Replacement iPhone earphones on test

V-Moda Vibe II

Manufacturer: V-Moda
UK Price (as reviewed): TBC
US Price (as reviewed): $119.95 (ex. Tax)

Frequency response: 12hz – 22kHz
Carry case: Soft Pouch
Tips: Small, medium, large plastic, small, medium, large silicon
Cable length: 114cm
Weight: 22g
Remote: Clicker

At college, I knew a guy who was a bassist. He subscribed to a magazine for bass players and one issue’s cover CD featured a song called ‘The day the bassists ruled the earth,’ which comprised about 128 different bass tracks. It was like Fleetwood Mac's The Chain (the old F1 intro tune), only with 400 percent more bass. He would really have liked the Vibe IIs, because they're a pair of headphones that bring a lot of bass.


If the hF2’s bass is like a wistful twinge of regret – powerful in its way, but specific enough to pierce your heart – then the Vibe IIs are like some sort of bloody vendetta that results in the death of an entire village. It’s the Jack Bauer of bass. You get an amazing sense of listening to real drums being played, with the natural sense of pop and punch that comes from surfaces being hit with sticks. ‘Alex Chilton’ sounded phenomenal: you can hear the drum kit shaking as the intro kicks off, the zoom of the opening bass notes.

Jay-Z’s ‘Heart of the City’ isn’t just playing, it feels like Jay-Z and Kanye West have set up a nightclub in your head. It’s true that there’s the odd song which is smothered by this approach (such as ‘Atlas’), but for the vast majority of tunes, the bass is a powerful pulse which buoys vocals and mid-range sounds. Despite the big bass, you can still hear plenty of detail. The V-Modas pass the ‘Hey Jude’ test and I found long-time favourites often prickled with beautiful extra touches that are missing from most of the other sets in the test.

We do have some complaints to make. The packaging might look flash, but it appears to have been designed to combine everything loathsome about modern tech packaging – fiddly sellotape seals? Tiny metal twist ties? Cable threaded through thin plastic trays? Strangely rip resistant tape tying up the cable? Impregnable heat-sealed plastic? All present and correct. It’s a greatest hits of frustration, and you’ll find you need a battery of sharp implements to get inside.

It’s also too early to tell how reliable they’re going to be. V-Moda’s original Vibe earphones enjoyed a great reputation for their sound quality, but a terrible failure rate thanks to a redesigned jack this was supposedly fixed.

The Vibe IIs retain the latter pistol grip style jack, so the signs are positive that the reliability issues have been addressed with these new headphones. It also comes with a sticker attached to it warning you about volume levels, and a further explanation of healthy listening volumes is included in the manual.

The button and the mic are separate, which is a neat touch as it allows the mic to be small, and close to your mouth (it’s 13.5cm from the right earphone). V-Moda supplies three sizes of clear silicon tips and three sizes of black plastic ones, which are comfortable to wear, but they’re not as good at keeping noise out as the EF2s.

Unique among the earphones on test, the Vibe IIs have a fabric cord. All four key components - the two earphones, the mic and the click all have metal outer shells which contributes to them feeling heavy-duty and they clack like marbles when you stash them in your pocket. (The box refers to the Vibe IIs as being "handcrafted entirely from stainless steel alloy, luxurious fabrics and 24k gold"). You might to avoid storing them in the same pocket as the iPhone itself though, as they might be able to scratch it.

If you want more punch than you get with the EF2s, or want to play safer when it comes to the fitting, the Vibe IIs are perfect. They’re the kind of earphones that make you want to re-listen to all your favourite songs, right now.

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• 8/10

• Value
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• 8/10

Score Guide