Beyerdynamic MMX 200 Wireless

Verdict

The Beyerdynamic MMX 200 Wireless offers a reliable and consistent gaming performance, with an excellent, lag-free wireless presentation and a great microphone performance. Some, though, might want a little more excitement from its delivery, as well as the means to customise its performance.

Introduction

Given its history, I wouldn’t have associated Beyerdynamic with gaming headphones but they have a range of options, of which the MMX 200 Wireless is its first ever wireless gaming headset.

Featuring low latency and Bluetooth support, Beyerdynamic is positioning the MMX 200 Wireless as the type of gaming headphone that offers both convenience and a high-quality performance to give gamers a competitive advantage online.

Is that the case? I’ve been using the headphones for months to see if they live up to the billing.

Design

• 360g weight
• Sturdy build quality
• Detachable Meta Voice microphone

Beyerdynamic has, wisely, eschewed the loud, garish mood illumination that typically accompanies gaming headsets for something more muted and, well, just normal.

I’ve never understood the LED paraphernalia myself, since you obviously can’t see the effect, and while bias lighting on other devices eases eye fatigue during long gaming sessions, I’ve always had the impression that it could be just as distracting.

So if you’re not into all the LED lights, the Beyerdynamic MMX 200 Wireless keeps it low key. The black finish with orange accents is a tasteful, inconspicuous look, while build quality is sturdy. For the price paid, these headphones don’t look or feel anywhere near a toy.

And as well as that, it’s comfortable to wear over long sessions. I tend to game for around three hours and I’ve not had an issue with regards to comfort despite its 360g weight. The pressure exerted by the clamping force is good, making for a snug fit against the head that’s not too tight. The headband is comfortable too, avoiding digging into the head.

The headband is adjustable through a ‘clicker’ slider, and there’s plenty of movement with the yokes of the earcups to adjust the fit further. The headphones aren’t collapsible nor do they come with a carry case – these are designed for home use. If the earpads get damaged, they can be pulled off and replaced.

You’ve not got many buttons in terms of operation, which I think is a good thing as it keeps it simple, and all are within easy reach. There’s a slider that covers volume, mute, and the Augmented mode (more on that later). The Meta Voice microphone, as Beyerdynamic calls it, is detachable and you can easily position it closer or further away from your mouth.

A double-click on the button below swaps between the Low Latency mode and Bluetooth connection; and on the right earcup is a button for power. A USB input is provided for charging and there’s 4-pole mini-jack (3.5mm) for connecting the microphone/boom mic.

Features

• Augmented Mode
• Bluetooth support
• 35-hour battery life

Let me kick this section off with the Augmented mode. You might think this is some sort of low latency/higher fidelity mode, but actually it’s just a transparency mode.

The purpose is to open the soundfield and allow the wearer to keep track of what’s around them, useful for those instances where you might be waiting for a delivery, takeaway or a heads up on wayward kids entering the room.

Remove the boom microphone and the Augmented Mode is automatically activated through the headphones’ built-in microphones to record your voice, ensuring that you’re still able to communicate with in-game chat messaging.

The Low Latency Mode is the optimal way the headphones connect to a gaming device. Support includes PC, PlayStation (PS4, PS5), and Nintendo Switch via a USB dongle (USB-A and USB-C connectors). Xbox consoles weren’t supported at launch, but you can use the Beyerdynamic with Microsoft’s consoles, though it requires purchasing a separate analogue cable.

You can switch to its Bluetooth mode (Bluetooth 5.3) by pressing the Low Latency button quickly three times, and therefore connect the headphones to your smartphone or any other Bluetooth capable device.

The Hybrid Mode makes it possible to game and communicate via your phone over Bluetooth, though to carry this out the headphone must be connected to a computer via an analogue cable.

Beyerdynamic says the battery is good enough for up to 35 hours, and though I’ve not carried out a battery drain as such, the MMX 200 Wireless does have longevity. Three gaming sessions at three or so hours each with noise-cancelling on saw the headphones drop from 60% to between 40 and 30%. That would imply it’s in the ballpark of Beyerdynamic’s claims.

The headphones can be updated, though you’ll have to perform this through your computer, and both the low latency adapter and headphone are updated separately. Initially the Beyerdynamic Update Hub didn’t recognise the headphones, necessitating the usual ‘turn off, turn on’ process; the first update took six minutes (but felt longer), the Low Latency Adapter was quicker. You won’t know an update is needed unless you get into the regular habit of connecting it to a computer (especially if you’re a console gamer).

The app doesn’t offer much (or any) recourse for customising or personalising settings. What’s provided is effectively what you get.

Performance

• Solid noise-cancellation
• 44mm dynamic drivers
• Clear voice pick up

With real-world use, the Augmented Mode is fine as I can very clearly hear what’s around me and pick up on sounds outside the room (with the door slightly ajar). It is slightly noisy when activated, and rather oddly, there’s no notification to confirm you’ve switched modes. You just have to listen for the noise floor to pick up.

The noise-cancellation is very solid in that it does dampen noise. It doesn’t remove it altogether for a noise-free experience, but external sounds are less of a distraction, which is what you want if you’re focusing on chatting to someone online.

Latency is excellent with the Low Latency Adapter, and that’s the case whether you’re communicating with someone online or getting the game audio piped directly to your ears. There’s never been an issue with lag or drop outs. That aspect of the Beyerdynamic MMX 200 Wireless has been consistently smooth.

Pick-up of my voice with the microphone has been excellent too. The person I game with commented that my voice came through with crystal clear clarity, and that they couldn’t hear any noise around me with either ANC or Augmented mode on; clearer than the Creative SXFI Theater headphones I’d previously been using.

And from my perspective, I could hear them in better clarity and detail, at least compared to those Creative headphones, so the Beyerdynamic is a step-up in performance.

The one area I’d say Beyerdynamic’s marketing blurb gets a bit ahead of itself is in describing the audio playback as “vivid”. These are closed-back headphones, so the soundstage isn’t the widest to begin with, and enabling the Augmented mode only really serves to mesh external sounds with in-game audio, rather than widen the soundstage.

Audio playback was immersive in the sense of putting me in the cockpit of a race car in Gran Turismo 7 on a PS5, as well as other games such as Returnal and Deathloop. The atmospherics, audio cues, and directionality of effects all happen as you’d expect. The sound quality is clear and detailed – more neutral in tone – with low frequencies expressed with punch rather than depth; and a soundstage that’s slightly narrow in terms of scope, which I’d expect for a closed-back pair of headphones.

General music performance on another Bluetooth device cleaves to the same characteristics. Solid levels of detail and clarity in describing voices and instruments, though bass is described in lightweight terms with Hans Zimmer’s Leaving Caladan from the Dune soundtrack, while the soundstage is again a little on the small side.

If there’s another quibble to add, it’s that the Beyerdynamic MMX 200 don’t offer the most exciting delivery. I don’t mind that approach, though the clarity and detail serves to immerse me into the gaming world.

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