I was one of the fortunate few who was able to grab a PPU, VTF-100 (early release) unit and when I received it, it had a crack on the left wingplate. I emailed V-MODA and they said they weren't able to get me replacement parts until after the mass production release. So, for 3 1/2 months, I listened to my blemished M-100s awaiting the day I would get RMA'ed.
They did me one better. Instead of sending my M-100s in for repair, they sent me a brand new pair and asked that I send the old one back to them. Perplexed and intrigued, I now had in my possession two pairs of M-100s. One was a PPU unit that had 3 1/2 months of burn-in and adequately worn in ear cushions, and the other was a fresh mass production unit straight from the factory. And you bet your ass I A-B'ed them.
Now, if you're familiar with V-MODA and Val's policy of driver matching and their rigorous quality control standards you'll know that they strive for as little to no variance at all between production standards from product to product. And I, as a newbie to the headphone hobby, did not know such variances existed. I always figured that Headphone A from Company B sounded the same as all Headphone A's from Company B, since most of us don't go around purchasing multiple pairs of the same headphone. It's an easy assumption to make. But when you look at devices which have high market penetration, like the iPhone or the Galaxy S, you are given ample opportunity to make comparisons between like-devices. Most noticeable would be battery life, and then, to a lesser degree, screen brightness, color matching, speaker output, microphone, etc. And when put under such scrutiny, the differences become obvious and the illusion that all products from the same production line are exactly the same is shattered. Even twins have different fingerprints, right?
Well, guys, I didn't know which side of the burn-in debate to stand on. I read the arguments from both sides. I did my own subjective testing by spending hours with my headphones trying to note the changes if and when they occurred. I compared my headphones which were burned-in (V-MODA V-80, Philips The Stretch) with my friends' brand-new headphones (V-MODA M-80, Philips The Stretch). And now I've compared two pairs of M-100s; a 3 1/2 month old PPU, and a newborn MPU. The former used for hundreds of listening hours and conformed to the contours of my cute ears. The later sporting that new car smell. I A-B'ed them. Back and forth. Back and forth. With my eyes closed I put one on. Took it off. Put the other one on. Took it off. Lather, rinse, repeat.
The source was my Infuse 4G double-amped with a cMoyBB v2.03 that was plugged into the wall. I used a headphone splitter to make sure the signal each pair received was the same. Taylor Swift, Black Eyed Peas, Skrillex, Girls Generation, Psy, Lana Del Rey, Christina Perri...
Besides the softer earpads, I couldn't tell one from the other. There were things I thought I noticed, like punchier bass in my older pair, and a slightly wider soundstage in the new pair. And when I thought I had identified which had which, I would find that the positions switched. Now my old pair had the bigger soundstage, and the new pair had the punchier bass. Any difference I noticed in one pair would be contradicted by my next observation with the other pair. I was initially going to keep both for a few days and do a more in-depth comparison, but a half-hour was enough. There were no differences I could truly discern between the sound of either pair.
Does burn-in exist? Maybe. Maybe not. If I go by my experience with the M-100, then I can only conclude my experience bears no evidence for it. V-MODA has their stuff down. I remember there being some concern over whether or not there would be differences in SQ between the PPU and MPU M-100s. I think you guys can rest assured.
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