Anyone using Audeze MM-100 for producing with?
Anyone compare them to the MM-500? Or the LCD-X?
Any comments on LF response?
1 Like
I had a pair for a while but returned them. There was something really weird with the tuning. Almost a honky resonance with them in the high mids. Also while they managed to get down pretty low, bass was pretty weak in the sub region. I couldn’t mix with them and they were kind of heavy. Everyone is different though so try to listen to them yourself.
I grabbed a pair of Sennheiser HD 490s and they are great so far. Much more natural sounding than my DT990s. And probably the most comfortable headphones i’ve ever used for long sessions.
1 Like
Great info thanks.
I have been using Beyer DT250s for years and I enjoy producing on them but when I go to mix on decent monitors everything is too dark and I have to EQ everything again and redo levels.
I need a good set of phones that translate well because I can’t use my monitors a lot of the time with neighbours etc.
I’d love the MM-500 but they are out of my budget.
I haven’t been a massive fan of the Sennheiser phones before but I’ll check your recommendation out.
Anyone recommend any other phones?
Edit: maybe a pair of IEM might be better?
I love my Neumann NDH20. They now do an open back version too
1 Like
Beyers tend to be really bright that might be why your mixes are translating dark. I also had the Neuman NDH-30s here for a bit and those sounded fantastic next to the mm-100s and a little on the darker side. Supposedly they match up quite well with their monitors.
Headphones are such a personal thing. I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s nothing that sounds perfect. You just have to learn them and how they translate. Report back on what you find!
2 Likes
Thank I’ll check these out 
Thanks. My monitors are Neumann KH120s, which I love. It might be worth giving their phones a go then. I will check them out. They are reasonably priced too.
2 Likes
What do you guys think of planar vs neodymium?
A good pair of planars is just a phenomenal listening experience every time imo. The precision and clarity of transient detail gives a proper clear listening experience. Frequency responses can be a bit shaky, but for me their speed more than makes up for that. Problem is a solid pair cost a whole lot more than a solid pair of neos
1 Like
I’ve used LCD-Xs as my daily driver and primary production monitors (as in I check mixes on other systems sometimes, but ALL my work is done on these headphones) for over 4 years. I think they’re fantastic, but they’re not perfect by any means. I still had issues with translation outside of the headphones after 2 years of getting to know them, so I bought Tonal Balance Control from Izotope to help me reality check my mixes. After that, I had problems with soundstage intermittently (some mixes translated and some didn’t and I could not tell why) so I added Acustica Sienna and now I’m perfectly happy with my monitoring.
I think you can get where I am with something like a pair of Hifimans and Tonal Balance Control. I’ve demoed Audeze’s lower end headphones and I used to use a pair of Hifiman HE-400s before I got the LCD-X, and the main thing you are going to lose by spending half the money is just the very bottom octave of information. So listen as best you can and use Tonal Balance Control to sanity check your bass (and treble if that continues to give you trouble).
I used dynamic headphones before (Sennheiser and Grado) and while I think you can get great sound from them, my experience is if you want to monitor with headphones for any length of time you are going to want planars. They don’t have quite the punch of dynamic headphones, but they are so detailed that you can listen a bit quieter and that lack of punch makes them easier on your ears once you adjust to it. At my normal monitoring levels, my head gets sore from how heavy the LCD-X are long before my ears get fatigued, so I remember to take regular breaks and my hearing has thanked me for it.
5 Likes
No idea how true this is as I don’t have Neumann monitors, but I believe their headphones are designed to pair well with the monitors in terms of sound. So could a good choice!
1 Like
I have the lcd-x and lcd-5. The lcd 5s are phenomenal, but the xs are pretty great too. Everyone seems to say that the MM series have a very distinct tuning more suitable for acoustic music.
1 Like
I tried the MM100 and also found they had a strange peakiness in the upper mids.
The best headphones I’ve tried are possibly the Neumann NDH30s - the imaging was incredible and really 3-dimensional. I do intend to pick a pair up at some point. For mixing and mastering though I currently use Slate VSX which is just incredible for bottom-up mixing. First time I’ve ever felt I could ‘see’ into the low end both in frequency and time domains. Get the platinum edition if you go this route as you get all future rooms included.
2 Likes
The NDH30 are 120ohm and max SPL of 104dB, compared to 80ohm 100dB of my old Beyer DT250s.
Will my DT2 drive them ok?
Thanks I was looking at the MM100 because they look like a nice planar in my price range. The LCD-X/5 would be lovely, but I can’t afford them.
At under £500, am I better looking at conventional drivers like the Neumann, or would the MM100s still be good, despite the bump in the mids?
The Neumann distortion data etc looks good. But so do the Audeze.
I think it comes down to personal preferences and the type of music you do. I’m certain that both of these are good, but your ears might prefer one more than the other. Any chance you can try out at a shop?
2 Likes
Or possibly order both on credit card and return one pair?
The DT2 will drive the NDH30s just fine I reckon. Out of the MM100 and NDH30s I’d trust the Neumann’s more for mixing and mastering. That being said, I’ve not used either in that particular usage, just demoed both, so take that into account.
1 Like
I think I’ll have to do this as no one near me stocks either.
1 Like
Should be fine. I was able to drive them with a newer MacBook Pro integrated amp and had a decent amount of power.
1 Like
If you want to try planars for cheap, you could look into Hifiman. I used the HE-400 before I moved up to the Audeze LCD-X and they don’t sound the same, but they definitely have a similar character.
3 Likes