Yamaha EPH-M200 review

Upgrading the in-ear headphones supplied with your phone or other gadget is top priority for many. If so the Yamaha EPH-M200 in-ear headphones are worth a look. Here’s our Yamaha EPH-M200 review. See also: Best budget headphones.

Yamaha EPH-M200 review: Price

The M200 in-ear headphones sit in the mid-range sort of bracket for the market at around the £100 mark in the UK and $149 in the US. That’s not bargain basement but it’s not at the premium end either.

That said you can pick up the headphones on Amazon for £72 if you’re happy with the black colour option. Still, there’s tough competition with some really impressive in-ear headphones for under £50 such as the OnePlus Icons and Rock Jaw Alfa Genus V2.

Also check out the impressive Onkyo E700M in-ears which carry the High-Res Audio logo.

Yamaha EPH-M200 review: Design and build

In terms of design and build, the Yamaha EPH-M200 in-ears look and feel pretty average. In fact, we expected a little more considering the price tag. The ear buds have a nice angled design and this helps with comfort so that’s a big plus point.

It’s also good to see a decent hard carry case included as well as a gold-plated 1/4in jack adapter and five different sizes of tips in the box (as opposed to the traditional three). We took a look at the black model but you can also get red or white, with matching in-line remote.

What were a bit disappointed by is the plastic build, although this helps with weight. The M200 headphones just don’t feel like £100, especially the cable which feels cheap but is anti-tangle. There’s an in-line control and microphone as you’d expect but on Android you can only use the buttons to pause and skip tracks.

Luckily what you’re paying for here is inside the Yamaha EPH-M200 and what the in-ear headphones lack in the design and build department, they make up for in sound quality.

Yamaha EPH-M200 review: Sound quality

The firm says the EPH-M200 have a ‘specially designed beta-titanium sound tube for the ultimate in comfort and sound quality’. Maintaining the shape of your ear canal reduces resonance and ensures balanced bass and natural treble, according to Yamaha.

What we’re impressed by is the sheer size of the drivers on offer here. At 5/8in they’re almost 16mm which is a full 5mm larger than in-ears with, what we would consider, big drivers. They have a frequency response of 20-20,000Hz with an impedance of 28 ohms and a power rating of 30mW.

Thanks to those large drivers, and perhaps the sound tubes, the bass is really impressive. The M200 exude expansive, yet tight bass that doesn’t simply dominate the dynamic range. This balance means the headphones aren’t just good for bass lovers, although they might be best for this.

The balanced response means that that although the bass is the star here for us, the mid-range is still very strong so vocals are clear and crisp alongside key instruments like pianos and guitars. There’s not much top-end to speak of so you don’t get as much detail but for most consumers this won’t matter much.