[kevinzemaitis]

Quote:

Agreed. Isolation is somewhat subjective. You won't get the same isolation as NC headphones or IEM but the m-80 blocks out most of the surrounding noises. I had the xb-500 and they were definitely bad at isolation on top of leaking a lot. And they looked ridiculous on my head...but so comfortable.
 
 

Really true, did a test today and the M-80s did fairly well. I was in Humanities and everyone in the class is obnoxious and loud so I put the sound around half way up on my iPod and I could only hear the teacher in a loud discussion but normal talk and sounds of a classroom are drowned out. Not as good at isolating as Westone 1s with Comply Tips but hey they are not IEMs. And walking throughout the hall listening to the more quiet acoustic songs of Foo Fighters Albums and all the underclassman who are really loud are un-hearable but then again are my friends when volume is cranked. XB500s were my last phones and ya un-usable in public but oh my god so much padding!

 

[nirv]

So i've had my M-80s for about a month and a half, and I haven't had any problems audio wise, however I do have some issues I want to bring up. First off I noticed the ear cups are positioned at a slight inward angle. I'm not sure if this is intentional or not (when I first noticed it I thought it was a defect, still not too sure right now), I just know this makes it very awkward to wear if you happen to put it on in the reverse direction (left ear on right side and vice versa). I don't know if this has anything to do with the angled ear cups, but after wearing the M-80s for about 2 hours I start to feel some pain in my left ear. It's not unbearable pain or anything, but it does sort of bother me a bit. 

Secondly is the 3 button cord. The kevlar threads seem to have a tendency to get frayed at the very ends, meaning the area near the connector heads. It's not so much a functionality problem as it is an aesthetic problem, but I am afraid that at some point the thread may come off completely. 
 
Can anyone confirm if their ear cups are also angled? Also, has anyone else had similar experiences with the discomfort and the cables?

 

[kingice10]

I had an unbearable discomfort too the first time I wear them pressed to my ears with my eyeglasses on...it was too painful but when I adjusted the bands to be wider, it's much more comfortable now. Right now it seems to form a square angle on the bands and it works for me.
 
For the wires, the additional grey-wire with no-buttons which comes along with the package have no issues with me. So in total, I have 3 wires: 2 in the kevlar bag and the other 1, which I use extensively. Although it's early yet but I have no issues with the wires included in the package.

 

[MrNurse]

Quote:

I had an unbearable discomfort too the first time I wear them pressed to my ears with my eyeglasses on...it was too painful but when I adjusted the bands to be wider, it's much more comfortable now. Right now it seems to form a square angle on the bands and it works for me.
 
For the wires, the additional grey-wire with no-buttons which comes along with the package have no issues with me. So in total, I have 3 wires: 2 in the kevlar bag and the other 1, which I use extensively. Although it's early yet but I have no issues with the wires included in the package.

I couldn't wear my M80's with my diamond earring on

 
 

 

[kevinzemaitis]

Quote:

Can anyone confirm if their ear cups are also angled? Also, has anyone else had similar experiences with the discomfort and the cables?

Yes they are angled, I believe because of the fact most all ears are angled outward towards the back of the head, just think about it. Me having a smaller head I have no discomfort and wish they had more clamping power to provide that great seal quicker, and I have had them for only a few days so no problems so far and hopefully not.

 

[Pwn3r4Life]

 
Quote:

So i've had my M-80s for about a month and a half, and I haven't had any problems audio wise, however I do have some issues I want to bring up. First off I noticed the ear cups are positioned at a slight inward angle. I'm not sure if this is intentional or not (when I first noticed it I thought it was a defect, still not too sure right now), I just know this makes it very awkward to wear if you happen to put it on in the reverse direction (left ear on right side and vice versa). I don't know if this has anything to do with the angled ear cups, but after wearing the M-80s for about 2 hours I start to feel some pain in my left ear. It's not unbearable pain or anything, but it does sort of bother me a bit. 

Secondly is the 3 button cord. The kevlar threads seem to have a tendency to get frayed at the very ends, meaning the area near the connector heads. It's not so much a functionality problem as it is an aesthetic problem, but I am afraid that at some point the thread may come off completely. 
 
Can anyone confirm if their ear cups are also angled? Also, has anyone else had similar experiences with the discomfort and the cables?

The band on these cans sits atop the head, rather than tapping around the curve at the back of the top, I too found this awkward but, like it says on the box, once you were them for 24 hours and the steel flex head band forms to your head the comfort is amazing.
 
 
 
And to anyone else with comfort issues, let them adjust, it sounds weird but I've even seen a visible difference between my cups, they almost look defected now because they formed to my head. If I knew how to post a pic I would but I'm too lazy to find out.
 
Seriously though I found these cans UNBEARABLY UNCOMFORTABLE. PAINFUL to tell you the truth. Now I forget that they are on my head. Literally no joke, I was listening to music and I saw my mom moving her lips and I asked her why she was moving her lips but no noise was coming out. 
 

 

[Kagelou]

hm, thats odd, I don't notice any/much bend on the cups...could you explain the "bend" a bit more? Like, if you had the headphones right in front of you so you could stretch them and put them on, which way are the cups bent? o.o
Yea I've noticed that the kevlar cord gets frayed when it sorta touches my zipper on my coat. Nothing too bad, but thought I'd mention it~
How many clicks of the headband are you guys using?

 

[nirv]

 
 
Quote:

Yea I've noticed that the kevlar cord gets frayed when it sorta touches my zipper on my coat. Nothing too bad, but thought I'd mention it~

That was my initial guess, but in my case it's only getting frayed around the connectors (both of them). The parts that come in contact with my zipper aren't half as frayed as those parts are, just like 1 or 2 strands. 
 
I use 1~3 clicks of the bands. I tend to need less for a more secure fit when I'm walking around.

 

[JamesMcProgger]

Quote:

 
Can anyone confirm if their ear cups are also angled? 

 
this was intentionally because the cups have no movement, (less movement parts equals to less prompt to break or fail)
most heads are like this \(HEAD)/ hence the angled cups. if you happen to have parallel ears like this |(HEAD)| then you just have very bad luck.
 

 

[Posam]

Quote:

hm, thats odd, I don't notice any/much bend on the cups...could you explain the "bend" a bit more? Like, if you had the headphones right in front of you so you could stretch them and put them on, which way are the cups bent? o.o
Yea I've noticed that the kevlar cord gets frayed when it sorta touches my zipper on my coat. Nothing too bad, but thought I'd mention it~
How many clicks of the headband are you guys using?

What I think he means is that they have adapted to the shape of his head and they are no longer symmetrical like when new. For example; on mine the left cup is lower yet they are both at three clicks down (or maybe two but they are at the same number) and the right cup angle back a little more than the left.

 

[valkolton]

Quote:

 
this was intentionally because the cups have no movement, (less movement parts equals to less prompt to break or fail)
most heads are like this \(HEAD)/ hence the angled cups. if you happen to have parallel ears like this |(HEAD)| then you just have very bad luck.
 

The headband's flexible material and angled cut on the pads also helps it to properly align to your ear angle.  I would argue that ergonomics is more important than drivers.  As I like to say to my team "the fit is the sound".
 
Bass = large variance from seal
Mids = angle of driver and reflection on the concha
His = large variance from direction 
 
ERGONOMICS - TIME DOES TELL
I have to pinch myself to not tell TOO much sometimes in case other companies are lurking, but ID changes the ergos and therefore the sound so I guess it's semi-OK.  This fit=sound is why legendary headphones cannot be made for mass market in less than 2 years. It's IMPOSSIBLE, so fly-by-night fashion headphone companies do not have time, labs or the $ to do what we do.  Look how much time Bose has had, their slogan "better sound through research" is 1000000% true.  V-MODA, in fact, started as Kolton Technology for R&D. I tip my hats to Bose, I looked up to them for many years for their ergonomic R&D.  Yet remember their first IEM? Even the best ergo/R&D had to recall the fittings, because of TIME TO MARKET.  
 
You can make a headphone sound amazing for one person in a few hours. Yet, to make a SINGLE product adjust to fit and sound nearly the same for many people of different origins/ages takes YEARS of research.  In fact, it took >5 years for M-80, 3 years was ergonomics. Yet, even after those years and data I am semi-astonished it sounds like I intended for so many people as I read through this forums true reviews. I always thought through our research we would have to delete some data because of what I call "nice bias", and its hard to fight that since I'm the owner/designer.
 
"The Greatest Sound for the Greatest Amount of People"* and "Rome Wasn't Built in a Day"  is my wallpaper! 
 
-V
 
edit *that the model targets, considering demographics, environment used, psychoacoustic sound pref, music content, ergos, source devices and many other secret sauce random variables including religious views, carnivore vs vegetarian, sail vs speedboat, brunette vs blonde preferences.. (sic)
 

 

[Pwn3r4Life]

Like what Val said
they adjusted to the shape of my head
I use 4 clicks on each side for listening while still
3 on one side and 4 on the other if I am moving for a more secure fit
I have a pretty wide head
im a 7 5/8 hat size at age 14

 

[Pwn3r4Life]

Another thing I forgot to note is as time went on, bass had more impact and less leakage
out of the box I put them on kind of loud and had my mom stand next to me about the length of across the table and had her try to guess the song
her response was I can't tell but it sounds like Adele...
it was
 
2 weeks later I did the same test while listening to some eminem
she said she couldnt hear it well enough to tell what music was playing at a very loud volume.
 
I also noticed a very significant increase in isolation an comfort while wearing glasses

 

[Dacrazydude]

Another thing I forgot to note is as time went on, bass had more impact and less leakage
out of the box I put them on kind of loud and had my mom stand next to me about the length of across the table and had her try to guess the song
her response was I can't tell but it sounds like Adele...
it was

2 weeks later I did the same test while listening to some eminem
she said she couldnt hear it well enough to tell what music was playing at a very loud volume.

I also noticed a very significant increase in isolation an comfort while wearing glasses

maybe your mom just doesn't listen/recognize eminem?

 

[valkolton]

Quote:

I couldn't wear my M80's with my diamond earring on

 
 

I don't know how to fix this issue yet with on-ears, except take em off?