This is my review of the V-MODA CrossFade M-100 over-ear headphones, which I bought from Amazon for £250 back in 2014. I wouldn't call myself an "audiophile" as such (although I do like my music) but I'm really glad I bought these despite the price, as you'll come to read in this review. It’s quite long so I’ve broken it up into segments using “spoiler” tags, so you can pick and choose how much you want to read.
In the box you get the following items:
- 1x V-MODA CrossFade M-100 headphones (well, obviously!)
- 1x hardshell zip-up case, which has a carabiner clip on the outside. It also has internal elasticated straps for the below items.
- 1x 3.5mm to 6.35mm jack adapter
- 1x reinforced SharePlay audio cable
- 1x reinforced SpeakEasy microphone cable
For those interested the spec sheet on the V-MODA website gives the following technical details for the headphones:
Frequency response: 5 – 30,000Hz
Sensitivity: 103dB @ 1kHz 1mW
Microphone sensitivity (for the SpeakEasy cable): -42dB @ 1kHz
Impedance: 32 Ohms
Weight: 280g
The box itself is quite sturdy and has a nice feel to it. You open it by unbuttoning a felt fastener with a metal stud and then pull up the handle (also felt with metal studs). The headphones are already placed inside the hardshell case. The two cables included with the headphones (more on these later) are each wrapped in a small velcro cable tie and the jack adapter is in a plastic bag. When inside the case the headphones are folded in towards the headband using V-MODA's unique “Cliq Fold” mechanism. It's literally what it says on the tin, the headphones make a reassuring "click" sound each time you fold/unfold the ear cups via the steel hinges just above each cup.
I have the shadow black version of these headphones, which has some glossy plastic around the outside of each ear cup along with some red trim around the headband, including the stitching and the V-MODA logo on top. These can also be bought in matte black and white/silver versions if you prefer. The headphones themselves are very sturdy. The headband is made of a very flexible steel (or “steelflex”, as V-MODA calls it) which apparently can be bent flat as many as ten times (I haven't dared to try this myself as these are my main headphones!). The bundled cables are equally durable, apparently rated to withstand over 1 million cable bends. Clearly V-MODA have gone to great lengths to make these headphones physically withstand all sorts of punishment.
And just because a product is durable doesn’t mean it has to look bad. One of the distinctive customisability elements of these headphones concerns the ear cups, where you have removable "shields" on each cup. You can customise and buy different coloured shields for personal taste as well as have a logo engraved on each one by V-MODA. They're even available in different materials, including precious metals if your budget can stretch that far (platinum shields will set you back $27,000 direct from V-MODA)! You can easily swap these out at will by unscrewing the old ones and screwing in the new ones.
Another smaller element of customisability is with the cable placement. Each ear cup has a port where you can connect your cable, each covered by a "V-Cork" which you turn and pull out (this could be a bit fiddly for you to do if you have fat fingers). You can even have cables connected to each cup simultaneously, so for example more than one person can listen to the same feed.
Speaking of the cables, you get two in the box as aforementioned. One of them is a 52" (132cm) SpeakEasy cable for your smartphone which includes an inline microphone and a single remote button for receiving and hanging up calls, as well as controlling your music through your chosen app.
The other is a 79" (200cm) SharePlay cable which is a standard double-ended 3.5mm audio cable but with a twist. It has an extra 3.5mm jack into which you can connect another pair of headphones/earphones or speakers, meaning more than one person can listen to the same feed at the same time. In theory you could even have the SharePlay cable connected to one ear cup (with headphones connected to its extra port) and another pair of headphones connected to the other ear cup, so up to three people could listen to the same feed without speakers (or so I’ve read, I haven’t tried this out!).
These headphones are of the over-ear type and V-MODA opted for passive noise cancelling, so no need to charge a battery. The earphones themselves feel well cushioned on my head and are tight enough that they won’t slip off if I move my head around. I’ve read some people with larger heads/ears report that the headphones feel too small as they don’t quite fully cover the ears, and that they also pinch a bit too hard and get uncomfortable after prolonged usage. These are not problems I’ve faced as I have both smaller ears and a smaller head, although after a while it does get quite warm inside. The headband adjustment is very easy, you just pull/push the band until it sits just right on your head. It clicks into different notches as you go so you get an idea of how much you're adjusting it by.
Now onto the sound quality (or at least how I perceive it). I find the headphones have a good amount of bass with almost no distortion even if you pump the volume up really high, which I’ve tested both on my smartphone and my desktop PC (some might argue it’s too bass-heavy). The mid and treble also sound decent enough for me to pick out vocals or other instruments (I mostly listen to rap/hip-hop but occasionally I listen to other genres). My music collection contains a mixture of MP3 and FLAC files (I prefer FLAC files if possible) and both sound just fine for my tastes (unless it’s a really bad MP3 file, obviously!). As aforementioned I’m not an audiophile so I can’t really comment in great detail on the more technical terms/details of the audio itself such as the “sound stage” or “burn in”, this is just how I feel about it (such reviews seem to be subjective anyway).
Available for separate purchase; you can also get a BoomPro Microphone cable, which can turn your headphones into a headset for voice capture (e.g. Skype calls, gaming chat, general voice recording, etc). The microphone itself is on an adjustable gooseneck so you can position the microphone in just the right place, and it has an inline volume adjustment dial and mute switch with a clip on the back. This cable is also bundled with a splitter cable for devices which cannot accept the 4-pin 3.5mm jack (e.g. some desktop/laptop PC soundcards), which splits the 4-pin jack connector into separate 3-pin jacks for line-in [microphone] and line-out [headphones]. There is also a CoilPro cable which is basically a coiled cable that can stretch up to 12’ (365cm) and is usually used in a professional setting such as a recording booth, as well as replacement/extra-large ear cup cushions and a stainless steel headphone stand among other things.
On the whole I find these to be quite balanced headphones sound-wise with great attention to detail in the build quality and styling, and I’m confident these will last for a long time. Yes these might be too expensive for some people's budget, but if you can stretch to it you can't go far wrong with them.
