To us V-Moda is a brand that is gaining some strong ‘momentum’ within the (pro) DJ market. Originally we knew V-Moda for their consumer products. However, more and more DJ’s are turning towards the Crossfade M-100. Before we got to grips with our own pairs we did hear good things about them. We were curious if those good stories were true, so we gave them a decent work-out.
First Impressions
So the first thing that came to mind, when the package from V-Moda arrived, was the eye for detail. The packaging is neat and well thought out. The box has even a solid leather handle and there’s also a leather flap on the lid to open and close the box with a metallic push button. Again, … details!
The M-100 is packaged in a seperate, high quality carrier bag. Think of a little suitcase kinda bag modelled after the headphones themselves. With this carrier bag you can also store your cables and adapter.
And then there’s the Crossfade M-100 itself of course. The headphones have a unique design, a very good finnish and is put together very well and solid. To me it felt like someone did take a very good look at what a headphone should be and improved on that! But there’s more. V-Moda offers the option to customize the headphones with seperate cup shields. You can let them put your own logo on them for example or choose ready made custom shields. Again as I mentioned this before, … the eye for detail is very nice!
Built Quality
The M-100 feels very solid, yet, very flexible. V-Moda uses a combination leather, hard plastic and metal as materials. Everything is constructed by little screws which makes it easy to replace seperate parts, if needed. I noticed that even with some thorough bending and tearing the headphone return to the original position without any problems. This shows that it is a very flexible headphone that can take a beating. The cups can be folded into the headband to make it compact and easy to carry in the carrier bag.
Comfort
I love the fit of these headphones on my head and ears. Even as I wear glasses the M-100 fitted good and didn’t become uncomfortable over a long period of use. When using them during DJ’ing I noticed that you 
can’t tilt the cups as with the HDJ-2000 for example. Something that some DJ’s would prefer I think. The headband has a nice cloth padding that doesn’t pinch or pushes on your head even after that long use.
The crossfade comes with two cables. A short one, with microfone and remote control, for use with your iOS or Android device and a longer cable for the DJ booth. I would have preferred a coiled cable but that’s just a personal opinion. The cables themselves are well made and have a cloth layer for extra protection. Nice bonus with the cable is that you can plugin an extra headphone. This is also possible via one of the cups. Nice option for when you want to do a back-to-back set. By the way, you can choose in which cup you plugin your cable as both cups have that option. As you can see there are loads of options, to choose from, in which you can use the M-100!
Sound Quality
And finally the subject where it all comes to, and probably the most important one, the sound! To kill the suspense, this baby rocks! To be honest I was surprised myself of how well the M-100 sounds. Ok, I heart good things about it, but still. When I first listened through the headphones, my first reaction was nothing less then: “Wow!”
For this review I compared them with the Sennheiser HD-25 and the Pioneer HDJ-2000, both not so shabby headphones, right? And fair is fair I prefer the V-Moda over the Sennheiser and Pioneer. To me the M-100 has a warmer sound. The line between the mids and lows is more subtle. I heart more detail. Especially in a loud club environment that’s a big plus. Using them during a studio session I found the bass lines came to their own right better. The same goes when I used them for a ‘normal’ listening session.
Verdict
Now this all might sound very positive and maybe even ‘over the top’ but that’s how I see/hear it and I am sticking to that. Both the other two headphones are very good, don’t get me wrong but now I got to know this Crossfade M-100 I realised you cán improve on greatness. Plus the fact V-Moda gives the user so many options regarding usage, color and customization makes them taking the lead here.
So it’s all good? Well, if I need to make a few critical observations then it would be the fact you can’t tilt the cups when using them on just one ear, just like many DJ’s do. And then there’s the fact that you can only get the headphones through the V-Moda website. Ok, you can take my word for it that these headphones are worth every penny, but this review is colored by my taste. It would be nice for you to check them out yourself of course at a retailer near you. But, … you can’t!
The V-Moda Crossfade M-100 costs 310 dollar (around 250 euro) and can be ordered via the V-Moda website.
p.s. Till July 31 V-Moda is giving away a headphone every day. Go to their Facebook and participate.