Me: I am a 21 year old student living in a small town in India. I would like to call myself a music enthusiast, rather than an audiophile. I was inspired by music since childhood, and as the time passed, the passion of music grew in me, and that subsequently led me to join Head-Fi. Eventually, I found the pleasure of listening to music mainly by the HD600 and recently, by the seductive LCD2 headphones, and realized the true components of recorded music. I usually like to listen to Indian Classical Music along with Bollywood songs. My main listening genres include classical, vocal, instrumental, jazz and sometimes pop.
Intro: Master & Dynamic is a new US brand specializing in the area of headphones and IEM’s. They are based in New York. M&D rolled out their first product in July, last year. Their products are all designed & developed in New York, but made in China by high standards. MH30 is the On-ear Closed-back headphone offering from M&D.
Master & Dynamic have a specific vision in making their products: The products should last long (very long) and should have a natural sound reproduction for pure music enjoyment. Currently all of their headphone and IEM lines are closed back, solidly built by metal & leather components, and all of them have a very natural and musical listening experience with them. Mr. Jonathan Levine is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of M&D.
Specifications of MH30:
Drivers: 40mm Neodymium
Rated Impedance: 32 Ω
Weight: 260 grams
Plug: 3.5mm Gold Plated 4 pole
Cable: Woven with Oxygen Free Copper
Let us see what the MH30 has got for us,
Packaging and Accessories: The MH30’s arrive packed inside a strong black cardboard box with a removable outer sheet, on which features and other information have been mentioned upon. Once the box is flipped open, The MH30 is seen resting. Cables are placed inside the hard leather case in the centre of the box. This layer of foam can be lifted off to reveal another storage compartment, in which pouch and user manual are present. Packaging is very similar to the MH40’s.
M &D has done some real premium packaging out here. Each and every part has a premium quality and feel to it. The attention and perfection implemented here is one of the best I have ever seen, and is really more of a lavish style. Even the small paper clip or a velcro is made up of excellent quality material.
List of accessories in the box, which include the following:
Cables: One short 1.25M cable with mic and volume controls, and another regular 2.0M cable.
¼” Converter: To plug in the MH30 in the 6.5mm headphone jacks.
Leather cable case: This is a genuine leather case, and supplied to protect and store the cables.
Headphone Pouch: This pouch has a high grade jeans-finish to it, and functions as a storage pouch for the MH30.
User Manual: Contains instructions to operate the MH30 and other warranty information.
Design and Build: The MH30 has an excellent overall build quality. It has a top notch build which is as good as any Summit-Fi headphones.
The entire housing shell is made up of high quality forged aluminum. It isn’t painted, but is anodized, which is again a step forward in engineering. These cans are pretty small, and appear to be large in pictures. These are light in weight (feels much lighter than MH40’s) M&D logo is printed on the rear side of the housing shell. Left and Right markings are particularly hard to see, since the L/R markings are very small. Headband is made up of Cowhide leather. Earpads are covered with Lambskin leather, but actually have pleather material as cushions.
MH30’s are already nimble, easy to handle, wear on and power requirement is low. Along with all these, these are fold-able, and are easy to carry around. MH30 has cable socket at both the drivers, but only one need socket to be used, according to user’s choice. The cable is of very common type, a 3.5mm 4 pole jack. This ensures, even if the current cable breaks, a replacement is easy to obtain, any 3.5mm cable audio cable.
One downside I observe here is, wiring for opposite driver is embedded on upper end of headband, like the DT880’s overhead cabling. Personally, I don’t think this is the best mechanism here, and since MH30 has two sockets of jacks, so instead of overhead wire, which will be unreliable over time, M&D could have used both of these sockets to obtain HD600 cabling style.
Cable has a very good build. It is light, flexible and does not get tangled. I could not notice the presence of any microphonics. Plug is straight and gold plated. Both ends of cable have same connectors, thus the cable can be used either way: topside down or vice versa. The stock cable does a great job in transferring signals along with great transparency, and for any optional upgrade cable, one will have to spend above 50$.
Comfort: MH30’s are very comfortable to wear in general, but I feel MH30 may not be very comfortable to wear for larger heads, owing to its short yoke (shorter than MH40’s yoke).Though MH30 is ergonomically designed, it is primarily designed for people with smaller head size. Enthusiasts with larger heads may not prefer the comfort of MH30. Length of the yoke will be slightly less for a good comfort. Since the earpads are madeup of leather, ventilation will be less, thereby causing sweating; especially in tropical climate.
Since MH30’s are closed back headphones, these will isolate the listener from outside noise. This level of isolation is very good for a traveller. Going by weight factor, these feel fairly light (260 grams), and are definitely feasible.
Sound: As for the most important part, the MH30 has a dark, warm, smooth, yet airy sonic character. ‘Musical presentation’ is the key word. I find it very appealing and pleasing. Presentation is in such a way that, mids are little more intimate, with lows & highs sound tad more relaxed and laid back. We have to keep in mind that, with on-ear headphones, sonic presentation may feel different with different fit. Therefore fit/angle is the deciding factor for sound being perceived by ears.
Burn in: These improve a lot with time. Let’s say a playback of 20 hours provides major audible improvements, along with softening of leather earpads and better clamping force. Bass prior to break-in is overpowering, and eventually it becomes more accurate, Mids will sound more open, airy and natural. highs become slightly more smooth, soundstage opens up by a margin.
When I hear to the MH30’s here is what I experienced: utter & sheer pleasure
Lows: are accurate, tight and refined; have a strong impact. Depth is very good. Lows are present in a little more quantity than MH40’s
Mids: sound very natural, and appealing, and have a prominent warmth and lush (like the HD650’s) I guess that is in a good way, comes very pleasing to our ears. Tonality particularly, one of the best at this price point. This character makes MH30 a strong contender for vocals.
Highs: Very smooth treble without grains and sparks. Highs convey an image of smoothened darkness, just like a caramel chocolate. Highs are slightly more airy than in MH40’s.
Soundstage: Unlike the MH40’s, the MH30’s soundstage is more airy natural and circular soundstage. Depth is excellent. Instrument separation is very good, I believe MH30’s presentation is like sitting in fifth row of an opera theatre. (with MH40’s being in second or third row)
MH30 portrays music in such a way that, one feels as if the music is all around him. The sonic character here is so natural and eased that the tonality sounds very life-like. According to my observation, these cans sounded good in all genres I tried, and hence I conclude MH30's are also forgiving to poor recordings. Hence these are not resolving, but very musical in character.
Comfort and fit plays a vital role in sound being perceived to our ears. Especially in case of MH30 where the earpads are very compact, if they fit in a wrong way, they will leak sound leading to missing details.
I will not be directly comparing the MH30’s to other headphones since these are quite unique in their own regard. But for the sake of it, MH30's will sound (especially mids) are very similar to HD650's. Perhaps a touch more dark and thick.
Amplification: The MH30’s are rated at 32 ohms, and designed to be power efficient, and hence are fairly easy to drive, and can be driven by almost any sources, smartphones and DAP’s. Although setup like a O2/ODAC does indeed increases the soundstage and dynamics, and the difference in quality is clearly audible. Power is not very important aspect here, but a transparent setup indeed does help in increasing SQ;
Conclusion: I feel the MH30’s are a very special and unique set of cans. Build quality is phenomenal, sonic presentation is very pleasing, with fairly good soundstage. I never did quite like the on-ear cans, but with MH30’s it’s all about to change. I am absolutely in love in these. I have nothing but praises for these. On the downside, this type of presentation will be useful for listening to music, but definitely not for mastering or critical listening. Due to MH30’s compact design, enthusiasts with moderate to large heads may not prefer the comfort in these. Only area I would like to see improvement is in increasing the yoke length about an inch, which might help a lot for enthusiasts with larger heads.
At the price point of 349$ these may seem slightly more pricey, but these are worth every single penny spent. I can whole heartedly recommend MH30 for those, who would prefer a very musical (or magical) sounding , easy-to-drive headphones which are compact, portable and have a great build, plus whose head size is relatively smaller inorder to enjoy a good comfort and fit. Want a set of on-ear cans sounding close to HD650’s? MH30 is the way to go;
Pros:
1) Build Quality: The MH30 has a superb all-metal/leather build. No compromise to be seen anywhere.
2) Sound quality: Sound presentation here is very natural, and is very much like-able for casual music listening. Tonality of vocals deserve a special mention. One of the finest tonality I have heard in 500$ price point.
3) Power: MH30’s can run off on smartphones without issues, and still sounding very good. Amplification or source requirement is comparatively less. One can satisfy the hunger of MH30’s with just a cmoy amp.
Cons:
1) Comfort: This is definitely a downside for enthusiasts with moderate to larger heads. MH30 cannot accommodate larger heads even with maximum yoke length.
Also, as the earpads are not ventilated, hence may cause sweating/discomfort in warmer climates.
Well, going by sonic character, On1 & MH30 are quite opposite to each other:
Bass is very deep, accurate & quick in On1, full bodied & punchy in MH30 along with same depth as On1, but with more quantity.
Mids on On1 sound very open & clear, MH30 has a thick & silky presentation with a beautiful tonality.
Highs on On1 are sensitive & revealing. In MH30's they are presented smooth fashion and highs are not sensitive here.
So we can say, the MH30 is tuned for musical pleasure, where as the On1 is more of a transparent & precise headphone.
On1 sounds very transparent & clear, with excellent soundstage. MH30 is warm, & 'thick' with Intimate soundstage. Enjoyable tonality in mids. Compared to the On1, MH30 overall sounds dark.
On1 is physically lighter due to fiber & wood construction, and more comfortable for larger heads (like mine) MH30 hands down has better & all metal robust build quality, but will feel slightly heavy on when worn on head.
MH30 costs @350$ & On1 is available @200$ on amazon. Considering all the above aspects, On1 will be a better purchase. But MH30 is a lovely headphone for music listening. Extra cost has to be justified by build quality.
On1 is like a glass of plain milk & MH30 is more of a chocolate milkshake.