So it was a bit of a shock when the Audeze MM-100 turned up at the door because I thought I was receiving a gaming headset, but to my surprise, there was a very high-end set of headphones in the box. A bit confused, but anyway, here I am, with a stunning set of headphones, playing various games on my PC. And that’s what we’re going to talk about because in a way, I’m not a huge audiophile, and I already use quite a nice set of Beyer Dynamic cans on my gaming rig at the moment, so yeah, let’s look at these high-end headphones from the perspective of a gamer, who also makes YouTube videos like this one.
So what do you get in the box? Well, to be honest, not much. You get the headphones themselves, of course, and the cable, which does come in two parts. The first is the 3.5 to 1/4-inch jack, and the second is an adapter to turn that 1/4-inch into a 3.5mm jack. You get a case, which is very basic with some branding on there, and you get a handwritten authenticity card and some info on the driver download, but more on that in a moment. I’m currently using mine with my StreamDeck+, plugging the headphones directly into the back of that, and the XLR Dock easily drives it to produce a very loud sound at max volume. Trailing the cable around the back of my desk was fine, and it didn’t snag. It feels like it’s been coated in that tangle-less material, unsure what it’s technically called, but it feels like rubber, and it’s alright, nothing special there.
The MM-100s are planar magnetic headphones that feel comfortable around the ears thanks to some substantial padding on the over-ear earcups. However, I must say the crown gave me some issues. It uses a suspension bridge which can be set at three different levels. However, at the lowest, this wasn’t great at all for my head, and the highest was too narrow. So I had to keep them right down the middle. However, I don’t feel there was enough tension here to really suspend the band above my head. They’re an absolutely stunning bit of kit to look at though, and the mixture of silver and black around the outside and again the same with the headband, and the grill on either side of the headphones, looks decent. They feel absolutely solid and weighty too. A nice touch as well is the fact that you can plug the cable into any side, so the cable won’t get in the way of your space. Having no controls on the headphones either, just makes them look super clean! There’s also no audible creeks either, especially around the connection between cup and headband as they rotate somewhat dependingo n your head size and ear position, and the hinges too feel smooth but not loose. I must say though, that clamping force here is nice and comfortable, and yes while it is, I think mainly down to the softness of the ear cups, they’re not going anywhere. They’re stuck to your head.
The headphones are also heavy, coming in at 475grams. They’re made from magnesium and steel, and yeah, they feel super premium, but I think this does add to the slight discomfort I have experienced. However, I will say that for a commute, for an hour or so here and there, they’re fine. But if you’re playing long gaming sessions, then you may need to reassess whether these will be the headphones for you. And yes, I know they’re not necessarily for gaming, but still, like I said at the start. Here we are. They use planar magnetic drivers, which I must say, are absolutely solid, and playing a game of Helldivers 2 was quite mindblowing, actually, especially if you’re leaning on the side of higher volumes. Proper punchy gunfire, explosions sound rich, and the scream of aliens attacking was all really nice and immersive. Being open-back headphones too, felt like the sound carried a little wider than a more traditional gaming headset.
This helped somewhat with the placement of enemies during a game of Overwatch, as I was able to quite clearly hear footsteps cutting through the rest of the noise of a busy arena to give instruction on flanking positions. However, being the nature of the game, it lacked a lot of bass and this time I was reaching for the volume control because at louder volumes and a tinny battlefield, it became a little uncomfortable. At mid-volume levels though it was nice to be able to hear that much detail coming from the game, and although I haven’t downloaded it or even played, I can imagine it being quite useful in a game of Warzone.
To throw some specs at you, you’ve got the planar magnetic drivers with a Fluzor magnetic array structure, neodymium M50 magnets with an ultrathin uniforce diaphragm type. They have a frequency response of 20Hz to 25kHz, which is huge and a maximum SPL of >120dB. What was surprising was the 18 ohms impedance, which felt low to me, seeing as I had so much trouble with my Beyer Dynamic headphones and running those using the Wave XLR Dock, but here these Audeze MM-100 headphones are so loud, and even I, who generally likes my audio up a bit louder, was reaching for the volume knob on the StreamDeck+.
I mean look, I know this video is probably going to be a complete waste of time for many of you because you’re going to want to hear all about how these headphones sounded when playing the highest quality music tracks available, but unfortunately, that’s just not me. I play games, I make YouTube videos about tech, I edit videos, and I play some music while I work my 9-to-5. Can I appreciate that these headphones for my needs, sound absolutely amazing? Absolutely. Would I spend £400 on a set of these for my needs? Probably not. They’re a nice-to-have and a luxury for sure, and if you did want to spend the cash, you’re not going to be disappointed. But make sure you’ve got some decent music to feed into them first, yeah?
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