[brianbunge]

Brian,

I have had the M100 for like 2 days , but I will be happy to express my feelings about them to this point. Please look at my profile so you can see the different headphones I am accustomed too.
I have tried my Clip + and FiiO X3 as my audio source and mostly FLAC and 320kb files. I am using high gain and 0 tweaks in bass or treble.

Accessories: Great case(small, uses space wisely) durable, if you like kevlar cables then you will be happy

Build: Awesome build quality, designed well, feels heavy duty

Comfort: A little pressure, and one of my ears is a little sore but the same thing happened with the Momentums, no headband pressure, slight clamping

Sound: This is tough...yes bass, yes treble, mids distant(not covered by excessive bass, just recessed). I want to say if I miss something it is a bit of detail. There is some detail lacking compared to say my HP50. I write this knowing what these headphones are, more fun than precise. Sometimes I lose detailed parts and other times they are detailed. I have found that with very detailed music such as Dream Theater the sound appears all mixed together, not so defined, I think others confuse this to say muddy, but I don't think that would be correct. On the other end of the scale when listening to Talking Heads Burning Down the House and there are a couple of instruments, such as in the middle of the song when the drums solo, the drums and bass sound awesome, the keyboard a bit distant. YYz by Rush sounds incredible, but with a little more mid even better. Smells Like Teen Spirit has never sounded so powerful. Nirvana, In Bloom, sounds messy when all instruments are cranking but when it is the bass, drums and vocal part only, awesome. With jazz, it is also a mixed bag. I feel the M100 possibly excel a different genres but too me it is not so much genre specific as it is song specific. Some songs I hear and I am wow'ed other songs when the music is involved it is blended and more difficult to single out specific instruments. When it is the right song the instrument separation is just great. They are strong and powerful headphones.

I am hesitant to say anymore because I think I need more time. But here you go!

Thanks for the detailed response. The best I've heard (to me) have been the PSB M4U2's. if I could have the M-100's awesome build quality with the PSB sound (haven't heard the HP50) then I'd be completely happy. It's V-Moda's reputation and the great things I've read about the company and Val in particular that has me not completely giving up on them yet. That's why I'd like to audition the M-100's and the XS' as well in a more controlled environment. It could just be that their sound signature just is not for me...

 

[x RELIC x]

Both. Through the listening station they were awful and I told the salesman so. They sounded like they'd be totally trashed. He grabbed a Beats cable and let me connect to my phone directly. They were much, much better but still sounded a little distorted in the treble. Having built my own speakers for years with high quality drivers, I don't like the sound of drivers pushed beyond their limits and that's how the M-100's sounded to me. If the bass was cut by ~ 3dB and the treble by a dB or two I think they'd sound much more even to me. The bass was solid, but too hot and the treble just totally unnatural and distorted. That's what makes me wonder if I'd like the XS's better. In the meantime, I picked up two pairs of Martin Logan Mikros 90's for $60 each. Damn good sound at 80% off retail. Not perfect by any means, but tweakable.

Agreed 100%.

You should check out the pic I posted a few pages back showing the EQ on my X5 to balance out the bass and treble. Pretty much exactly as you describe and it works well. Now it sounds much more balanced to me. The bass is out of the way of the treble and mids and it sounds very detailed now. I've since tweaked the curve a bit to include more mids and not cut the bass so much (around a 4db cut).

It's not that the detail isn't there, it's just that the bass is interfering/masking those frequencies.

 

[Mediahound]

Do the different colors of the m100 sound any different? Are the ear cups all made of the same material in each?

 

[Tom22]

Agreed 100%.


You should check out the pic I posted a few pages back showing the EQ on my X5 to balance out the bass and treble. Pretty much exactly as you describe and it works well. Now it sounds much more balanced to me. The bass is out of the way of the treble and mids and it sounds very detailed now. I've since tweaked the curve a bit to include more mids and not cut the bass so much (around a 4db cut).

It's not that the detail isn't there, it's just that the bass is interfering/masking those frequencies.

I hope i interpreting ur eq and ur word correctly. If i come across rude, i apologize im just trying to understand

Did u boost the subbass over to the left and u boosted the mids and treble?

I thought u said the treble is a bit hot? Im usually not one to eq but it sounds like its worthwhile i just find it odd to boost frequencies rather than reduce, i dunno it just doesnt jive with me.
Any eq apps u recommend? Im on a ipod touch and iphone.

Btw did u apply any eq on ur e17? In addition to ur x5??

 

[x RELIC x]

I hope i interpreting ur eq and ur word correctly. If i come across rude, i apologize im just trying to understand

Did u boost the subbass over to the left and u boosted the mids and treble?

I thought u said the treble is a bit hot? Im usually not one to eq but it sounds like its worthwhile i just find it odd to boost frequencies rather than reduce, i dunno it just doesnt jive with me.
Any eq apps u recommend? Im on a ipod touch and iphone.

Btw did u apply any eq on ur e17? In addition to ur x5??

I can see where it gets confusing. The X5 is reduced by -6db on all EQ settings except for NORMAL (off). This is so there is some headroom using the EQ without clipping. Using the CUSTOM preset I need to crank everything up to +6db to get back to normal volume and then cut down what I don't want to be so prominent. The treble on the right in the pic is actually standard volume and the bass at 125Hz is reduced by a little over -6db. I like some thump in the lower sub bass registers so I didn't cut the 31Hz as much. Since my initial post I've adjusted the EQ to cut the frequencies like this:

31Hz / +4 = -2db
62Hz / +1.5 = -4.5db
125Hz / +1 = -5db
250Hz / +2.5 = -3.5db
500 Hz / +4.5 = -1.5db
1kHz / +5.5 = -0.5db
2kHz / +6db = normal volume
4kHz / +6db = normal volume
8kHz / +5.75db = -0.25db
16kHz / +5.25db = -0.75db

I have it hooked up to an e12 (not e17 - sold that one a while ago) without gain or bass boost. The e12 amp adds a bit of spaciousness to the sound.

I think this sounds very fun and engaging with lots of detail and cleaner bass for an on the go kind of headphone.

I didn't mean to sound like I thought the M-100 was hot in the treble. I was expressing that the treble really is there, just hidden beneath all that bass that makes the headphones sound bloated to me without some EQ to cut it down. I was excited to share my impression of how good this headphone sounds with some EQ, closer to my LCD than I thought possible (not quite there but closer).

I'll be receiving my XL pads in a week or two and I'll report on those when they arrive.

For the iPhone I've tried 'Accudio Pro' it's not bad from what I remember. You input/select your headphone and it gives you an EQ that balances the output to bring it as close as possible to neutral for that specific headphone. I haven't used my iDevices for listening for a while so I can't comment on whether the headphone list is up to date.

 

[x RELIC x]

I just checked and they don't have Vmoda in their list of headphone manufacturers, but you can use the custom EQ that comes with the app. It's a ten band parametric EQ.

 

[Tom22]

I just checked and they don't have Vmoda in their list of headphone manufacturers, but you can use the custom EQ that comes with the app. It's a ten band parametric EQ.

yup thanks! playing around with that already, too bad they don't have a "reference"
 
i agree with the bass on the m100s it sometimes just sometimes gets in the way. i still stand by my earlier comment on maybe 1-2 db less would be nice =) 
 
everything else, for a bassy headphone its spectacular

 

[Grampa Sam]

Hey Everyone, I want to get some M-100's, Matte Black, with the matte brushed metal shields extra. Has anyone engraved the matte brushed shields with the sound wave pattern yet as I want to see what it looks like before I buy them! Any pictures of the engraved matte brushed metal shields would be apprecitated!
 
Cheers

 

[Fuzziekiwi]

  Hey Everyone, I want to get some M-100's, Matte Black, with the matte brushed metal shields extra. Has anyone engraved the matte brushed shields with the sound wave pattern yet as I want to see what it looks like before I buy them! Any pictures of the engraved matte brushed metal shields would be apprecitated!
 
Cheers

Check out the V-Moda Shield Discussion thread

 

[Smugsie]

I got my vmodas back!! My gosh, there were issues going left and right during ther repairs. First off the warranty form closes if a country other than the u.s. is filled out, so my headphones were repaired at the vmoda, they just didn't know who to ship it back to (I gave my postal code though!). Then they sent it to my secondary shipping address that I changed months before the repairs, so vmoda even offered to replace my entire headphone. Luckily whoever lives in the secondary shipping address was smart enough that it was me who bought those headphones! Oh how I missed my clicky folds, soft pads and deep bass ^.^

 

[designbykai]

Got a tiny chip of plastic come up on edge of one of my cups when I was switching pads. Wasn't putting any undue stress or so I thought. The plates scratch fairly easily too. For me these are not as sturdy and easy to throw around without worrying as my Beyer Dt1350s.
 
Anyway, on the pad swapping, I swapped back to stock pads from XL. To be honest I'm much preferring the sound, much better bass punch for electronic music and still go nice and deep. This is the sound the M100s were meant to have I feel and the XL pads whilst comfy and improving isolation just don't sound as good, even with break in. The stock pads are perfectly comfortable for hours on end for me anyway (and I have large ears, go figure).
 
I think stock pads will make these somewhat usable for DJing too thanks to that extra bass punch too, much better for hearing the kicks. I've done a couple sets recently with M100s+XL pads and the bass was a bloated muddy mess in a loud environment, and very hard to hear all frequencies IMO, which meant I had to really crank up the volume. Bad for hearing. Another +1 for the Dt1350s..

 

[Nirvana1000]

Some have said that there isn't much to gain when these M100s are amped.Well those of us with the right amp would concur.Most cans sound better when amped and these are no different.These do benefit from amps that are well balanced,transparent,and detailed.And if your wondering what tunage to use.I'm pumping some Power Station "Bang A Gong" "Some Like It Hot".Amped! And Tony's drums sound pretty awesome.

 

[shadow_shooter]

Got a tiny chip of plastic come up on edge of one of my cups when I was switching pads. Wasn't putting any undue stress or so I thought. The plates scratch fairly easily too. For me these are not as sturdy and easy to throw around without worrying as my Beyer Dt1350s.

Anyway, on the pad swapping, I swapped back to stock pads from XL. To be honest I'm much preferring the sound, much better bass punch for electronic music and still go nice and deep. This is the sound the M100s were meant to have I feel and the XL pads whilst comfy and improving isolation just don't sound as good, even with break in. The stock pads are perfectly comfortable for hours on end for me anyway (and I have large ears, go figure).

I think stock pads will make these somewhat usable for DJing too thanks to that extra bass punch too, much better for hearing the kicks. I've done a couple sets recently with M100s+XL pads and the bass was a bloated muddy mess in a loud environment, and very hard to hear all frequencies IMO, which meant I had to really crank up the volume. Bad for hearing. Another +1 for the Dt1350s..

How would you compare the bass response stock vs xl? When I stuff some tissue inside the seams, the sounds gets a bit brighter and this is making me sad. Stock bass is exactly what I wanted, I dont want it to get any brighter... With same logic your ears are further away from the speakers with XL so I'd think the bass would also get brighter as in my case.

 

[tinyman392]

How would you compare the bass response stock vs xl? When I stuff some tissue inside the seams, the sounds gets a bit brighter and this is making me sad. Stock bass is exactly what I wanted, I dont want it to get any brighter... With same logic your ears are further away from the speakers with XL so I'd think the bass would also get brighter as in my case.

More distance means more possibility for bass resonance. The bass gets bigger with the XL pads compared to the stock. The only reason why it would get worse is if you broke the seal somehow.

 

[shadow_shooter]

More distance means more possibility for bass resonance. The bass gets bigger with the XL pads compared to the stock. The only reason why it would get worse is if you broke the seal somehow.

How would you explain why I feel there is more bass when I am not stuffing tissue within the stock pads? For example if I press them against my ears, bass sound more stronger than when it's looser. I'd think the closer They're to ears, the more bass there is