Beyerdynamic MMX300 (2nd Gen) (Hardware)
Official GBAtemp Review

Name: Beyerdynamic MMX300 (2nd Gen)
Item: Beyerdynamic MMX300 (2nd Gen)
Rating: 9
Author: KiiWii

Issac · Sep 3, 2019

Impressive specs! Looks nice too

Jiehfeng · Sep 4, 2019

I didn't know Beyerdynamic made gaming headsets. :o
Their headphones are great, but the problem with all of them is too much treble/sibilance.

Silent_Gunner · Sep 4, 2019

Jiehfeng said:
I didn't know Beyerdynamic made gaming headsets. :o
Their headphones are great, but the problem with all of them is too much treble/sibilance.

All the premium names have some variant from what I've seen.

Jiehfeng · Sep 4, 2019

Silent_Gunner said:
All the premium names have some variant from what I've seen.

It's true, but the good ones have a cleaner treble/smoother sharp sound if that makes sense. I have a pair called Oppo-PM 3, they're planar magnetic, and they sound great with clear treble.

ChaosEternal · Sep 4, 2019

Now that's some German Engineering for you!

SG854 · Sep 4, 2019

Jiehfeng said:
I didn't know Beyerdynamic made gaming headsets. :o
Their headphones are great, but the problem with all of them is too much treble/sibilance.

That seems to be a problem with a lot upper end headphones I hear. You can equalize the sibilance out, especially if you follow something like the Harman Curve, raising it in the low end and lowering it in the high end.

Some gamer headphones lets you create equalize presets, I'm not sure if these do. If not then a portable amp/equalizer can help, like the DSP Headphone Amp. That'll set you back around $300 though. Or computer software which is free but you're tied to your computer though.

I think a lot of headphones try to target the diffuse field curve. I know some of the Sennheiser's open back headphones do. The diffuse field is just not something you would hear in a studio room with a good pair of studio monitors because of the acoustics of the room. So headphones that follow the Diffuse Field curve are just more sibilant and lacking in the bass area.

Jiehfeng · Sep 4, 2019

SG854 said:
That seems to be a problem with a lot upper end headphones I hear. You can equalize the sibilance out, especially if you follow something like the Harman Curve, raising it in the low end and lowering it in the high end.

Some gamer headphones lets you create equalize presets, I'm not sure if these do. If not then a portable amp/equalizer can help, like the DSP Headphone Amp. That'll set you back around $300 though. Or computer software which is free but you're tied to your computer though.

I think a lot of headphones try to target the diffuse field curve. I know some of the Sennheiser's open back headphones do. The diffuse field is just not something you would hear in a studio room with a good pair of studio monitors because of the acoustics of the room. So headphones that follow the Diffuse Field curve are just more sibilant and lacking in the bass area.

I actually don't mind sibilance, as long as it doesn't sound like a radio or a 128kbps mp3. I use a DAP that has a good amplifier, and it really helps with clarity on the sharp sounds.

One can mistake heavy sibilance by listening to the wrong music as well. Most music aren't well mastered as they're made for the common public to be used by low end headphones. I have a list of songs that are well mastered though, so if anyone wants a go, hit me up.

Also there are plenty of high end headphones that don't have this issue as well, you just need to find the right one.

SG854 · Sep 5, 2019

Jiehfeng said:
I actually don't mind sibilance, as long as it doesn't sound like a radio or a 128kbps mp3. I use a DAP that has a good amplifier, and it really helps with clarity on the sharp sounds.

One can mistake heavy sibilance by listening to the wrong music as well. Most music aren't well mastered as they're made for the common public to be used by low end headphones. I have a list of songs that are well mastered though, so if anyone wants a go, hit me up.

Also there are plenty of high end headphones that don't have this issue as well, you just need to find the right one.

I don't know. My headphones are equalized to the Harman curve and music doesn't sound bad to me at all. Even lower quality audio. You would need good audio frequency measuring equipment to properly equalize to the curve you want. Probably you are talking about the loudness wars? Them killing dynamic range so they can have in your face music that stands out above the others.

Usually when people mix audio its done on good quality studio monitors. And Headphones are used with it to check. Hardly the good advice is just to use headphones by themselves. Always use them with loud speakers.

And I know people that like to use sibilant headphones that is harsh to bring out the nastiness in audio. If you can make you music sound good on them then it'll sound good on anything.

It also depends on what the headphones are intended for. Monitor headphones are used to track vocals and instrumentation, they are more neutral then lower end brands but slightly colored for monitor purposes to bring out those sounds. Reference headphones are much closer to neutral and useful for mixing audio. But people might think it's plain sounding and like color in their sound so they'll go for bass heavy headphones. I'm not sure if the public likes studio headphones because of their neutral sound but the Audio Technika's ATH series are very popular so maybe there's a market for it. In comparison Beats by Dre destroys them in sales.

SonicRings · Sep 5, 2019

>5 - 35,000 Hz frequency response

This made me laugh.

Jiehfeng · Sep 5, 2019

SG854 said:
I don't know. My headphones are equalized to the Harman curve and music doesn't sound bad to me at all. Even lower quality audio. You would need good audio frequency measuring equipment to properly equalize to the curve you want. Probably you are talking about the loudness wars? Them killing dynamic range so they can have in your face music that stands out above the others.

Usually when people mix audio its done on good quality studio monitors. And Headphones are used with it to check. Hardly the good advice is just to use headphones by themselves. Always use them with loud speakers.

And I know people that like to use sibilant headphones that is harsh to bring out the nastiness in audio. If you can make you music sound good on them then it'll sound good on anything.

It also depends on what the headphones are intended for. Monitor headphones are used to track vocals and instrumentation, they are more neutral then lower end brands but slightly colored for monitor purposes to bring out those sounds. Reference headphones are much closer to neutral and useful for mixing audio. But people might think it's plain sounding and like color in their sound so they'll go for bass heavy headphones. I'm not sure if the public likes studio headphones because of their neutral sound but the Audio Technika's ATH series are very popular so maybe there's a market for it. In comparison Beats by Dre destroys them in sales.

Using EQ is beside the point, it's an adjustment above the standard default of how your equipment originally sounds, I'm not talking about that.

Most music made these days are made through studio equipment yes, but they also have low budget shitty speakers and headphones with them to test their music on those as well to make sure they sound good, as that's where the majority lies.

The idea that if something is made on high end headphones and it will sound great will everything else is completely wrong. There are frequencies and sounds that a high end pair of headphones can produce well that a low budget pair cannot, so when you go back to shitty audio equipment, a lot of the "music" and elements are lost. It's kind of like some instruments would not be heard well at all there.

And that's the issue with most 21st century music, the music engineers just don't care anymore to put work into mastering, they just want their song to sound listenable and good in terms of a song/melody. Back then, audio quality was more of a priority. Though not all new music sounds bad, you just have to know where to look. Deadmau5 for example is a pioneer with mastering new music.

As for EQ, it's a great solution. But personally I have flat sounding headphones and I want it to stay that way as I want to hear what it originally sounds like. It's a preference.

That's why there are songs where it sounds shittier when you take a good pair of headphones, but when you go back down to lower end, at one point it sounds "good", as you can't hear the imperfections.

SG854 · Sep 6, 2019

Jiehfeng said:
Using EQ is beside the point, it's an adjustment above the standard default of how your equipment originally sounds, I'm not talking about that.

Most music made these days are made through studio equipment yes, but they also have low budget shitty speakers and headphones with them to test their music on those as well to make sure they sound good, as that's where the majority lies.

The idea that if something is made on high end headphones and it will sound great will everything else is completely wrong. There are frequencies and sounds that a high end pair of headphones can produce well that a low budget pair cannot, so when you go back to shitty audio equipment, a lot of the "music" and elements are lost. It's kind of like some instruments would not be heard well at all there.

And that's the issue with most 21st century music, the music engineers just don't care anymore to put work into mastering, they just want their song to sound listenable and good in terms of a song/melody. Back then, audio quality was more of a priority. Though not all new music sounds bad, you just have to know where to look. Deadmau5 for example is a pioneer with mastering new music.

As for EQ, it's a great solution. But personally I have flat sounding headphones and I want it to stay that way as I want to hear what it originally sounds like. It's a preference.

That's why there are songs where it sounds shittier when you take a good pair of headphones, but when you go back down to lower end, at one point it sounds "good", as you can't hear the imperfections.

What I'm saying is that it might sound sharp and sibilant due to headphones following the diffuse field curve. It might not be the music but the headphones. Not that the headphones sound bad especially if you have a good pair. And major studios get the best equipment they can get, unless maybe they are a small upcoming. Not sure if that's true that they don't care. I'm sure they want the best sound possible and will hire people that are in the know about speakers.

The Standard Default would be what music was mastered on which is a pair of loud speakers. And if you want to hear the original intended sound then Headphones would need to match those loud speakers. That's where the Harman Curve comes in. Which matches that.

There's decades of research on what good pair of loud speakers should sound like which is flat in an Anechoic Room. But master studios are not an Anechoic room they are slightly reverberant, place those same flat speakers from an Anechoic Room to a Master studio and the sound is a little tilted about 4 db higher in the bass and 2 db less in treble. A flat headphone will sound sharp without taking these conditions into consideration. The Harman Curve does, so if you want to hear the same sound artists and engineers hear then that's what the Harman Curve is for.

Most Headphones will sound better with EQ, not that they were horrible before. Headphone Engineers are limited during the tuning process to acoustic and mechanical means, there's only so much they can do to get the headphones to sound how they want. So EQ will help with getting closer to the curve you want.

Jiehfeng · Sep 6, 2019

SG854 said:
What I'm saying is that it might sound sharp and sibilant due to headphones following the diffuse field curve. It might not be the music but the headphones. Not that the headphones sound bad especially if you have a good pair. And major studios get the best equipment they can get, unless maybe they are a small upcoming. Not sure if that's true that they don't care. I'm sure they want the best sound possible and will hire people that are in the know about speakers.

The Standard Default would be what music was mastered on which is a pair of loud speakers. And if you want to hear the original intended sound then Headphones would need to match those loud speakers. That's where the Harman Curve comes in. Which matches that.

There's decades of research on what good pair of loud speakers should sound like which is flat in an Anechoic Room. But master studios are not an Anechoic room they are slightly reverberant, place those same flat speakers from an Anechoic Room to a Master studio and the sound is a little tilted about 4 db higher in the bass and 2 db less in treble. A flat headphone will sound sharp without taking these conditions into consideration. The Harman Curve does, so if you want to hear the same sound artists and engineers hear then that's what the Harman Curve is for.

Most Headphones will sound better with EQ, not that they were horrible before. Headphone Engineers are limited during the tuning process to acoustic and mechanical means, there's only so much they can do to get the headphones to sound how they want. So EQ will help with getting closer to the curve you want.

That's what I'm saying, they don't care too much about it these days. Most of these studios just have headphones that are "professional" by title, but they're low end compared to headphones higher the price. For example, a lot of studios just use an ATH-M50x or an HD600. There's much better equipment than this. Like I said, all they care about is if it sounds good enough in the lowest common denominator, the regular public, while there's exceptions.

Harman Curve is actually a series of tests done to check what most people's preferences are with how music should sound, and they're mostly tied to speakers. If a headphone is built flat sounding, you will hear what the producer produced in the end almost exactly how it is, that's why I don't want EQ. EQ may get you to hear what the producer heard when he made it, possible, but personally I don't want that. I just want what's there in the end and what the producer ended up with.

When you go with high end headphones, it's almost always the music's fault. EQ as I've said is a solution. You will hear the mistakes of producers, that's that sadly. This is why you may say "most headphones will sound better with EQ". Just listen to some very well mastered tracks with a high end pair of headphones and you won't even think of EQ.

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