October 18 2012
The Eagle Has Landed
Well looks like all my ranting against Canada Post was a waste of time. After a long wait I officially received my M-100 today. I've spent most of the day listening to it off and on and thus far early impressions seem to be mostly in the positive. Ergonomically this can seems to be a very well designed headphone and I'm guessing a lot of man hours was probably logged on trying to get the shape and size just right for mobile use. When I first set my sights on the M-100 I expected a smaller form factor but I was still shocked how incredibly tiny the carry case and folded up headphones themselves were. It's almost as if V-MODA grabbed a M-80 headband ripped the cups off threw on a pair of larger housed 50 mm drivers then modded the metal gimble parts with a hinge that folds upwards and viola new super compact mid sized headphone. Seriously, when they're folded up they're even smaller then the M-80 making them easily far more mobile then the M-80. In the comfort department I'm glad to report they're very comfortable. I was a little worried these would be uncomfortable due to a couple of people complaining the shallow cups hurt their ears but thus far after 2 straight hours my ears are still feeling good albeit a little on the warm side. Probably the only bone I have to pick with it ergonomically thus far is these cans are not the most comfortable to wear around your neck. The cups don't fold flat and I'm finding my chin, because of the larger cups, hit the cups when I turn my head. When I'm looking forward it's not to bad but thus far I doubt I will be wearing these for long periods of time around my neck.
One of the first things I did when I got them home, besides listen to them of coarse, was install my custom shields. Now that was one huge pain in the ass and after installing them I now know why V-MODA included some extra screws in their shield kit. Put very bluntly, the provided alan key stinks when it comes to unscrewing and screwing in the custom shields. Take my advice if you have a scredriver use that instead of the provided alan key. Not only did the alan key slightly wear away the screw heads it left my hand red and sore from straining trying to get the alan key to firmly fit into the screws heads. After a good 10 minutes of swearing, gripping, and regripping trying to get a proper strong enough hold on the way to small alan key to get some torque behind my turning hand I gave up and threw the alan key in the garbage and got myself a proper screw driver. Ten minutes later both stock matte shields were off and my black custom croc skin shields with tribal art cross design were installed and looking very bad ass if I do say so myself. I would have liked the tribal art cross a little bigger but overall I can't complain the design looks clean crisp and rather nice.
Alright, time to get to first impressions concerning audio. These findings are only very early out of the box impressions so take them with a very small grain of salt. I'm going to need a few more days with the M-100 before I can arrive at final impressions.
Treble
- Easily extends farther then it's M-80 sibling.
- While the M-80 highs are flat and smoothed over the M-100 has sparkle and authority behind it. I would have liked a little more edge but that's just me being a nit picker. Overall from the little I've heard I'm quite pleased with them and thus far I'm glad V-MODA decided to put a little more sparkle and above all more extension and air into the M-100 treble
Mids
- While the M-80 went for a smooth fluid presentation in it's mids the M-100 took that smoothness leaned the sound out just a tad and brought in a lot more detail
- As commented by others the mids have a very slight U shape to them and although I do agree I would not call the M-100 a traditional recessed mid U like say the Sennheiser HD-25. The U is very very slight so I'm glad to report thus far I'm quite relieved that the mids seem to be working for me
- Slightly forward vocals but not as forward as I'm used to with say my DT1350 or Grado SR60i
- Guitars are full and crunch well. Probably on par with my more lush sounding HD-25
- Sound clear but still not as clear as my DT1350
- Although vocals sound great it's still doesn't match the glorious vocal reproduction of my DT1350. Easily beats out the HD-25 and SR60i though
Bass
- Extends deep, not as deep as my Bayerdynamic DT1350 but it's not far behind
- Warm, full bodied, and elevated above all other frequencies
- Although warm it's still quite detailed
- Well behaved and bleed into the mids is very minimal or non existent
- This headphone can really rumble when the music demands it
Other Attributes Of Note
- Prat is very good but not great. My DT1350 and Grado SR 60i are quicker
- Soundstage is wide and dwarfs the SR60i HD-25 and M-80
- Mid transitioning of highs and lows is smooth and overall presentation seems coherent (very little sibilance or bass bleed)
- When unamped it's passable but when amped this can shines noticeably. When unamped soundstage sounds compressed mids especially guitars seem blurred and bass loses extension. This can loves it when you throw some extra juice at it and accordingly it should be accommodated
- Some rock actually sounds pretty good with the M-100
Again I must emphasize these are
very early first impressions and some of whats been noted above
could and probably will change in a few weeks when I post my final impressions. Until then the only thing left for me to do is get back to listening to more music and allowing my ears and brain to further climatize to the M-100 sound signature as well as mixing and matching different gear.