Before the last post of the year, I wanted to leave you with some nicer headphones to look/think about. Forget the under $30 stuff, this is serious. For my next pair of nicer headphones, I have up the V-Moda Crossfade LPs. With an MSRP of $199.99 but a going price closer to $100, these are by no means super expensive. However, that doesn't mean they aren't good or nice; and yes those are two different things as I'll explain. This is going to be a long post, so I'm just going to say that these are closed back headphones like the ATH M50s and stay with that for form. Since these are nicer headphones, I'll go a bit more in depth with the
sound and go into a bit of what kinds of songs I like listening to to
test out new headphones, as such this post will also double as a multiple Top Tracks post.
As always let's begin with accessories. Normally, I'd say something like, these headphones come with a quarter inch plug. Maybe I'd compare it to some other pair of headphones I own. But really, these headphones come with a lot of stuff. Like, I'm gonna just leave this link here to show you. Sorry about the blurry images, unfortunately I don't have the steadiest hands while taking pictures. Also, my camera's pretty old at this point and my phone can't do too much better. Maybe I'll retake them when/if I get some better camera gear. If you can't tell what the V-Moda Crossfade LPs come with I'll walk you through it. First off, you have a pretty nice box, complete with a button clasp which is pretty snazzy. The headphones are held in a plastic hardshell case which is pretty sturdy and fits everything really well. Inside the case you have the headphones themselves along with 2 detachable cables. One of the cables has a built in 3 button remote. It also comes with a small carabiner and a quarter inch plug. Also, all the ties and the holding pieces for the cables are secured with Velcro which I really enjoy. All said and done the accessories are very nice and there are quite a few of them.
Comfort wise they're quite nice. Apparently the pads are memory foam, but all I can tell is that they feel pretty comfortable and the size is pretty decent for over ear headphones. The cups are large enough to fit my ears and deep enough that there is no weird rubbing. The headband is pretty comfortable and doesn't put a lot of pressure on the top of the head. Also the adjusting for the headband makes a nice and satisfying audible click which is always a plus for me. The one thing I don't like about them comfort and form wise is that they don't fold up which isn't necessarily a big deal.
Moving onto sound, they're really quite good. At first I found them a bit muddy and bassy, but after a bit they tightened up and cleaned up quite well. At first, they also had a bit of a more claustrophobic sound stage, very similar to the RP DJS400s I just reviewed. Since then, they've opened up, allowing the bass to get attenuated a bit and bring out the highs and mids more. Speaking of highs, they're present but not sharp like my ATH M50s. I do find myself wanting to hear them a bit more, but overall they're pretty nice. Overall after the burn in, I would call the sound very warm, with a soothing and smooth bass with mids that blend well and highs that are a bit lacking yet very in place with the rest of the sound.
To test headphones, I like to try out a bunch of different kinds of songs to see what they really excel at. The first kind of track I like to use is one with a very striking vocal track and really clear instruments. Recently, I've been a big fan of the track House on Fire ft Laura Ellis from the soundtrack to the game Contrast. The track is really useful for understanding the sound stage of your headphones. For example, my Crossfade LPs have an upfront close and somewhat small sound stage which makes the track sound very warm, especially with the bass coming up, it very much sounds like it would in a film noir kind of setting. However, my ATH-M50s have a much wider sound stage which leads to a bit drier of a sound. That's not bad though, since it makes the singer sound more a part of a band than just part of the band's texture. One of the big reasons I like this track so much is because the vocals are incredibly electric. If you don't find yourself getting chills from the vocals and the trumpets, you're missing out. Furthermore the track has incredibly distinct lows, mids and highs so it's easy to isolate and listen to each one separately. I didn't have this track when doing the reviews on my HA-RX900s or my ATH-M50s, but listening to it now, it's really evident to me where each of the 3 headphones shines and where each of them suffers. The ATH-M50s have really, really clear and bright highs (listen to the upper register of the piano/trumpets) which just don't exist on either the Crossfade LPs or the HA-RX900s while the Crossfade LPs and the HA-RX900s have more present and upfront bass.
Next, I like to listen to a track that has a denser more bassy texture. For this, electronic music does quite well. One of the tracks I really like to use is Thatha Lie by Calla Soiled. As a track it has a very dense, but uncomplicated bass section and seemingly vacant but actually quite interesting and vibrant highs. Also, the track makes really strong use of left right stereo, at one point going completely to the sides and leaving a large gaping hole in the center of the sound which is unsettling yet extremely interesting. The idea with a track like this is once again to understand the sound stage, as well as how clear the bass is. While the highs are interesting and what you're probably following while listening, the bass is incredibly strong and any headphones that don't reproduce that raw strength are lacking in the bass department. Here personally is where I find that I enjoy the Crossfade LPs' sound more than my ATH M50s' sound. While my M50s have a very clear upper end, the bottom blurs when it's as strong as it is in a track like this. The Crossfade LPs have a smaller sound stage but the bottom end doesn't blur as strongly and leads to a clearer overall listening experience.
Since this post's already way longer than usual and longer than I intended I'm just gonna give one more example and be done. So my last example is one with a lot of different textures. This is mainly so I can gauge again sound stage, as well as how it handles both sparse and dense textures. For this type of thing, I've gotten somewhat used to listening to Touch by Daft Punk off their most recent album Random Access Memories. Since it just overall goes into so many different styles and uses so many different instruments and samples, it makes for a great track to get a feel for how many different kinds of things might sound. To me, I like the ATH M50s more for this song. They're clearer and I get a wider and more vacuous space which I feel really works wonders for the drier parts of the song where there's only the vocal going.
Anyways, I know that it seems like this became a heads up battle between my ATH M50s and my Crossfade LPs. However, I feel like only my HA-RX900s can compare to these two in sound. With both the ATH M50s and the Crossfade LPs gunning at the right around $100 mark, it's natural to compare the two, the ATH M50s are going for just over $100 right now on Amazon, btw. So what have I concluded? They're both really good headphones. I really like the accessories of the Crossfade LPs (it makes them nice), as well as the detachable cables. Sound wise I am more partial towards the ATH M50s than the Crossfade LPs. However, I will say that the Crossfade LPs have good sound and in my opinion look nicer (which makes them good). Really you can't go too far wrong with either of them at $100 and it really comes down to what you value in your headphones. For reference, I'll give the ATH M50s a 9-10 out of 10, you could say that the highs are a bit too forward and the bass is a bit too muddy, but well...that's why it could be a 9, also fuck you. The Crossfade LPs I'll give a 8.5-9.25 since overall the sound just isn't quite as crisp as the ATH M50s. I'd give my HA-RX900s an 8.25-9.5 since the sound is still great but the price is just so much lower. Another tidbit, my Crossfade LPs smell like leather, which is pretty sweet for a pair of headphones.
I hope you enjoyed this really long post. There's one more for the year and it'll probably be an 'in review of 2013' kind of post but who knows maybe it'll be another pair of headphones. With that, until next time.
*Edit* These have a new model which apparently sounds better than these so take this review with a grain of salt when choosing. Also all ratings are up to date on the headphones page on the side bar.
--CsMiREK
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