2001 A Space Audeze

At Superbooth this month we had the opportunity to interview Chris Behrens, the Head of Artist Relations and finally put to bed the origin and pronunciation of the company name, Chris explained that it was inspired by the movie poster of "2001: A Space Odyssey" hanging in one of the founder's garages. They liked the word "Odyssey" and decided to modify it to relate to audio, resulting in the name "Odyssey" (or "order Z" as Chris initially mispronounced). So they switched the "Od" for "Aud" and the rest came really "Eze".. Ok, the spelling of the end is still fairly ambiguous, but phonetically we know it's "Odyssey", which means we can feel superior by correcting everyone who mis-pronounces it from now on.

Moving on to the headphones, their latest release, the MM-100, is positioned as an entry-level pro headphone aimed at artists, musicians, home producers and recording engineers. Priced at 500 euros (400 USD), the MM-100 is 1/10th the cost of the LCD-5's so we were intrigued to know how this was reflected in the quality, and what compromises were made to produce something so affordable.

Chris told us that the MM-100 offers a significant portion of the sound quality found in their higher-end models, and it is built with affordability and a lighter weight in mind. Notably, the MM-100 comes with a lower quality single-sided cable and the headphones incorporate the headband from their gaming headset, resulting in significant cost savings.

As for the technical aspects, Chris explained that in all of their headphones the driver employs a patented planar magnetic technology, with magnets on the outside and a thin film in between, resulting in low distortion and a more natural sound experience for the listener. It is the difference in thickness of the film between the magnets that varies through the range of headphones, with the MM-100 having a 1.8 micron film, and the LCD-5's a thinner 0.5. That may sound like a lot, but as Chris explained in the video, 1.8 microns is about the thickness of a white blood cell!

There are some other nice features here too, the headphones are open-back, have a frequency range of 20hz-25khz and 18ohm impedance, so can be driven by the built-in headphone output on most small interfaces. The earpads are gel-filled but feel well-made and very comfortable (although we would have to wear them a while to see how they fare over long usage periods), and the cable can be plugged into either side depending on preference of the wearer. The headband is the weakest link with only three fixed settings, but the internal band is quite flexible if your head doesn't happen to be one of these three sizes.

Conclusion

Aside from other small component differences all of their headphones include their patented technology, such as the headphone design itself, magnet production, voice coil etching, and voice coil shape, something that sets Audeze apart from other headphone manufacturers, and should offer reassurance that even a lower priced model would retain a lot of the build quality, and sound of the pro range.

We also had plenty of time to listen and both being audio engineers and mastering engineers, respectively, were impressed. We could never justify the price of LCD-X or LCD 5's, even if they often find their way into our basket, but as with a lot of established pro audio brands, Audeze see the benefit of operating in the lower end of the market and have delivered something that is just a cut above the rest in this price range, for example when compared to the Adam Audio SP5's.

You can watch the full interview on our YouTube channel and if you enjoy what we do please don't forget to like and subscribe.