# Audeze MM-500 Announced June 3rd, 2022 **URL:** \ **Category:** Headphone News\ **Tags:** audeze\ **Created:** [June 3, 2022, 3:16pm UTC](https://forum.headphones.com/t/audeze-mm-500-announced-june-3rd-2022/17950 "2022-06-03T15:16:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mikecheck95](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecccb3/32.png) [@mikecheck95](https://forum.headphones.com/u/mikecheck95)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2022, 3:58pm UTC](https://forum.headphones.com/t/audeze-mm-500-announced-june-3rd-2022/17950/22 "2022-08-14T15:58:56Z")
Seeing as they measure so close to the LCD-5 and many people are noticing better technical performance with the LCD-5 what does this tell us if anything? How easy would it be to run blind tests swapping the LCD-5 and MM500 on peoples’ heads? ---
**Author:** ![Resolve](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.headphones.com/resolve/32/51647_2.png) [@Resolve](https://forum.headphones.com/u/Resolve)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2022, 10:11pm UTC](https://forum.headphones.com/t/audeze-mm-500-announced-june-3rd-2022/17950/23 "2022-08-14T22:11:02Z")
The clamp and weight is different enough that it would be tricky to do - also the pads are different, and would be recognizable with how the surface area comes into contact with the side of the head. I find this very interesting given how closely they measure and how meaningfully more ‘technical’ the LCD-5 sounds. But still, I think some within the community would immediately point to subtle differences in the FR, maybe even in the upper treble, as being responsible. Personally, I’m not convinced this is enough to explain the subjective difference, but that’s not to say I couldn’t be convinced. ---
**Author:** ![SebastienChiu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.headphones.com/sebastienchiu/32/19437_2.png) [@SebastienChiu](https://forum.headphones.com/u/SebastienChiu)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 4:08pm UTC](https://forum.headphones.com/t/audeze-mm-500-announced-june-3rd-2022/17950/24 "2022-08-15T16:08:33Z")
Nice to see you here too buddy! CanJam SoCal will be the first time I get t to try them out myself. Very excited to do so! ---
**Author:** ![DMGPlay](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.headphones.com/dmgplay/32/42772_2.png) [@DMGPlay](https://forum.headphones.com/u/DMGPlay)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 6:37pm UTC](https://forum.headphones.com/t/audeze-mm-500-announced-june-3rd-2022/17950/25 "2022-08-15T18:37:37Z")
But those upper treble differences are meaningful. I don’t know why audiophiles downplay the importance of the tuning in that region given it is the spot where the biggest difference is found among individuals (HRTF wise). Shifting those peaks around changes how imaging is perceived. This is readily apparent if you play a lot with IEMs and different tips that measure slightly differently. The idea that clarity is some mystical audio property that’s independent of frequency response is silly to me because it’s not supported by anything. And where would that extra information be coming from? ---
**Author:** ![dixter](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.headphones.com/dixter/32/40551_2.png) [@dixter](https://forum.headphones.com/u/dixter)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 7:28pm UTC](https://forum.headphones.com/t/audeze-mm-500-announced-june-3rd-2022/17950/26 "2022-08-15T19:28:43Z")
Would be interesting to also show the overlay of the LCD-X to the MM-500 ---
**Author:** ![MRHifiReviews](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.headphones.com/mrhifireviews/32/13974_2.png) [@MRHifiReviews](https://forum.headphones.com/u/MRHifiReviews)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 10:16pm UTC](https://forum.headphones.com/t/audeze-mm-500-announced-june-3rd-2022/17950/27 "2022-08-15T22:16:26Z")
MM-500 are great headphones for the price looking forward to comparing more with other headphones. ---
**Author:** ![Resolve](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.headphones.com/resolve/32/51647_2.png) [@Resolve](https://forum.headphones.com/u/Resolve)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 11:34pm UTC](https://forum.headphones.com/t/audeze-mm-500-announced-june-3rd-2022/17950/28 "2022-08-15T23:34:17Z")
> [@DMGPlay](#): > > I don’t know why audiophiles downplay the importance of the tuning in that region given it is the spot where the biggest difference is found among individuals (HRTF wise). It’s usually because these rigs aren’t rated for accuracy at the upper treble frequencies. The thing is, I’m not discounting those differences, and you _can_ actually hear them. In fact, you can generally explain the heard difference in tonal balance between the two by using the graph. You can also explain why the MM-500 sounds less ‘glarey’ in the upper mids by using the graph. What you _can’t_ explain, at least not in a way that’s consistently predictive or that doesn’t have many counterexamples, is why the LCD-5 sounds meaningfully more ‘technical’ by using the graph. > [@DMGPlay](#): > > The idea that clarity is some mystical audio property that’s independent of frequency response is silly to me because it’s not supported by anything. And where would that extra information be coming from? There’s also nothing to say the difference _isn’t_ just down to FR differences at the ear drum (even after EQ if you want), and there are very real and tangible reasons to expect that to be the case for circumaural sealed front designs like this one. And, for some reason folks love to imagine that statements of uncertainty around how predictive a graph is immediately amount to a belief in magic, but I’d argue much of the time that’s not the case (and also why you will likely _continue_ to talk past one another on this topic). The point is rather that unfortunately you still have to actually listen to the headphones to make the judgment about which is “better” in this instance. ---
**Author:** ![DMGPlay](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.headphones.com/dmgplay/32/42772_2.png) [@DMGPlay](https://forum.headphones.com/u/DMGPlay)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2022, 3:04pm UTC](https://forum.headphones.com/t/audeze-mm-500-announced-june-3rd-2022/17950/29 "2022-08-16T15:04:03Z")
I don’t consider myself an objectivist in that sense. I think an actual objectivist would be someone like oratory, an acoustical engineer who has vast knowledge in this field. I am a subjectivist that rejects the audiophile dogma because I have yet to hear a sound difference in headphones that isn’t perfectly explainable by differences, often small, in tuning. In fact I would argue the reason why a majority of audiophiles disagree that frequency response (especially subjective FR) = detail/clarity/etc is that they frame or conceptualize what they hear differently, based on common audiophile myths that they are exposed to immediately after entering the hobby. I don’t think there’s much room for interpretation when it comes to sound. We already know that humans perceive details based on how specific frequencies relate to one another. That’s how we tell the difference between a piano and a violin playing the same note. If a headphone can reproduce those complex tones accurately then we can say that headphone has clarity. That would be the most consistent definition of detail or sound quality. ---
**Author:** ![Resolve](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.headphones.com/resolve/32/51647_2.png) [@Resolve](https://forum.headphones.com/u/Resolve)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2022, 4:02pm UTC](https://forum.headphones.com/t/audeze-mm-500-announced-june-3rd-2022/17950/30 "2022-08-16T16:02:15Z")
> [@DMGPlay](#): > > In fact I would argue the reason why a majority of audiophiles disagree that frequency response (especially subjective FR) = detail/clarity/etc is that they frame or conceptualize what they hear differently, based on common audiophile myths that they are exposed to immediately after entering the hobby. Sure, but this is more of an information problem, or lack thereof. It’s easier to give descriptions of the experience in terms of resolution/detail than it is an analysis of the fine-grained FR information or potential HRTF-matching (which also hasn’t been demonstrated to be correlated with qualities audiophiles are after). Moreover, I don’t think we can be so confident that what we see on a graph is going to perfectly correlate either. You can’t know that the rig HRTF matches yours, or that the indicated result is going to necessarily correlate with how it’s heard by or measured at the eardrums of individual people. So to say the result you see on a graph is uniquely _all there is_, which is what many assume it to be, is also missing an important bit of information… or in other words, until we start measuring at the eardrums of individual people, we should probably be extra careful about what we attribute expected differences to. To be clear, I’m not saying it’s _not_ all just FR at the ear drum, merely that what I see as the difference between these two headphones on the graph isn’t sufficient to explain the differences I hear between them, and I think this is likely to be a common theme with these. ---
**Author:** ![DMGPlay](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.headphones.com/dmgplay/32/42772_2.png) [@DMGPlay](https://forum.headphones.com/u/DMGPlay)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2022, 6:32pm UTC](https://forum.headphones.com/t/audeze-mm-500-announced-june-3rd-2022/17950/31 "2022-08-16T18:32:19Z")
I agree. Does the MM-500 have any harsh peaks in the treble/upper treble? I like the Sundara a lot but I am considering a potential upgrade for one major reason. A lot of these Hifiman planars seem to have an upper treble peak that’s quite annoying (around 8-11K) which is a shame because the FR is so close to ideal otherwise with a very full sounding treble response (other than some lacking extension perhaps). ---
**Author:** ![Resolve](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.headphones.com/resolve/32/51647_2.png) [@Resolve](https://forum.headphones.com/u/Resolve)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2022, 7:36pm UTC](https://forum.headphones.com/t/audeze-mm-500-announced-june-3rd-2022/17950/32 "2022-08-16T19:36:19Z")
If you index hard for tonal balance, I actually think Sundara is one of the very best you could get. MM-500 is quite smooth in the treble but like, it’s still a bit hot in the upper mids, and I don’t know if overall the tuning is better than Sundara for most people. So, you might like it, but at the same time it’s hard to know if it’s a “worth it” upgrade, if you know what I mean. ---
**Author:** ![reallyoldcob](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.headphones.com/reallyoldcob/32/23918_2.png) [@reallyoldcob](https://forum.headphones.com/u/reallyoldcob)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 3:16pm UTC](https://forum.headphones.com/t/audeze-mm-500-announced-june-3rd-2022/17950/33 "2022-08-17T15:16:46Z")
I’ve found that upper treble response on Sundara sounds significantly different depending amplification. Sundara’s high end with a Schiit Heresy can be occasionally grating but other amps (like Phonitor XE, K9 Pro ESS, Ferrum Oor) make the same material sound more smooth using the same Source + DAC. Conventional wisdom here is to upgrade headphones before upgrading source equipment but I think people are really sleeping on how well the Sundara scales. I regularly reach for the Sundara + Ferrum stack in my studio over Utopia and other much more expensive headphones I’ve had and sold. Looking forward to checking out the MM-500 at some point! ---
**Author:** ![SebastienChiu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.headphones.com/sebastienchiu/32/19437_2.png) [@SebastienChiu](https://forum.headphones.com/u/SebastienChiu)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 4:49pm UTC](https://forum.headphones.com/t/audeze-mm-500-announced-june-3rd-2022/17950/34 "2022-08-17T16:49:08Z")
Same. It’s a very exciting release for Audeze that will hopefully be easier to swallow for those who aren’t all mid heads. The LCD-5 was too fatiguing for me, and outside of the upper mids hopefully the MM-500 won’t be. ---
**Author:** ![Resolve](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.headphones.com/resolve/32/51647_2.png) [@Resolve](https://forum.headphones.com/u/Resolve)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 12:36am UTC](https://forum.headphones.com/t/audeze-mm-500-announced-june-3rd-2022/17950/35 "2022-08-18T00:36:13Z")
> [@SebastienChiu](#): > > for those who aren’t all mid heads. It’s funny because I’d describe these as being more mid-centric than the others because of the upper mid to treble balance, but I get what you mean. ---
**Author:** ![SebastienChiu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.headphones.com/sebastienchiu/32/19437_2.png) [@SebastienChiu](https://forum.headphones.com/u/SebastienChiu)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 12:41am UTC](https://forum.headphones.com/t/audeze-mm-500-announced-june-3rd-2022/17950/36 "2022-08-19T00:41:48Z")
Agree to agree! Haha. ---
**Author:** ![Resolve](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.headphones.com/resolve/32/51647_2.png) [@Resolve](https://forum.headphones.com/u/Resolve)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 7:43pm UTC](https://forum.headphones.com/t/audeze-mm-500-announced-june-3rd-2022/17950/37 "2022-08-19T19:43:48Z")
For those who haven’t seen it yet - the review is up. Check it out here: > **[Audeze MM-500 Review - New school Audeze](https://www.headphones.com/community/reviews-learning-and-news/audeze-mm-500-review)** > > Check out how the Audeze MM-500 planar magnetic headphone stacks up against the LCD-X and LCD-5 in Resolve's written review. ---
**Author:** ![Nuance](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.headphones.com/nuance/32/14729_2.png) [@Nuance](https://forum.headphones.com/u/Nuance)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 10:39pm UTC](https://forum.headphones.com/t/audeze-mm-500-announced-june-3rd-2022/17950/38 "2022-08-19T22:39:53Z")
Great write-up! Between the X 2021 and MM-500, which has better macro dynamics/bass slam? The X isn’t amazing in this department, but it takes a bass shelf like a champ, which does help the perceived punch. If the MM-500 is at least equal, it might be the headphone I’m after simply due to it having less weight and more ear gain. ---
**Author:** ![dixter](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.headphones.com/dixter/32/40551_2.png) [@dixter](https://forum.headphones.com/u/dixter)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 10:41pm UTC](https://forum.headphones.com/t/audeze-mm-500-announced-june-3rd-2022/17950/39 "2022-08-19T22:41:22Z")
Interesting read… thanks… wonder how the MM-500 would compare to the LCD-5 if it had the same ear pads… and I wonder how does the MM-500 and LCD-5 compare to the LCD-4… ---
**Author:** ![Resolve](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.headphones.com/resolve/32/51647_2.png) [@Resolve](https://forum.headphones.com/u/Resolve)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 10:43pm UTC](https://forum.headphones.com/t/audeze-mm-500-announced-june-3rd-2022/17950/40 "2022-08-19T22:43:10Z")
> [@Nuance](#): > > If the MM-500 is at least equal Yeah they’re not that different in that area, and I tend to agree that’s not what these are all about. They both take a bass shelf just fine as well. ---
**Author:** ![robmcmyers](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.headphones.com/robmcmyers/32/22836_2.png) [@robmcmyers](https://forum.headphones.com/u/robmcmyers)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2022, 12:57am UTC](https://forum.headphones.com/t/audeze-mm-500-announced-june-3rd-2022/17950/41 "2022-08-20T00:57:31Z")
I assume EQ can also fix the hotness at 3k? I’ve been a huge fan of the LCD-X 2021 except for comfort and I’m very drawn to these, but it’s strange to hear that they sound so different when Audezes take EQ so well. I currently boost the mids in the X, so I’m surprised that headphones with mids already boosted would be a big departure. But I guess I might need to audition them. [Previous page](https://forum.headphones.com/t/audeze-mm-500-announced-june-3rd-2022/17950.md?page=1) [Next page](https://forum.headphones.com/t/audeze-mm-500-announced-june-3rd-2022/17950.md?page=3)