It’s always great news when a big name like Beyerdynamic brings its audio expertise to gaming peripherals. Speaking as someone who listens to music more than gaming, options that can do both well enough aren’t as accessible as you might think. Will the MMX 100 and MMX150 be able to cut it?
If it looks familiar, that’s because this is pretty much the design language for many of Beyerdynamic’s headphones – especially that signature yoke. And because the boom mic is removable it doubles up as headphones that you won’t feel self-conscious wearing in public.
Construction-wise, it’s pretty standard stuff: an aluminium headband to apply pressure, while the synthetic leather band with memory foam relieves pressure. The earpads are made with synthetic leather and memory foam as well.
The primary difference between the MMX 100 and MMX 150: the MMX 100 is analogue, the MMX 150 is digital. The former is more versatile (4-pole and 2×3-pole 3.5 mm) and you can even connect it directly to gamepads but the latter offers a nice audio upgrade if you don’t have a specialised audio DAC on your computer. The controls will be different as well, but the drivers are essentially the same.
The upside of having a traditional audio company doing the gaming stuff is that they often shape their sound through driver designs with minimal software intervention and these headphones are no different.
The 40 mm drivers have a respectable frequency range of 5-30,000 Hz. Beyerdynamic says that they have been optimised to provide a high-resolution sound image with precise sound localisation, attributes that are very relevant to most if not all genres of games.
Likewise, they’ve taken a similar approach with the META VOICE cardioid condenser microphone, which features a 9.9 mm capsule designed to pick up the voice image naturally while suppressing common background noise like mouse and keyboard clicks.
However, the MMX 150 does have an additional trick in the form of an Augmented Mode, in which the headset will pick up surrounding sounds and mix them into the playback signal in real-time – kind of like ‘hear through’, and helps you have a better awareness of how loud you are speaking. More importantly, it won’t sound like you’re screaming at your significant other when telling them that you’re busy, guaranteeing one less reason to be sent to the couch for the night.
Availability and Pricing
Set to arrive in Singapore early next year, the MMX 100 is priced at $169 while the MMX 150 is priced at $199.