Reviews V-MODA Crossfade M-100 Over-Ear Noise-Isolating Metal Professional DJ Headphones

I can honestly say that these V-MODA Crossfade M-100 Over-Ear Noise-Isolating Metal Headphone are by far the best headphones I've ever owned. The bass, clarity and mid-range are all excellent. The noise isolation makes them perfect for traveling and crowded areas. I mostly use them for listening to music, but they are perfect for movies too.

I have many portable headphones to compare to the V-MODA Crossfade M-100, some much cheaper and others closer in cost - including Grado SR-60 and MS-1, Sennheiser PX-100 and HD-218, Nuforce NE-30, Audio Technica ATH-ANC7, Sennheiser HD25-1 II, and some similarly priced Audio Technica ATH-A900 closed headphones which are less portable but have an upgraded silver plated copper cable.

• Award-winning M-Class sound tuned by over 200 audiophile aficionados
• Patented 50mm Dual Diaphragm Drivers to separate bass from mids and highs
• Clean deep Bass, Vivid Mids and Ultra-Extended Highs tuned by the forums and editors
• Unique CLIQFOLD design for compact storage
• Ultra compact exoskeleton carry case featuring V-STRAP system

These mods transformed the A900's sound to be very close to a Denon D2000. Those last three phones were my previous best closed portable cans in the $200-$300 price range, until now. At RMAF I also listened to some Sennheiser Amperior, Beyer DT-1350 and Beyer Custom One, as well as Fostex TRP-50.

The V-MODA Crossfade M-100 are quite efficient and don't require me to carry around my portable amplifier, with very powerful bass and big soundstage for a closed headphone, and they fold up into a very small package that fits in my messenger bag easily. The portable cable with iPhone button and Mic is a great feature.

Crossfade M-100 - V-MODA Professional DJ Headphones Pros:

• For mobile listening the bass seems just right to me
• Bass has a chest-thumping kind of feeling
• Midrange frequencies have a nice lush/organic sound to them that sounds very natural and tonally accurate; the upper-midrange has a slight emphasis (so instruments such as violins, and female vocals are more pronounced)
• Highs have sparkle without being fatiguing
• STEELFLEX headband can be hyper-extended/stretched so that it can be "bent" to fit your head better (flatten the headband to decrease the clamping force, twist the headband to make the earcups angled, etc.)
• Excellent instrument separation (instruments are clearly defined within a song)
• Very excellent build quality as a whole (lots of metal parts in important structural areas)
• Minimal noise leakage despite semi-closed (V-PORT) design
• Cables are replaceable and do not lock; Earpads are replaceable
• Can be driven quite well with an iPod/iPhone (it does benefit from an amp though)
• Accessories bundled with the M-100 are plentiful
• Ability to customise your headphone (base headphone colour, shield colour, shield design, earpad colour, different cables, different cable colours)

Crossfade M-100 - V-MODA Professional DJ Headphones Cons:

• Midrange is laid-back in presentation relative to the bass and lower-treble (laid-back meaning they sound distant)
• Upper-treble is quiet/not very good treble extension (likely due to V-MODA decreasing the treble peaks that cause hearing loss and fatigue)
• Soundstage is deeper than wide, which presents instruments oddly
• Earpads tend to get warm and moist/wet
• Some cable noise/microphonics can be heard (with the SpeakEasy cable, a lot more is heard)

What Others Are Saying About V-MODA Crossfade M-100 Over-Ear Noise-Isolating Metal Professional DJ Headphones

" The total package. Great soundstage, great bass and superior construction. I did order the XL ear pads from the V-Moda website for additional comfort. My ears still get a little hot after using these for a while, but you can take a break and resume your listening session. You might see other headphones ranked above these on some "Best of" lists for $300 headphones, but often the construction isn't up to snuff. These excel in that category. " By d. sharp
 
" Great audio and bass response. When hooked to ipad or iphone the volume doesn't have to be cranked up to get the correct volume. Other high quality headphones I have to hook up my amp to get a good audio and bass. Good fit to my big head. They are not too tight. The only downside is the pads. They get a sweaty on my ears. " By Brian Akers "ohiomojazz" (Dayton, OH)
 
"A mobile music lovers dream set of headphones! Currently I have in my household the following headphones: 2 Beats Studio by Dre (owned by 12 & 16 year old boys), Klipsch Reference One's, Audio-Technica MTH-M50S, V-Moda M80 in white pearl, V-Moda LP2's in matte black and the new V-Moda M-100 in shadow. All of the headphones I own are what I would consider popular consumer headphones, marketing to the masses and can be found at your local big box stores except the V-Moda line."By J. Sorensen

This V-MODA Crossfade M-100 Over-Ear Noise-Isolating Metal Professional DJ Headphones product earned 320 customer reviews and 96% are satisfied (as 11/7/2013).  

These Crossfade M-100 headphones from V-MODA are the strongest musical reproducing device i have ever used or owned. Seriously they are built like a tank. The sound quality is amazing, especially for house, trance, hip-hop, and electronic music. I do feel they are genre specific, but not to the extent that an EQ adjustment cant mask.