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!