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View Full Version : First hand experience: V-Moda Vibe vs. Bose


Seismo
01-22-2008, 02:04 AM
I ordered a pair of V-Moda Vibe's from Amazon a couple weeks ago. They weren't in stock so I waited a bit but received them this past friday. I was impressed but wasn't sure I had made the right decision, as I didn't have much of frame of reference, having never paid more the ten bucks for a pair of earbuds.
Well, there's a Bose outlet near me so I went to the store today with my iPod and vibes and asked to try out a pair on my iPod. They were very kind and grabbed a pair and a y-splitter so I could compare the two.
I first tried the Bose and set the volume to a comfortable level.
I chose Jeffrey Gaine's self-titled album because it has nice acoustics with an equally nice bass guitar.
It was alright...bass was okay but nothing spectacular.
I paused, slipped in the Vibes, hit play and just about blew my eardrums out. I can't believe how much louder the Vibes were than the Bose. I had to reduce the volume... a lot...to get comfortable. The sound stage was so much better. The bass was so much nicer ( I use the "more bass" EQ setting). I asked the Bose rep if she wanted to listen. She did and I think she was equally impressed. She even wrote the V-moda vibe name down to make sure she had it right.

Long story short - for the $70 I paid for these, I'm very happy. I haven't tried any other higher-end in-ear phones like Shure or Entymotics but the difference between the V-moda Vibes and the Bose was just night and day.

I'm sold on the Vibes now.

I've seen other postings saying that the wires don't seem that durable. I can definitely relate to that, as that was my first thought when I got them out of the package. Hopefully the build quality will hold up but the sound quality is just what I was looking for.

anypats
01-22-2008, 03:12 AM
I have tried both as well and the only reason I ended up going with the Bose is that with the V-moda Vibes I would get ear fatigue after only about 10 minutes or so. I can have the Bose in for hours without any problems. If I had the Vibes in for more than about 20 minutes my ears would hurt like crazy. I tried all of the tips and just could not find one that was at all comfortable.

KG GT500
01-24-2008, 12:55 PM
I too use Bose In-Ears, and you are quite right. They are very comfortable.

Your first mistake is using the EQ at all. The presets suck.

To each his own I suppose...

captainnewbie
01-25-2008, 09:28 AM
you should try the metro.fi 2's. great bass and bullet proof build quality. i couldn't get the bose to stay in my ears long enough to form an opinion on them. they just kept on slipping out.

the v-moda's i tested had build quality problems, and gave up the ghost a few weeks later.

hands up i've not tried the bose with the new ear buds, but i'm still in love with my metro.fi's