keanex
Keeper of The All-New Headphone Buyer's Guide
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2010
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Pros: Comfort, build quality, sub-bass quality, multiple sound tunings.
Cons: Shouty upper mids
Tonal Balance: Warm to balanced depending on ports.
Style: Closed over-ear
Listening Set-Up: Musicbee (FLAC) -> Matrix HPA-3U
Cost: Starting at $499
Reviewing Process
I’ve had the Vibro for about a month and during the time I’ve used them to skype, play League of Legends and to listen to a wide assortment of music. During my time with them I feel that I’ve become comfortable enough with their sound and build to comment on them fairly. With that said reviews never trump experience and I encourage readers to demo products before buying them when possible.Thanks Zach at ZMF for letting me review these!
Build & Fit
Build
The Vibro are a highly modified Fostex T50rp mod, so much so that they’re barely recognizable as the T50rp outside of the headband and the adjustment sliders. Zach has reworked the aesthetics in collaboration partly with Luke over at Vibro Labs who makes the beautiful wooden cups for this line. The wooden cups are finished with care and precision, these being constructed of beautiful red walnut, with 3 bass ports that allow for the user to change the sound signature of the Vibro, but we’ll talk more about that later.
The Vibro features a choice of two straps, mine shipped with a leather strap that is thick, cleanly cut and secured soundly to the headband. The pads are new and now made of lambskin and they look as great as they feel. The last big change to the build is the removable cable, now a dual XLR instead of the single locking 3.5mm the T50rp once had. The connectors sit firmly attached to the headphone and the attached cable feels sturdily built.
Based on this pair I feel safe to say that Zach has put a lot of time and care into modifying the looks of this while keeping the build quality up to par. Luke’s cups are beautifully crafted and they’re certainly a conversation starter when I have friends come over.
Fit
The Vibro are now shipped with angled lambskin pads that are super plush and super comfortable. The pads feel uniform in height and firmness as they form their seal around my ears. Clamp is moderate, not enough to headbang, but they won’t just fall off willy nilly. Downwards pressure is mild, though certainly noticed as the wooden cups and planar drivers add some heft to the headphone. The Vibro never disappear from my head, but I have worn these for 3 hours with no issues. Isolation is phenomenal though, noise stays in even when listening on the loud side with no bass ports closed.
Sound Quality
Preface: This portion of the review will be written from the perspective of having no bass ports closed. There will be a short write-up for the change in sound with the ports closed below.TL
RWith stock bass ports the Vibro are v-shaped headphone that packs a serious punch in the low-end. The sound is layered wonderfully with great imaging capabilities, a joy to listen to the likes of James Blake with while sounding competent for everything else I’ve listened to.
Bass
Using the bass shaker test at the Ultimate Headphone Test page the Vibro are capable of deep sub-bass response that sounds near linear, with a small dip before the mid bass, but nothing alarming.
In real world listening, soulful electronic music absolutely shines here; sounding incredible with James Blake’s self-titled debut as well as Jamie xx’s debut In Colour, for example. Both albums highlight the silky smooth sub-bass in presence, impact and speed. That isn’t to say that the sub-bass is super fast, but it is quick enough to keep up with James Blake’s Limit to Your Love. The sub-bass is thick, which creates a slightly sluggish sub-bass response, while offering a pleasant rumble that brings Jamie xx’s Sleep Sounds to life. The sub-bass isn’t the end-all be-all, it lacks control at times, but it sounds phenomenal for the dreamy bassy music of these two UK electronic stars.
The midbass is certainly prominent but less so than the sub-bass, with the bass sounding as if there were a mild downward slope from the sub-bass to the midbass. With that said the midbass is thick and syrupy with a bit of bloat into the midrange, powerful and punchy but overly present at times. Pop music sounds phenomenal with the added midbass thump, as does the variety of electronic music that I’ve tested. In-fact anything danceable benefits from the added umph in the midbass. The midbass is pushy and bloated though and the tunes of Steely Dan sound too thick in the lower-end at times and throw the song off balance.
Stock, the bass is tuned to be emphasized, adding thickness and impact. I find the tuning to excel with bass heavy tunes as well as dance hits, while sounding overly present otherwise.
Mids & Highs
The midrange is lush and thick in the lower regions, emphasizing and adding warmth to lower ranged vocals, acoustic piano and tom hits on acoustic drum kits. The lower midrange suffers from a bit of grain as well as midbass bleed, causing a sense of recession in the lower ranges while also masking detail in this range. The midrange leans natural sounding though, even if a bit syrupy, reminding me a bit of a thicker HD600. Clarity and detail are sacrificed for warmth and thickness, which falls in line with my preference of bass heavy electronic music with the Vibro.
The uppermids become a bit shouty, noticeably in upper vocal ranges as well as the snare drum. The shouty vocals are most apparent with female vocals, though Pink Matter by Fank Ocean sounds overly forward at times as do some other more powerful male singers. The higher frequencies are tamed and done rather well though, sounding smooth and balanced while having a hint of sparkle throughout.
Presentation
The soundstage is intimate while having a good sense of stereo imaging, layering and depth. Instrument separation is decent, but held back by the thick lower end which takes up a large portion of the soundstage at times. The Vibro are closed headphones and certainly sound it in how they present the sound, not as closed as something like the M50, but certainly no K701.
Bass Port Options
Preface
Since it’s a bit difficult to go back and forth in a timely manner due to the nature of inserting and removing the stoppers I can not easily go back and forth between tunings. The thoughts expressed here are done by memory and could be a consequence of expectation bias. I am sharing these thoughts in good faith though and hope they are helpful.
One Port Closed
Stock I felt that the bass was overly assertive and undercontrolled, fun for certain genres, but too prominent enjoy more nuanced tunes with. With one port closed the bass significantly tightens up without sacrificing the powerful response that the stock tuning offers. If stock is a dark club with pulsating dance tunes, one port closed is a smokey jazz club with single malt scotch being poured generously. This tuning is smooth and sexy from head to toe, warm while lively, musical while nuanced.
With the bass tightened up the midrange and soundstage sound significantly more coherent. The midrange is still lush, but sounds cleaner and more detailed with a more natural tone throughout. In turn the soundstage also sounds cleaner with instrument separation benefitting heavily from the lack of low-end bloat. Listening to Lana Del Rey has never sounded as good and I keep wanting to reach for a cigar when a Steely Dan tune comes on, I’m in love.
Two Ports Closed
This tuning sounds really well balanced while maintaining a hint of warmth that the Vibro is known for. The uppermids are still a bit shouty, which will likely be common through all tunings, but I don’t find it overly forward. This tuning further solidifies my love for this headphone, adding further versatility to this headphone and solidifying it as a definite recommendation from me.
Three Ports Closed
At first I felt that this tuning was too mid forward and lean in the lows, but after giving my ears time to adjust I now feel that this tuning is the most balanced and natural of the four. By plugging up the last open port the soundstage sounds the most accurate and spacious of the bunch, while also sounding the cleanest from a sound reproduction stance. This tuning nears neutral to my ears and is quite versatile in genre compatibility. From 1970s Japanese fusion jazz to 2000s electrodisco this tuning is very capable.
