Hey everyone! Welcome to Lachlan Likes A Thing, the show where I take a thing
and see whether or not I like it. Now the thing we're looking at in this video is the
V-MODA XS which is the portable
on-ear headphone from V-Moda. And before I start this review I should say
this is a review unit that was given to me by V-Moda
and I unboxed this headphone on my channel about a month ago so in that month's
time I've had a good chance to compare
against my favourite daily use portable
on-ear headphone, the Sennheiser Amperior and in the last week or so I've
actually had the opportunity to compare it against the new Beats Solo 2
from everyone's favorite company Beats By Dre.
And this comparison is actually been really interesting for me because all
three of these headphones,
even the Beats, have their pros and cons
and this opportunity to compare the three has really
helped me establish personally what I really want out
of a portable on-ear headphone. Anyway,
let's just dive right into it. So first of all in terms of design and build quality
the V-MODA XS, just like M80
which I looked at earlier on my channel upholds V-MODA's reputation
for making
a really nicely crafted and solidly built headphone. Now
not everyone is a fan of the industrial design of V-Modas.
They have this kind of
aggressive, almost like gothic industrial look to them
but I think very few people can complain about the build quality because these
are headphones
that have been designed to you know, withstand the rigours of daily use,
and V-MODA makes a big thing out of
saying that their headphones comply with various kind of military-grade
standards for build quality.
One thing that some people might not be comfortable with is that the headphone
cables to each of the earpieces
are exposed. Personally I don't think this is a big deal but some people
are a bit iffy about that kind of thing.
Another thing about the design of the V-MODA is it's a really nice mixture of
metals and plastics. They feel
absolutely solid. Great feature of the V-Modas is that they have a detachable
cable that can be plugged
in on both sides and a little plus is that they actually include a plug
so that you can up plug up the unused side of the earpiece just to make sure
that the channels absolutely balanced in terms of of physical characteristics
which is
something quite unique actually. And it gives you an idea of the kind of thought that they've
put into these headphones.
The headphones themselves fold-up
into a very nice compact shape as I pointed out the only other headphone that I've seen
fold up into a more compact shape
is the Bose SoundTrue On-Ear. And they come with a carrying case
that you can pop your headphones into.
It's a form-fitting carrying case. Very convenient. The one thing I do not like
about this carry case is that it's designed in such a way
that you must detach the cable in order
to put the headphones into the carrying case and then you have to curl up the cable
and put it into this space.
So I would have preferred it, just the case to be just a little bit bigger
so that you wouldn't have to do that every single time you took the headphones in and
out of the case.
Now speaking of the cable the cable
on the V-MODA XS is a bit of
a mixed bag because it is
a cable that, its nice enough in terms
of actual physical durability: it certainly feels solid
but the unfortunate thing about the cable is that
it has a fair amount of memory it develops kinks
really easily and its quite a noisy cable because of the fabric braiding.
So
It's not my favorite cable that I've encountered on portable headphone I have
to say.
Now you may have noticed that the
V-MODAs have an interesting shape
because they aren't curved in the headband like other headphones
we look at the Sennheiser Amperior and you have this circle whereas it's
more elliptical with the
XS and the point of the,
this particular design from the V-MODA XS
is that they were trying to eliminate the gap between
your head and the headband shape.
And we're moving on to comfort here but
when you put them on your head basically what happens is that the headband
keeps in contact, sorry, constant contact
with your scalp and there's actually
very little clamping force on the sides of your head
and the headphone mostly relies on friction
between the headband and your hair to stop it from moving around.
Now I have to say in practice
this produces interesting results. The V-Moda XS
is a very comfortable headphone especially for an
on-ear headphone, when you're just kind of sitting down
and and laying still because there's
not a great deal of clamping force, there's not a great deal of pressure on you
ears. So it's quite nice that way, the weight is evenly distributed
across the head.
However the friction I found at least on my head is not actually enough
for the headphone to feel
absolutely completely stable on the head
when you moving around so at times I felt that the
the V-Moda is not the kind of headphone that would stay on your head: if the cable was
accidentally kinda yanked, it's not the kind of
headphone that will stay on your head if you have a sudden head jerking movement
and therefore it's not the kind of headphone that I feel comfortable
wearing as a kind day-to-day headphone in some cases because let's say you are
running
to the train and accidentally the cable got yanked or something like that
it just would not stay on your head and that's really
a big kind of drawback at least from my perspective in terms of what I want out of a
portable headphone. I
want it to be absolutely stable. And that's also one of the reasons why
the Sennheiser Amperior is one of my favorite headphones
because even though the clamping force on the
Amperior is quite high and it's high enough that after 1 or 2 hours of use your
ears do get sore,
the headphone is designed in such a way that its
extremely solid on the head. There's no amount of
head shaking or anything like that because of the broad headband and the
clamping force
that will dislodge this headphone from your head. So for me because
I have a tendency to run
for the train when I'm late, it, it,
it's the kind of thing that it kind of depends on what you're really after I
guess in terms of a portable headphone. But I definitely
prefer a stronger clamping force. The other thing about the V-MODA XS
is that you know is that you'll notice that there's these very large ports
on the faceplates and these allow for tuning of bass
the various sound of the headphones, the characteristic of the headphone.
The thing about this headphone as a result though is because of these large
ports
this is not a fully sealed design, noise isolation is below average
on the V-MODA XS and again for a portable headphone that
you're gonna be using in city, everything like that, it doesn't block out a great deal
of noise and
this is kind of really unfortunate because on-ear headphones are already not great in terms
of noise isolation and again
I think the Beats Solo 2 and the Sennheiser Amperior
trump the XS in this regard. So let's move on to the sound of the
XS. Now again this is an area where I think
the V-MODA XS is going to appeal to some people more than
others. The XS has a sound that is
first and foremost mid forward so it's
it's got a particularly strong kinda emphasis
on vocals as opposed to the kind
of bass or the treble notes and this translates into a sound that it's
not exactly
balanced, it's a sound that
I think can sound a little unnatural and somewhat honky and brassy at times.
It's just a little too forward.
I think the relative mix of
bass and kind of mid-band in this headphone
is not to my personal taste and I've mentioned quite a few times I'm not a big
fan of for instance
AKG headphones which I found have a similar sort of mid-band emphasis.
For some people they kind of like the rawness of that sound.
It does help emphasise vocals and it does make things feel very kind of lively
and vivacious
but I found that in combination with the low
isolation of these headphones I would find myself turning up the volume
higher and then the sound would just get,
it would just get a bit splashy and aggressive for me so it's
not my preferred kind of sound. Although I have to say
in terms of actual technical capability that the XS is a good head
phone. It's fast, it's kind of
for a small on-ear headphone it has a lot of control and a lot more
clarity than a lot of other smaller
on-ear headphones that I've heard. My only other criticism on the sound is that the
bass is just a little loose at times. It's just a bit
gummy and kind of slightly uncontrolled.
When I compare it against the Sennheiser Amperior I
much prefer the sound of the Amperior personally because I think the bass is
tighter on the Amperior,
it doesn't have that kind of mid-band vocal emphasis that I'm not a
big fan of, but maybe you are.
And also it there's a particular treble peak on the Amperior which makes
everything have a kind of shimmer to it which again some people are
sensitive to that I'm a fan of
and it's not so much on the XS. So
you know, different strokes for different folk, so you kinda have to try this
out. Now an interesting comparison I found was with the Beats Solo when I was
doing listening between these two headphones
The Solo is definitely less articulate because the
it's got much more of a bassy sound to it
everything's much more tilted towards the low end
and it's got a more intimate sound stage but
I have to say personally because I'm not a fan of this kind of mid band emphasis
I found myself
enjoying the Solo2 more for more genres of music
so I know this is gonna make a lot of people quite upset but I actually ended
up preferring the Solo2
over the XS. The XS is definitely a much
better built headphone than the all plastic affair that is the Solo2
but it turns of portable kind of noise isolation, in terms of comfort
and in terms of the sound signature that I kind of liked I prefer the Solo 2.
So take from that what you will.
Overall I think the XS is a headphone that
is a good headphone. It's being designed in a way that's going to appeal to a lot of
people. It's comfortable,
it's lightweight, it's durable, but for me there's just a few things about this
headphone
that, the cable the noise, the noise isolation, that kinda thing
that kind of\ make me hesitate about recommending it for everyone. So I do
recommend
if you get a chance try this headphone out for your self. See if you like the sound
but t I personally, if I was
in the market for portable on-ear headphone I personally wouldn't be looking at the XS
after this
kinda a review. Anyway
click on the Like button if you found this review helpful. You can talk to me
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and happy listening!