I just picked up these headphones earlier today my local Apple Store. The box is very small and only contains a few items. The plastic packaging looks hard to open but if you squeeze it together a little, you will find it will simply unfold; there was no need for me to whip out an X-acto knife.
Inside you will find the V-MODA headphones with the clear, small-fitted ear cushions already in place, a carrying baggy, and inside are the remainder of the ear fittings: S,M,L black and M,L clear.
The baggy is of a soft leather, in a way close to pleather, that is meant for carrying the headphones. What is nice about the baggy is that it does not close by a pull string like most, rather a rigid plastic that snaps straight. In order to open it, you simply squeeze the sides and the mouth of the bag will open, and when you let go, the plastic snaps back straight closing the baggy.
The length of the headphones are approximately equal to that of the stock Apple Earphones that come with the iPhone, if not a few millimeters longer. The build of the earphones are sturdy, for that most of the materials used in the earphones are consistent. There are 4 metal portions to the earphones: 1) the casing of the earbuds themselves 2) the microphone, which is that only that, no buttons 3) the divider that splits it from one cord to two separate portions, and the metal casing around the connector tip. The metal is a thick material that is very hard to bend and feel they can stand a moderate bangs against hard surfaces, no plastic anywhere, except for the following part...
There is a clip that attaches to your shirt to keep the microphone stabilized near your mouth. Unfortunately, this clip is similar to that of my most earphones that contain a black plastic "alligator-like" clip. If you tug at it enough, I'm sure that you might lose this clip as it is held on by tucking the cord into a small hook.
The cord itself is made from a nylon material. Many people may find their skin sensitive to this material, but it is softer than most generic brands that use this kind of material for their headphones. It will be rare to find this material irritating your skin because these are not the type of headphones where one side is longer to rest on the back of your neck, but sides are equal in length.
The call quality is great. I created a voicemail greeting with the earphones, and unlike the stock Apple headphones, I did not have to hold up the microphone to my mouth to get a clear sound, I just hooked the clip to my shirt and talked away. It picked up very minimal background, but other than that, the sound was clear and did not sound muffled. I called about 3 people, and all 3 of them had reported that they did not know I was on a headset, even saying that the call quality had improved over actually just using the handset.
Listening to music is the one area that could be improved. Please do not get me wrong, these earphones sound great: good full bass, clear, nice isolated listening environment. But I come from a background of high-end earphone such as Shure E3C/E4C & Etymotic ER-6i's, and I have heard what good isolating earphones sound like. For $100, these earphones are comparable to the Shure E2C, with the Shure's having a slight edge over them in clarity.
These are a solid build, and well worth the money that you pay for them. I am disappointed there was no simple answer/pause/track next button implemented like how Apple had cleverly put into their stock headphones. I workout with my iPhone with it slipped into a hip-pack, and I tested the legnth when it was on either hip or even on my back, and the cord was comfortable with slack to spare.
I'll update this review when I take it for a jog tomorrow afternoon. But the initial impressions are that I will be enjoying these earphones when I anticipate receiving calls while I'm listening to music or working out. I know that I will be resorting to higher-end earphones such as my Shure's later on, but for now these will fill in the task of a hybrid earphone and headset.
Inside you will find the V-MODA headphones with the clear, small-fitted ear cushions already in place, a carrying baggy, and inside are the remainder of the ear fittings: S,M,L black and M,L clear.
The baggy is of a soft leather, in a way close to pleather, that is meant for carrying the headphones. What is nice about the baggy is that it does not close by a pull string like most, rather a rigid plastic that snaps straight. In order to open it, you simply squeeze the sides and the mouth of the bag will open, and when you let go, the plastic snaps back straight closing the baggy.
The length of the headphones are approximately equal to that of the stock Apple Earphones that come with the iPhone, if not a few millimeters longer. The build of the earphones are sturdy, for that most of the materials used in the earphones are consistent. There are 4 metal portions to the earphones: 1) the casing of the earbuds themselves 2) the microphone, which is that only that, no buttons 3) the divider that splits it from one cord to two separate portions, and the metal casing around the connector tip. The metal is a thick material that is very hard to bend and feel they can stand a moderate bangs against hard surfaces, no plastic anywhere, except for the following part...
There is a clip that attaches to your shirt to keep the microphone stabilized near your mouth. Unfortunately, this clip is similar to that of my most earphones that contain a black plastic "alligator-like" clip. If you tug at it enough, I'm sure that you might lose this clip as it is held on by tucking the cord into a small hook.
The cord itself is made from a nylon material. Many people may find their skin sensitive to this material, but it is softer than most generic brands that use this kind of material for their headphones. It will be rare to find this material irritating your skin because these are not the type of headphones where one side is longer to rest on the back of your neck, but sides are equal in length.
The call quality is great. I created a voicemail greeting with the earphones, and unlike the stock Apple headphones, I did not have to hold up the microphone to my mouth to get a clear sound, I just hooked the clip to my shirt and talked away. It picked up very minimal background, but other than that, the sound was clear and did not sound muffled. I called about 3 people, and all 3 of them had reported that they did not know I was on a headset, even saying that the call quality had improved over actually just using the handset.
Listening to music is the one area that could be improved. Please do not get me wrong, these earphones sound great: good full bass, clear, nice isolated listening environment. But I come from a background of high-end earphone such as Shure E3C/E4C & Etymotic ER-6i's, and I have heard what good isolating earphones sound like. For $100, these earphones are comparable to the Shure E2C, with the Shure's having a slight edge over them in clarity.
These are a solid build, and well worth the money that you pay for them. I am disappointed there was no simple answer/pause/track next button implemented like how Apple had cleverly put into their stock headphones. I workout with my iPhone with it slipped into a hip-pack, and I tested the legnth when it was on either hip or even on my back, and the cord was comfortable with slack to spare.
I'll update this review when I take it for a jog tomorrow afternoon. But the initial impressions are that I will be enjoying these earphones when I anticipate receiving calls while I'm listening to music or working out. I know that I will be resorting to higher-end earphones such as my Shure's later on, but for now these will fill in the task of a hybrid earphone and headset.
They sound great compared to the stock earbuds, but everyone I talk to says they hear too much background noise and everything they as well as I say has an echo. The next version is supposed to have the phone/ipod controls built in. Hopefully they will fix the mic level as well.
