the switch on the female vocals position when Suisei is hitting the high notes brings me back to reality that Iām listening to a digital recording. The Mysphere with acoustic music will always have this magic to make me forget this is digital and make me want to believe that what Iām listening to is real.
I honestly could say the Platimon is very close to making the midrange ārealā to me. I think besides vocals placement when Suisei does her chest vocals and head vocals, the midrange might be missing a little texture. I could maybe play with tubes more to solve that, but thatās a topic and conversation for another day.
FOR FUNSIES:
Platimon vs Mysphere 3.2 on who make this Vocaloid sound the most realistic?
Song: Little Lazy Princess - Yumenokessho POPY & De De Mouse
This is a Vocaloid song meaning the vocals are artificial from a voice bank that code name POPY. Her voice bank was a sample from the lead singer of a rhythm game band named Popin Party. I think I first heard this song through my Susvara when I was listening to new tracks at the beginning of January and I thought this was the most realistic voice bank I ever heard. I always like listening to Vocaloid to see how far they progressed in making an artificial voice sound real and they did a really good job with POPY. So far she is the most realistic voice bank I heard and itās up there with ROSE (same company).
Right in the very beginning using the Mysphere 3.2, I think I hear distortion lol. I will say POPY sounded real on the Susvara, but I guess the Mysphere 3.2 knows the difference and made her sound like the artificial voice bank she is. I think I had to listen to this song 3-4 times to finally know why she still sounds artificial. I explain to someone else, but I will shorten this explanation here. Even though POPY vocals sound pretty realistic, she still has this digital artifact sound that I can still hear from her. Basically, itās like me talking to someone over the phone and the phone voice sounds like the person I know, but at the same, it sounds different from the person I know. The Mysphere 3.2 is a little interesting though. I think the Mysphere 3.2 removes a lot of that ātelephoneā effect for me and POPY do sound a little more real if I can forget about her distortion.
I used the Platimon and POPY sounded really good, but you can still hear this digital artifact in her vocals. I think Susvara did it best making POPY sound as real as possible and I wonder if the smoothness may have something to with it
Platimon vs Onkyo A800 For Violins
Song: Four Season Of Buenos Aires: 3 Primavera Portena (Spring)ā - Arabella Stenbacher
Just like the other comparison, I did with the Onkyo A800 vs Sus, SR1a, and Polk R200, my opinion is the same and I just really like the lower-end emphasis the Onkyo A800 presents and reverb and echo is pretty special on the Onkyo A800 to my ears. I also think I probably like this song more on headphones just because the driver is closer to my ear. I really like hearing the pull of the bow on the violin next to my ears.
The Platimon played the song similar to the SR1a where it sounded really nice and real, but itās just not the same as the Onkyo A800 and I just prefer how the A800 presented the music.
Platimon vs Raal SR1a On Midbass With High Energy Song
Song: Party Rock Anthem - LMFAO
For the SR1a, I switch back to my old setup with the original cable and the Schiit Vidar 2 as the amp. That way, both the Platimon and SR1a are using the same amp.
2:45 - 3:16 is where I like to test with a really loud volume to see if I can listen to this without piercing my ears, but at the same time makes me smile and want to stand up and start moving. SR1a for sure passed without it being piercing and at the same time put a smile on my face. Platimon surpasses it and Iām not too surprised because itās just a mixture of difference in soundstage and details. Plus the clarity, separation, and layering are much better on the Platimon and I can just hear much more of the music compared to the SR1a. Not to even mention Platimon ābiggerā sounding nature just because of itās speakers, so the speaker mid bass punch will sound and feel much nicer than the ear speaker. The SR1a sounded good, but the Platimon was just better. In terms of bass punching speed, I couldnāt really tell. I plugged my ATH-W10VTG to add to the comparison so I have a based comparison to go off of. They both sound pretty evenly fast and I donāt know if thatās a good thing as music tends to sound faster on the SR1a. My ears are probably already adjusted as I already listened to the Platimon for 2 weeks. I guess I will leave it as a head-scratcher because both of them are pretty fast.
Conclusion
The Platimon is the highest overall technical audio device I own. Even with all its high technicality, it doesnāt have that midrange magic that I really liked from the Mysphere 3.2 or the things I like from the Onkyo A800. The Platimon doesnāt completely obsolete my headphones as my headphones still offer some unique presentation and qualities, but I will probably still use the Platimon more than my headphones if I want to be completely honest. If I had to say which headphones are the most similar to the Platimon, I would probably say the Raal Sr1a. Itās probably because the Platimon uses an AMT tweeter and it reminds me of the ribbon sound from the Sr1a where its fast, very clear sounding, and highly detailed.
My original plan was to buff its clarity to the max with the next big power amp upgrade, but I donāt think I want that anymore. If I keep going down that path, I will be making the Platimons more analytical sounding and that is straying from my original setup path. My current setup with the Evo DAC and the Supratek 45 tube preamp is to make music more pleasant to the ears vs something thatās really good on paper. I think for my big upgrade power amp, I got to really think about it. I should probably wait after 300 hours of burn in before deciding. I may do a side grade power amp to experiment more or I might be taking another leap of faith on the power amp. For now though, I will continue listening to my Platimon and ponder when I am going to do room treatment.
And this good sir is the exact reason i asked about your initial choice of amplifiers for your upgrade path. You are currently using Schitt Vidar, go back and look at itās professional reviews, a few of them to get a sense of middle ground on their character. You are very well familiar of the qualities of your DAC and pre-amp, and take your time to consider how you want to shift the character of the speakers. Mind you, it will only be a little on their character emphasis, but as you write and walk through this process i believe you are already well aware of that and accounting for it.
Great write up, congratulations on the purchases and your own personal growth and the fun you are having w/ your system. 
I am absolutely rooting for you and wish you great success in your audiophile journey 
Keep in mind that the speaker placement, room acoustics and the right speaker cables, will transform pretty good into great or great into bliss. I say this because reading through your post, I didnāt get details about either the placement, room treatment and donāt see a cable listed. These three things in a 2 CH system account for more combined impact than the rest of the chain.
Another thing worth noting is that youāre comparing TOTL headphones to a vendorās middle of the line speaker and you donāt even have subs in the mix. Itās not just a chicken to beef comparison as thereās boiled chicken and fried chicken. Too early in the morning to come up with a suitable beef pairing counterpart but you get my point.
Iāve been talking a lot about this Platimon speaker that I always forget I left some stuff out because I talked about it in another place. When I scrap my rough draft sound impression, I also scrap away the part where I describe the Plaitmon sounds. So, to describe the Platimon sound, it is a pretty neutral with a hint of warmth, clean, and highly detailed speaker. As I said, the closest headphone in terms of sound that is comparable is the Raal SR1a because they share a lot of similar sound traits of sounding fast, highly detail, high clarity, and sounds very open. I wouldnāt call the Platimon cold or analytical (probably due to my system because the SR1a isnāt bright to me but more neutral leaning towards bright. When I think of bright headphones, I think of Beyerdynamic T1 I think), but probably more neutral warm like the Susvara in that aspect because the Mysphere sounds the closest to neutral to my ears. I guess that is why I like the Platimons so much lol. Its captures a lot of my favorite aspects of current collection and put it in 1 box. The Platimon got the details, layering and imaging of the Susvara, but better to me. The Platimon got clean clarity sound resolution of the SR1a, but better to me. The Platimon will definitely will beat the Onkyo A800 for loud, hard hitting bass once room treatment is done and I add 2 subwoofers. All I need to do is figure out how to add some magic to the midrange to mimic the Mysphere, so I got to really think about how I to approach that.
Thanks, I felt like I was trying to take shortcuts for this part and was trying to complete my system too quickly. One of the best part of this hobby is to experiment different combinations and hearing the growth of the system. I got to remember that its not a race, so I should take my time and actually enjoy the journey. Looking forward to trying different amps and room treatments with the Platimons to see how far I can take this speaker.
I mentioned distance from the speakers, but I guess I forgot to mention where I actually placed them. Left speaker is in near the corner maybe 2 feet away from it. I got the left speaker facing me, so its 1 feet away from the wall. Right speaker is 1.5 feet away from the wall. Each speakers are about 7 feet away from each other (from edges to edges). The AMT Tweeter is about 6 feet away from each other left to right. My listening position is 5 feet way from the speaker. My listening chair is position about near the middle which is 38 inches from the left speaker to right speaker. The ceiling is about 7 feet. Room treatment is pretty non existent. Alot of stuff lying around thatās probably messing with the sound like the TV in the middle, so I will probably clean them up. In terms of cabling, nothing really special. All generic power cords. I am using the Audience OHNO AES from the DAC to preamp. Then the Gabriel Gold Extreme MK II with KLE RCA from the preamp to power amp. Speaker cables are Micca 14 Gauge Pure Copper Speaker Wire I got from amazon here
I want to mess with cables probably after the whole setup is complete. The speaker cables I know I want to get is these:
Its because they use the same cables inside of their speakers, so I want to keep it consistent with that company.
Room treatment is next on the list, hoping this late summer if nothing cool of a power amp pop up in the used market.
Picture of the current setup:
Yep, there is a lot of ways to enjoy some chicken and my beef is still cooking. I think it was yesterday when I was listening to music using my Cayin N7 DAP and ATH-W10VTG, but Iām just a really easy person to please lol. It sounded really nice and lush. Itās not technical like the Susvara on my main chain or the Platimon Iāve been praising these last 2 weeks, but it was still a very enjoyable sound that I really like. If I had all the money and storage in the world, I would like to own all types of chicken and beef. I guess I will stick with taste testing to continue finding this perfectly cooked chicken or beef. Right now itās my first time tasting real good beef, so I guess I will continue exploring that.