The headphones are here, the new headphones are here! If you're familiar with the Steve Martin film "The Jerk," you know how giddy he gets when the new phone books arrive. It's like that with new headphones here at Moon Audio. I didn't run around the office screaming, but I was certainly stoked to get my hands on the new Audeze MM-500.
The MM-500, priced at $1,699.00, is Audeze's new open-back headphone for professional mixing. The MM stands for Manny Marroquin; Audeze teamed up with the award-winning producer/mixer on the design. And really, who better to collaborate with than someone who will actually be using the product you design together? Star power aside, I think the MM-500 is going to appeal to audio pros and audiophiles alike. It's got some parallels with the very popular LCD-X, which Audeze calls the Audio Professional's Choice, but MM-500 is definitely a new and different headphone.
About the Collaboration
Manny Marroquin fell in love with Audeze headphones several years ago. He's been in the business for awhile, having won 11 Grammys and mixing more than 40 No. 1 hits. He's listened to his share of headphones, but when he listened to his first Audeze, he said he'd never heard anything like it - never heard anything that "sounded like the studio." He said they were the first headphones that gave him the confidence that he was truly hearing all of the nuances in songs. Over the years, he's worked with Audeze, offering his input as he used the LCD-X, LCD-4, and LCD-5 to mix records.
In collaborating with Audeze to create his first signature headphone, Manny took prototypes with him wherever he worked. He used them mix and master efficiently and confidently, and they quickly became a key part of his workflow. He used a pre-production MM-500 headphone to mix Kendrick Lamar's #1 album "Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers" in early 2022.
