A some_guy5 Best Buy for 2007!

I admit it freely. I have a problem. Despite the fact that I own and am happy with the V-Moda Vibe ear-buds I still opted to purchase the V-Moda Bass Freq ear-buds for various reasons (and none of them good). To shortly summarize my reasons… I thought the Vibes sealed off my ear so well that I was afraid to walk downtown with them on. I.E. I thought I would get hit by a bus or something. Also, given that they were $100 I was afraid to abuse them at all, so no wearing them when I might sweat, etc. The V-Moda Bass Freqs have solved both of those problems and offer some decent sound while doing it.

Value
The early verdict on the V-Moda Bass Freq ear-buds is that they have won a very prestigious award, that I have just invented. I am happy to present the V-Moda Bass Freq ear-buds with the some_guy5 Best Buy Award for 2007. After intensive testing in the some_guy5 labs, also known as my ears, I have to say that these blow away every similarly priced set of headphones I have ever heard. The V-Moda Bass Freq ear-buds seem to retail for about $40. I was lucky to find them for $30 at J&R and they went back up to $40 the day after I bought them. I will get into overall sound quality more below and compare them to their pricier sibling, but I want to state definitively that are GREAT for $30 if not simply great.

Use and Performance
Despite winning the some_guy5 Best Buy Award for 2007 the V-Moda Bass Freq ear-buds have some drawbacks. The first beef I have is with the cords. They are downright delicate. I baby my V-Moda Vibes because they were $100 but I baby the Bass Freqs because I think they will break. The cords are so thin and delicate. I hate the feeling that I will easily break them or wear them out. They do come with something called a Moda-Wrap for you to wrap up the cord when not in use. Great idea, but I haven’t figured out how to use the thing effectively.

As far as bass? Well for a little background the word in the international community is that Americans are bass happy. I do not consider myself among the bass happy but when bass is present in the song I want it to hit appropriately. I think the V-Moda Bass Freq ear-buds are intended to have some sort of bass boost built in. I did not care for it. With my iPod at normal (as delivered) EQ settings the bass in the ear-buds hit just fine, but was a bit too present for my taste. I ramped up the bass to see what they could do and it started to slide horribly. In order to adjust the EQ’s to where I think the bass should be I have to lower it from the factory setting. Essentially, I am trying to cancel out the bass boost inherent in the ear-buds. Overall the Vibe’s are far superior at delivering bass, as they should be at over triple the price.

Fit and comfort will obviously vary by user but I am trilled. These buds fit inside your ear and come with 3 different sizes of silicon fittings. I have used the “medium” size that came installed by default. They are very comfortable and I often wear them all day long while at work. I don’t experience any discomfort but I do occasionally get a weird sensation that they are still in my ears after I have removed them. My verdict is, very comfortable.

I mentioned that I thought the Vibes actually sealed off my ear too well for some situations. The Bass Freqs have removed that problem (or bonus depending on how you look at it). While they fit snugly inside your ear and look like they would seal it off they don’t. I often can’t hear what I am listening to while walking by a bus, but on the plus side I can hear a bus about to run me down. You would probably not be able to hear the music in loud situations like cutting the grass or something without making your ears bleed.

A Few Specs
I often don’t understand the specs but in case someone is out there shopping by response bandwidth then here you are. The V-Moda Bass Freq ear-buds come with a standard size 3.5 mm connector, meaning that they fit things that use standard headphone jacks. The headphone type is ear-buds, as mentioned. The connectors are gold plated (a good sign). The response bandwidth is 8 – 22000 Hz and the diaphragm is .4 inches.

Styling
In one sense styling is a bit ironic on the V-Moda Bass Freqs since they are designed to pretty much hide away inside your ears. However, V-Moda has decided to incorporate fashion into their product offering. I am reviewing the “bling bling black” bass freqs but V-Moda offers a large variety of other colors, presumably to match whatever color mp3 player you have. I won’t attempt to name them all but you can choose from red, bright orange, lime green, aqua, and so on. I was just glad they made one that was pretty normal looking, but the option is there for garish colors if you want it.

Overall Conclusion
Just comparing the straight up sound quality of the V-Moda Bass Freqs versus the Vibes I have to say the Vibes win in a landslide. Given the amount I paid for each I would say the quality is really pretty much proportional. What I mean to say is the Bass Freqs are roughly about 30 to 40 % as good as the Vibes. Additionally, they crush every other pair I have ever had in the $30 range, and I have owned 3 pairs of ear-buds at about that price. If you are looking to spend $30 to $40 then I don’t think you could do much better. If you are looking for really great sound, then you will need to step up to at least the Vibes.