[SpiderNhan]

 
Thanks for the recommendations, I looked up that Oppo HA-2 and that looks great, I saw that there is also a Oppo HA-2SE for the same price, is that just a newer model or something else entirely. Thanks again everyone for the help!

​The SE has an updated ESS DAC ship, namely the 9028-Q2M vs the 9018-K2M in the original. Some of the circuitry has been updated too. Other than that they are identical.

 

[DiscoProJoe]

Well guys, my "adventures in M-100 land" just got a little more interesting in the last week.

I posted a message about it a few days ago on "The Hardest-Hitting Headphones" thread:

Spoiler: M-100 driver got blown

Just wondering if any fellow bassheads here (who do extreme EQ'ing / sub-bass boosting and amping, as I do) have had any long-term problems with headphone drivers getting blown after a year or two of hardcore basshead use.

The left-side driver on my white-silver pair of M-100s that I got almost two years ago in China...finally gave out this week. The sound on the left side now cuts in and out, and makes a loud popping noise when playing powerful sub-bass through it. Because I alternate between my two pair of M-100s (I have a dual-listening setup for the purpose of listening with a friend), this pair that got blown had about one year net-total of usage.

V-Moda only has a repair / service center in the U.S. and I live in China, so due to a plethora of reasons, I've decided not to ship my blown pair to the U.S. for warranty. The shop I bought it from here in Chongqing has just now sent it off to a headphone service center somewhere in China, and said they'd let me know in a week or two if it can be repaired or not. My guess is that unless they can replace the driver(s) with new M-100 ones, then it's probably unfixable.

The shopkeeper said that new pairs of M-100s were no longer available from their vendors, so I went ahead and ordered a new pair from V-Moda's "Official Flagship Store" in Shanghai on the reputable website TMall. There's a lot of fakes in China (especially with Beats headphones), so I wanted to play it safe. I did enter the serial number of my blown pair into V-Moda's site, though, and it is totally legit and genuine.

So in the near future, it looks like I'll start keeping three pair of M-100s: two for my dual-listening setup, and one as a "spare tire," available for immediate use if a pair gets blown.

Anyway, I've rambled a bit, but am just curious if anyone here has had similar experiences about long-term use...in their adventures in bassheadland.

Well, my first replacement pair of M-100s came yesterday (a white-silver pair). They're totally genuine and legit, and they work great. They have just as much sub-bass sensitivity and good of sound quality as my old matte-black pair does. But actually, they have even-better sound quality because the drivers are brand new, so the sub-bass is tighter than on the old one.

What's strange, though, is that after several hours, I figured out that this new white pair will sound better if I connect the headphone cable to the right side, instead of the left. (You can't choose cable sides on V-Moda's wireless headphones, but you can on M-100s!)

My old black pair has better balance between left and right with the cable connected to the left side (which I've always used), but this new white pair has better balance with the cable on the right side.

Initially, with it connected to the white pair's left side, I found myself setting the balance control on my Rockboxed iPod Classic to 3% to the right, because the left side was playing slightly-but-significantly louder. I don't like using my balance control for this, unless the particular song recording I'm listening to is off-balance. And if I were to do this with my dual-listening setup, then it would cause the other pair of M-100s to be off-balance the other way!

So eventually, I tried moving the cable to the right side, and can now happily set the balance control in Rockbox back to 0% (i.e., centered) where it belongs. Can't notice any side playing louder than the other. Consequently, I also temporarily tried moving the cable on my old black pair to the right side, but that made it sound a little off-balance the other way, as well. So I put it back on the left side on that pair, where it's always been, and it sounds fine.

So, hmmm..........this makes me even-more confident in my choice to buy M-100s over the new CF2Ws!

According to reviews, not only does the M-100 have better sensitivity (including in the sub-bass) than the CF2W, but also, if you play the CFW1 or CF2W in wired mode and it sounds a little bit off-balance, then you can't move the cable to the other side! And if your music player doesn't have a balance control, and/or you try to use it in a dual-listening setup, then......you're screwed.

Anyway, in the package of my new M-100s, there's a warranty repair card from V-Moda's new parent company, Roland of Japan, which has a service center in Shanghai. It lists their Shanghai address, phone number, and e-mail, so it looks like this is the place I'd mail my headphones to in the future to get them repaired under warranty, or to get the post-warranty-50%-off voucher. So the guy from V-Moda customer service who I chatted with via text (on V-Moda's U.S. website)...wasn't 100% correct about V-Moda not having any service centers in China.

Some of the reasons I won't mail my blown pair of M-100s from Chongqing to Los Angeles include...

A. The $50 cost of shipping
B. The Chinese import restriction of $150 USD worth of product(s) into China for individual online shoppers without using an agent
C. V-Moda's U.S. website no longer lists any retailers in China as "authorized" -- not even my local hi-fi shop in Chongqing -- as V-Moda's site specifically mentioned two years ago. My receipt for the genuine pair I bought there in June 2015 is all in the Chinese language, so the service reps in Los Angeles probably wouldn't recognize it, and might not grant me the warranty after all. They'd probably just give me a "50% off" coupon for their U.S.-based online store.
D. I'll be visiting the U.S. this coming June, and will attend the New York spring meetup on the day after arriving in the U.S., where I'll be showing off my dual-listening setup with DiscoProJoe's Rockbox EQ Presets. I need to purchase an additional pair of M-100s at least a few weeks prior to this trip...in order to have a "spare tire" in case a pair gets blown.

Anyway, just thought I'd share the latest happenings with M-100 fans on here. If you plan to attend the New York meetup on Saturday, June 10th, then I'd love to meet you and we can hear each other's equipment. If any of you can bring that two-sided V-shaped headphone cable that SpiderNhan /img/forum/go_quote.gif has talked about, then I'd be curious to give it a try. But, then again, as long as the acoustic balance is less than 2% off-center, then it's not a problem for me, though, and I might not be able to notice it.

Oh well,...happy M-100'ing, everyone....

Forgot to mention something else I've been up to in the last three months: working on my personal, multi-phase Music Addition Project of 2017. I've added 744 new songs (and 40 new albums and singles) to my music collection since the start of this year -- primarily pop and dance tunes from various-artist albums. Hadn't added very much material to my music collection since late 2014, which was just prior to discovering this hi-fi headphone hobby.

I've made several in-depth posts about it in recent months on this topic thread (click to view)...about collecting music. Just thought some of you would be interested, since a lot of V-Moda fans tend to enjoy dance-pop music a lot.

 

[SpiderNhan]

Oh @DiscoProJoe in response to your inquiry abotu the Head-Fi meet, I will not be attending this year. I still vouch for the dual-entry cable though. I think the effect it has is similar to what I've read about people using balanced cables on other gear. Better separation, soundstage, cleaner. It's quite a noticeable improvement.

 

[DiscoProJoe]

  There are just way too many pages for me to dig through lol, hence why I am just going to post this here, but I am curious as to what would be a good portable amp for these headphones. I primarily use these for my travel kit, as I am always on the go due to my job. The amp I currently use and was given to me by a close friend (FiiO E11) and is the only portable amp I own, I have been digging around and have seen the FiiO A5 and was wondering if it is worth upgrading to that amp versus staying with the E11. Still relatively new to the audiophile world so I am open to any suggestions. The music players I use for when I travel is my iPhone 7 and the Sony Walkman NWZA-17SLV. Thanks!  

 
I saw that the FiiO E11 can put out 200mW @ 32 ohms, so as long as you're not doing any custom EQ'ing or large bass-boosting, then your E11 should have enough juice for your M-100s. The A5 puts out 800mW, and has a decent bass-boost switch that doesn't bleed too much into the midrange.
 
Now if your music player has a customizable, 10-band EQ, and if you're like me and are doing large (or extreme) EQ'ing / sub-bass boosting, than I'd definitely recommend the Cayin C5, as you'd need all the power you can get if you're doing that. The Cayin C5 puts out about 900mW of power in my experience, and also has a good bass-boost switch to go with it. However, this bass-boost switch on the C5...usually requires some custom EQ'ing in order to correct this switch's bleedover into the mids, which it'll tend to do without an EQ.
 
Hope this advice helps!

 

[skyejack]

Read a ton of this thread over the past week or so. So thank you to everyone that helped me...unknowingly. Tomorrow I have a matte black pair of M100s coming from Musicians Friend that I got for 150, and from Amazon an A3 amp and a Neomusica audio cable. I already own the XL earpads. Can't wait.

 

[SpiderNhan]

I find it funny that this thread and your experiences pushed you toward the M-100 while it pushed me toward the Forza Metallo Wireless.

 

[skyejack]

I find it funny that this thread and your experiences pushed you toward the M-100 while it pushed me toward the Forza Metallo Wireless.

My ears appear to be prone to infections, so in-ears are a no-go for me. The feedback on those seems pretty great though. For me it was between the new CF2W and the M100s. The M100s won out simply because I preferred that sound signature. Doesn't hurt that it was also 200 dollars cheaper.

 

[kyuuketsuki]

I find it funny that this thread and your experiences pushed you toward the M-100 while it pushed me toward the Forza Metallo Wireless.

I'm still considering the Metallo Wireless but I have two wireless in ears already though the battery life is only 5 hours compared to 10...

 

[skyejack]

Got the M100s in the mail today along with the double sided cable. You guys weren't kidding about it sounding better than the included cables. It's not a night and day difference, but it's clear as day. And I knew I wasn't remembering the sound signature incorrectly. These are definitely very very different than the sound signature of the CF2W. I prefer this one. Not sure if that means I'm a basehead and not fit to be an audiophile, but I just know I love how these sound at all volumes.

 

[expontherise]

Got the M100s in the mail today along with the double sided cable. You guys weren't kidding about it sounding better than the included cables. It's not a night and day difference, but it's clear as day. And I knew I wasn't remembering the sound signature incorrectly. These are definitely very very different than the sound signature of the CF2W. I prefer this one. Not sure if that means I'm a basehead and not fit to be an audiophile, but I just know I love how these sound at all volumes.

A subclass of Audiophile.. Bassophile! Your still with us buddy! lol

Edit: I mean you can be an audiophile and then also like to have bass sometimes too as well.. contrary to popular belief, audiophile and elitist aren't necessarily 1 and the same (although seemingly commonly practiced together).

 

[dbdynsty25]

Thanks for the recommendations, I looked up that Oppo HA-2 and that looks great, I saw that there is also a Oppo HA-2SE for the same price, is that just a newer model or something else entirely. Thanks again everyone for the help!

The SE is just the newer version of the HA-2. I had both versions and there really wasn't anything noticeably different. That said, I ultimately switched the Sony PHA-1A due to the form factor and ease of use when connected to both my PC and phone (Galaxy S8). Both are great options for you w/ the M100. Can't go wrong with either. The Sony is quite a bit cheaper on the resale market.

 

[DiscoProJoe]

Ordered my second brand-new pair of M-100s this past week from V-Moda's official flagship store in Shanghai, and received it two evenings ago. It's a shadow-black pair, and in my opinion, is the best-looking of all three color options (i.e., shadow black vs. matte black vs. white silver). Within a few minutes of cranking it up with my portable headphone system and loosening up the drivers, the sound signature and sub-bass sensitivity closely matched that of my new white-silver pair, so I'm happy about that. This shadow-black pair also sounds the most balanced (i.e., between left and right) with the cable connected to the left side, whereas my new white-silver pair sounds best with the cable on the right side.

This new shadow black pair also came with its own Roland of China warranty/repair card with the headphone serial number on it, as did the new white-silver pair a few weeks ago.

My original matte-black pair that I've had since January 2015 has now "officially" been relegated to "spare tire" status, and is now resting in its original product box in my closet. Of course, anytime I travel out of town (such as next month in June!), I'll bring it along just in case another pair gets blown during the trip.

Anyway, I figured there's no way that my old, blown white-silver pair (purchased in June 2015) can be fixed, so I went ahead and ordered my second new pair (the shadow black) this past week. Interestingly enough, the hi-fi shop I bought the now-blown pair from two years ago finally called me today and said the repair shop they mailed it to can't fix it (duh!), but said they could send it to V-Moda. I replied that if they could ship it to Roland of China in Shanghai, that'd be fine. But on the other hand, if it had to be shipped to V-Moda in the U.S., then they could just forget about it because of the shipping costs, Chinese import tariffs, and long wait time. They said they'd call me again when they know what the next step would be.

Anyway, you can read about the latest happenings with my music collection at this link. And boy, oh boy, am I getting excited about the New York Head-Fi meetup on Saturday, June 10th! Can't wait to show off my portable dual-listening setup with DiscoProJoe's Rockbox EQ Presets, designed specifically for the M-100.

You're more-than-welcome to come along and give it a listen, and get a taste of what heaven truly sounds like. And if you have your own pair of M-100s (or CFW1s), then you can just plug it in to my dual-listening setup, and won't have to use one of mine.

Also, if any of you happen to have the new CF2Ws, then I'd love to hear how they sound with my portable setup and extreme EQ presets, compared to the M-100s. I've been wondering how much sub-bass sensitivity and power handling the CF2Ws have in comparison...when 40 Hz is typically boosted by more than 40 dB, and with it amped.

Oh well,...that's the latest from me, anyway. It'd sure be nice if Val Kolton showed up at the New York meetup, but he hasn't been around these forums in a long time, and I doubt he'll be there. I certainly thought it was funny, though, how he posted his new video of the CF2W on YouTube two days ago -- on the same day I received my new shadow-black pair of M-100s! (ha)

 

[HexagonX]

Hey guys!

Im needing your help. Do you have studs on your M100/CFW/LP2...?
If yes, please write a pm!

Thx

 

[expontherise]

Does anyone know what size hex key I could use on my hinge? My (I don't know the technical term) C shaped bar that connects the earcups to my cliq-fold hinge is loosening on one side badly the 2 screws that connect it to the hinge are loose.. Having trouble getting a tool that works..

Im going to try to use a slightly smaller one and put a rubber band over the screw and shove it in, might work too. But if anyone knows what size tool works, let me know! Thanks

 

[skyejack]

Does anyone know what size hex key I could use on my hinge? My (I don't know the technical term) C shaped bar that connects the earcups to my cliq-fold hinge is loosening on one side badly the 2 screws that connect it to the hinge are loose.. Having trouble getting a tool that works..

Im going to try to use a slightly smaller one and put a rubber band over the screw and shove it in, might work too. But if anyone knows what size tool works, let me know! Thanks

Is it the same size as the screws that hold the faceplates in place? If so, that's a 1.5 hex.