What are the Monster iSport Victory?
The Monster iSport Victory are sweat-resistant and sports-resistant in-ear wireless earphones, in a line similar to the Monster iSport SuperSlim. These headphones are characterized by an eight-hour battery life and two sound profiles, one of which is designed to accelerate your heart with low and high volume.
Although the sound quality is respectable, the weight of the remote control in line is annoying difficult to ignore. If you are looking for headphones to help you 'disconnect', then this could be a decisive factor.
Related: Best running headphones
Monster iSport Victory – Design and comfort
The Monster iSport Victory are available in black, blue or green. The neckband style connection cable has a layer of snake-shaped reflective material, designed to help you be more visible if you run at night: a nice touch.
The cable is surprisingly thin and does not weigh too much as a result, making it less noticeable. It is also quite flexible, managing to cope well with the rigors of having the headphones thrown casually in my gym bag without any additional protection. A small travel bag is included, but I did not find it necessary.
There is a generous length of cable connecting the two headphones, but a neat cable helps to tighten it against the back of your head. This creates a kind of unsightly "horsetail" with excess cable, which can be found along the way depending on the form of exercise you are doing. For example, when the barbell squat and bench press the cable occasionally was annoying, but to execute it was fine.
The inline remote control and the microphone are located to the right atrial – and, unfortunately, it's hard to ignore the extra weight on that side when you're exercising. Even with the headphones pressed, I could feel the remote control pulling the right earphone; It is quite big and heavy. It is for this reason that I preferred to use the headphones with the connecting band around the front of my neck, since I do not feel the weight emphasis on one side so much.
The remote control provides all the multimedia controls one would expect, including volume adjustment and skip tracks. Since the buttons are well separated, I had no problem finding the one I was looking for, even halfway.
Fortunately, even with the slight weight of distraction from the remote control, the headphones did not move from my ears during the tests. This is due to the tips of the wings that lodge securely in the outer ear to help anchor them in place.
These are made of flexible silicone and I found them super comfortable, even when used for long periods. You can choose between three wing tip tips and five silicone tips in the case, which means you should be able to find your perfect fit.
Although the iSport Victory does not feel as flush against your ears as the iSport SuperSlim, they do not protrude enough to make them feel as if they fall at any time. Even after sweating, the headphones continued to feel safe in my ears.
Monster iSport Victory – Sound quality and calls
As mentioned, the Monster iSport Victory offers two sound profiles and you can easily switch between them by keeping both volume buttons together for three seconds.
Unfortunately, I discovered that the two profiles were at opposite ends of the spectrum without a middle ground. The standard profile sounds a bit thin and lifeless, while the Turbo mode raises the bass (and treble) too high for my taste, even if it is meant to encourage you for your training.
The Turbo DSP also provides an additional volume boost, which could be useful in noisy gymnastics environments. Having said that, the silicone tips do a good job of passive isolation, which is a blessing or a curse. It makes the bass more impactful and blocks outside noise, but it means less situational awareness, which is important if you are running outdoors.
The iSport Victory includes a microphone on the remote inline, and even when the cable was tight behind my head (which pulls the remote control slightly behind you), it caught my voice well.
The Bluetooth range was respectable, managing to maintain a stable connection with my phone about 15 meters away on the opposite side of the gym floor. With the phone in my pocket during a race, I never experienced failures or technical problems.
Monster iSport Victory – Battery life
Monster qualifies the battery life at 8 hours, but this felt a bit optimistic. When listening to a standard volume, I found that the headphones reached closer to 7 hours, which is still respectable. The headphones charge on micro-USB, with the port hidden in the remote control in line.
Why buy Monster iSport Victory?
If you want headphones that will become a seamless part of your workout, it is possible that the weight of the remote control distracts you too much. The sound quality of iSport Victory is reasonable for the money, but I would like there to be more than a half point between the two sound profiles.
Although the setting is safe, there are better alternatives, such as Monster's iSport SuperSlim. , which are a great value today.
Verdict
These easy-to-use headphones will not pop out of your ears, but it's hard to ignore the pull of the remote control and the slightly faint sound.