CES 2015

2015 is the year of Monster collaborations. Pushing slogans of "the Internet of everything" and "more than just a headphone company", Monster focused on its desire to expand into projects that extend beyond their ubiquitous cans.

That said, there were a lot of headphone announcements made. In what Monster terms its “audiophile” category, the DNA Pro 2.0 over-ear headphones are to replace the original DNA Pro released last year. In the “sport” category, the iSport wireless and iSport Super Slim wireless in-ear headphones are the latest offerings. The iSport wireless and the Super Slim are both antimicrobial and sweat resistant, the difference being that the Super Slim has a close-to-the-ear slim design and a 5 hour active battery life.

Also in the sport headphone category is the collaboration between ADIDAS and Monster which will feature four separate in-ear headphones: $150 wireless, as well as $99 and $69 in-ears plus $49 earbuds.

ADIDAS isn’t Monster’s only brand partner. There’s the UFC Octagon headphones, the Nick Cannon soon-to-be-reality-show project “Make It Monster” which will feature tech startups vying to make Monster their distribution partner, Shaq and the BackFloat floating splash-proof Bluetooth speaker, and the Qualcomm AllPlay streaming platform with Monster’s Soundstage Speakers. The SoundStage Speakers will have three sized models, the S1, S2, and S3 (smallest to largest) and will be WiFi, Bluetooth and NFC enabled.

Monster hasn’t forgotten about cables, either. Also announced were “Premium Black Platinum” cables that feature an idiot-proof indicator on the cable itself that tells you what kind of data is streaming through it, as well as power strips with USB and Ethernet capabilities.

And because no press conference at CES is complete without an app announcement, Monster also rolled out Pure Monster Sound, a music player with EQ setting for genres as well as individual artists that they say will optimize your listening experience. As with all things at CES, everything new at Monster looks great, but we’ll just have to wait to know how good it sounds.