Beyerdynamic MMX 150 Review

Beyerdyanmic MMX 150 Review

The MMX 150 is a closed-back, over-ear gaming headphone from Beyerdynamic that was released in November of 2021, along with the Beyerdynamic MMX 100. Not long ago I wrote a review for the MMX 100, which I found to be an absolutely exceptional bargain with its high quality microphone, sonic balance, and $99 price tag. At $150, what new features and premiums does the MMX 150 have to offer?

What’s In The Box?

-Beyerdynamic MMX 150 headphones

-1.2 meter analog cable (3.5 mm jack)

-2.4 meter USB cable for PC

-Instruction manual

Look and Feel

The MMX 150 is nearly identical in look and feel to the MMX 100; The headband is a dark grey plastic with leather cushioning on the underside, with grey metal sliders are able to wiggle but cannot swivel or fold. The plastic that went into the headband feels like a high quality and is reasonably malleable. The ear cushions, made of Softskin with memory pad filling, are very comfortable but maybe not the most isolating material. One of my favorite features is that the boom arm on the microphone is extremely flexible, and can be adjusted accordingly to just about anybody’s needs.

Orange buttons on the bottom of the left headphone cup give it the aesthetic pop characteristic of gamer headphones. While the MMX 100 had both a volume wheel and a microphone mute button on the left earcup, the MMX 150 combined these two so that pressing down on the volume wheel serves to mute/unmute the mic. The perimeter around the volume wheel turns orange to indicate when it is successfully connected to a device, a feature the MMX 100 did not have.

Design

One of the biggest advantages that the MMX 150 has over the 100 is the “Augmented Mode” feature. More commonly known as transparency mode, the MMX 150 emulate an open back design in this mode, allowing the listener to hear what’s going around in their immediate physical environment. To activate this mode, a user simply has to press down on the orange volume knob for two seconds, which will turn turquoise to indicate that Augmented Mode is active. I found Augmented Mode was pretty effective and clean, and didn’t suffer from a harsh room hiss like many headphones with transparency features frequently do. It’s worth noting that these built in controls, including volume control, are only available when connecting the Beyerdynamic MMX 150 to a device with the USB cable, and not with the analog audio cable.

Impedance: 32 ohms

Frequency response: 5 Hz – 30kHz

Microphone: Electret condenser (Polar pattern: Cardioid)

Driver: 40 mm

Sound Impressions

Like I did in my MMX 100 review, I primarily tested these by watching gaming clips on youtube. It’s very apparent that the MMX 150 is in the same family as the MMX 100, as it has the same high quality electret condenser microphone and a very similar, though not completely identical, sound character. Like the 100, the 150 is slightly warm but mostly has a fairly flat and balanced timbre in typical Beyerdynamic fashion. One noticeable though subtle upgrade was in the lows, with a welcome slight boost in subs that really becomes noticeable and impactful with explosions and big, multiplayer shoot outs. Like the 100, the 150 has a surprisingly bright high end for gaming headphones, which is conducive to satisfyingly crisp and clacky reload sounds.

I found the greatest sonic upgrade was in the MMX 150’s imaging, which was even faster and more precise than the 100. This fast response and accuracy made the sonic advantages these headphones offer in first person shooters obvious, where the subtle difference in sound between footsteps coming from in front of your character versus behind your character can make or break a game.

Generally speaking, the MMX 150 had the same slightly cinematic sound qualities as the MMX 100, with a few subtle but very successful improvements and a tone that works for everything from gaming to music.

Overall

The MMX 150 is yet another fun, affordable and high quality gaming headphone release from Beyerdyanmic. Though seemingly perfectly in tune for gaming, they can also serve perfectly as casual and comfortable all purpose headphones that can be used in an office setting, especially considering the high quality microphone that comes included as well as the Augmented Mode capability. For just $50 more than the MMX 100, the Beyerdynamic MMX 150 come with some pretty sweet and thoughtful upgrades in the form of both sound quality and extra features.

The Beyerdynamic MMX 150 can be bought at Audio46.