[hi-fi-ve]

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1. I would call the M100 "mobile audiophile" for the pop-music-listening crowd.

 
Unfortunately, pop sucks : )

 

[jdenn]

Now build quality is a bit strange, but overall the build quality of these are phenomenal. It is indeed a bit strange for them to come out like this, but if there are any gripes, customer support'll be there to help. 
 

 
That is a good point. It would also be interesting to see/note how big the first run was. We're seeing (IIRC) about 3 headphones out of the entire first run that have build quality issues, so likely it isn't a high percentage... you get flaw's in any product and QC cant catch everything

 

[Kendoji]

I only got mine today, but based on my listening so far I'd say h-h-h-h-hold your horses in calling these 'pop cans' and dismissing them entirely for rock and metal.  I'm finding them extremely good for certain albums in those genres (and they're shining particularly well on certain acoustic / folk albums).  My main comparison cans are Grado RS1i, SR125 and Denon D2000.  

 

[Craigster75]

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Clamping force was an issue for me at first. Stretch/flatten the headband out a few times and I think you should be fine. If you noticed in my unboxing video, flattening the headband made the earcups looser/spaced farther apart.
If you have angled ears like me, twisting the headband away from you (take the top of the headband with both hands and twist the back of your hands towards you) can help with that too.

I think the comfort issues we are experiences are about 20% clamping force and 80% earpad related.

 

[Craigster75]

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Quite sure these are all manufactured in the United States.

You would be mistaken as the the M-100 is manufactured in China.

 

[Craigster75]

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UHA6 or the UHA-4?

Would I hear an audible difference with either of these compared to a FiiO E11 with my M-100?

 

[jonnio]

How in the world are people getting the impression that there is a rampant issue with build or sound quality on these phones?
 
EVERY review has been glowing about both and the headphones are compared to cans that are hundreds of dollars more expensive.  Of the first group of headphones 3 people have cracked wingtips (a cosmetic issue) and I believe one has a cord problem.  Neither of these speak to long term build quality.  If hinges were falling apart, cups were cracking and the pads were flaking the pleather off, then we'd have a problem, but as it is some cosmetic plates got overtightened at the factory and have since cracked.
 
If you have ordered these headphones with an understanding of what you were ordering, don't start getting scared that it was a bad decision.  They are exactly what they are advertised to be (and more).

 

[Craigster75]

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How in the world are people getting the impression that there is a rampant issue with build or sound quality on these phones?
 
EVERY review has been glowing about both and the headphones are compared to cans that are hundreds of dollars more expensive.  Of the first group of headphones 3 people have cracked wingtips (a cosmetic issue) and I believe one has a cord problem.  Neither of these speak to long term build quality.  If hinges were falling apart, cups were cracking and the pads were flaking the pleather off, then we'd have a problem, but as it is some cosmetic plates got overtightened at the factory and have since cracked.
 
If you have ordered these headphones with an understanding of what you were ordering, don't start getting scared that it was a bad decision.  They are exactly what they are advertised to be (and more).

+1 I have had zero quality issues and the M-100 is the best headphone purchases (and one of the best overall electronic purchases) I have ever made.

 

[Kendoji]

Yep well said Jonnio.

 

[DaBomb77766]

I just received that splitter cable I ordered from eBay for the boom mic, and it seems to work quite well!!

 

[scrypt]

I'm sitting at my work desk staring at a Ray Samuels Hornet (close neighbor to the amp mentioned by Anak-Chan), an E10, a Head-Room Micro-DAC, the Grado HF-1, my TF-10s, a PC tower, an iPod Classic and even an iHP-140.  My RS-1, MS-2i, ER-4S, DT-831, M-80 as well as my Macs, Ray Samuels XP-7, MAD Ear++ and various other amps are all at home.
 
But as quirky as a comparison could be of this intergalactic gumbo of sources, amps and headgear, I haven't made one because I've been using my E10 and M-100s exclusively to edit a playlist of passacaglias, passacaillen, grounds and chaconnes.  This has been going on for two days.
 
Anyone who wants to hear the compressed version can do so on Spotify if they search for a playlist titled "Passacaglias, Grounds and Chaconnes."
 
Why am I doing this?  Because a passacaglia is a classical form involving variations on a bass line, a passacaille is the French word for the same form, a Ground Bass is the English variant, and the chaconne is a set of variations on a series of chord changes (note how close baroque forms often come to jazz -- "Giant Steps" works the same way as the Chaconne in D minor from Bach's Partita for Solo Violin, and the harpsichord's figured bass in baroque trio sonatas and cantatas is reminiscent of a chord chart from the original Real Book).
 
I'm interested in the effect of the M-100's frequency emphasis on classical music which is structured around prominent bass parts and/or chord changes.
 
My suspicion is that the M-100 is better for certain kinds of classical music than people might think.  As with rock, it all depends on the specific style, instrumentation, orchestation and piece of music.  I'll go further and say this is usually true of other headphones as well.
 
I tend to favor classical styles in this order:  modernist and postmodernist, medieval, baroque, rococo, post-romantic, renaissance, classical period, romantic, chant and (last and least) minimalist. The playlist is arranged roughly to reflect that (though I haven't organized the end).  A few jazz passacaglias occur early on. (Don Ellis's is the truest representation of the form.)  The last few tracks at the very end of the playlist are interpretations of the form by rock bands and other non-classical artists.
 
 

* * * * *​

 
When people talk about recessed mids and unsatisfactory guitars, it sounds to me as if they're missing the lower mids specifically.  That's the range that adds weight to unison comping and lines on the low end of the neck.  I've spent decades of my life watching guitarists lay down tracks and then having to fit keyboard parts into the few open frequencies around them.  (It's a bit like being the last person to choose your elementary school Christmas present out of the gift pile, but it's also a fun challenge.)
 
Tristan Avakian -- an excellent guitarist, by the way -- used to come into the studio so attuned to the mixing desk you'd have thought he arrived with a track sheet already filled out.  He carefully EQ'd and tailored his tracks to occupy as many prominent frequencies as possible. I used to watch him nudge the engineer aside and do it all himself.  When he was feeling more trusting, he'd call out exact gain levels and frequencies to notch.
 
He focused on lower-mid lines and rhythm parts, with board-and-mic-sculpted highs to accentuate the attacks.  He was as organized and cerebral about it as a keyboardist.  I think he'd sound quite good on the M-100; not so a guitarist like Dave Mustaine, whose sound was always pointlessly nasal and would prove especially washed out on these particular headphones.

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* * * * *​

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That's one of the most distinctive color/shield choices yet.  I actually chose not to get the crocs, but that's because my design was wordy and a textured surface looked not to be the place for it.  Whereas DF's centuries-old Gothic/Nouveau cross could be rendered in jewelry.  My significant otter might love it.
 
One last thing:

To the person who wanted to see orange shields with the matte-black M-100s:  I haven't installed mine because I'm waiting to hear whether customer service is satisfied with my photos of the slightly scratched earcup and matte black shield.  I don't want to touch anything until I verify that I can exchange my current pair for a new one whenever it becomes available.  Customer service has said this is likely (and they've been exceptionally responsive and honorable), but I want to be sure they're satisfied before I change anything.
 
BTW:  The scratch I'm talking about is so small that some people would wonder why I cared.  And my cord isn't frayed at all, nor are any that came with my M-80.  Any minor build issues are probably reducible to the stage of development at which we chose to purchase our M-100s.  The M-80s were largely perfect from the start because we weren't buying them before they were ready. 

 

[DigitalFreak]

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Would I hear an audible difference with either of these compared to a FiiO E11 with my M-100?

I've never heard the E11 so I can't really comment about it. The UHA-6 is supposed to have an even cleaner and more capable amp section then the UHA-4 plus you can roll op amps with it to fine tune the sound even further. I intend to eventually buy a UHA-6 due to people being pretty happy with it. Matter of fact my Leckerton UHA-4 may go up for sale soon and the funds will go towards the purchase of it's big brother.
 

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@ scrypt
 
Thanks, I was originally going to order another shield combination but decided I'd give the black crocs a shot due to nobody else being to interested in them and also due to the pics I saw of a white LP2 with red croc shields installed. Originally when I was trying to decide on a design I was trying to find a nice tribal art motif that wasn't to busy. In the end I scrapped two other ideas for the gothic/tribal cross only because it wasn't that busy.

 

[Puffery]

 
 
Its finally here!!

 

[BRSxIgnition]

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Its finally here!!

Nice portal-inspired design. Can't say I know where the AK-wielding penguin comes from.

 

[Xelested]

Now that we have analyzed the headphones for a few hundred pages, could someone comment on the boom mic? I would really appreciate a short review, maybe upload a short sound clip?