V-Moda Vibe Consumer Headphones

I demo'ed the Shure EC2 headphones at the Apple store, and loved them... but was not crazy about the styling or the size. I haven't seen nearly as much written about the V-Moda headphones, as they are so new. They don't demo their product... but because of Apple's 14-day return policy I figured I had nothing to lose by buying them to try them out. After a day and a half I have made the very easy decision to return them, and to buy the EC2s.

I love the compact size... and they do sound good, and I agree with what so many say about how they generate solid, clean bass. Even more bass than the EC2s, but at a cost... and bass is one small element to well rounded headphones. Sound imaging is good in the higher frequencies though a bit 'bright'... and in the vocal frequency range, they sound flat.

The styling is far 'cooler' than the Shures, and the color selection is nice if you like to accessorize (not a concern of mine in selecting headphones).

Most challenging for me was the fit. I found it quite difficult to acheive a solid fit, and in every case I found them uncomfortable... even outright painful after under an hour of wearing them. The sound 'tube' which gets inserted into the ear canal apears to be about half again the diameter of the EC2s and seems to be a bit shorter. Maybe I just have small ear canals..?

I'm not saying don't buy them. I'm just sharing my perspective... They aren't for me.