Audeze MM-500 – Incredible sound, catastrophic build quality (long-term review)

[kiniko]

After more than two years of use — and after convincing fellows music producer to buy the exact same headphones — I feel obligated to post this as a warning.


The good:
The sound is phenomenal. Truly exceptional. For critical listening, music production, and mix engineering, these were a total game changer. No argument there.


The bad:
Build quality is an absolute joke. Out of five units, four failed — not from abuse, but from shockingly poor construction.

• One unit fell from ~30 cm onto its side: left driver burst.
• Two units had loose screws, causing a speaker to literally detach and fall off on its own, damaging the membrane in both cases.
• One unit arrived already damaged out of the box.

This isn’t bad luck. This is systemic.


The ugly (RMA / support):
I’m in Europe — maybe it’s different in the US, but here the RMA process is a nightmare. Repair times range from 2 to 5 months. In one case, Thomann waited so long for Audeze that they eventually gave up and replaced the headphones themselves as a goodwill gesture. Credit to Thomann — not to Audeze.


At this price point, this is simply unacceptable. Quality control appears nonexistent, the RMA process is painfully slow, and the overall build quality is indefensible. I’ve owned cheaper, no-name gear that held up better.


It’s honestly embarrassing that Manny Marroquin put his name on a product with this level of reliability.


Conclusion:
Incredible sound does not excuse incompetence at this level.
If you’re considering these, be aware: you may end up playing RMA roulette with very expensive headphones.


(Photo attached: yes, that’s fishing line holding the speaker so it doesn’t fall when the screw loosens.)

 

[Human Bass]

How much they weight? Audeze may tried to avoid their reputation of very heavy headphones and ended up with a fragile design.

 

[kemmler3D]

How much they weight? Audeze may tried to avoid their reputation of very heavy headphones and ended up with a fragile design.

Interesting point, but there are plenty of light headphones that don't have serious durability issues. If OP is not just very unlucky and they really do fall apart easily, I tend to agree that's a screw up on Audeze's part.

I've worked on audio products that had reliability short of what we wanted... And we distributed in Europe. We partnered with a distributor to represent the brand and handle returns and customer service there. This avoided the kind of issue OP is talking about, at least in terms of service. It's more work and you give up more margin, but IMO it's really necessary to preserve your reputation, especially if the products aren't bomb proof. People can forgive defects if you take good care of them, or you can go for <<1% failure rates... but you have to succeed in at least one column.

 

[BeeKay]

yes, that’s fishing line holding the speaker so it doesn’t fall when the screw loosens

That’s really disappointing quality!
If you don’t like the fishing line looks any more, this could help. Less visibly.

 

[kiniko]

How much they weight? Audeze may tried to avoid their reputation of very heavy headphones and ended up with a fragile design.

At this level it's a shame then..
500 grams (1.1 Pounds)

 

[kiniko]

Interesting point, but there are plenty of light headphones that don't have serious durability issues. If OP is not just very unlucky and they really do fall apart easily, I tend to agree that's a screw up on Audeze's part.

I've worked on audio products that had reliability short of what we wanted... And we distributed in Europe. We partnered with a distributor to represent the brand and handle returns and customer service there. This avoided the kind of issue OP is talking about, at least in terms of service. It's more work and you give up more margin, but IMO it's really necessary to preserve your reputation, especially if the products aren't bomb proof. People can forgive defects if you take good care of them, or you can go for <<1% failure rates... but you have to succeed in at least one column.

That's exactly the problem here. They dramatically failed in every aspect. When we contacted Audeze about the situation they told us that we had to solve the problem with our local distributor.. That's actually at this point that i choosed to make an honest overall review. And believe me, it hurt as right now i could not live without this headphone.

 

[Subob]

Funnily enough, our daughter has had her eye on an Audeze model for mixing since hearing them at a CanJam ( don't ask me what model as they all look the same to me and have a silly naming system that always seems to involve the letters LCD somewhere in the title!, lol).

I suggested to her to keep an eye out on Headfi classifieds, since the model she wants is a stretch on her budget, but she said she'd read a fair few reports of failures and so is reluctant to buy secondhand. That doesn't sound good for the price they go for.

 

[kiniko]

Funnily enough, our daughter has had her eye on an Audeze model for mixing since hearing them at a CanJam ( don't ask me what model as they all look the same to me and have a silly naming system that always seems to involve the letters LCD somewhere in the title!, lol).

I suggested to her to keep an eye out on Headfi classifieds, since the model she wants is a stretch on her budget, but she said she'd read a fair few reports of failures and so is reluctant to buy secondhand. That doesn't sound good for the price they go for.

For sure, Avoid buying second-hand units at all costs (unless they come from a reputable shop with a warranty).
It's cruel for me as this is still the best-sounding tool for a professional mixing engineer.
However, given all the issues we’ve experienced, some friends switched to Dan Clark or Focal to avoid the stress of having their headphones fail in the middle of a session which is completely understandable.

 

[kemmler3D]

Funnily enough, our daughter has had her eye on an Audeze model for mixing since hearing them at a CanJam ( don't ask me what model as they all look the same to me and have a silly naming system that always seems to involve the letters LCD somewhere in the title!, lol).

I suggested to her to keep an eye out on Headfi classifieds, since the model she wants is a stretch on her budget, but she said she'd read a fair few reports of failures and so is reluctant to buy secondhand. That doesn't sound good for the price they go for.

For what it's worth I have a pair of LCD-XC, I've clumsily dropped them a few times and they're fine. I would also recommend them for mixing if my opinion matters there.

 

[Subob]

For what it's worth I have a pair of LCD-XC, I've clumsily dropped them a few times and they're fine. I would also recommend them for mixing if my opinion matters there.

That's good to hear.

Yeah, she loved what she heard from Audeze. She uses some Genelecs and some NF Audio NM2+ iems for mixing, which she loves, but she also covets the Audeze that she heard. Perhaps I shouldn't have taken her to Canjam, lol.