M-Audio Studiophile Q40 Headphones

Hi-end Recording Headphones

September 24, 2008, 08:26 PM

When i first received the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones I was excited to try out what looked like some VERY attractive and professional looking headphones. The packaging the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones was delivered in was very nice and easy to open.

The first thing that struck me about the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones was the ingenious idea it appeared that M-AUDIO had come up with. That is, instead of having a fixed headphone cable, they had instead opted for an 1/8" jack cable connector so if your headphones developed a dodgy cable years down the line you could just replace it with any other 1/8" jack cable. On closer inspection I found this not to be the case as due to the screw mechanism no other 1/8" jack can actually fit into the slot. What looked to be one of the best headphone design ideas in a few years ended up being for no apparent reason - unless M-AUDIO sell proprietary 1/8" replacement jacks for these headphones that is!


That aside, I screwed in the cable and, as I had a bunch of mixing that day I decided to truly put the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones through their paces and actually turn off my studio monitors and attempt to complete entire mixes on these headphones -truly putting their superior sound quality through it's paces. To my surprise it was not hard to use the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones to mix AT ALL. The clarity of sound was superb and the bass was surprisingly clear and had a great bass range for a headphone. I quite comfortably and happily sat there for the next two days putting the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones through their paces. I found that whether you were mixing or just listening to music that the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones were one of the best ways to work on or listen to music I had ever come across. In fact, I would have quite happily at that point sold my studio monitors on E-bay (not really, but just showing the amazing quality of sound the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones output).

Then the horror began. Within two days the right side of the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones stopped working completely out of the blue completely raining on my parade of telling every client of mine to go out and purchase a set of M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones as they were the best studio headphone I had come across and was well worth the money. This technical difficulty can be attributed to one of two things:

1. The build quality on the set I received was poor. OR
2. The actual design of the headphone has flaws.

In this case I actually attribute it to a bit of both. The design flaw I would mention would be the external protruding wires that with children, pets or even just carelessness could esily be snipped, ripped or pulled out rendering these headphones completely out of action - like mine . These protruding wires that are asking to be broken can be seen in both Figure 1 and Figure 2.

In this instance however nothing happened to these external wires and this fault clearly came from a design flaw. I even unscrewed some parts to try and see if I could just fix the issue but all of the connection points for these headphones are neatly placed in places that prying hands like mine can't access so I was unable to fix the broken right hand side of my M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones.

What was going to be a "this product is shit hot" review quickly changed for me as I am not really comfortable recommending something that broke for me in two days. That aside, I have been honest with my review marks as I might have just been an unlucky person in this case because as with any electronic piece of equipment it can break. The choice at that point is yours - if you want an amazing quality set of headphones that could be purchased instead of studio monitors these would probably be for you HOWEVER take heed because my set only lasted two days but remember you will also be given a guarantee.

What are the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones?
Whether you’re tracking, mixing or listening, you can expect sonic accuracy from your Studiophile Q40 headphones—designed by M-AUDIO. With professional-grade dynamic drivers and ear cups that completely surround the ears, the Q40 headphones deliver full-range specs with excellent isolation from outside noise. Lightweight construction and comfortable ear pads make them ideal for long studio sessions or hours of listening. These sturdy phones are collapsible for easy travel and even include a detachable/replaceable 3-meter cable to protect your investment.

Main Features

• Excellent imaging and a wide sound stage for accurate mixing
• 40mm drivers provide exceptional frequency response
• Closed-back circum-aural design delivers excellent isolation
• Lightweight construction with comfortable ear pads
• Detachable, replaceable 3-meter cable with 1/8 inch (3.5mm Mini-jack) connector
• Copper-clad aluminium voice coil wire for optimum efficiency
• Includes 1/4 inch-to-1/8 inch (3.5mm Mini-jack) adapter
• Collapsible design for easy travel
• Frequency response: 10Hz to 20kHz
• Sensitivity: 116dB SPL (1mW IEC318)
• Rated impedance: 64 Ohms
• Weight without cable: 0.25 kg
• Magnet material: Neodymium
• Driver: 40mm Mylar

Comparisons
As part of this review I also compared these headphones to a few pairs that I know better sound wise. I slipped on a few of my favourite tunes that I know the sound of very well and listened on each set of headphones. My conclusion from this experiment is that the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones, like a lot of studio monitors, interject a small amount of their own sound. I found that the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones coloured the tracks slightly with a small bass boost and an overall punchiness that gave the music a “rounder” sound as opposed to a truly flat, and more transparent sound. This being the case the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones might slightly colour songs to the point of making incorrect mixing decisions when it comes to bass in particular. This finding moved me from completely trusting these headphones to testing mixes in a variety of other listening environments and on low-grade consumer headphones just to be sure.

Secondly I compared my opinions on the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones with other users feedback from around the world and guess what. I am not the only person to suffer from the one side working and according to another review I read this is due to the quality of the cable going from the headphone to the headphone jack which once replaced will make both sides of this headphone work again. So again a NOTE on the build quality of this one and a major loss of rating for this product and that is the cable provided with the headphones has a tendency to break leaving you with a one-sided set of headphones. Luckily for M-AUDIO, and as previously mentioned this is easily replaced and in this case fixed!

Conclusion
Positives

• attractive and professional looking headphones
• replaceable headphone connector cable providing longevity for your monetary investment
• clarity of sound is superb and the bass is surprisingly clear with great range for a headphone
• can be used to mix music in the studio, djing or just listening to your favourite music at high sound quality levels
• Closed-back design delivers excellent isolation making them the perfect choice when recording vocals or acoustic guitars

Negatives

• build quality issues with detachable 1/8" headphone cable with mine breaking in two days and other purchasers around the world having the same issue
• external cabling on actual headphones which may result in accidental breakage by user, children or pets - my cat loves chewing through wires!
• slight colourization of bass and overall punchiness of the sound

Retail Price
£89.99

Contact
M-AUDIO UK

Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Road
Iver Heath
Buckinghamshire
SL0 0NH
United Kingdom
web: M-AUDIO

Sales
(no tech support calls please)
phone: +44 (0)1753 659590
fax: +44 (0)1753 658501