»X« Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 First, a few stock images. Backstory: My trusty original iphone headphones have seen alot of abuse. Getting the wire caught on door handles is a prime problem, I'm surprised they lasted as long as they did to be honest. But I recently noticed that the wire on the mic was starting to not look so good.. You may also notice that those arent the original earbuds. Truth is, I thought I would be clever as I read somewhere you can remove them and replace your own ones. The ones I wanted to replace it with (a nice Sony white pair) were too difficult to take apart and I ended up destroying both pairs :laugh: . I found this old pair lying about. Akin to a pair you might get with a ?15 mp3 player. Free **** ones. Once I spotted the bare wire from the mic I realised its time to act! I did some research and came across a review for the V-moda-Vibe II. One of the key factors for me was sound quality. I had used these cheap ones for so long that listening to songs on my PC headphones was a breath of fresh air. So I did what I always do, read ONE review and take that as gospel. So I bought a pair for the tidy sum of ?75 give or take. Imported from the US no less. I remember saying to my dad " I just bought a pair of headphones for my iphone". "oh yea, how much?", "?75", "you silly ****". Quoted verbatim. So they arrived only a few days later and I couldnt wait for my ears to orgasm over the sound. Packaging: Although the packaging was nice enough, it wasn't ?75 worth of packaging. Take the way Apple box things, its almost an art. But this just seemed cheap. Plastic cable ties and not to mention the usual moulded plastic around everything, meaning that I had to use a lightsaber and blowtorch combination just to get to the headphones. Albeit to say, I left the accessories pack untouched. First thing that struck me was the weight. Very chunky and solidly built. The earbuds themselfs are very heavy, like a couple of marbles I guess and sound like a pair too since theres alot of metal on them. The cord itself is covered in fabric, so its more akin to string rather than a plastic wire. Which I thought was excellent. I found that my iphone headset wire would actually stiffen in the cold meaning soon as I turned my head my earbuds would pop out of my ear like the cable had turned into wire. Its worth mentioning that the microphone and the button are seperate. The mic is located underneath your right ear, like the iphone original but the play/pause button is in the center of your chest. Takes some getting used to but the button is rubber coated and was easier and nicer to press that the iphone originals. The headphone jack was also different, instead of the standard look, it resembled some sort of ray-gun in its appearance. It fitted in my 1st generation iphone no problems, as I hoped it would have done for the ****ing price. Sound and comfort: This is my main issue. What I always fail to realise is that when a guy raves about how good they sound, doesnt mean I will. Soon as I stuck them in my ear I was dissapointed. Why? Was is a fault in the headphones? No, more like my body. You know when you get water in your ears and for a while they are blocked and you can almost hear your own breathing and your voice sounds odd? Its like that, and that really annoyed me. I can hear the cable dragging over my clothes, hear my breathing and most importantly, not hear myself. I took a phone call while I tested these out and It was so disorientating. I could barely hear myself so I didnt know how loud to speak. Also worth to mention that these headphones really block out external noises, if you like that then good but I didn't. It was odd walking across a busy road and hearing nothing but my music, or having someone talk to me for 5 minutes and I have no idea they are. Its a personal gripe and wont effect everyone but it bugged me. Then again, what was I expecting? The sound itself was pretty good, nice deep bass and good treble on it, but i wasnt blown away. After coming from my cheap headphones I wanted to hear my songs in new way (as claimed by the reviewer). But I didnt, they sounded a bit better but thats it. You also treat these headphones differently. Because they cost so much, I was treating them with kid gloves. True, throwing my old pair on the bed before I slept or throwing them on the floor helped in the deterioration of my first pair. But I went the oposite with these. Very careful to remove them, placing them down gently and all I saw in my mind was pound signs. When i am at work or even at home, I walk about with my iphone original headphones in all the time. No music playing per say but just in case I get a call (people on the other end of the phone get horrible feedback when I don't use the headset). But I couldnt with these, leaving them in rendered me deaf for that period and I wouldnt look forward to a phone call either baring in mind I couldnt hear myself too well. Summary: Well here I am, back to my old original headphones and have a ?75 pair sitting in the ****ing drawer. I'm trying to sell them but I doubt anyone wants them. If you do, let me know, you'll get a Neowin disc;)nt ;) . Overall I would say: Packaging 2/5 Design 5/5 Comfort (This is difficult, they don't hurt my ears, just make me deaf, so baring that in mind and comfort alone..) 4/5 Sound (Again this is my opinion) 3/5 Moral of the story? Don't buy a set of iphone earphones, IPHONE EARPHONES for over ?50 unless it has wifi a TV and bluetooth built in and especially not based on one review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z0mghenry Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 Lol very nice review, adding little bits of humor made it enjoyable to read also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anarcho-Capitalist Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 Those things are almost as ugly looking as Skullcandies. Looks like they sound like them too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiEMOS Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 great review, thank you, I'm planning to buy new headphones eventually when new iPhone comes out in June. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanManIt Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Nice review, sucks you got such a dud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger H. Veteran Posted April 13, 2009 Veteran Share Posted April 13, 2009 funny enough i just checked them out yesterday on Legitreviews :D I had some Bass Freq but they broke and this time i went with the SkullCandy but they suck so i'm returning those to go buy the bass freqs minimum again. If i could get the Vibe or something i would but gotta be cheap these days :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
»X« Posted April 13, 2009 Author Share Posted April 13, 2009 Yea it sucks the big one. I can't get rid of them. They are sitting in my drawer going sweet FA. Finding a buyer is hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leph555 Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 V-moda headphones are perfect for my electronic music, they look OK, but there build quality is horrible, you pretty much have to get replacement headphones every few months. My left headphone crapped out after a months use Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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