Techno Kid
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2012
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I got these along with the Fischer Audio Tandem, Consonance and Silver Bullet for review from Dimitri at Musica Acoustics and the VB's are quite a nice sounding IEM at their price point, here's my little review.
Build / Fit,
The Hippo VB is made out of plastic like many mid-tier IEM's and the feel rather solid. The tuning ports are made of metal and screw on an off really easily and have a secure fit. The cord is pretty thin but seems to be very sturdy and has an almost waxy feel to it though its rubber. They have an L shaped plug with a decent strain relief and over all feel like a well built mid-tier IEM imo.
As for the fit and comfort I have nothing to complain about. They feel quite comfortable and because they're so light you don't feel them after about 15 to 20mins of listening. The cord still has a lot of kinks it from being wrapped up but hopefully in time it will straighten up more. So the fit and seal really nicely and I find the medium tips to work the best and since I didn't have to use a set of tips from another IEM that's a plus in my book.
Sound Quality (I based my review off the balanced tuning ports),
Bass- The bass is the focal point of the IEM but that's not to say they're not detailed but we'll get into that a little bit later. Over all the bass has a very good amount of impact and depth even with the balanced tuning ports. They can rival what I consider the bass kings in the Atrio MG7 as they have more impact and punch with depth that comes close (with the other tuning ports the bass is about on par with the MG7). Texture is good and theres no sign of any distortion at all so all in all the Hippo VB lives up to its name as a good bassy IEM.
Mids - Mids of the Hippo VB are quite detailed but of course not as much as say the e-Q5 or RE262 but defiantly very good for a mid-tier IEM. They have a V shaped signature to them which is a popular consumer sound but even with the V shaped they still have a good presence and aren't has far back as you might think. As I burned them in more the mids really started to open up more and now after only about 10 hours they sound very nice with a good amount of detail.
Highs - Now the highs of the VB are quite bright and very crisp at time but not so much so that you notice a lot of sibilance. There can be a little bit of of sibilance from time to time but its really not to bad at all. They have a really nice amount or treble detail and sound very good with music like house, techno, trance and hip hop but also sound equally as good with rock, alliterative and even classical.
Soundstage - This is one area I was quite surprised with because the Hippo VB has a really nice soundstage for an $80 IEM. It has above average width and about average depth though again not quite as good as the e-Q5 and RE262 but very admirable. Instrument separation is also good along with imaging. The whole presentation is very nice for a mid-tier IEM imo.
Conclusion - Over all the Hippo VB preforms very nice for the price range its in and I really enjoyed reviewing them. At first the sounded a bit strange to me but that was because of the other IEM's I've been using after a decent amount of burn-in and brain burn-in the sound very good and I would have no problem recommending them to anyone wanting a bass heavy, clear sounding IEM with an above average soundstage, worth what they cost imo.
The other sound ports did change the signature more than I thought but the balanced ports were definitely my favorite ones and still had plenty of bass imo. The 2 dot ports gives the bass more depth and rumble but impact was about the same to me and the mids were pushed back some to. With the ones that came on the IEM's out of the box (they have no dots) bass was huge and frankly to much for me, very punchy and impactful with massive amounts of rumble so if your a bass head the VB's imo are even better than the MG7 as far as bass goes but over all I wouldn't say the MG7 sound a whole lot better. On these the mids and highs were lacking a bit to much for me though you could still get a fair amount of detail from them. So I was impressed by the VB and aren't bad at all for an under $100 IEM.
Build / Fit,
The Hippo VB is made out of plastic like many mid-tier IEM's and the feel rather solid. The tuning ports are made of metal and screw on an off really easily and have a secure fit. The cord is pretty thin but seems to be very sturdy and has an almost waxy feel to it though its rubber. They have an L shaped plug with a decent strain relief and over all feel like a well built mid-tier IEM imo.
As for the fit and comfort I have nothing to complain about. They feel quite comfortable and because they're so light you don't feel them after about 15 to 20mins of listening. The cord still has a lot of kinks it from being wrapped up but hopefully in time it will straighten up more. So the fit and seal really nicely and I find the medium tips to work the best and since I didn't have to use a set of tips from another IEM that's a plus in my book.
Sound Quality (I based my review off the balanced tuning ports),
Bass- The bass is the focal point of the IEM but that's not to say they're not detailed but we'll get into that a little bit later. Over all the bass has a very good amount of impact and depth even with the balanced tuning ports. They can rival what I consider the bass kings in the Atrio MG7 as they have more impact and punch with depth that comes close (with the other tuning ports the bass is about on par with the MG7). Texture is good and theres no sign of any distortion at all so all in all the Hippo VB lives up to its name as a good bassy IEM.
Mids - Mids of the Hippo VB are quite detailed but of course not as much as say the e-Q5 or RE262 but defiantly very good for a mid-tier IEM. They have a V shaped signature to them which is a popular consumer sound but even with the V shaped they still have a good presence and aren't has far back as you might think. As I burned them in more the mids really started to open up more and now after only about 10 hours they sound very nice with a good amount of detail.
Highs - Now the highs of the VB are quite bright and very crisp at time but not so much so that you notice a lot of sibilance. There can be a little bit of of sibilance from time to time but its really not to bad at all. They have a really nice amount or treble detail and sound very good with music like house, techno, trance and hip hop but also sound equally as good with rock, alliterative and even classical.
Soundstage - This is one area I was quite surprised with because the Hippo VB has a really nice soundstage for an $80 IEM. It has above average width and about average depth though again not quite as good as the e-Q5 and RE262 but very admirable. Instrument separation is also good along with imaging. The whole presentation is very nice for a mid-tier IEM imo.
Conclusion - Over all the Hippo VB preforms very nice for the price range its in and I really enjoyed reviewing them. At first the sounded a bit strange to me but that was because of the other IEM's I've been using after a decent amount of burn-in and brain burn-in the sound very good and I would have no problem recommending them to anyone wanting a bass heavy, clear sounding IEM with an above average soundstage, worth what they cost imo.
The other sound ports did change the signature more than I thought but the balanced ports were definitely my favorite ones and still had plenty of bass imo. The 2 dot ports gives the bass more depth and rumble but impact was about the same to me and the mids were pushed back some to. With the ones that came on the IEM's out of the box (they have no dots) bass was huge and frankly to much for me, very punchy and impactful with massive amounts of rumble so if your a bass head the VB's imo are even better than the MG7 as far as bass goes but over all I wouldn't say the MG7 sound a whole lot better. On these the mids and highs were lacking a bit to much for me though you could still get a fair amount of detail from them. So I was impressed by the VB and aren't bad at all for an under $100 IEM.
. However, sibilance was a little nerve racking for me at first, using Sony Hybrid tips toned it down a lot. I had to return my first pair because of channel imbalance. Jaben are very good about it though and replaced mine without question express post.