[BRSxIgnition]

Quote:

Yeah. But the big thing is that I'm not sure that a larger driver necessitates an amp. They should sound fine without an amp, especially when fullsize cans such as the M50's and, well, the LP's pull it off.

M50's have 45mm drivers, and the LP's are known as loose basshead cans, so you can't exactly say they "pull it off."
 
If they fixed the problem that Val quoted there, I'm glad. If not - then I'll be looking at the new Denon line or the PSB's. No offense to V-MODA; they do great work here on the forums, and their headphones sound great, but this one won't work for me as well as I hoped if I have to buy a portable amp to carry around, just to make them shine. They'd end up costing more than what I thought they would.

 

[darkfireblade25]

Quote:

M50's have 45mm drivers, and the LP's are known as loose basshead cans, so you can't exactly say they "pull it off."
 
If they fixed the problem that Val quoted there, I'm glad. If not - then I'll be looking at the new Denon line or the PSB's. No offense to V-MODA; they do great work here on the forums, and their headphones sound great, but this one won't work for me as well as I hoped if I have to buy a portable amp to carry around, just to make them shine. They'd end up costing more than what I thought they would.

 less competition for me then~

 
dac/amps with batteries are your best friend is what i like to think.

 

[largemouth bass]

Are y'all out of your VALK'N minds?  That post was extracted from Jan 25th (from the same person who every now and then comes in and mindlessly asks "The M-100 comes out tomorrow?"  I need something to curb my jones but not another amp discussion.  Look at it this way... bangin' a chick is always a good thing, but if she's hot it makes it all that much better.
 
What's with all this manga nowadays anyhow?  Not to put down those who enjoy it but all that fantastical whimsy seems rather juvenile and feminine. It's cartoons afterall.  The word itself sounds dirty and vulgar....manga, yuck. Sounds like a festering disease-ridden pus-filled boil growing underndeath my sac. The only exception being some of the old school films by Miyazaki.  Very hallucongenic and mind altering stuff.  
 
AnakChan is not the only one to have sampled the M-100's.  But he is the only one to hear it before and after tooling.  His reaction to hearing them the second go around was "Oh $hit!".  Val was the one who referenced the M-100 buzz as being 'Dyno Mite'.
Quote:

Hi guys,
I had the chance to see and hear the m-100 and the vamp
at the german high-end exhibition in munich and I was very pleased what I heard.
 
When folded the m-100 looked very compact.
My first listening test was a demo track played through an iPhone with
a vamp attached to it.
Although I don't posses an iPhone I think the design of the vamp is
well made fitting like a glove on the back of the phone.
Soundwise I was impressed. But I can't reacall
too much since It was just a brief listening.
 
Next up I tested the hp with my samsung galaxy nexus.
Volume was no issue and I was able to drive it loud enough
for my taste. Sound performance was very solid with plenty of bass imho,
although I was told it is still being tuned and not final of course.
 
A new feature will be also screwable calbes for a more secure fit.
 
I wished the earcups of the m-100 would be a little bit bigger,
because I kinda felt it was touching my normal sized ears all around
but still way more comfortable than the m-80.
I also would love the option for velour earpads.

 

[darkfireblade25]

Quote:

Are y'all out of your VALK'N minds?  That post was extracted from Jan 25th (from the same person who every now and then comes in and mindlessly asks "The M-100 comes out tomorrow?"  I need something to curb my jones but not another amp discussion.  Look at it this way... bangin' a chick is always a good thing, but if she's hot it makes it all that much better.
 
What's with all this manga nowadays anyhow?  Not to put down those who enjoy it but all that fantastical whimsy seems rather juvenile and feminine. It's cartoons afterall.  The word itself sounds dirty and vulgar....manga, yuck. Sounds like a festering disease-ridden pus-filled boil growing underndeath my sac. The only exception being some of the old school films by Miyazaki.  Very hallucongenic and mind altering stuff.  
 
AnakChan is not the only one to have sampled the M-100's.  But he is the only one to hear it before and after tooling.  His reaction to hearing them the second go around was "Oh $hit!".  Val was the one who referenced the M-100 buzz as being 'Dyno Mite'.

 lol I like how you're trying to start an off-topic flame war in the middle of an on topic rant.
 
But don't tell them that! They'll consider buying it again and it'll go out quicker. Better for the misinformed to drop so more of us can have it amirite?

 

[AnakChan]

[Snip!!]
AnakChan is not the only one to have sampled the M-100's.  But he is the only one to hear it before and after tooling.  His reaction to hearing them the second go around was "Oh $hit!".  Val was the one who referenced the M-100 buzz as being 'Dyno Mite'.

Errr, just as a clarification, "Oh $h1t!" phrase was Onizukajp . But if I recalled correctly, I really liked the M-100 a lot.

I've not heard the Denons yet although they are released in Japan tomorrow. I do have a pair of PSB M4U 2 though & wrote a review about them in Head-Fi.

 

[Craigster75]

Quote:

Errr, just as a clarification, "Oh $h1t!" phrase was Onizukajp

. But if I recalled correctly, I really liked the M-100 a lot.
I've not heard the Denons yet although they are released in Japan tomorrow. I do have a pair of PSB M4U 2 though & wrote a review about them in Head-Fi.

I was curious that it seemed like you were generally positive about the PSB M4U2 (lukewarm, along the lines of Tyll's review) and only rated the sound quality 3 stars.  Was that based on sound quality for the price or sound quality of all headphones you have experienced, including high end models?  Can you share which headphones you feel offer 5 star sound quality?  My last question, if you are able to answer, from what you recall of the M-100, would you say the detail is comparable to the M4U2?

 

[Mike96]

Quote:

 
Good news is, M-100 doesn't require an amp but it benefits. It is now just the right volume OOTB for a portable source.

Val's update 5 months later from the January post.
 
Quote:

If these are a step down from the M-80's unamped, I don't want them. If they need me to haul around an amp just to be as good sounding as a more portable set of cans, something's wrong; they're not considered "portable headphones" at that point, IMO.

Like WiR3d said:
 
Quote:

no M100 >= M80 unamped, but M100 > M80 amped.

 
Quote:

If they fixed the problem that Val quoted there, I'm glad. If not - then I'll be looking at the new Denon line or the PSB's. No offense to V-MODA; they do great work here on the forums, and their headphones sound great, but this one won't work for me as well as I hoped if I have to buy a portable amp to carry around, just to make them shine. They'd end up costing more than what I thought they would.

 
M100 is supposed to be an M80 with 50mm drivers, bass improvement and other tweaks as we all know so it can't be a step down especially if it doesn't require an amp to sound as good as the M80s anymore. We all want the M100 to sound significantly better than the M80 unamped (and even more so with one) otherwise we might as well carry an amp around which i agree with you that at that point it is no longer really a portable headphone.

 

[AnakChan]

Quote:

I was curious that it seemed like you were generally positive about the PSB M4U2 (lukewarm, along the lines of Tyll's review) and only rated the sound quality 3 stars.  Was that based on sound quality for the price or sound quality of all headphones you have experienced, including high end models?  Can you share which headphones you feel offer 5 star sound quality?  My last question, if you are able to answer, from what you recall of the M-100, would you say the detail is comparable to the M4U2?

 
 
OK please bear in mind that it's over a month since I heard the M100 (as such the following is most likely placebo), and also we could be having different preferences (more about this later).
 
I reviewed the PSB M4U 2 to 3 stars only 'cos I had to look at it's SQ in all 3 modes (passive, active, noise cancellation). It's most well performing mode was in active. It sounded nice but it didn't have the "wow" factor for me. I read your response to an earlier M4U 2 review that you felt it was up there with the Signature Pros, but that wasn't my personal feeling (as such the having difference preferences). I personally would have put the SigPros towards the 4 stars category.
 
Now about the M-100 (again, please bear in mind that it's been quite some time), as per my comment in the M4U 2 thread, I do feel that as overall headphones, they're different. However specifically about the SQ of the M4U 2 in active mode and what I remember of the M-100, I'm still leaning toward the M-100 as I still remember there's some "wow" factor to it whereas the M4U 2 "just sounded nice". As to the "wow" factor in the M-100, I seem to recall it being oriented to it's bass especially when listening to Tron Legacy - cos I made Onizukajp listen to it too (that's where the "Oh $h1t!" came from). Please note though I'm far from being a basshead. I'd probably hold back from saying anything more until I get to hear the M-100 again. Hopefully Val -does- swing by Tokyo after his China/HK trip.
 
About ratings, I'd rate the Fostex TH900 and the Stax SR-009s as 5 star and I own both of these (sold the Ultrasone Ed8LEs for the TH900s actually). I'd also rate the FitEar TO GO! 334 as 5 star with Unique Melody Merlins around a 4. What would I rate as 2 stars? (Sorry Val!) the LP and LP2s.
 
Despite our differing opinions about the placement of the M4U 2 with respect to the Signature Pros, I'll still stand by my advice I gave to you a few weeks back when you were considering the SigPros - hold on till you've heard the M-100, then re-evaluate your choices. Even if in the end you don't feel the M-100s were up there with the SigPros (which to me they are), the SigPros nor the M4U 2 are going anywhere. You'd merely have more to choose from.
 
Edit: Although I'd rate the TH900 and the SR-009s as 5 star, if I could add more granularity, the SR-009 still triumphs over the TH-900 though to my ears...so maybe like a 4.7 vs 5.0 kinda comparison?

 

[AnakChan]

Quote:

M100 is supposed to be an M80 with 50mm drivers, bass improvement and other tweaks as we all know so it can't be a step down especially if it doesn't require an amp to sound as good as the M80s anymore. We all want the M100 to sound significantly better than the M80 unamped (and even more so with one) otherwise we might as well carry an amp around which i agree with you that at that point it is no longer really a portable headphone.

 
Although the M-100 may have started that way, IMHO after hearing it, the M-100 is in its own classification from the M-80. I do regret not trying the M-100 without the VAmp though.

 

[Craigster75]

Quote:

 
 
OK please bear in mind that it's over a month since I heard the M100 (as such the following is most likely placebo), and also we could be having different preferences (more about this later).
 
I reviewed the PSB M4U 2 to 3 stars only 'cos I had to look at it's SQ in all 3 modes (passive, active, noise cancellation). It's most well performing mode was in active. It sounded nice but it didn't have the "wow" factor for me. I read your response to an earlier M4U 2 review that you felt it was up there with the Signature Pros, but that wasn't my personal feeling (as such the having difference preferences). I personally would have put the SigPros towards the 4 stars category.
 
Now about the M-100 (again, please bear in mind that it's been quite some time), as per my comment in the M4U 2 thread, I do feel that as overall headphones, they're different. However specifically about the SQ of the M4U 2 in active mode and what I remember of the M-100, I'm still leaning toward the M-100 as I still remember there's some "wow" factor to it whereas the M4U 2 "just sounded nice". As to the "wow" factor in the M-100, I seem to recall it being oriented to it's bass especially when listening to Tron Legacy - cos I made Onizukajp listen to it too (that's where the "Oh $h1t!" came from). Please note though I'm far from being a basshead. I'd probably hold back from saying anything more until I get to hear the M-100 again. Hopefully Val -does- swing by Tokyo after his China/HK trip.
 
About ratings, I'd rate the Fostex TH900 and the Stax SR-009s as 5 star and I own both of these (sold the Ultrasone Ed8LEs for the TH900s actually). I'd also rate the FitEar TO GO! 334 as 5 star with Unique Melody Merlins around a 4. What would I rate as 2 stars? (Sorry Val!) the LP and LP2s.
 
Despite our differing opinions about the placement of the M4U 2 with respect to the Signature Pros, I'll still stand by my advice I gave to you a few weeks back when you were considering the SigPros - hold on till you've heard the M-100, then re-evaluate your choices. Even if in the end you don't feel the M-100s were up there with the SigPros (which to me they are), the SigPros nor the M4U 2 are going anywhere. You'd merely have more to choose from.
 
Edit: Although I'd rate the TH900 and the SR-009s as 5 star, if I could add more granularity, the SR-009 still triumphs over the TH-900 though to my ears...so maybe like a 4.7 vs 5.0 kinda comparison?

I want to say thank you for providing such a thorough and insightful response that helps me put my upcoming headphone purchase in perspective.  Responses like this are the reason I joined Head-fi in the first place- to help expand my knowledge and understanding of headphones by interacting with intelligent individuals who possess greater knowledge than me in this area.
 
Thinking about the types of music I enjoy and the fact that I listen mostly to compressed files on my Iphone, the Signature Pro may be overkill for me and I would imagine the differences compared to the M4U2  are more pronounced to you as I am assuming you have state-of-the-art amps and uncompressed/FLAC files, not to mention your experience owning and evaluating the world's best headphones. 
 
I have a clear mission now:
 
Purchase the M-100 as soon as they are available and A/B in store using my Iphone direct and with my FiiO E11 with the PSB M4U2, Denon AH-D600 and AH-D400.  I think you provided the reason that I have not already purchased the M4U2- they somewhat lack the "WOW" factor.  I am encouraged by your cursory overview of the M-100 and don't see any other headphones on the horizon that could best any on this list for my needs in the $300 to $500 range.

 

[largemouth bass]

Quote:

*snippety snip snip*
 
 - cos I made Onizukajp listen to it too (that's where the "Oh $h1t!" came from).
 

 
Ah yes, it's all coming back to me now.  Thanks again for the review. If you see Val with his goodie bag full of M-100's in Tokyo can you give us an ampless impression?  And maybe discretely pull on his hair just to see if it's a rug or not?

 

[greenrolaids]

arrrgh.. money burning a huge hole in my pocket..
 
Mad Dog T50RP's are starting to bark at me...
 
barking .. buy me .. buy me, you dont have to wait 2 weeks to find out if you can get a PPU...
 
I could use a significant other to manage my finances, plus the lovin would be a bonus.

 

[olpne]

Quote:

 
About ratings, I'd rate the Fostex TH900 and the Stax SR-009s as 5 star and I own both of these (sold the Ultrasone Ed8LEs for the TH900s actually). I'd also rate the FitEar TO GO! 334 as 5 star with Unique Melody Merlins around a 4. What would I rate as 2 stars? (Sorry Val!) the LP and LP2s.

 
   I would never ever spend that much money on headphones. I could settle for a good pair stereo speakers.
 
Not trying to start anything here, though.
 
Those headphones companies....who do they think they are?....Not ever!
 
I've never tried on expensive headphones, though. Not even on the low hundreds.

 

[Evshrug]

Never is an awfully long time friend... Sometimes the small improvements are "just enough to tick all my boxes!" to justify higher and higher prices, and for many audio enthusiasts even $2000 headphones or headphone-based audio systems are major bargains compared to what you can get in the speaker world. The detail and 3D dimension of a great binaural recording played through a good DAC, amp, and headphones can seem more "real" than even a 9.1 speaker setup with height channels.

Or maybe they are planning ahead for "when" they win the lottery, or regularly saved money instead of buying lotto tickets and cigs and stuff. If it's your hobby, all sorts of price ranges become reasonable and justifiable.

If you don't feel like you can justify over $X for headphones, then go with that instinct. However, you may be surprised one day.

 

[olpne]

Quote:

Never is an awfully long time friend... Sometimes the small improvements are "just enough to tick all my boxes!" to justify higher and higher prices, and for many audio enthusiasts even $2000 headphones or headphone-based audio systems are major bargains compared to what you can get in the speaker world. The detail and 3D dimension of a great binaural recording played through a good DAC, amp, and headphones can seem more "real" than even a 9.1 speaker setup with height channels.
Or maybe they are planning ahead for "when" they win the lottery, or regularly saved money instead of buying lotto tickets and cigs and stuff. If it's your hobby, all sorts of price ranges become reasonable and justifiable.
If you don't feel like you can justify over $X for headphones, then go with that instinct. However, you may be surprised one day.

 
Actually, I understand now, and I've experienced it first hand. Sometimes doing what one loves can cost quite the amount of money.
 
Thanks, Evshrug! That was good!