Scamming people isn't the same as not answering questions. V-Moda would be scamming people if they charged for support service and didn't deliver the service. V-Moda would be scamming people if their headphones advertised AAC support but they didn't actually support it. They're being cryptic but definitely aren't scamming anyone.
You've made very reasonable comments, let me elaborate on my previous post.
Initially, in my post, I've decided to just include a link to the Crossfade 2 Wireless thread, for everyone to judge the situation. However, the thread is now almost 50 pages, and it's hard to pick up the main points.
Allow me to try and make a journal of what's been happening.
Val announces V-MODA Crossfade Wireless. Great idea, but lacks AptX. At the time of the announce, I have already tried some wireless headphones, noticed the AptX support on my Mac, so I was the one of the first people to point that out. No buy.
Later in the same thread, Val started raving about AAC. To summarize his thoughts, V-MODA Crossfade Wireless had AAC+ support, which is ideal for Apple devices and, basically, one of the Apple engineers told him that AAC is the way to go. V-MODA site gets updated with this info as well, listing AAC performance for the product.
Seems very reasonable for me! I've finally ordered my unit. Unfortunately, upon arrival, I was not able to enforce the usage of AAC codec (SBC only). I've checked every macOS + Bluetooth tutorial out there (later wrote my own!), used XCode Developer Tools, even debugged Bluetooth a bit. Nothing.
Following that, I wrote a letter to V-MODA support to ask if they are sure the unit supports AAC and if there is a sure way to use it with macOS. After several pings and a tweet, I got the advice to visit an Apple Store. It was at that point I have assumed that maybe my old Mac and old firmware is the problem.
V-MODA announces Crossfade Wireless 2. In the video Val mentioned that it was made with iPhone 7 in mind; of course, the inclusion of proper pads, cliqfold and a better sound signature seems like a winner; Val also starts to answer all kinds of questions on the forum.
But something's not right: it's still not clear if the unit supports AAC at all (it can run a different chipset, after all!) and Val does not answer a single question regarding AAC.
People start to write letters to support and everybody gets a reply with the same non-answer. Support does not have that information. Even worse, all mentions of AAC for the first revision of Crossfade Wireless get removed from the website.
To get you to understand how crazy that is. Let's time travel several years back — 4G smartphones are the newest thing, everybody starts making those. You seem to like a new smartphone from your favorite brand, but it's not clear if it supports LTE for your carrier (one of the major ones). You can't get any info on that from their public accounts, twitter, and even their support! Instead, some people try to talk you into thinking that it does not matter — after all, you can voice-call without any 4G support. Sure, but that's not why you upgrade! Even worse, their previous phone had LTE support with all the little details on their site.
I tried to make a small guide for the people in the thread who can get their hands on the new revision, just to check it for AAC support. I've posted it here and on Reddit, here's the Reddit version: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/643512/how_to_check_if_a_bluetooth_headphone_supports/
Now things are even more interesting: lots of folks are reporting that they could not get their Crossfade Wireless 1 to connect using AAC as well even on newer Macs, while other headphones (think Bose, etc.) work just fine. Same settings and test results as me, no AAC.
At this point, it seems that either there is a macOS bug that denies AAC for Crossfade Wireless' chipset specifically, Crossfade Wireless has a defect that does not allow it to use AAC with macOS, or maybe it does not support AAC at all. I would love to think it's one of the first reasons, but support does not seem to be knowledgeable enough.
'nuff said, the Crossfade Wireless 2 does not support AAC for sure, and Val — or support — did not answer the AAC question in any way up to this date.
Next, the Forza gets announced. This one does not have AAC for sure, so it's only my attempt to warn iPhone users that this unit won't be very effective with their iPhones. Val is still nowhere to be seen.
The point of my post here is as follows:
1. Warn iPhone users about the lack of AAC.
For the past year or so, most newly released wireless headphones from major brands that "support" iPhones include AAC support. Beats, Sony, B&W, even smaller companies like Master & Dynamic seem to (at least, according to the reviews, did not test it myself). So a non-techie, when getting a pair of headphones for use with iPhone, will assume everything is great with codec support at this price point. That was not the case with Crossfade Wireless 2 (again, Val did mention iPhone 7 in the announce video).
I don't think any misinformation regarding codecs was specifically made in the Forza announce, but it still does not make the product very good when used with an iPhone.
2. Warn potential V-MODA customers about some shady tactics that are going on.
As I've already pointed out,
- support was not able to help with AAC problems with the unit that most definitely did support AAC, and this issue was reproduced by other users as well
- V-MODA removes all codec support info for the first Crossfade Wireless from their site!
- support cannot answer anything about the presence of the codec, pre-sale!
- It's understandable that Val does not want to speak about the shortcomings of the product, but unlike the absence of cliqfold mechanism on Crossfade Wireless 1, codec support is the defining characteristic, as most reviews out there place it under the wireless category (google or youtube Crossfade Wireless 2)
3. Try to get any answers from Val or V-MODA support, finally
Self-explanatory.
I loved my M-100 and I do sympathize with V-MODA a lot, ordered lots of units in the past couple of years for myself and my company. But the shady tactics listed above piss me off.
I hope I gave you enough information on why do I seem to think there is some shady things/scam going on.
And thanks for keeping the discussion civilized, I appreciate that.
