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V-Moda M200 Headphone Review

Rate this headphone:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 126 85.1%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 15 10.1%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 3 2.0%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 4 2.7%

  • Total voters
    148

Nathan Raymond

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Not kidding when I say this, but this is how I imagine the majority of "studio" or "mastering" pieces of audio gear to perform. I've been told multiple times by people that professionals simply do not care about fidelity, and performance out of their devices, all they would like is perhaps consistency - but primarily something that lasts, and warranty/support whenever the professional picks up the phone to call the company with requests for a certain service or information.

Professionals seem batshit insane to me if this is indeed the case. But it keeps ringing more true the more I see things like this advertised the way they are, yet the company not have gone bankrupt in the first two-three years of existence.

What type of professionals are you talking about, exactly? The mixing/mastering crowd certainly care about fidelity, and offer advice in their industry publications. For instance:

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/mixing-on-headphones-pro-perspective

The fundamental reason that headphones can be used as a reliable means of monitoring is best summed up in a short sentence from Michael Brauer (Coldplay, Rolling Stones, John Mayer): "It doesn't matter as long as it's a reference that you trust." In other words, the impediments of mixing on headphones are not so much a consequence of the tool itself but rather a matter of adaptation.

"The key in all this is you've got to know your headphones," Manny adds. "It's all about time and repetition. Listen to mixes or records you enjoy, and pretty soon you'll understand the frequency response of your headphones and you'll be able to adapt."

It's common for those pros to use EQ as well, including professional measurement and creation of an EQ curve for the specific headphones they own and use:

There are tools to help bridge the gap between speakers and headphones. Both Ali and Tchad Blake (Black Keys, Arctic Monkeys, Pearl Jam) use Sonarworks Reference 4 Headphone Edition, which Tchad says "helps to match my speaker experience very well". Whereas the Studio Edition aims to calibrate studio monitors within an acoustic space, the Headphone Edition irons out the inherent frequency biases of a particular set of headphones. This can be done broadly, based on the make and model of headphone, or specifically, where you send Sonarworks your exact headphones that they then use to make a calibration file. Ali chose this second solution for his Sennheiser HD650s, figuring the cost was worth the assurance. (A newer alternative is dSONIQ's Realphones, whilst Toneboosters' Morphit also has many fans.)

The folks on a budget who can't afford pro solutions like that often make use of collected headphone EQ curves that have been published in places like GitHub as a starting point:

https://www.reddit.com/r/audioengineering/comments/bc59re
 

markanini

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It's common for those pros to use EQ as well, including professional measurement and creation of an EQ curve for the specific headphones they own and use:
Most of those tools are based on outdated HATS systems. You're be better off using oratory1990 presets.
 
OP
amirm

amirm

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To be generous, the low distortion and high sensitivity seems to lend itself to EQ.
Only above bass. In bass as I noted in the review, it distorted fairly early. I need to extend my response tests to below 20 Hz and see what is going on there as what is there wouldn't predict what I heard.
 

Lambda

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Looks and measures like a 30€ "gaming" Headphone from Wallmart
 

usern

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Only above bass. In bass as I noted in the review, it distorted fairly early. I need to extend my response tests to below 20 Hz and see what is going on there as what is there wouldn't predict what I heard.
I suspect your DSP software is not compensating EQ peaks with negative preamp and output is digitally clipping. I see from EQ screenshot that Headroom Management is off: link

I just tried my M100 and it can go so loud that I don't want to find out when it will distort. Other headphone that could go this loud I've tried was Aeon 2 Noire.

With my old EQ i've added +5 dB in low frequencies. Some reduction in 2.5k-3k and sharp negative peak at 9.5k. Sounds fairly dark, but at loud volume it does not matter. There is plenty volume for mids and highs to sound clear. Very fun experience still.

With my M100 I could not detect imbalance in low frequencies by ear (using this https://www.szynalski.com/tone-generator/ )
 
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PeteL

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I suspect your DSP software is not compensating EQ peaks with negative preamp and output is digitally clipping. I see from EQ screenshot that Headroom Management is off: link

I just tried my M100 and it can go so loud that I don't want to find out when it will distort. Other headphone that could go this loud I've tried was Aeon 2 Noire.

With my old EQ i've added +5 dB in low frequencies. Some reduction in 2.5k-3k and sharp negative peak at 9.5k. Sounds fairly dark, but at loud volume it does not matter. There is plenty volume for mids and highs to sound clear. Very fun experience still.

With my M100 I could not detect imbalance in low frequencies by ear (using this https://www.szynalski.com/tone-generator/ )
But this is M200. Not M100
 

Elitzur–Vaidman

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Only above bass. In bass as I noted in the review, it distorted fairly early. I need to extend my response tests to below 20 Hz and see what is going on there as what is there wouldn't predict what I heard.
I did say I was being generous ;)
 

PeteL

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EQ configuration is still suspect. If there is +10 dB peak filter in EQ, then there should be -10 dB configured in Headroom Management to avoid digital clipping.
Yes but that’s only true if the digital volume is closed to be maxed out, or if you don’t use any digital attenuation at all. The ADI-2 DAC has a digital volume control.
 

Hart

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I am curious about the rating part. No matter how awful something is a few people will vote "great". Are they affiliated with the product or just being controversial? There was a Carver tube amp that was beyond the pale kind of bad, still registered some "great" votes.
 
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amirm

amirm

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I suspect your DSP software is not compensating EQ peaks with negative preamp and output is digitally clipping.
Roon has a clipping indicator which I always look at when performing EQ. It never lit up when the headphone started to generate static. So that is not an issue.
 

Tks

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What type of professionals are you talking about, exactly? The mixing/mastering crowd certainly care about fidelity, and offer advice in their industry publications. For instance:

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/mixing-on-headphones-pro-perspective



It's common for those pros to use EQ as well, including professional measurement and creation of an EQ curve for the specific headphones they own and use:



The folks on a budget who can't afford pro solutions like that often make use of collected headphone EQ curves that have been published in places like GitHub as a starting point:

https://www.reddit.com/r/audioengineering/comments/bc59re
Pro's EQ all their devices to a "reference"? Yeah, and what reference would that be exactly? Measured by what instruments? By what quality/fidelity standards?

Like, I can't imagine if the imaging/color grading industry adopted this nebulous sort of adherence to some sort of "reference".
 

usern

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Roon has a clipping indicator which I always look at when performing EQ. It never lit up when the headphone started to generate static. So that is not an issue.
How does this noise sound like? Is it smooth or pulsating or amplitude modulating at low frequencies?
 

PeteL

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Pro's EQ all their devices to a "reference"? Yeah, and what reference would that be exactly? Measured by what instruments? By what quality/fidelity standards?

Like, I can't imagine if the imaging/color grading industry adopted this nebulous sort of adherence to some sort of "reference".
Still, I am sure you seen movies with more saturated colors, more soft, more bright or with some sorts of hue fx. In the end, these pros are working on a art medium. There’s that. Also, really these pro don’t really mix and master with headphones, They use it for very specific things or to see how it translate, but really the reference is not that nebulous, You correct the response of your room and speakers to be as flat as possible at listening position, it is quite universally accepted as the reference.
 

Somafunk

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How does this noise sound like?

It sounds like a 14yr old you turning the amp right up to max on your parents stereo and marvelling at how loud it is whilst disregarding the ‘TSSSKKKKKK’ sound from the speakers every time there is a hint of bass
 

AndreaT

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Overpriced, pitiful fr, bass distortion, uncomfortable. All this for $ 300. There is an AKG that measures very well and costs less than half of this product (AKG 371). Thank you Amir for steering us away from very underperforming products!
 

A Surfer

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Well back in the day I enjoyed my M80, but that was quite some time ago and at the start of my headphone renaissance period. Perhaps if I used an M80 today I would cringe? Who knows. I was somewhat into the design back then, didn't love it, but also liked aspects of it. It certainly was built like a tank and could absolutely take abuse. The casing on the cable came off very easily though on both M80s that I owned. Not sure why I bought two though I did have a black/orange combo unit and an all white M80.

Just remembered, the orange and black model was called an XS if I remember. Truthfully I don't remember how they sounded, but I do remember thinking they were decent sounding.
 
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F1308

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Overpriced, pitiful fr, bass distortion, uncomfortable. All this for $ 300. There is an AKG that measures very well and costs less than half of this product (AKG 371). Thank you Amir for steering us away from very underperforming products!
And don't forget the even cheaper Truthear Crinacle Zero IEM.

 
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