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V-moda Vibes... The review is finished. (56k beware, big pics...) - Page 4

post #46 of 1475
11/18/06 at 12:26pm
damzit, now i have to make a choice between bose and v-moda
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post #47 of 1475
11/18/06 at 5:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Nico View Post
I seem to have tried every major IEM you can mention in aircraft cabins, and only an active noise cancellation system will really cut the mustard - I've given up the search, and now keep a cheap set of ANR phones in the laptop bag that I use for overseas travel, along with my other carry-on stuff (passport, etc.)

The exceptions are some of the real hyper-isolating phones like the ER6i - but as a pilot myself I just can't bring myself to deliberately seal my ear canals that efficiently in a pressurised aircraft cabin.

They do make it more difficult to clear your ears (especially in a rapid descent) and the consequences of some clown pressurising or depressurising the cabin too quickly could be worrying - let alone an explosive decompression in the event of an accident.
Thanks for the advice. It's funny though because I got into iem's because I wanted something to replace the active noise-cancelling headphones I had (JVC - really crappy, imho). The compact size was a bonus too for travelling.

I'm just bummed because you can't buy the original Noisebuster phones, which were relatively inexpensive, had great cancellation and pretty good sound. Unfortunately, they also were prone to breakage and I went through two pairs.

Anyone tried the new NoiseBusters? I thought the high-end Sony's had good cancellation, but don't really want to spend that much money and they are gigantic and not easily packable.

I am pretty sensitive to ear pressure effects and haven't really noticed anything too terrible with the CX300s. I expect the little hole in the Vibes will ameliorate any such effect.

-- Thing
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post #48 of 1475
11/18/06 at 9:48pm
chord - i just folded it like a piece of paper in 2. don't see any complaints on it straightening back out, no change to it. very flexible.

don't smash it with doors and so on though...honeslty, u need a ceramics plated chord for that >.<
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post #49 of 1475
11/18/06 at 11:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by HeadBanger View Post
hows the cord build? i would hate to spend 100 bucks for a cord that will easily tear or break.
The cord on the gunmetal version seems very durable. It is thicker than the one on the UM2's. Like MaloS said, it is very flexible. The build quality on these are top notch!! Props to Val and V-Moda for an excellent product.

My Tri-Port IE's are packaged up ready to be returned. The Vibes won them out.
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post #50 of 1475
11/19/06 at 2:03am
Thanks Ply for the very thorough review. I have already ordered the Gunmetal Vibes on 11/10 but they are supposed to be back-ordered for a couple weeks. I'm "chomping-at-the-bit" right now and hope that it won't be any longer than that! I think I was a day late in ordering 'cause I believe they might have had some the day before but I mistakenly went into a brick & mortar Apple store with no luck. I know you can get them now at Apple.com but will just leave my order going at V-Moda. Val has been really responsive to e-mails so I like the customer service already! I am just so anxious to hear them in action.
No doubt in my mind about the Bose IE's being a better phone because I believe they wouldn't be, even though I haven't heard the Vibes yet! I tried some Bose and they didn't stay in my ears very well during even a brisk walk. Additionally, the bass was too heavy, giving them a very washed out bassy sound with my players setting at the baseline EQ (and I like a lot of bass), no clear-sounding bass-definitive instruments were just not there. Just IMHO..
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post #51 of 1475
11/19/06 at 2:43am
Thread Starter 
I'm sure you'll be more than happy with the Vibes. The sound is very balanced and musical. And they respond very well to eq, although for my taste I keep eq on flat. First set of iems that I don't have to eq to enjoy...


Ply
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post #52 of 1475
11/19/06 at 5:30am
how easy is it to take the v-moda in and out (like if people are constantly trying to talk to me) ?
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post #53 of 1475
11/19/06 at 7:05am
Quote:
Originally Posted by poonpower View Post
damzit, now i have to make a choice between bose and v-moda
I haven't heard the v-moda, but from what I read here about them they don't do exactly the same thing as the Bose. Although both look good and are evidently comfortable, the ies are there for their bass punch and v-modas appear to have a more neutral presentation.

Burrzoo's experiences with the Bose are typical (though I've had no problem keeping them in my ears personally!) ... everyone hates the bass on the ies fresh out of the box (including me) but the ies remain a viable alternative because the ies get a world better after about thirty hours' burn-in. My advice would be to try the ies on sale-or-return while waiting for the v-modas to come back into stock.
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post #54 of 1475
11/19/06 at 7:14am
its pretty damn easy to take the vibe out, and put it back in, surprizingly easier to get the perfect seal than any other iems. (1-2 sec for vibe, with im716 i had to battle up to 20 seconds). Its really trivial, just push em in all the way and they find the spot themselves. Can't really push it further than needed.

If u r looking for seal to block out everyone though, vibe won't do so well. I don't even take em off when talking to people, just pause the music. (as mentioned in the review and demonstrated in the pictures, there is a hole, probably to give them an open headphone like effect, eliminating standing wave distortion inside the unit). Through this lil hole u hear, while not everything, not much less than ur regular earbud. I personally think part of the musicality of these things is that lil hole, kinda revolutionary for that class of headphones ;-)
(note, one of the best sounding in ear phones, made by stax, has a grill right behind the diaphram...although that lil thing could be considered a whole different subject).
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post #55 of 1475
11/19/06 at 7:50am
Ok suddenly, these ones have piqued my interest, due to:
-having sound stage
-tight bass
-good quality vocals

there are a few other things I'd like to know before I dive into the purchase:

-hows the treble? say compared to im716? i'm aware that u've been testing with the UM2's. And they do apparently have a treble roll-off, as do a lot of IEM's, so it's probably difficult to compare against once with good treble, but how does it go?

-is the sound detailed, like Etymotic-detailed? how would u describe the frequency response?

I'm aware that you don't own those IEM's, but everything u said about the UM2's I'm down with. But if u can make a comment about it, it'll be very reassuring

Also, about the isolation - I'd really want something with good isolation - is it possible to make custom eartips for these using ur fav foam earplugs?
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post #56 of 1475
11/19/06 at 8:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bellsprout View Post
Also, about the isolation - I'd really want something with good isolation - is it possible to make custom eartips for these using ur fav foam earplugs?
If you read the review carefully you'll see that the isolation is defeated by a small hole in the body of the bud. OP says that closing this off adversely affected SQ, so I'd say that if you're after isolation you may have to look elsewhere.
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post #57 of 1475
11/19/06 at 8:12am
awww - guess u can't have the best of both worlds TT

here's hoping somebody will invent a mod for it
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post #58 of 1475
11/19/06 at 11:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by plywood99
The best I've heard from an iem. Similar sounding to the Ksc75s.
Quote:
Originally Posted by plywood99
beating the crap out of my other iems, I'm not kidding! The closest ompetitor was the Um2

This review didn't help me at all. similar to ksc75s but closest competitor is the UM2 ? The um2 sounds NOTHING like the ksc75 and the quality difference is BIG enough that these two phones don't belong in the same sentence or paragraph.

Sounds like the op doesn't really know what's good about the UM2, which is why he regrets buying them for $300 when a much cheaper iem would suffice.
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post #59 of 1475
11/19/06 at 2:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by atx View Post
Sounds like the op doesn't really know what's good about the UM2, which is why he regrets buying them for $300 when a much cheaper iem would suffice.
I'm not sure what's good about the UM2 myself ... I'd guess that its benefits are transparency and even frequency response: is that what you mean, ATX? I ask because it's my current front-runner as a high-end IEM.
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post #60 of 1475
11/19/06 at 3:29pm
Can you take a picture this phones when you are wearing them? Do they like Westone or Shure?
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