Packaging: Annoyingly, the CX 500’s come packaged in a plastic shell. It is beyond my understanding why any company would use plastic shell wrapping. They are the most annoying invention of all time, and quite frankly, dangerous. I would have preferred a humble cardboard box a hundred times of the current design, which makes it impossible to open without both cutting your hands and damaging the packaging. Overall, a huge disappointment in the packaging.

Sound Quality: These are Sennheiser earphones. So you pretty much know you’re going to get great sound quality before the earphones are even plugged in, let alone fit into your ears. The lows (bass) of the earphones is truly spectacular, and while the highs are not quite up to the same standard, they manage to keep the overall quality high. For the money you’ll spend on them, I would be surprised if you could find a better sounding pair of earphones.

Noise Isolation and Comfort: Sennheiser have included plenty of different sized tips for the CX 500s, and this really is a must for in-ear headphones, as we all vary in ear size. You should therefore be able to find a size that fit you well, and with that will come excellent noise isolation. Though maybe not to the same extent as other much more premium in-ear sets, the CX 500’s definitely hold there own in this department, while they don’t block out all noise, they certainly do a pretty good job of it.

Design: The earphones themselves actually look pretty darn decent. There isn’t really that much to say about the however, as the design is pretty much the same as every other set of in-ear headphones, but they do look clean and sharp, though the volume control looks and feels a bit like it was taken from a ’60s walkman. The cord is a simple rubber, and the jack is a 90 degree output, meaning damage to the jack on you device is going to be much less likely.

Final Thoughts: Overall, the CX 500’s look, feel and perform great for their price. But if you have ever used a more premium set, you will find yourself craving to use them again, as, at the end of the day, you do get what you pay for.

Gallery:

Available from: Seinnheiser.com

Price: $80 US RRP

Compatibility: Anything with a normal headphone jack

Final Score: 7/10

Design: The design of the Vibe IIs depends a lot on the colour choice. If you stick with the tried and tested black, you get a nice looking air of black metal headphones with gunmetal and silver highlights. If you go for a bit more adventurous option however, you get a gem look where on the black there is silver. In all honesty, unless you find the others cheaper, go for the black. As I mentioned briefly before, the cable is covered in a woven fabric, a nice touch that adds durability and strength as well as looking good.

Sound Quality: Sound is one of the things that you really get what you pay for in life. And the Vibe II is certainly no exception. V-Moda lives up to its name by providing the heavy bass die hard fans expect, but not to the point that it is unusable for anything other than heavy metal music. In fact, overall, the sound quality does live up to the price tag, providing something users will like a lot and will even satisfy the audiophiles out there.

Playback Control: works with all of the latest iPods and iPhones, though voice control only works with the 3GS. Functions as you would expect overall, but volume control would be a more than welcome addition.

Call Quality: as briefly mentioned above, the call quality is really quite disappointing for a device at this price point, expect to sound quite, washed out and have overly high treble levels to your caller, but, having handsfree calling is a bonus in itself, even if the quality is not great.

Final Thoughts: Great design and sound quality are the two main pluses for the Vibe IIs, but with a high price point of $128 US, and an average sounding microphone, it is really up to you to decide whether the sound quality and design is important enough for you to fork out that much cash.

Available From: www.v-moda.com

Price: $128US + Postage

Compatibility: All iPod + iPhone models, only more recent ones for Playback control.

Final Score: 7 out of 10 (Recommended)