Master and Dynamic MH40 Review: Beautiful Austerity

Style, construct high quality, and sound. These are the core necessities within the new MH40, Master and Dynamic’s newest replace of a basic that goes again to the New York City-based audio model’s early days as a market disrupter in 2014.

It’s not a lavish components for a pair of $400 wi-fi headphones in 2023, particularly in comparison with fashions loaded with trendy options like Sony’s WH-1000XM5 (9/10, WIRED Recommends). But these aren’t your common pair. With a dead-gorgeous design constructed from components like anodized aluminum, lambskin, and titanium, the MH40 look and really feel totally different than the monolithic plastic shells of most rivals. Their obstinate minimalism within the face of the present pattern is nearly releasing, particularly because the trade-off for a great deal of options is good sound and building designed to final.

The MH40 skip numerous extras, however their largest transgression is a scarcity of noise canceling or transparency mode, that are all however stipulations at this worth. You can get each options in M&D’s step-up pair, the MW75 (8/10, WIRED Recommends), for $200 extra. The worth and lack of ANC signifies that the MH40 wouldn’t be my first alternative for most folk, however the headphones’ sterling sound and head-turning model could possibly be laborious to cross up for these with model who don’t need noise canceling, or who merely are prepared to pay for premium headphones that stand out from the gang.

Really, Ridiculously Good Looking

Pulling the MH40 from the field, you possibly can’t assist however smile. They’re simply lovely cans, particularly in our evaluation unit’s burnt-brown leather-based (they’re additionally obtainable in 4 different colours, together with stable black). The latticed exterior screens mirror the sunshine like ripples on a sunlit lake. The metallic chassis feels directly elegant and strong, due to stable base supplies matched by a speckled aluminum end.

Polished industrial posts on the sides present clean motion and numbered settings for the ear cups as you slide them in place. Even the lambskin-cloaked pads really feel elegant, set on magnets for simple removing and alternative. The pads additionally supply one of many MH40’s greatest attributes: good noise isolation that kills numerous sound round you while you add a little bit of music. I can’t hear my keystrokes as I kind this evaluation, for example. That’s an ideal factor for a pair that lack noise canceling.

The headphones are pretty comfy, due to loads of reminiscence foam alongside the ear cups, and with their high quality leather-based skins, they need to turn into softer and extra tailor-made to your head as they put on in. They aren’t as cozy as Sony’s older WH-1000XM4 or new XM5, a minimum of not but, however few headphones are. My largest criticism is the dearth of padding on prime, which may put on in your head after just a few hours. But the MH40’s mild weight (round 280 grams) retains this principally in test.