M-Audio M40

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Pros Clear, articulate audio performance with focus on mids. Comfortable on-ear design. Detachable cable. Affordable.

Cons Can occasionally sound tinny and sculpted in high-mids. Not for bass lovers. Bottom Line The M-Audio M40 is a budget-friendly, mids-focused headphone solution for recording engineers and musicians in the studio.

By Tim Gideon The M-Audio M40 and its sibling, the M-Audio M50, are studio headphones that take their names from the size of the drivers in each earcup. Basically, the M40 has 40mm drivers, while the slightly more expensive M50 offers more power and range with its 50mm drivers. The $59.99 M-Audio M40 delivers audio that is still very much mids-focused, as many studio-oriented headphones are. There's decent low frequency response here, but anyone seeking the Beats-style boosted lows most consumer models tend to include will be disappointed. The M40 exists to give musicians and engineers accurate representations of mixes; if the mix lacks bass, the M40 doesn't invent it. It doesn't sound quite as full as the M50, though, and it doesn't approach the performance of the studio standby Sennheiser HD 280 Pro.

Design
Unlike most studio headphones that are over-ear, the M40 is a supra-aural (on-ear) model. The earcups, which pop out of the headband fairly easily by design, have thick pads that help isolate ambient room noise without forming a seal completely around the ears like over-ear headphones do. The pads are exceptionally comfortable, as is the padded headband.

The look of the headphones is understated and cool, with the outer panel of the earcups reminiscent of the grooves in a black vinyl record. The remainder of the nearly all-black design consists of matte leather and rubberized surfaces, with the only real design flourish being the orange, flat cabling connecting the earcups to the headband.

Like many modern headphones, the M40 features a detachable cable, which can connect to either ear. A 1/4-inch adapter is also included with the pair, but it is otherwise light in the accessories department; there's no carrying pouch or extra cable to speak of, but that's to be expected for this price.

Performance
On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the M40 delivers a laudable helping of deep lows, because the lows are already in the mix. At top volume, the M40 doesn't distort on this track, and you still get a decent sense of thunder at modest volumes. So, when we say that the M40 lacks Beats-like bass, we don't mean it lacks the ability to accurately reproduce lows when they're in the mix—it just doesn't create them.

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Thus, on tracks with less deep low-end, like Bill Callahan's "Drover," the M40 doesn't coat Callahan's baritone vocals with even more low-mid richness, nor do the drums on this track get more deep bass than they already have. Things here are firmly rooted in the mids—Callahan's voice could sound a bit more crisp, perhaps, but you wouldn't call this sound signature muddy. At times, things can sound slightly sculpted or tweaked in the high-mids. It's in the name of providing a clear, articulate mix, but it can sound a bit tinny.

The kick drum loop on Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild" gets just enough high-mid treble edge to retain its sharpness and cut through the dense mix, but it's not nearly as sharp or as edgy as it is on headphones that have a bit more crispness to them. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with modesty—you hear them and register their power, but there's nothing resembling the subwoofer-style delivery you get with many modern consumer-focused headphones.

On orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, the M40 sounds closest to the flat response ideals it strives for. The high-mids and highs are tamed a bit, so even though the higher register strings, brass, and vocals rule the spotlight, they don't overpower the mix. The lower register instrumentation doesn't seem to have much in the way of added richness, and is delivered as-is. I've heard more exciting sound signatures, but the M40 is a tool for the studio, and is made to present the mix accurately, not enhance it.

The M40 sounds a bit less dynamic than its pricier sibling, and can sometimes feel a bit tinny or pinched in the high-mids in comparison. Still, if you're part of a studio buying several of these, the M40 can be quite a bargain. But if it's a bit more crispness in the highs or presence in the lows you're after, the significantly more expensive, over-the-ear studio-focused Sennheiser HD6 Mix is a recent favorite, while the HD 280 is an industry standard and priced much closer to the M40's range. If you're looking for a pair that can function both as a casual studio option and something you can wear on the go, the Shure SRH145m+ offers a slightly bigger bass sound and a cable with phone controls. For $60, however, the M-Audio M40 offers an accurate response that makes it a solid budget choice for home and pro studios alike.

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