I’ve owned the V-Moda LP2 for about a week now and I thought I’d write my first post as a review on these. I’d just like to say that I’m not a trained-expert-audiophile, I’d consider myself more to be an ‘audio enthusiast’. For years I’ve owned Sennheisers in various models and the ones I used mostly were the HD25 1-II, I used them as a DJ and also used them in film-making when listening to the dialogue and recorded sound on set. I absolutely love them and I can understand why many DJ’s, studio technicians and sound recordists consider them to be one of the industry standard headphones for those applications.
As the HD25s are on-ear, I wanted a pair of circumaural headphones for that are sturdy for daily commuting and general mobile use for my iPod. Most headphones have a light delicate feel about them and many people have commented favourably about the build quality on these - they’re not wrong! You can feel that you have a quality product, the headphones look superb and I love the minimal branding that V-Moda have adopted on this model. Someone looking at these may not know what brand they are but the matte black finish and the materials used in these ooze class and quality. They feel solid without being heavy and I’ve found them to be really comfortable, my ears fit perfectly in the pads – I’d just like to say that I do have small ears though! I was going to go for the M80 but was thinking they might sound too similar to the HD25 and like I say, I wanted an over-ear. I was also tempted to wait for the M100 but couldn’t hold out!
Anyway, now for the sound quality. Being used to the sound of the HD25 and the open backed HD555, I wanted a sound that was more fun and has a bit more ‘substance’ in the hip hop and dance tracks I listen to.
I listened to a few genres of music with them and found that for modern studio and electronically produced music (hip hop, house etc etc) they really perform excellently – Calvin Harris and LMAO for example. For those of you that know the track ‘Bonkers’ by Dizzee Rascal – that bassline sounds amazing! With guitar based music, it depends on the recording and the track. Acoustic and folk songs performed well – Alison Krauss sounded great. There were a couple of guitar based songs that didn’t work too well and was too bassy but I wouldn’t say that was down to the genre of the music, more to do with that particular track. For example, from the Smashing Pumpkins album ‘Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness’, I personally thought that ‘Bullet with butterfly wings’ sounded way too bassy but for ‘Tonight Tonight’, they were great. I loved listening to the White Stripes with these though!
Some have said that the bass is too much on the LP2 and I was worried that all I’d hear is booming bass drowning everything else out on everything but that was definitely not the case for the majority of the music I tested them with. Sure, they have more bass than my HD25s but generally, they handle the bass well and it wasn’t out of control or distorted – especially for modern urban/hip hop and dance tracks. I read that the LP1 were even more bassy and I can’t really compare but I thought these were fine.
I owned a pair of Beats Studio and while I’m not a Beats hater like, what seems to be 95% of the head-fiers, I definitely agree that they are not worth the price they’re sold at. I think they are decent but they leak way too much, I had them at a fairly low level and everyone could hear clearly what I was listening to – thankfully it wasn’t a cheesy guilty pleasure track at the time. For anyone considering getting the Beats Studio or the Beats Pro – do yourself a favour and get these instead – you’ll also have extra money to treat yourself/girlfriend/boyfriend! I think the sound quality of the LP2 is better and there is no contest with the build quality. They look better and you’re not in competition with 15 year old kids wearing fake Beats thinking that they have the pinnacle in sound quality.
For anyone in doubt on whether to get these, if you’re after a pair of headphones that add a little extra ‘meat’ to your music in regard to the bass – I highly recommend the LP2s.
Sorry to add this review eight pages in but i thought I'd add my two pence......
