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| V-Moda Vibe Earphones: Sound
Quality |
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| When it is quiet and I’m using them
to meditate, they are wonderful. I can keep the volume
very, very low on the device and still hear everything
with great clarity and precision. |
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| Around the house, I have found that
the noise-reduction feature works just a bit too well
and I’ve taken to listening with one earbud in at a
time. If I listen with both ears, then I can’t hear
anyone talking to me or coming from behind. |
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| While hiking and walking, I also use
only one earbud at a time so I can hear a bit of
nature, any traffic and other people hiking around me.
I decided it would be dangerous to use them while
biking since I need stereoscopic hearing in traffic. |
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| On the airplane, I used both earbuds
and tried to take advantage of the noise reduction
feature. Even with both earbuds in and the sound at a
moderate level, I found I could still hear a lot of
engine noise and chatter. I couldn’t hear individual
words, but I was a little disappointed in their
blocking ability. I did notice that I had plenty of
volume, though. Usually, I have a difficult time
hearing my audio over the engine and chatter. This was
not an issue with the V-Moda Vibe Modaphones
headphones. |
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| Ergonomics: |
| I tried all the different sizes of
silicone tips and found the smallest to be correct. I
also tried both the black and the clear versions of
the smallest tips and found no difference in how they
fit or how well they stayed in my ears. |
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| This was my first time using earbuds
with the silicone tips. I usually purchase the
rounded, one-piece buds with no interchangeable parts
that stay naturally in my ears. Perhaps it is the way
my ear canal is designed, but I have had trouble
keeping these buds in my ears. They fit nicely,
initially, but once I start moving, they tend to
loosen up and fall out. I’m not sure whether this is
due to my activity level or the shape of my ears, but
I would think they should stay in regardless of what I’m
doing. I had a friend suggest I wrap the wire around
the back of my ear before placing the bud in my ear
but found it clunky and ineffective. What did work for
me was wrapping the cord around my neck, loosely, and
using the buds from behind the ear. I suppose the
weight of the cord is what pulls the bud from its
place, so wrapping the cord around my neck helped to
ease gravity’s pull a bit. While hiking and working
in the yard, they would eventually loosen a bit and I’d
have to tap them back into my canal, but it wasn’t
nearly as often. I wouldn’t recommend using this “cord
around the neck” technique while rock-climbing or
some other sport where one risks garroting. |
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| The other issue with having
interchangeable silicone tips is that they can fall
off when not in use. If I didn’t bring the headphone
case and just merely wrapped the cord around my Mp3
player and secured it in my pocket or backpack, I’d
fish them out later to find that one of the tips may
have fallen off the bud. Usually, I had placed them
carefully in a secure spot, so finding the tip was
easy, but I fell asleep on the plane and when I woke,
one bud had fallen out of an ear and the tip was lost. |
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| Lastly, I would like to comment on
the hygiene factor of the silicone tips. Over the
course of my use, I’ve noticed the silicone tips
accrue lint and dirt from lying around, being in a
backpack or other circumstances. A few times, while
hiking, the earbud would slip from my ear and fall to
the ground (the cord was just long enough and I am
just short enough for this to occur while my Mp3
player was fastened at my hip). When I picked up the
bud, the silicone had accumulated a bit of dust and
dirt. I was able to clean them off adequately, but,
the lint tends to remain. |
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| Item: |
V-Moda Vibe Earphones |
| Rating: |
84 out of 100 |
| Manufacturer: |
V-Moda |
| Supplier: |
V-Moda |
| Street Price: |
$80 USD |
| Reviewer: |
Carol |
| Review Date: |
July 2007 |
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