Master & Dynamic MW60 - The good headphones for hipsters
17.1.2017
Translation: machine translated
Hipsters. Do they actually still exist? Sure, I still see skinny jeans and moustaches with horn-rimmed glasses in Zurich, but otherwise? Are they still relevant? If the headphone manufacturer Master & Dynamic has its way, then the movement still exists, because M&D makes headphones for hipsters. Are they any good? I put them to the test.
Master & Dynamic sounds kind of promising, doesn't it? Because the headphones didn't do much more than that when they landed on my desk with the note "For review. Thank you! Greetings Dimitri". That's all I know about the headphones when I pair the amazingly versatile headphones with my smartphone for the first time. The headphones with the easy-to-remember name MW60 have all kinds of buttons and controls on the side. Two of them. A control on the left that regulates Bluetooth or cable operation, volume and pairing controls on the right.
My first thought: "Actually, I'm more of an in-ear kind of person". Especially in winter, when I like to wear my woollen hat. But hey, I'm not afraid of the challenge, because music should sound nice and if there's more hardware, then it can't go wrong.
But first I'm plagued by questions: Who is Master & Dynamic? Why doesn't the name work grammatically? If the parts cost just under 700 quid, why have I never heard of them before?
The answer: Hipster.
A little digression: the hipster culture
The thing with the name is quickly explained. Some marketing person seems to have fired up the Hipster Brand Generator in 2013 and - voilà - Master & Dynamic. But if I were to dismiss the headphones as hipster junk, then I would be doing them an injustice. But more on that later, because the history of the brand is quite exciting, albeit very hipsterish.
Hipster culture is actually nothing more than a reaction against the trend of apparent inauthenticity and superficiality. In a world where practically everything at every level of our culture has some kind of commercial ulterior motive or a gigantic marketing budget, hipster culture has created a niche for itself in which alternative values can be externalised.
Hipster culture essentially consists of two components:
- The worship of authenticity
- The ironic rejection of anything that does not fit into the narrow framework of authenticity
The concept of "authenticity" is complex but also essentially built on two foundations:
- The older something is, the more authentic it is, as the product comes from an age before over-commercialisation
- Spartan usability, as minimalist and functional objects are considered less commercial. They are therefore more reliable and less exploitative
This is why the modern hipster appreciates his fixie bike, typewriters, folk music, drinks served in a confetti glass and vinyl records, as they are old and spartan. For men, this also includes a well-groomed moustache or full beard, and Apple products are a must-have for both sexes, as they are considered authentic due to their simplicity.
Hipster culture, which is very laudable in itself, faces one main problem: the consumer industry that it so dislikes. This ungracious juggernaut that eats everything up and spits it out again in the form of a commercialised, globally compatible monoculture.
This is why hipster culture has gone from being one of the brockenhaus visitors to a cult of aesthetics. Lumberjack shirts can be bought in boutique chains for 9.95 francs alongside Che Guevara and Nirvana shirts.
What does this have to do with the headphones from Master & Dynamic? The company's history of just over three years reads like a hipster fairytale. But this statement can easily be taken as an insult. As I sympathise with hipster culture, at least in terms of basic ideological values, it is important to me that you understand that this is not the case.
Master & Dynamic, the newcomer with retro roots
The hipster fairytale of the Master & Dynamic brand goes like this: Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, in 2013, company founder Jonathan Levine's son was looking for headphones but couldn't find any suitable ones. The reason: the young man didn't like any of the current headphones. Levine sensed a gap in the market and set out with his young son to invent the perfect headphones.
He found what he was looking for in a museum in Washington DC, where a pair of headphones from the 1940s were on display. They were extremely well preserved as they were made of robust materials such as leather and metal. He found a partner in industrial designer Mårten Wallby, who designed the first Master & Dynamic headphones.
But that's not the end of the hipster story - it's just the start of the authentic search for retro design: one year after the first products from M&D and a lot of positive media attention, Drew Stone Briggs, former engineer at the traditional brand Bose, joined the team. The first headphones that Briggs developed were sold out within three days.
Master & Dynamic is firmly committed to hipster culture and has worked with the artist collective NeueHouse, developed vegan headphones and also produced limited editions for a fashion label. The brand not only supports resident artists and distributes their music on a number of channels, including SoundCloud, but also the Harlem Village Academies, independent schools that receive money from the state.
In short: Master & Dynamic is authentic and focuses on the past.
Great design, flat sound
This is all well and good, but at the end of the day, two things essentially count when it comes to headphones:
- Comfort
- Sound
As easy as it would be to dismiss Master & Dynamic as a hipster accessory, it would be wrong. Because the headphones with their retro design are impressive with the exception of one aspect.
When I unpack them, I notice that the headphones are much heavier than expected. The word "high-quality" or its little brother "premium" is often used by marketers to describe anything and everything, but the MW60s deserve the adjective. I don't doubt for a moment that the headphones can take a beating. But only the look and the material are retro, because the technology is modern. The MW60s are Bluetooth-compatible, so they can also be used wirelessly. But in addition to a micro USB charging port, they also have a 3.5 mm jack input. The 3.5mm adapter cable is included, but may be a little short depending on your height. I'm pretty much exactly 1.80 tall and the cable doesn't allow for much stretching.
But the MW60 sit comfortably, even after several hours. Although it sometimes gets a little warm under the headphones, they never pinch, even if the headband seems a little hard and rigid at first. The way the pads are attached over the ear is also clever. They are interchangeable and are held in place by surprisingly strong magnets.
The clever and solid workmanship not only applies to the headphones, but also to the accessories. There's a smart leather case for all kinds of cables and the USB cable is more solidly made than any cable I've ever had on my desk. The outside is covered with a kind of braided material, which gives the cable stability. Although this is not directly necessary, it shows that M&D thinks beyond aesthetics and does not disregard accessories.
The only point in which I am not completely convinced by the MW60 is the sound, because it simply cannot keep up with the absolutely high-quality workmanship. Although the sound is far from "bad" or "below average" and is roughly in the upper mid-range, I simply expect more for the price. Workmanship is all well and good, but if I'm going to drop a high three-figure sum, then the good feeling in my hands isn't enough for me.
So what's wrong with the MW60? It's important to realise that the sound isn't bad. It's just flat. Neither the bass nor the treble are particularly worth listening to, nor is there anything wrong with them. I think that's a great pity, because with just a little more, Master & Dynamic could have left the competition far behind and set new standards in wireless headphones. And it doesn't matter what music I listen to with the MW60, I just can't get carried away by the sound. Be it punk drumming from The Clash or hipster music like the excellent Bronze Medal.
All in all, it's such a shame that the Master & Dynamic MW60s don't sound the way they look and are processed, because if they did, we'd have a product that would have done a bit more than stir up the scene relatively effortlessly. But Master & Dynamic is still young and it may yet be. At the moment, however, the MW60s are only worthwhile for audiophiles if they don't cost quite so much.
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Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.