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If you want a personal monitoring station that lets you blend your own mic, instrument and line signals against a full mix, choose ROLLS PM351; if you need compact in-ear monitors with five balanced armature drivers per side and a detachable cable you can upgrade, choose Linsoul KZ AS10.
• ROLLS PM351 — biggest strength: it's not really a headphone, it's a personal monitor center. XLR mic input, 1/4" line and instrument inputs, three separate volume controls, plus a 1/4" phone out and XLR thru to feed a main mixer or recorder. Bundled with Polsen HPC-A30 closed-back headphones (50 mm dynamic drivers, 18 Hz–22 kHz).
• ROLLS PM351 — biggest trade-off: it's a corded, wall-mountable utility box. Metal-and-plastic enclosure, 15 V input, not water resistant. It's bulky compared to earbuds and it needs to be part of a signal chain to make sense.
• Linsoul KZ AS10 — biggest strength: five balanced armature drivers per side in a tiny in-ear housing, 3D-printed internal acoustic structure, two output nozzles, 20 Hz–40 kHz range, 14 ohm impedance, 105 dB sensitivity, detachable 0.75 mm 2-pin OCC cable.
• Linsoul KZ AS10 — biggest trade-off: passive noise cancellation only, no mic on this version, and balanced armature bass behaves differently from a big dynamic driver. It's an in-ear, so it isolates you from the room rather than blending you into it.
• Who each is for: ROLLS PM351 for singers, drummers and multi-instrumentalists who need to hear themselves against a mix; Linsoul KZ AS10 for listeners, singers and musicians who want detailed in-ear monitoring with a cable they can swap.
The PM351 is a problem-solver, not a gadget. In a studio or on a stage, the hardest thing for a performer is hearing yourself clearly while everyone else's sound washes over you. This box sits at your feet or on a wall and gives you three independent level controls — one for your microphone, one for your instrument, one for the line signal coming from the board. You dial in your own balance instead of gesturing at a monitor engineer.
The connectivity is the whole point. There's a 3-pin XLR mic input, a 1/4" TRS phone line input, and a 1/4" instrument input. Outputs run to a 1/4" phone out for your headphones and an XLR thru that passes your mic signal on to the main mixer or recorder. That XLR thru is what makes it genuinely useful in recording and sound reinforcement: the front-of-house engineer gets a clean feed while you get your own mix. Drummers who need a click track in their ears against a live band are exactly the kind of player this was built for.
Included in the box are the Polsen HPC-A30 closed-back studio monitor headphones — 50 mm dynamic drivers, 18 Hz to 22 kHz, closed-back so they don't bleed into a live mic. The whole package is metal-and-plastic, black, wall-mountable, corded, and rated for studio, live music and audio monitoring use. It's not water resistant and it runs on 15 V input, so treat it as installed gear, not something you stuff in a pocket.
Who should skip it? If you just want to plug earbuds into your phone and hear your music more clearly, this is the wrong tool. It's also overkill if you never perform or record with other people. The PM351 earns its keep only when there's a mix you need to fight through.
The AS10 is KZ's first pure balanced armature design, and it packs five drivers per side: one handling bass, two on high frequency, two on midrange. That's a lot of dedicated hardware for a small in-ear. The claimed result is more detail, a strong and detailed low end, a prominent midrange, and highs that stay soft rather than sharp — a tuning that suits pop and vocals particularly well.
The engineering story is interesting. KZ uses 3D printing to build the internal acoustic structure that houses the drivers, guiding sound to two separate outputs at the base of each nozzle. The cavity is molded around cochlea data so it sits like a custom piece, and the ergonomic ear hook keeps it locked in even during vigorous movement. That matters if you're a drummer or a singer moving around on stage.
Spec-wise it's rated 20 Hz to 40 kHz, 14 ohm impedance and 105 dB sensitivity, which means it doesn't demand much power from a phone, laptop or tablet with a 3.5 mm jack. The 0.75 mm 2-pin OCC cable detaches, so if it wears out or you simply want a different cable, you swap it instead of replacing the earphones. Noise cancellation is passive — the silicone tips physically block outside sound. There's no microphone on this version, and the color is black.
Who should skip it? If you need to hear the room, or if you need your mic and instrument blended into your ears, the AS10 can't do that. It seals you off, which is a strength on a loud stage and a drawback in a conversation. And if you rely on a headset mic for calls, this is the wrong version.
Side-by-Side: Which Should You Choose?
• Best for hearing yourself against a band → ROLLS PM351. Three independent level controls plus XLR thru are built for exactly that.
• Best for recording vocals or instruments → ROLLS PM351. XLR mic input, 1/4" instrument input, and a thru feed to your interface or mixer.
• Best for detail and clarity in a sealed listen → Linsoul KZ AS10. Five balanced armature drivers per side and a 20 Hz–40 kHz rating.
• Best for durability of the cable → Linsoul KZ AS10. The 2-pin OCC cable is detachable and replaceable.
• Best for drummers using a click track → ROLLS PM351. This is the use case the design is explicitly aimed at.
• Best for loud stages where you want isolation → Linsoul KZ AS10. Passive noise cancellation via a sealed in-ear fit.
• Best for installed, hands-on control → ROLLS PM351. Wall-mountable, metal-and-plastic housing, corded, not water resistant.
If I had to pick one, I'd buy the ROLLS PM351 for studio and stage work. In my opinion, nothing about the KZ AS10 replaces what the PM351 does — controlling your own mic, instrument and line levels and passing a clean feed to the board is a different job entirely, and the bundled Polsen HPC-A30 closed-back headphones make it a complete monitoring solution out of the box.
That said, if your goal is simply to hear more detail in your music with a compact, upgradeable in-ear, the KZ AS10 is the smarter pick. It's the one I'd carry in a pocket; the PM351 is the one I'd leave wired up in the room. Check the current price on Amazon for whichever one fits your setup, since that's the last variable I can't answer for you.
what is studio monitor headphones
Studio monitor headphones are closed- or open-back headphones designed to reproduce audio accurately for recording, mixing, field, mobile and DJ work rather than to flatter the sound. In this comparison, the Polsen HPC-A30 bundled with the ROLLS PM351 is the studio monitor pair — closed-back, 50 mm dynamic drivers, 18 Hz to 22 kHz. The Linsoul KZ AS10 is an in-ear monitor, which serves a similar monitoring role in a much smaller form.
what are the best studio monitor headphones
"Best" depends on your job. In my opinion, if you need to monitor yourself against a full mix with independent control over mic, instrument and line signals, the ROLLS PM351 package is the stronger choice because the hardware does the blending for you. If you need isolation and fine detail in a sealed in-ear, the Linsoul KZ AS10's five balanced armature drivers per side are the more specialized tool. Neither is universally better.
do i need studio monitors if i have headphones
Not necessarily. Headphones and in-ears let you monitor without a room, which is why the PM351 and the AS10 both exist as monitoring tools. But headphones can't replicate how a mix behaves in open air, and they isolate you from the room. If your work is tracking, click tracks and personal monitoring, headphones like these are enough. If you're judging how a mix translates to speakers, you'd want monitors as well.
what are studio monitor headphones
They're headphones built for accurate, neutral reproduction during recording and audio monitoring, not for casual listening. The Polsen HPC-A30 included with the ROLLS PM351 fits that description with its 50 mm dynamic drivers and closed-back design. The Linsoul KZ AS10 approaches the same goal from the in-ear side, using five balanced armature drivers per side and a 20 Hz–40 kHz range for detail.
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See also: Behringer P2 vs PROAR P2: Studio Monitor Headphones, Phenyx Pro Compact UHF vs SAMSON Q2U: Monitor Headphones, Roland RH-A7-BK vs PreSonus Eris 3.5: Studio Monitor