Beyerdynamic MMX 100 review

Beyerdynamic MMX 100 two-minute review

The Beyerdynamic MMX 100 is one of the best buys you could make if you think the two most important factors of a gaming headset are sound and microphone quality. 

The Beyerdynamic MMX 100 is a refreshingly no thrills approach to a gaming headset. There's no wireless, no pseudo surround sound, or USB connectivity. However, the headset has an exceptionally good boom microphone for the price and the sound seems almost as at home with music and movies as it does with games, something which isn't easy to achieve. 

This doesn't mean Beyerdynamic has simply taken a pair of its world-renowned studio headphones, added some colored accents, and whacked a microphone on, though. While the Beyerdynamic MMX 100 does not have a classic “gamer headset” sound, it still has a sound field that clearly attempts to be expansive, and strong low bass for impactful action scenes in games. 

It means the Beyerdynamic MMX 100 will serve as a good all-purpose pair of home entertainment headphones, and while the mids are a touch soft for a world-class experience with music, it sounds a lot better than some wireless headphones at this price. 

It's always going to be hard for a headset like this to compete with the first-party offering from Sony and Microsoft, however. You can get the PS5 Pulse 3D Wireless Headset or Xbox Wireless Headset for similar money, and they are both richer and offer more features than the Beyerdynamic MMX 100. But neither has quite the same killer combo of great sound and mic quality. 

Price and release date

• Available to buy now
• $99 / £89
• Gray or black colour options

The Beyerdynamic MMX 100 was released on November 16, 2021, and is available today for $99 / £89. There are two colors to choose from: gray or black, both of which have orange accents.

Design and comfort

• Relatively low-key design for a gaming headset
• Shallow cup holes may make some ears feel cramped
• Circular pads may cause some comfort issues

The Beyerdynamic MMX 100 seems to be roughly based on the Beyerdynamic DT 770, studio headphones we first used the best part of 20 years ago. However, this gaming headset does seem a little cheaper in person than that almost indestructible pair of headphones. 

Much of this is down to the “gamer” design touches. The bright orange volume wheel and microphone mute button on the left cup comes across as a little tacky. It’s tricky not to compare the MMX 100 to timeless Beyerdynamic designs like the DT 770 and DT 880 Pro. However, they are arguably better-looking than most Turtle Beach and HyperX headsets on the market. 

The fundamentals of the Beyerdynamic MMX 100 design are practical, not luxurious. Its pads are the usual fake leather, the earpiece cups are roughly textured plastic. And while there's generous padding on the inside of the headband, the other part is hard plastic. 

If this were a pair of portable headphones rather than a gaming headset, you might see more emphasis put into the fit and finish. But we like to take it as a sign Beyerdynamic has thought carefully about where to spend its budget. 

The Beyerdynamic MMX 100’s comfort may be an issue for some of you, but it hasn't proved a problem for us. In the DT 770 mold, this headset has circular pads. While there’s plenty of room for the width of your ears, those with longer human hearing apparatus may find the pads squish your cartilage a bit, which can become uncomfortable after a while. 

Pad depth is limited too, meaning the outer parts of your ears actually sit on the webbing that covers the driver grilles. We’ve worn the Beyerdynamic MMX 100 for up to five hours at a time and didn't experience much more than a little fatigue towards the lower part of the ear. But if you're picky about headphone fit and feel, you may be turned off by Beyerdynamic's cans. 

The Beyerdynamic MMX 100 also has a moderately firm aluminum headband. Decent clamping force means they don’t immediately feel like they disappear on your head, but the benefit is that it does provide good passive sound isolation. There’s minimal leakage, too, and the headset blocks out the sound of other people in your home well. 

But if you want a gaming headset that feels like a happy cloud has taken residence around your noggin, that’s not the Beyerdynamic MMX 100’s style. We'd recommend something like the far pricer Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal if that's what you're after.

Audio performance

• Engaging imaging
• Powerful but measured bass
• Compares fairly well with high-performance headphones

The Beyerdynamic MMX 100 uses 40mm dynamic drivers. This instantly tells us it does not use the same drivers as Beyerdynamic’s somewhat comparable studio headphones. The DT770/880/990 use 45mm drivers, while the DT 240 Pro include 42mm drivers. 

However, give this headset a test drive and it's clear Beyerdynamic hasn't simply churned out these cans without paying any attention to how it sounds.

Three components make the Beyerdynamic MMX 100 one of the most satisfying gaming headsets you’ll find anywhere near this price. The first is arguably a requirement of any good gaming headset trait: bass. 

However, where a lot of gaming headset emphasize bass at the expense of clarity, the Beyerdynamic MMX 100 has confident bass and very good low-bass extension without the clouding effect that can occur from poorly managed low frequencies. We tested this headset with a bunch of games, but Halo Infinite was perhaps the most effective and timely demo of its ability. 

The game’s excellent gun audio and explosions sound punchy and confident through the Beyerdynamic MMX 100. We initially thought it had a major low and sub-bass boost, but after putting them through a sine wave sweep this impressive low-end seems mostly down to a – by gaming headset standards – consistent approach right down to the frequencies just above the sub-bass register. The effect is still comparable with playing a game with a speaker system that incorporates a good subwoofer, though. 

Spatial imaging is perhaps even more impressive. The Beyerdynamic MMX 100 sounds expansive, particularly for a closed-back headphone. It does an excellent job of representing the big environments of open-world games and epic set-pieces because the sound field appears wide, and the parts within it are well-separated as they are not gummed together by excessive mid-bass. 

The treble is sweet and non-abrasive too, making for an all-around enjoyable experience no matter what you’re listening to. 

We only identified a notable shortcoming when listening to music and comparing the Beyerdynamic MMX 100 to “non-gaming” headphones like the Audio-Technica ATH-M50X. The mids are a little soft and diffuse, which becomes more obvious when listening to music, where natural reproduction of vocals is key. The Beyerdynamic MMX 100 does a much better job than most gaming headsets, however.

Microphone and connectivity

• Barebones feature set
• Very good removable boom mic
• Includes two cables with a single connector and split mic/headphone jacks

The Beyerdynamic MMX 100 can work with almost any gaming system, by sheer virtue of its simplicity. This is a wired headset with a removable 3.5mm cable, so expect to work on everything that has a headphone jack. 

There are no extraneous features here. Beyerdynamic’s entire gaming range steers clear of wireless connectivity, but if you upgrade to the MMX 150 you do get a USB interface and Beyerdynamic’s Augmented mode. This pipes through some sound from the microphone so, in theory, you can hear yourself better when chatting.

The MMX 100 strip all this back, however. “Extra” features are limited to a toggle button that disables the microphone and a smooth-scrolling volume wheel. 

There are some nice touches to the mic and cable design, though. Both have slightly built-up plastic plugs that slot into ready-made spaces on the cups, to avoid needless stress to the actual connectors if they get knocked during play.

You get two cables in the box. One is a short 1.2m cable intended to be plugged into a console pad like the PS5 DualSense Controller. The other is a 2m cable with separate 3.5mm connectors for the headphone and microphone components, for PC use. 

If you want to plug the Beyerdynamic MMX 100 into an AV receiver or TV for late-night movies, a standard 3.5mm cable will work too. 

The microphone is clearly the highlight of the headset’s secondary features, though. It doesn’t look anything too special at first glance: a small foam-covered mic mounted onto a flexible form-holding arm. However, its ability to render your voice with a natural-sounding timbre, at a good volume, is truly impressive at this price. 

Beyerdynamic calls like microphone Meta Voice. Considering the company makes small instrument microphones as well as full-size ones, it’s no surprise it has nailed this part of the brief. It could have easily cheaped out here, though, so we appreciate the fact Beyerdynamic invested in creating a great mic. 

The microphone uses a relatively loose cardioid pattern. While it will mostly pick up your voice rather than the ambient noise around you, its effective area is not ultra-narrow. This is normal for a gaming headset, as it lets you pull the microphone away from your face a bit without issue. 

Should you buy the Beyerdynamic MMX 100?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

• Best Xbox Series X headsets: treat your ears