A big hit at High End Vienna: Audeze presents professional mixing headphones with huge 90mm drivers (and yes, also patented SLAM technology)

Audeze has presented the MM-520 headphones at High End Munich
These are professional studio cans with 90mm drivers.
They cost a relatively reasonable $1,699 (around £1,250, AU$2,500)

We’re in the middle of the massive High End Vienna audio convention, so every day brings a host of high-end speakers or professional headphones with the price of a small car. So in comparison, the new cans of Audeze seem almost affordable (spoiler alert: they’re still pretty expensive).

The brand has introduced the Audeze MM-520, professional studios as part of its Manny Marroquin brand series (he’s a highly successful mixing engineer, did you know) that succeeds the MM-500. They are open-backed cans designed for professionals.

Yo did Let’s say they look affordable, but that’s only in comparison; These new headphones cost $1,699 (around £1,250, AU$2,500), so they won’t find a spot on our list of the best cheap headphones any time soon, but they could well join the ranks of our best wired headphones, if we can get our hands on a set for a thorough review. From the looks of it, they’re on sale right now, on the brand’s website or in hi-fi stores.

hit them

One of the MM-520’s biggest selling points is the use of Audeze’s patented SLAM technology. Nothing to do with basketball dunks or shots of tequila and soda; This stands for Symmetrical Linear Acoustic Modular. Yes, it is a series of four adjectives, without a subject. Pedants, sorry, I’ll just keep calling it SLAM.

SLAM is a bass-focused technology: it enhances the bass sound and creates a more spaced soundstage in this frequency range. It is about “optimizing the air pressure” using the open design, to improve the bass without affecting the neutral sound so much.

Other improvements to the MM-520 concern the design: the memory foam ear pads have undergone a change and Audeze says they are more comfortable to wear for long periods of time.

Like their predecessors, they use 90 mm planar magnetic drivers, with a super-thin diaphragm and phase management to avoid distortions. They offer a frequency response of 5 Hz-50 kHz, with an impedance of 18 ohms and a sensitivity of 102 dB.

Audeze lists the MM series in its Professional category, so they are clearly designed for engineers or designers (if the price doesn’t give it away).