[miceblue]

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Hey guys, an upd, ate. In London at the moment and had a chance to try the Sony MDR 1s that have been compared somewhat with the M100s.
Great for electronic but not as good for anything else. The M-100s in particular have much cleaner vocals so it sounds right infront of you. 
No headphone has matched them except for the Momentum. 
I also tried the Amperor and the build didn't appeal to me for the price at all. Sound wise, didn't compare at all. 
 
So even happier with purchase now. I also tried all beats on display and i still can't see the hype. Mine just blew them all away. Even my friends agreed. 
 
In London though, alot more range in headphones on people's heads. In Manchester you don't see that. It's either beats or standard. Only a few have I seen real headphones on necks or on heads. 
Saw a few beats but nothing in comparison
No one had mine =p

That's interesting to hear. I've read that the MDR 1R has a similar midrange to the ATH-ESW9, which is renown for their lush midrange as a woodie headphone. Jude seems to prefer the MDR 1R over the M-100 for general listening purposes.

 

[The Doctor]

Just placed my order!
 
I hope to get them at the end of the week if I am lucky!

 

[x838nwy]

How big are the pads on these? My T5p's are kindda over 90% of my ears, just for reference. If these go over them totally, i'm placing my order just for the build and practicality alone.

 

[aleki]

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How big are the pads on these? My T5p's are kindda over 90% of my ears, just for reference. If these go over them totally, i'm placing my order just for the build and practicality alone.

Assuming the T5p pads are similar to the T1 pads, the M-100's are about 30% smaller. Hopefully the XL pads fix this though.

 

[NewSound86]

Has anyone tried these out with the Dragonfly? if so what did you think of the changes in sound quality?
 
I'm currently using a E07K since I mainly play music through my laptop so thought having a DAC was a must but now i'm not sure and i'm thinking about just investing in decent amp by itself.

 

[awtryau89]

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Has anyone tried these out with the Dragonfly? if so what did you think of the changes in sound quality?
 
I'm currently using a E07K since I mainly play music through my laptop so thought having a DAC was a must but now i'm not sure and i'm thinking about just investing in decent amp by itself.

I used mine with a Dragonfly and loved the combo. I sold it and grabbed an E17 which I like very much as well. I did that to be able to use the amp portably with my phone but if I could go back I would. The Dragonfly is better.
 
As far as sound quality, the first thing I noticed was how quiet the background became. It was a huge difference. That allowed me to hear micro details much better. It seemed to tame the bass a good bit and by that I mean make it very tight. I almost seemed to reduce the amount but what was really happening was a truer picture of control was being portrayed. This brought the mids forward more IMO as well. Overall I liked the Dragonfly much better than my son's $200 Schiitt stuff unless you really need gobs of power.

 

[DrSheep]

I have the DragonFly with my M-100 and they work wonders.

 

[musical-kage]

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That's interesting to hear. I've read that the MDR 1R has a similar midrange to the ATH-ESW9, which is renown for their lush midrange as a woodie headphone. Jude seems to prefer the MDR 1R over the M-100 for general listening purposes.

The M-100's just sound more detailed, if that contributes to a harder listening experience due to picking up details.
 
Could also be that the MDR-1 I demo'd hadn't been burned in enough. It was in the back and had to ask for a worker to bring it out for me to try, as it wasn't out on the floor. He agreed with me though that it was best for electronic styles.

 

[tinyman392]

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I used mine with a Dragonfly and loved the combo. I sold it and grabbed an E17 which I like very much as well. I did that to be able to use the amp portably with my phone but if I could go back I would. The Dragonfly is better.
 
As far as sound quality, the first thing I noticed was how quiet the background became. It was a huge difference. That allowed me to hear micro details much better. It seemed to tame the bass a good bit and by that I mean make it very tight. I almost seemed to reduce the amount but what was really happening was a truer picture of control was being portrayed. This brought the mids forward more IMO as well. Overall I liked the Dragonfly much better than my son's $200 Schiitt stuff unless you really need gobs of power.

 
I'm a little confused, did you just say the amp increased isolation?  

 

[Evshrug]

I can't make any claims on the E12, but just because an amp has more power doesn't necessarily mean it sounds better.
The big buzz word for the E12 is its high output power. Most portable amplifiers supply more than enough power to drive a headphone, even with the E7's "mere" 150 mW at 16 Ω. A sensitive, low impedance headphone like the M-100 doesn't need much power at all to drive it.

Indeed, power isn't everything. But the E12 still is a smooth, well implemented, and high quality amp. Even approximately volume matched, the Mont Blanc + Line-Out clearly has a "purer" technical fidelity than the amp built into my PMP (which I realize fidelity is objective while fun/preference is subjective). Is that worth it? Up to the individual. I also frequently read that loudness is not equal to max potential SQ, that current makes a difference, and it's "difficult" to supply "enough" current without being too loud... I have not yet gotten to the bottom of that, so I can't back that up. I'm a little skeptical of the "current claims" without being educated on the science, but in practice I do hear a difference in fidelity at listening levels (and quieter), which I ascribe to better quality parts/implementation than the amp of my iPod, iPad, E5, Recon3D...

Is it the most synergistic and cost effective pairing with the M-100? Probably not, but that has a fair amount depending on personal taste. Is the E12 a good amp? Yes, very good, also very versatile for a $120 portable.

 

[JohannLiebert]

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I'm a little confused, did you just say the amp increased isolation?  

 He probably means the hiss.

 

[Evshrug]

I'm a little confused, did you just say the amp increased isolation?  

I don't think he was talking about isolation from the background noise in the room, school, or whatever real-life environment he was in.

You know how sometimes you can hear a faint noise, buzz, hiss, or static through your headphone when you put it on, and your music player is on but not playing anything? Kind of a quiet "shhhh" or "thhhhhhhh" sound? Especially when the volume is turned waaaay up (be careful you don't blast out your ears!)? With many higher end amps, you can't even tell if the amp is on or off till music is playing, amps like this have a really good signal-to-noise ratio and sound clearer and often allow you to pick up on more subtle nuances of the music.

 

[SIDWULF]

I refuse to use my M100's as a portable set...they are too nice...hehe. At home listening only!
 
Do I still belong here?

 

[miceblue]

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I refuse to use my M100's as a portable set...they are too nice...hehe. At home listening only!
 
Do I still belong here?

Yeah, why not?

 

[DivergeUnify]

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I refuse to use my M100's as a portable set...they are too nice...hehe. At home listening only!
 
Do I still belong here?

This makes me more excited for their arrival .  Two days.  I can't wait.  Trying to keep expectations minimal