[SpiderNhan]

So I now find my left ear touching the driver on the M-100. Keep in mind that my current pair of M-100s is #2 since my original (PPU/VTF-100) unit was sent back due to a cracked wing plate. This touching is not painful, but it is noticeable and irritating. Since I got an extra pair of earpads with my pre-order (white Crossfade LP erapads) I figured I'd do some testing to see if my pads were the culprit. I immediately noticed the change in sound signature. More bass, hollow highs, and more recessed mids. 

So I swapped out one of my LP pads so I could A-B them and see what was up.
 

So I then got this strange combination going and the overblown bassy sound signature is still there. I ripped my M-100 off and tried the more neutral V-80 and... the V-80 sounds super bassy too. I think I am coming down with a head cold and it's affecting (infecting) my ears. I'm going to leave my M-100 this way until my ears return to normal so I can see if there's a difference between these pads. This sucks because female vocals just don't sound right, so for now it's DeadMau5 and Lindsey Stirling. I miss Taylor Swift and Girls' Generation already.

 

[DrSheep]

Quote:

So I now find my left ear touching the driver on the M-100. Keep in mind that my current pair of M-100s is #2 since my original (PPU/VTF-100) unit was sent back due to a cracked wing plate. This touching is not painful, but it is noticeable and irritating. Since I got an extra pair of earpads with my pre-order (white Crossfade LP erapads) I figured I'd do some testing to see if my pads were the culprit. I immediately noticed the change in sound signature. More bass, hollow highs, and more recessed mids. 

So I swapped out one of my LP pads so I could A-B them and see what was up.
 

So I then got this strange combination going and the overblown bassy sound signature is still there. I ripped my M-100 off and tried the more neutral V-80 and... the V-80 sounds super bassy too. I think I am coming down with a head cold and it's affecting (infecting) my ears. I'm going to leave my M-100 this way until my ears return to normal so I can see if there's a difference between these pads. This sucks because female vocals just don't sound right, so for now it's DeadMau5 and Lindsey Stirling. I miss Taylor Swift and Girls' Generation already.

So the LP pads works for the M-100 too right?  However, I would like to see the regular M-100 pads on sale too.  In addition, think you need to plug / cover your ears for a while in order to reset your hearing (good time to use the faders), and once you have done this your listening should be temporary become more sensitive and easier to tell small changes in sound.

 

[miceblue]

Quote:

So I now find my left ear touching the driver on the M-100. Keep in mind that my current pair of M-100s is #2 since my original (PPU/VTF-100) unit was sent back due to a cracked wing plate. This touching is not painful, but it is noticeable and irritating. Since I got an extra pair of earpads with my pre-order (white Crossfade LP erapads) I figured I'd do some testing to see if my pads were the culprit. I immediately noticed the change in sound signature. More bass, hollow highs, and more recessed mids. 

So I swapped out one of my LP pads so I could A-B them and see what was up.
 

So I then got this strange combination going and the overblown bassy sound signature is still there. I ripped my M-100 off and tried the more neutral V-80 and... the V-80 sounds super bassy too. I think I am coming down with a head cold and it's affecting (infecting) my ears. I'm going to leave my M-100 this way until my ears return to normal so I can see if there's a difference between these pads. This sucks because female vocals just don't sound right, so for now it's DeadMau5 and Lindsey Stirling. I miss Taylor Swift and Girls' Generation already.

I found the white LP/LP2 pads I have to decrease the bass quantity, bring the midrange more forward, and smooth out the treble but introduce a more grainy sound. I found Lindsey Stirling more enjoyable with this kind of sound signature.

 

[valkolton]

Quote:

I found the white LP/LP2 pads I have to decrease the bass quantity, bring the midrange more forward, and smooth out the treble but introduce a more grainy sound. I found Lindsey Stirling more enjoyable with this kind of sound signature.

 
I hate to bring this up, but not only are the LP/LP2 memory cushions going to sound different than the M-100, but the colors do make a slight difference too (but less and mostly when they are new out-of-the-box).
 
This is a large part of the "break in" as the black is stiffer when it is new due to the ink, just like a black vs white t-shirt (and after a few washes they become softer).   The stiffness changes the vibrations slightly and sound is essentially analog vibrations. Therefore OOB the black vs grey vs white alone would sound slightly different to us "golden ears" (in addition to the comfort increasing).  
 
For many untrained ears, however, it probably isn't AS noticeable I have noticed from asking many consumers and even audiophiles to AB test a new grey vs black cushion.
 
PS - our team does do enhancements to make the colors sound and feel as close as possible OOB but it cannot be identical
 
-V 

 

[Craigster75]

Quote:

I agree, V-MODA is a gold company. If Val and V-MODA follows this they would make more awesome products. Do you think Val is going to make a more neutral sounding headphone in the next model? 

"V-Moda" and "neutral" go together like peanut butter and mayonnaise. 
 
 
That is intended as a compliment as I consider headphones that are closer to truly neutral as boring.

 

[Speakerphile]

Quote:

If I wasn't using a DAC, it wouldn't project out from usb for audio out right?
But if I was to have no DAC, wouldn't it send audio out anyway to headphones? 
 

 
 
saw this on the right side, would this work to bypass internal dac?

I've had pretty good luck with the AQ DragonFly.  What you have pictured above is probably worse than the built-in DAC on your MBA...

 

[DrSheep]

Quote:

I've had pretty good luck with the AQ DragonFly.  What you have pictured above is probably worse than the built-in DAC on your MBA...

Yes, because it has no DAC so it will use the UBS audio drivers and make your CPU into the DAC, which is sort of pointless.

 

[II Humble II]

Quote:

"V-Moda" and "neutral" go together like peanut butter and mayonnaise. 
 
 
That is intended as a compliment as I consider headphones that are closer to truly neutral as boring.

I understand what you mean, I prefer the signiture of the m100, The reason why was since it would please people like tyll from inner fidelity and more mature audience. I really don't like the neutral headphones, since they all sound boring to me too, XD. But for classical songs etc, I just use a bass reduction on the m100 and they sound wonderful to me. The Highs I believe are some what flat sounding and I actually agree with Dale Thorn, I do not like the phrase "fun sounding", the m100 is tuned to more modern music. The sound from this headphone I believe to be very versatile, since an it preforms well with an eq. 

 

[blueangel2323]

Quote:

"V-Moda" and "neutral" go together like peanut butter and mayonnaise. 
 
 
That is intended as a compliment as I consider headphones that are closer to truly neutral as boring.

Isn't the M-80 pretty neutral? I haven't heard it but that's the impression I get from what others are saying.

 

[tinyman392]

Quote:

Isn't the M-80 pretty neutral? I haven't heard it but that's the impression I get from what others are saying.

 
It has a bass emphasis, but is more linear than the M100.  I may even go as far to classify it as warmer.

 

[sofastreamer]

yep, m80 is warmer and has a significant bass emphasis and rolled off highs compared to neutral aka uerm

 

[II Humble II]

Hey Guys, I am starting to have a dilemma. Should I keep my matte black with gold shields or should I exchange for some pearl white with some gold shields,( later on get black shields)? I started to like the pearl white now, I originally wanted the pearl white but they were never in stock, so I got my second choice of the matte black and gold shields. But I am worried since Val said the black pads ( which I am getting) is going to sound different. With the pearl white, I could also get the grey and white to match with it. Plus the white sticks out of the crowd, and the matte black for me kind of blends since I have black hair.
 
Any help is appreciated  

 

[DrSheep]

Quote:

Hey Guys, I am starting to have a dilemma. Should I keep my matte black with gold shields or should I exchange for some pearl white with some gold shields,( later on get black shields)? I started to like the pearl white now, I originally wanted the pearl white but they were never in stock, so I got my second choice of the matte black and gold shields. But I am worried since Val said the black pads ( which I am getting) is going to sound different. With the pearl white, I could also get the grey and white to match with it. Plus the white sticks out of the crowd, and the matte black for me kind of blends since I have black hair.
 
Any help is appreciated  

Do it!!
 

 

[II Humble II]

Quote:

Do it!!
 

Man that is sexy! Also I could probably do it since my m100 has a little problem. 

 

[money4me247]

I'm not a headphone expert with trained golden ears or whatever, but I personally am extremely, extremely skeptical that someone would be able to hear the difference in sound between black ink & white ink of the earpads. I would imagine that such a minute change in sound between two headphones can probably be attributed to the unavoidable standard variation due manufacturing process.
 
However, I would love to see someone prove me wrong. If anyone with golden ears, can post a video of them correctly identifying the color of the pads based on sound alone while "blindfolded," I would love to see it.
 
Ideally, this experiment would use FOUR (either all brand new or all extended use) V-Moda M100 headphones... two headphones with black earpads and two headphones with white earpads. This is to account for any natural deviations due to burn-in or manufactoring. There would need to be a second person to randomly pick the order the headphones, and I would think the tester would need to go at least 20+ times. Picking the right color black/white is 50/50 chance like a coin flip, so the only way to show that the guesses are not just lucky, you would need a very larger sample size with a very high accuracy.
 
However, if the different color pads feel distinctly different... then anyone can guess the right answer without even listening to the music. That bias can be removed by cutting out doughnut shaped fabrics that have a hole for your ear and taping them to the side of your head lol. (that will serve as a barrier between the ear pad & your skull)
 
And there will probably need to be a control test as well where you try to picking the right headphones without sound or to static/white noise. That would serve as a reference point for how well you guess.
 
Of course, I don't think anyone would want to post a video of such an experiment if they fail at it, but I would love to at least hear about someone trying something like that and seeing what happens.