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On-Ear Portable Headphones
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Musical Fidelity MF200
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Its been around a year since i reviewed the MF100 (http://www.head-fi.org/products/musical-fidelity-mf-100-high-quality-on-ear-headphones) and whilst i do enjoy them i have been hoping that Musical Fidelity (MF from now on) would release a new set of cans that would address some issues i had, an around-ear pair perhaps?
A month or two ago i was contacted and asked to review a new set of MF cans, i was very busy at the time but it has calmed a bit now so i received them a couple of weeks ago*.
So what’s changed in a year?
Are these the update i was hoping for?
Let’s see!
The packaging is almost exactly the same as with the MF100.
They come in a white box with a white furry plastic insert that holds the headphones, carry case, spare pads and 6.3mm adapter.
The price of the MF200 has gone up £100 over the MF100, so I would have liked the packaging to be a little more 'high class' but I am nitpicking as it’s still very smart.
The build quality of the MF200 is great, everyone who has seen them has commented on the good looks and they feel solid.
I still don’t like having the wire that connects the two cups hanging out but I have never actually damaged one on my Beyerdyamic cans so it’s probably not worth worrying about.
The pads come in two flavours, leather and Alcantara.
The leather is my preference as i feel the Alcantara ones can smear the mids and bass a little.
Comfort is ok, my wife found them super comfy but my larger head was less happy with the strong clamping force, however it did ease over time.
Isolation is a step down from the MF100; I think the new vents may be responsible, however I feel the reduction in isolation is a fair trade-off for the improved soundstage these offer.
The MF200 are marketed as a portable headphone but I feel they actually do a better job at home, if MF gave us a detachable cable with a choice of a remote free cable I would be much happier.
The MF200 is pretty easy to drive from a portable, no amp is required and they didn’t improve much when paired with my Dragonfly or Aune.
Onto the most important aspect, the sound quality.
In a word it’s excellent.
They are definitely an improvement over the already impressive MF100 adding a larger soundstage and a touch of warmth to the mids and bass, it also doesn’t seem to come at the expense of the treble performance.
They perform very well with most genres, even bass heavy Hip Hop and R&B, Bobby Womack sounded amazing on these.
They were a little bright to begin with, Suede was hard going at first but after a few weeks burn in it had reduced significantly enough to allow me to enjoy ‘Lazy’ and ‘Trash’ without wanting to grit my teeth.
If i had one complaint it would be that the treble and mids/bass are not integrated as smoothly as is possible, it’s not noticeable on all tracks but did make itself known on rock tracks.
There are a lot of great headphones around the £230 point, the Momentum is probably the biggest rival for your cash but the MF200 sounds better to me, the bass is much more controlled and the treble hasn’t been clipped the way it can sound on the Sennheiser.
So overall another great headphone from Musical Fidelity, it’s not the around-ear I was hoping for but you never know, that may be here sooner than you think!
*The MF200 will be returned after this review.
Some Specs :
A month or two ago i was contacted and asked to review a new set of MF cans, i was very busy at the time but it has calmed a bit now so i received them a couple of weeks ago*.
So what’s changed in a year?
Are these the update i was hoping for?
Let’s see!
The packaging is almost exactly the same as with the MF100.
They come in a white box with a white furry plastic insert that holds the headphones, carry case, spare pads and 6.3mm adapter.
The price of the MF200 has gone up £100 over the MF100, so I would have liked the packaging to be a little more 'high class' but I am nitpicking as it’s still very smart.
The build quality of the MF200 is great, everyone who has seen them has commented on the good looks and they feel solid.
I still don’t like having the wire that connects the two cups hanging out but I have never actually damaged one on my Beyerdyamic cans so it’s probably not worth worrying about.
The pads come in two flavours, leather and Alcantara.
The leather is my preference as i feel the Alcantara ones can smear the mids and bass a little.
Comfort is ok, my wife found them super comfy but my larger head was less happy with the strong clamping force, however it did ease over time.
Isolation is a step down from the MF100; I think the new vents may be responsible, however I feel the reduction in isolation is a fair trade-off for the improved soundstage these offer.
The MF200 are marketed as a portable headphone but I feel they actually do a better job at home, if MF gave us a detachable cable with a choice of a remote free cable I would be much happier.
The MF200 is pretty easy to drive from a portable, no amp is required and they didn’t improve much when paired with my Dragonfly or Aune.
Onto the most important aspect, the sound quality.
In a word it’s excellent.
They are definitely an improvement over the already impressive MF100 adding a larger soundstage and a touch of warmth to the mids and bass, it also doesn’t seem to come at the expense of the treble performance.
They perform very well with most genres, even bass heavy Hip Hop and R&B, Bobby Womack sounded amazing on these.
They were a little bright to begin with, Suede was hard going at first but after a few weeks burn in it had reduced significantly enough to allow me to enjoy ‘Lazy’ and ‘Trash’ without wanting to grit my teeth.
If i had one complaint it would be that the treble and mids/bass are not integrated as smoothly as is possible, it’s not noticeable on all tracks but did make itself known on rock tracks.
There are a lot of great headphones around the £230 point, the Momentum is probably the biggest rival for your cash but the MF200 sounds better to me, the bass is much more controlled and the treble hasn’t been clipped the way it can sound on the Sennheiser.
So overall another great headphone from Musical Fidelity, it’s not the around-ear I was hoping for but you never know, that may be here sooner than you think!
*The MF200 will be returned after this review.
Some Specs :
General
- Impedance: 64ohm +/-10%
- Sensitivity: 99dB +/-3dB
- Max. Input Power: 30mW
- Rated Power: 10mW
- Frequency Range: 20Hz ~ 20KHz
- Cable Length: 1.3m +/-5%
- Driver Dimension: 41mm Dynamic Type
- Plug Type: 3.5mm 4Pole Jack
Microphone Details
- Mic. Size: 4mm Dynamic Type
- Impedance: 2.2k ohm
- Sensitivity: -40+/-3dB
- Frequency Range: 50Hz ~ 2KHz
nets3
Bought these on Amazon UK for 65GBP but have also already sent them back. I know that sound "taste" is a sensitive issue as it is subjective and personal to a large extent, but these cans were a total dud. I own MF gear (A5 integrated amp and cd player) so I am used to their "sound" but these were far away from it. Excessive sibilance, no integration whatsoever, highs screeching and sharp, mids muted, mid-bass excellent but no low bass. I tried burning them in (although am mightily sceptical about headphones burn-in advantages...) but nothing appreciable happened. Looking at your review I wonder whether mine were defective in some way…
luxor
The MF200s are great value for money at the current price. I bought them for around 50GBP. Not had any problems with sibilance, in fact to my ears the sound is pretty flat and neutral. If had I spent the full retail price on these I'm not sure I'd be totally happy, mainly because of the comfort issue. As mentioned elsewhere, the clamping force is quite high, and they get uncomfortable easily. Plus, the cabling doesn't feel that solid, and there's no easy way to replace them if it goes wrong.
dharmasteve
Still love these in 2018.Best sounding headphone I have in my collection and maybe the most uncomfortable too. They are alive, bright, dramatic and one of the few I have, along with the MF100, to introduce a clear sense of height to the soundstage.
