[blueangel2323]

Quote:

Can there be such a thing as too much bass?
 
YES is now my definitive answer.
 
And the M-100 has too much bass.
 
I can see the appeal, but I'm not one to appreciate this kind of bass. It's not only exaggerated, but I find it exaggerated in the wrong areas. The M-100 gives you the rumble, the feel of bass, but not the texture. It's the kind of rumble I get from my car speakers - yeah, I'm not exaggerating that one bit - but in a closed can, it feels just too much, and it can get fatiguing.

Strange. Everyone hears differently I guess. To my ears bass is the one frequency range that can never ever be fatiguing on a headphone, no matter how much there is. Highs can be painfully fatiguing, mids can be fatiguing when the instrumentation is too lush with poor separation, but never bass. Unless it's an electronic kick with all the sub frequencies EQ'ed out, leaving behind only the mid/upper bass -- that can give me a headache.

 

[Oregonian]

Quote:

Strange. Everyone hears differently I guess. To my ears bass is the one frequency range that can never ever be fatiguing on a headphone, no matter how much there is. Highs can be painfully fatiguing, mids can be fatiguing when the instrumentation is too lush with poor separation, but never bass. Unless it's an electronic kick with all the sub frequencies EQ'ed out, leaving behind only the mid/upper bass -- that can give me a headache.

I'm of the same opinion.  Maybe it's because we hear our bass through the Q40 but it just feels and sounds so good.
 
Music WITHOUT bass is like it's missing something.  How can anyone listen to music without it? 

 

[MickeyVee]

Interesting dicsussion on the bass.  For me, there can be too much bass if it throws everyting else out of balance. I found the M100 too bassy just because the mids end up being recessed. Since I use my iPad Mini most of the time as the source for the M100's, I tried the Bass Reducer EQ (and I hate EQ) and this balanced everyting out but mainly brought the mids a little more forward.  It still has excellent and clean bass with suff line Deadmou5 and Morgan Page.  I'm quite enjoying the M100 in this configuration.

 

[jmsilva22]

Quote:

 
Thanks for the review!  I can't say I agree with most of it, but every headphone has an audience.  I do agree with the microphonics in the cable though.  As someone who wears collared shirts everyday, nearly every time I turn my head I am reminded of it.  I like the cable in general, especially the orange color with the matte black version, but could do without the annoyance.  

 
Currently I use this cable with my M-100.
 
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009ASHWWC/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 
Volume and track control with less microphonics and I like it better than the stock cable when I'm at the gym. And the black color goes perfect with the matte.

 

[Snoopy Ears]

If you want to hear recessed mids try the ATH M-50's. They are very V shaped and I found the Hi's very fatiguing. The M-100's are very bassy but it's a real fun sounding bass. In no way is the representation accurate but it makes the music more engaging and fun IMHO. I just love it! These are seriously the best thing I''ve ever purchased. Now if they only had the comfort of the MDR-1R, I be in heaven!!!!

 

[miceblue]

Can there be such a thing as too much bass?

YES is now my definitive answer.

And the M-100 has too much bass.

I can see the appeal, but I'm not one to appreciate this kind of bass. It's not only exaggerated, but I find it exaggerated in the wrong areas. The M-100 gives you the rumble, the feel of bass, but not the texture. It's the kind of rumble I get from my car speakers - yeah, I'm not exaggerating that one bit - but in a closed can, it feels just too much, and it can get fatiguing.

Not only that, but I find the M-100 lacking in balance. The overall sound has an electronic edge to it - which, ironically, makes electronic music sound too metallic. Vocals lack separation, and they can get drowned in the bass. I can't get the emotion, the involvement I expect from vocals. There's impact, but I don't find the M-100 to be "fun". The mids are too unbalanced to shine, and while bass impact is very important for fun, mids definition is important to me as well. And while the M-100 is not an intrinsically sibilant can like, say, the Sennheiser Amperior, it can accentuate sibilance if the track you're listening to is prone to it. If the Amperior wasn't sibilant, I wouldn't hesitate a second to declare it much better than the M-100 in every sonical aspect I care for - and in isolation, too.

Oh yeah, sound isolation with the M-100 is good, but sound leakage is not. At 50% volume on an iPod Touch, your music can be heard in a quiet environment. Not as much as with open headphones, obviously, but people around you won't be oblivious to your music if you listen at a volume that allows you to drown out external noise. And you get a LOT of microphonics from the part of the cables that is nearest the earcup.

 

Yes, I could EQ the M-100 to reduce the bass. But if I do this, the M-100 cannot give me anything more than I can get from my Sennheiser HD558 - which costs half as much. Yeah, portability is excellent from a physical standpoint, but the less-than-ideal leakage kinda defeats the benefits of the foldable design.

What the M-100 does flawlessly is: good volume straight out of an iPod, and looks. I'd be proud and happy to wear it anytime, inside and outside. It's a beautiful design. Too bad the sound isn't for me. After hearing the M-100, I find it amusing that something like the Sennheiser IE8 is considered having exaggerated bass!



BTW, these are impressions after more than 30 hours of burn-in, both with and without an amp.

Ah honest review. Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I can agree with you on a lot of points and those points (i.e. bass presence, midrange presentation, fatiguing lower-treble) are why I gave the M-100's a 3/5-star rating for sound quality.

I also agree with you on the noise leakage somewhat. I have my iPhone's volume capped at ~40% maximum volume and I rarely ever use it that loud even on a bus. If you're in a quiet environment with 50% volume, I can't imagine how loud that would be and of course you would expect it to leak sound.

And yup cable microphonics. Have you tried the less stiff, much more flexible SharePlay cable? I found the SpeakEasy cable to have significantly more cable microphonics compared to the SharePlay one.

 

[Kendoji]

The M100 is still my main portable can, and I often enjoy it greatly. But for me also the bass is too much. It really depends on the album. I find myself cherry picking albums that suit the M100 when I'm out and about, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But it definitely doesn't work well for all of the music I listen to. Again I like the M100s and will continue using them. But at some point I may seek out a more balanced presentation that more closely resembles the sound I get from my HE-500s at home, maybe the Mad Dogs.

 

[Snoopy Ears]

Mad Dogs are definitely going to be my next HP purchase. : P

 

[DrSheep]

Matte black sighting in the Microsoft Store at Tysons Corner Center. I told the guy about the internal discount too.

 

[Luv My BASS 1]

Matte black sighting in the Microsoft Store at Tysons Corner Center. I told the guy about the internal discount too.

My local Microsoft store used to have the M80 on display. Even though I already owned them, I tried them on and remembered how rock-hard the ear pads were when I first bought them XD.

 

[Snoopy Ears]

Quote:

Matte black sighting in the Microsoft Store at Tysons Corner Center. I told the guy about the internal discount too.

 
Sharing the love?  How do you deal with the traffic at Tysons?

 

[rudeboybass]

I just bought some Dynamat tape..... hope this ends up nice...

 

[DrSheep]

Quote:

 
Sharing the love?  How do you deal with the traffic at Tysons?

This is why I go after 7pm.

 

[TealRice]

so i still havent returned my white m100s, but im going to soon, but i cant seem to reduce the clamp force anymore, i have a large head and after trying the momentums and ue6000, they were way more comfortable on my head because it has alot less clamp force, so there is a possibility i might not get the m100s again :/ unless i can juist keep trying to reduce the clamp force

 

[rudeboybass]

so i still havent returned my white m100s, but im going to soon, but i cant seem to reduce the clamp force anymore, i have a large head and after trying the momentums and ue6000, they were way more comfortable on my head because it has alot less clamp force, so there is a possibility i might not get the m100s again :/ unless i can juist keep trying to reduce the clamp force

bend them flat around 3-4 times they shouldn't break