Audeze MM-500

After more than two years of use, and after convincing a colleague to buy the exact same headphones based on my recommendation, I can say this with absolute confidence: the sound is phenomenal. Truly exceptional.

Unfortunately, that is the only positive thing I have to say.

These are, without exaggeration, the most fragile and poorly built pieces of audio equipment I have ever owned. Out of five units, four failed — and not due to abuse, but due to shockingly bad construction. One unit fell from roughly 30 cm onto its side and the left speaker literally burst. Two others had loose screws, allowing a speaker to simply detach and fall off by itself. Another unit arrived already damaged straight out of the box.

As for the unit I am reviewing now: it was sent back to Thomann. After five months of silence from Audeze, Thomann gave up waiting and replaced it with a new unit themselves. At least someone in this chain understands what customer support means.

Audeze, this is embarrassing. Your quality control appears to be nonexistent, your RMA process is a joke, and the overall build quality is indefensible at this price point. I have purchased cheap, no-name products online that were built better than this.

Frankly, it is shameful that Manny Marroquin allowed his name to be associated with a product with such disastrous reliability. Incredible sound cannot excuse incompetence at this level.

It's written by other people as well, but I need to also state that. Night and day difference from anything else I have used. The detail is extreme, everything about the sound from these HPs is absolutely phenomenal. Binaural audio feels almost unreal with these, all tiny details can be clearly heard. The bad thing is that when you get used to them, almost eveything else feels really torrid.
Comfort wise, I think that they are just heavy, they are fine and very customizable, but the weight might discomfort you over a lenghty session.
They do feel very fragile, I always put them on their case right after I stop using them, and that's what I recommend as well.
Based on the price a more sturdy built would be expected, I don't know if that's a compromise between them being heavy and durable. If they were heavier it would be a bigger problem I guess.