To be honest, the feature set these new expensive headphones offer isn’t too exciting. The real draws for the new MW75 headphones are their beautiful design, more robust handling of noise and excellent sound quality. These headphones really deliver in those more subjective areas.
For consumer-level wireless headphones, the cost return diminishes heavily after a couple of hundred dollars. So if you’re considering these, let’s be honest that money is secondary to how they look. And honestly, to my eyes, these are beautiful headphones. Thankfully, the sound quality and comfort match their level of design.
TL;DR
Pros:
Stunning design and materialsExcellent wireless audio qualityVery comfortable
Cons:
Comparatively a little heavyMobile app is needed to change some features and settings
Buy at Master & Dynamic.
What’s New With the MW75?
The MW75 improve upon the MW65 with changes that seem small but that should make a significant impact in use. For example, these offer head detection to pause or resume playing music when taken off or put on—while the MW65 don’t. That’s a feature that needs to come with any headphones over $150, but it’s at least nice to see it included in this newer model.
The MW75 headphones also offer adaptive ANC to be able to adjust automatically to fluctuating noise around you. I found the noise-canceling feature on these headphones to work well in a controlled work setting with my head down trying to focus.
Oddly, the MW75 headphones have worse charging speed times compared with the MW65 model, but that’s due to the bigger battery size. This trade-off for their longer listening time—28 hours with ANC turned on—makes sense to me.
Comfort reigns supreme with the MW75 headphones. Coming in at 338 grams, they do fall on the heavy side, but I almost never noticed because the lambskin leather headband and earcups are plush and delicate. The applied pressure on the top of my head and around my temples was perfectly balanced during use. I was able to wear these for hours at a time with minimal effort.
Noise and Sound
The MW75 have large 40 millimeter drivers. Listen to music on these headphones was a pleasure. They even made teleportation seem possible. Taking in Leif Vollebekk’s live recordings on his New Waves album with the MW75 made me feel as though I was instantly in the same room with the singer-songwriter as he plucked each note of the piano. I could hear both the reverberance from the strings being strummed and the air being pushed from the kick drum.
The other half of getting good sound is the ability to keep noise out while being able to hear what’s playing. ANC is a key feature with a new adaptive mode. Using the highest level of ANC can be fatiguing on your ears, but a lower setting may not keep all distractions at bay. I found the adaptive mode to be a good middle setting. It’s still strong but without all the extra pressure on my ears.
I had the chance to take the MW75 headphones on a 5-hour airplane ride and stress test them in a noisy environment. They performed fine, but not great. The ANC at max level didn’t block as much noise to my ears as Bose’s QC45 did, though the MW75 did block more than JBL Tour One headphones.
Another area to note is that, back on the ground, I could hear a faint hiss, almost like white noise, when the MW75 were connected to my phone, while nothing was playing. Switching between ANC and ambient listening also incited noise while it took a second to toggle between different modes. The MW75 headphones I tested did have pre-released firmware, so hopefully, those things will be cleared up on or right after launch.
The ambient listening mode is helpful for being able to have quick conversations or to answer a question without taking the headphones off. While using it on the MW75, I still had a hard time hearing people. The company advertises using eight microphones in these headphones—and I wish the transparency provided while in ambient mode was greater. There are modes for both voice-focused and more general awareness ambient listening, but again, there was not as much distinction between the two settings as I would have liked. Plus if you want to change this setting, you have to configure it with the mobile app.
Even if it might sound like I’m down on the ANC performance, I’m not. I think the MW75 provide an overall solid experience. They don’t, however, compare as favorably with the Technics EAH-A800 or Sony’s new WH-1000MX5 headphones, both of which cost less money.
In terms of microphone quality, I was told that my voice was clear and audible across multiple conference calls. Listening back to a recording I made, I agree that using the headphones for calls is perfectly acceptable.
MW75 Compared to AirPods Max?
If the MW75 headphones don’t compare as favorably to Sony’s latest headphones in ANC performance, then how do the MW75 compare to Apple’s AirPods Max? In the case of high-end consumer headphones, it really is a battle of materials, aesthetics and the finer details.
The earcups on the AirPods Max feel slightly more spacious to me than the MW75’s. That didn’t affect long-term usability; both are comfortable in their own ways. I do prefer the lamb leather on the MW75 earcups for softness and feel. AirPods Max aren’t uncomfortable, but they seem heavier and pinch my temples more than these new Master & Dynamics do.
While listening to music on both, I found them to be very evenly matched. Each has sparkling, detailed highs and cavernous lows. With the right song at a high volume on the MW75, the bass could bruise the side of your head with its thump, but on the default EQ setting, all the frequencies were audible and balanced. The MW75 have similar, fairly neutral sound profile to the AirPods Max’s.
As noted, the AirPods Max do outperform the MW75’s ANC performance. This includes both blocking and letting noise in. AirPods Max have a great transparency mode: It feels as though you can fully hear what’s happening around you.
Extra MW75 Notes
The felted carrying case didn’t feel great to me. I liked the felted interior and think that’s a nice touch, but the exterior didn’t exude luxury to me. It felt weird in the hand. On the right earcup, the button for play and pause is raised higher than the volume’s, making them both easy to feel for. Similarly, all the buttons are easy to use without sight. Personally, I like that there are no touch controls on the headphones to accidentally swipe.
Should You Buy Master & Dynamic MW75?
Master & Dynamic MW75 are stunning headphones in a lot of ways. They look and sound fantastic. I love the comfort they provide, too. Still, they are hard to recommend to anyone with an eye on their wallet. The ANC and ambient listening modes were fine in my testing, but just not up to the level I would expect for the price. There are better options out there if those areas are the most important considerations.
I’m really hoping that some of the performance issues I experienced with the MW75 can be tweaked through future firmware updates. I am glad, however, that the things that can’t be changed—like their look and comfort—were nailed out of the gate.
Buy at Master & Dynamic for $599.99. (MW75 become available on June 28.)
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