...I must admit, after (mostly) lurking in this thread for the past week and reading most of it I'm damn impressed/intrigued. Honestly, I've never considered V-MODA as an option due to the "fashion-first" stigma. I skimmed articles containing their offerings to gain a level of insight, but the prospect of having two bass cannons connected by a faux-alligator headband posed no appeal to me. That was until I read Tyll's M-80 writeup that not only showed promising evolution in sound, but a glimpse at company tenets.
Here, we have a thread about an unreleased headphone that has ballooned to a few hundred pages. As its growth accelerated, I stayed away. "Nothing but hype," I thought. What compelled me to peek I cant say, but I concede that I was absolutely wrong. The driving force behind the activity is 99.9% due to the direct engagement of THE man behind the company. The level of community involvement... the dedication to making an extremely refined product... the sentiment that "it ships when it's finished." (always a definitive sign of quality) Truthfully, what's happening within this thread is one of the most encouraging instances of the manufacturer-consumer dynamic I've witnessed on Head-Fi or elsewhere.
And then, I read the final wooing declaration:
I have zero reasons to not give these headphones a fair chance. Heck, even though the aesthetics are a bit loud for my tastes (they would most likely be used exclusively at home anyway, mind you) I find the option of having an understated matte black finish appealing enough. If the content of this thread is to be believed, the M-100 will be "correcting" the few described personal sonic turnoffs that the M-80 is stated to have. (I've never tried them... nor any V-MODA headphone)
Even if these don't perform to my specific needs, you can consider me a convert. After seeing Mr. Kolton's values put into practice I'm now a V-MODA fan despite having zero first-hand experience with their products. Moving forward, I WILL be paying attention to what this company is doing. Put me down for a "Matte Black Metal" M-100 and thanks to both Val and the dedicated contributors to this thread for showing me the light.