Audeze MM-500 Manny Marroquin Headphones - With Case and 6.3mm Cable

Audeze MM-500 Manny Marroquin Headphones — With Case and 6.3mm Cable

What It Does in Your System

A Studio Tool That Works Just as Well at Home

Audeze built the MM-500 with Manny Marroquin, an eleven-time Grammy-winning mixing engineer, for one purpose: making decisions you can trust. A mix that sounds right on these should sound right everywhere else.

That same honesty is why they work outside the studio. If you want to hear a recording as it was actually finished, rather than as a manufacturer thinks you would enjoy it, this is that kind of headphone.

90mm Planar Magnetic Drivers

Instead of a cone pushed by a voice coil at its center, a planar magnetic driver uses a large, ultra-thin diaphragm driven evenly across its whole surface. Less of the diaphragm flexes out of step, so transients start and stop faster.

Audeze adds three of its own technologies: Uniforce voice coils and an ultra-thin diaphragm to cut distortion, Fazor waveguides to manage how sound leaves the driver, and Fluxor magnet arrays for efficiency.

Easy to Drive, Built to Wear All Day

At 18 ohms and 100dB per milliwatt, the MM-500 is among the easiest planar headphones to power. It runs from an audio interface, a console, a home amplifier, or a decent portable — no specialist amp required.

The chassis is machined aluminum with a spring steel headband and a wide leather-padded suspension strap that spreads the weight. At 495 grams these are not light, but the load is distributed rather than concentrated.

Is This Right for You?

Three things to weigh:

• You want accuracy, not flattery. These are tuned to be truthful. Poor recordings will sound like poor recordings. That is the point, and it is not what everyone wants from a listening headphone.
• Check your connector. The supplied cable ends in a 6.3mm (¼-inch) plug, which suits interfaces, consoles, and home headphone amps. For a phone or laptop you will need an adapter.
• Open-back means no isolation. Sound leaks freely in both directions. Fine for a studio or a quiet room, wrong for a shared office, a plane, or tracking with a live mic.

Setup & Installation

Connect the braided cable to the headphones and plug the 6.3mm end into your interface, amplifier, or DAC. Nothing else is required — no batteries, no software, no break-in ritual.

Adjust the suspension strap so the weight sits on the top of your head rather than clamping at the sides. The travel case is included, and using it matters more than usual with a planar headphone, since the diaphragms are extremely thin.

Features & Specifications

90mm Planar Magnetic Drivers
Large ultra-thin diaphragms driven evenly across their surface for fast, low-distortion response.

Fluxor Magnet Arrays and Fazor Waveguides
Audeze's magnet structure for efficiency, paired with waveguides that manage phase and frequency response.

Machined Aluminum and Spring Steel Chassis
Built for daily professional use, with a wide leather headband pad spreading the load.

Handcrafted in California
Assembled and tested at Audeze's Southern California workshop.

Specifications

• Style: Over-ear, open-back
• Transducer type: Planar magnetic
• Driver size: 90mm
• Magnetic structure: Fluxor magnet array, neodymium
• Phase management: Fazor waveguides
• Frequency response: 5Hz – 50kHz
• Impedance: 18 ohms
• Sensitivity: 100dB per 1mW
• Total harmonic distortion: Less than 0.1% at 100dB SPL, 1kHz
• Maximum SPL: Greater than 130dB
• Weight: 495 g
• Housing: Machined aluminum
• Earpads: Leather
• Included: Braided cable with 6.3mm (¼ in) plug, travel case

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a headphone amplifier?
Not necessarily. At 18 ohms and 100dB per milliwatt these are unusually efficient for a planar design, so most interfaces and amplifiers drive them properly. A better source still improves what you hear, but nothing exotic is required.

How do these compare to the LCD-X?
Both are Audeze planar headphones aimed at professional use. The MM-500 was built later, with Manny Marroquin's input, around mix translation specifically — the goal being that decisions made on these hold up on other systems.

Can I use these for tracking with a microphone?
Not ideally. Open-back headphones leak sound, which a live microphone will pick up. Use a closed-back pair for tracking and save these for mixing, mastering, and listening.

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