Recording - May 2015 - 50

R E V I E W S B Y M I K E M E T L AY

With the upsurge in mobile recording,
small computer-based studios in rooms that
can't support decent-sized monitors, and the
simple need for privacy and sonic isolation
while composing, tracking, and mixing,
there's never been a bigger market for
headphones in the audio world, and a number of companies better known for other
products are rushing to fill the demand.
The M40 and M50 aren't M-Audio's first
headphone offerings; we enjoyed the
Studiophile Q40 when it first came out
some six years ago (reviewed September

M-Audio M40 and M50 Headphones
2008), but aside from the HDH50
released last year, there haven't been any
new M-Audio headphones since then.
With the advent of these two new designs,
we're seeing M-Audio hitting a new price
point and offering some unusual design
tweaks, and we were quite curious to give
these new headphones a listen.
In common
Both headphones offer a relatively low
32 ohm impedance, suitable for listening
on low-voltage personal devices as well as
pro audio hardware, and a 30 mW
power handling capability (with no
specifics or tolerances listed). Both offer a
generously padded adjustable headband
and soft leatherette-covered earcups, in
black with orange accents.
One unique touch is the included audio
cable on both models. It's 6' long and
comes with a snap-on 1/4" TRS adaptor;
with a conventional miniplug on both ends,
it can be inserted either way, and the headphones have jacks on both earcups so you
can decide which ear you want connected
to your gear. With a standard miniplug on
both ends, the cable can be easily replaced
in a pinch, but the ones that come with the
headphones are an interesting 'flat' design
that coils and stores compactly.
The M40
The M40 is a supraaural (on-the-ear)
headphone with 40 mm drivers and a 36
Hz-20 kHz frequency response (with no
tolerances given). The headband fits quite
tightly and the pressure on the ears tends
to accelerate listener fatigue; listeners who
are used to supraaural designs may find it
50

RECORDING May 2015

New style, new accoutrements, and new sound
familiar and comfortable, but those who
prefer a circumaural design will have difficulty with the M40. Sonic isolation is very
good for an on-the-ear phone, but isn't as
good as the M50's.
The M40's sound takes some getting used
to. It's a very "rock and roll" phone, with a
really forward and thick midrange. It sounded fine on dance music, hip hop, or electronica with a de-emphasis of the mids vs.
the bass and treble, but on anything with a
complex mix in the mids, details could be
lost and the overall effect could be overwhelming. Treble had a distinct ping to it,
distracting on complicated hi-hat or cymbal
tracks, with little sense of space or air. While
these phones can be exciting to listen to on
the right tracks, even after extended listening we didn't feel we could get enough of a
handle on their sound to be able to make
practical tracking and mixing decisions with
them. Setting them aside, we moved on to...

usual, I started to enjoy myself with them.
The M50's earcups are comfortably soft
and the headband less restrictive than on
the M40, leading to a much more pleasant and comfortable listening experience.
This allowed me to listen longer with less
fatigue and to really focus on the overall
sonic fingerprint of the M50 itself without
being distracted by comfort issues.
While you can't really glean much from a
frequency response that's published with no
tolerances, you listen with your ears, not your
eyes. Specs aside, the M50 had a bit of the
mid-forward presence of the M40 but with
quite a bit more detail and intelligibility. Lows
were powerful without being overly thumpy,
and the treble had a sense of usable space
without the pinging on transients that made
the M40 so hard to listen to for long periods.
Again, a very "rocking" headphone, but
with a good deal more clarity of presentation than its smaller sibling.

The M50
The M50 has 50 mm drivers and a reputed 28 Hz-20 kHz frequency response,
again with no tolerances given. While it's
called a circumaural (over-the-ear) design,
no one I handed them to (including my
youngest daughter) had small enough ears
for the earcups to completely enclose them
as you'd expect on a circumaural phone,
making them more of a slightly awkward
large-supraaural phone.
However, once I found myself thinking
of the M50 not as a circumaural headphone that had earcups too small for comfort but as a supraaural headphone with
earcups that were slightly larger than

Conclusions
Everyone's tastes in headphones are different, and there will be some personal
preference concerning what constitutes a
good tonality for a pair of phones. If you're
into supraaural phones and want a design
with presence and punch, you should give
the M50 a listen. While the M40 is a less
successful design to our ears, the M50
points toward a potentially worthwhile
trend in M-Audio's headphone designs to
come. Check it out.
Prices: M40, $59; M50, $79
More from: M-Audio, www.m-audio.com

http://www.m-audio.com

Recording - May 2015

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