V-Moda Crossfade M-100

Introduction

After my Audio Technica ATH-50’s, these were the next pair of, what I consider to be high quality headphones. I got these along with my roommate two years ago and they have been my main drivers ever since. I primarily used my Plantronics Gamecom 780 Gaming Headset before that as my main driver, and it was nice having a high quality pair of headphones for video calls and Dolby Digital 7.1 Surround Sound, but I really wanted to listen to my music in 320 kbps and FLAC on the go. My roommate told me that he did a product review for a V-Moda before with their LP 1’s and after I tried them out, I was hooked on their look, audio fidelity, and comfort. We did some research on the Crossfade M-100’s and the LP-2’s and eventually we both decided on the M-100’s and we haven’t looked back ever since.

Packaging and Features

I don’t frequently go into depth about the packaging of a product, but these headphones were packed in really nicely. The box was very rugged and it has a nice button mechanism as well as a taut red ribbon that is meant to keep everything contained. After that, the headphones were inside the black clam shell case along with the other paraphernalia inside of it. The zipper on the clam shell case appears to be really solid and has not broke on me yet after 2 years of moderately heavy use. The clam shell case as a whole is extremely strong and I love the molding. I have had zero issues with it and I love how small the footprint of the case is. The belt clip on the side of it seems useful, but I seldom use it

Inside the case were the headphones, ¼ inch adapter, and their SpeakEasy Mic Cable as well as their SharePlay Cable. The SpeakEasy Cable is a standard 2 way 3.5mm (1/8 inch) cable that is a little under 5 feet long with one end being straight and the other a right angle. The SharePlay cable on the other hand is a much longer cable, almost 7 feet, and it lets the user share their music with a friend via the inline female 3.5mm jack. This is great for when my roommate and I want to listen to the same music, but don’t want to have two separate audio sources. The material on the inside of the case is a bright red material that is slightly fuzzy. It feels great, and is a nice added touch

Clam Shell Case. Lots of goodies inside!

Build Quality

The headphones themselves felt very solid in my hands. For starters, the headphones can fold into a very compact shape, and you see this shape when you get it out of the case. I was a bit skeptical about this since the metal frame perceptively looks very weak, but it is still very solid to me. The next thing to note is that the headband is very strong. It is not the same as the M80’s which have extremely bendable headbands, but they still do stretch out quite a bit. The ear cups are made up of memory foam and I personally find them comfortable. It is worth noting they my ears do get hot under these headphones after excessive use (more than two or three hours), but they are otherwise a nice fit for me. The side of the headphones have what V-Moda calls ‘shields’. They are essentially custom metal plates that are screwed into the side of the headphones. If you order the M-100’s off of their website, they will give you an extra set of shield that can be customized on their website. As you can see, I got mine customized with the Rise Against band logo. These shields were super easy to install and they give you the hex key to do the change. In a minute flat, I had a pair of headphones that were one of a kind.

The logo has slight wear, but it is barely noticeable

These are my roommate's M-100's, in much better condition

Sound Quality

Now to the meat and potatoes of this review; sound quality. The frequency response of these headphones ranges from 5-30,000Hz and the impedance is 32 Ohms. Since I have owned these headphones for years, I can only assume that they are properly burned in due to being heavily used. I used a couple songs as a reference point, my three being Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, Take The Power Back by Rage Against The Machine, and Black Dog by Led Zeppelin. These three tracks were chosen due to their wide frequency range and their sound stage. After listening to all of these tracks, I have come to the conclusion that the M-100’s have great highs and lows, but the mids are lacking because they are being shadowed by the bass. The mids sound really distant, and therefore, appear to be less present than the bass. This was very apparent in Bohemian Rhapsody. I believe the sound quality is fantastic for this product, but I will admit I have no other reference for other headphones in this price range to properly and justly make that assumption.

Flaws?!

There is no product that is without flaws, and the M-100’s are no exception. I have found a couple glaring issues regarding the M-100’s that I would like to point out. The first is SpeakEasy cable. The cable in itself is great, but I have noticed that the 3.5mm end is longer than the average cable. This may not seem to be a huge problem, but I was looking to get a replacement cable that wasn’t V-Moda’s and I was unable to find a suitable substitute due to the thinness of the cable as well as how long the 3.5mm end is. Another issue I noted with the SpeakEasy cable is that it frays easily. The cable is braided, but after many uses, it started to come undone and you start to see it all begin to fray. Lastly, the last glaring issue I have is with the headband slider. Probably a year into my owning the headphones, the slider for the left side of the headphones somehow managed to split apart for what seems to be half an inch. This is not a big inconvenience to me personally, but I felt it was worth noting.

Overall

These headphones are absolutely stellar for their price range and I fully recommend them to any and all users looking for headphones in a decent price range and great quality. I love the extra punchy bass of the headphones as well as the crisp highs in terms of sound quality. I have never seen a company like V-Moda that provides the user with so much case-candy either, which is always a plus in my book. The product overall is great and I want more people to learn about V-Moda and their great headphones.

Check out a link to the Crossfade M-100 here