V-MODACrossfade LP Over-the-Ear Headphones (Gunmetal Black)

UPDATE 12.30.2013There is a substantial improvement in sound once the V-MODA Crossfade LP's have been broken in. I was able to compare a brand new set that I gave to my brother for Christmas, and my set which I had broken in by playing continuous music for 24 hours for 7 days, and multiple hours of daily listening afterwards. Side by side comparison playing the same music with the same settings revealed a noticeable difference. My broken in set sounded much more balanced. I still think they both sounded amazing but the V-MODA Crossfade LP's definitely open up with time.SIDE NOTEI definitely recommend purchasing a headphone amp if you really want to unlock the full potential of the V-MODA Crossfade LP's. I purchased the FiiO E11 after reading several reviews here on amazon, and watching a V-MODA Crossfade LP product review on YouTube that also suggested getting it. Once you listen to V-MODA Crossfade LP's thru a headphone amp you won't listen to them without it if possible. The difference in sound is night and day. Everything sounds fuller, and richer. The mids, and highs really start to shine, and the bass is crazy amazing. I've listened to several YouTube Bass test videos, and the V-MODA Crossfade LP's will produce bass like your a high end car stereo with 15 inch subs. I've never heard a headphone produce bass like this! The V-MODA Crossfade LP's will literally shake your head with the Fiio E11, and there will be zero distortion! I don't recommend listening to anything at such high volume, however the V-MODA Crossfade LP's with the FiiO E11 is a knock out punch that will impress everyone you let listen to them.I grabbed the V-MODA Crossfade LP's on a Amazon lighting deal, and I'm overall impressed with them! I had been looking for a nice replacement for my old, and tired Sony MDR-V6 headphones. I used to DJ, and still play guitar, and bass guitar, and my over 10 year old MDR-V6's have been great headphones, but the cord gets on my nerves, tangling around just about anything near it. I also just recently replaced the cups on the V6's, and they've become quite uncomfortable to wear for extended periods of time. I also have a set of Ultimate Ear Pro Ear buds too which sound great, but just don't produce the sound of an over the ear headphone. That being said those are my comparison headphones that I've actually owned.The V-MODA Crossfade LP's sound great right out of the box with no break in or EQ enhancements. They are meaty in the lower end which other reviews mention, but I don't feel it overpowers the other registers at all. You need to make sure how you plug the cord into the headphones because that makes a difference in the sound. The cable is clearly tagged which end goes where. People plugging the cable in the wrong way might be the reason of reports of echo sounding or weak sounding headphones.I'm currently listening to the Alterbridge Fortress record at 320Kbps thru my Samasung Galaxy Note 2 with the Player Pro app flat no EQ enhancements as I'm writing this product review, and the sound is amazing! I tend to like a more bottom end sound so that might be a factor with me liking the LP's too. I've listened to everything from Mastodon to DJ Markus Schultz, so I obviously listen to a wide array of music, and the LP's sound great throughout. I'm not an audiophile, but I do have a pretty good ear, and feel that these are a great pair of cans for the money. I haven't hooked these up to any of my guitar rigs yet, but I have no doubt that they will serve well in that department too.Comparing these to my 10+ year old beat to death V6's really isn't fair as they have served me well, and honestly still do. However the sound from the LP's is just so much better, they are so much more comfortable too. I doubt I will be wearing the V6's anytime soon. Right out of the box the sound was noticeably better with the LP's. The LP's produced louder, better cleaner sound at the exact same volume settings as the V6's too.There's lots of chatter about break in with these, while I'm sure there's some truth to burn in or break in, I haven't noticed much difference if any at all over the past 24 hours of use. The LP's just sound great to my ears, and took zero effort to get used to.Pros:1.) Packaging, and the carry case is what you see, and expect from a much more expensive sets of headphones.2.) Over all build quality is very nice. These should last a long time.3.) Extremely comfortable4.) Sound is pretty much unbeatable at the price point, and at 70 bucks for get about it.5.) The LP's look great. I'm not flashy, and play black and silver guitars, and went with the gun metal color that compliments everything well without screaming hey look at me like some of the other colors offered.6.) Price, zero regrets getting these. I've listened to all the major brands, Beats(making Dr. Dre rich selling overpriced headphones) Bose, Sony etc which all cost double or triple what the LP's cost, and for the money the LP's can't be beat.7.) Last but not least is the cord. I love the Kevlar cord! No more tangles, and I'm sure this cord will last for a very long time too!Cons:1.) They are bulky to carry and store because they don't fold up. Not a deal breaker but should be taken into consideration depending on intended use.2.) Sound might not suite everyone's taste however I feel the LP's are quite versatile for a wide range of music.3.) Sound leakage. These are not the worst or the best headphones for sound leakage, however unless you're deaf or choose to listen to music at painful volumes leakage won't be an issue.4.) Side plates are finger print magnets, even my gun metal grey color shows prints. The other color offerings especially the chrome ones will show finger prints like crazy.If you can get these at $70 like I did I would highly recommend grabbing a set, even at $115 I feel the LP's are a good buy.

Any time I'm on my Mac, I'm listening to music or watching youtube videos or a movie. I'm not trying for a career in music. I just love listening to music. For a while now, and lately (partially after watching "Pitch Perfect" and trying to be like Anna Kendrick's character with her pro headphones) I've been wanting a good pair of headphones that:- are on the ear or over the ear (circumaural)- comfortable to wear for more than 1.5 hours (the average length of one movie)- aesthetically pleasing (monitor/vintage pro looking)- durable (not cheap plastic), matte finish- have a detachable cord- with an in-line mic and play/pause buttons- mesh headband (that feel like the padded straps of a jansport school backpack)- either foldable or with travel case- sound amazing on all across the board (film scores, pop/rock, dubstep/hip-hop/rap, classical music, mozart/beethoven, electronic dance music, country)- semi or full noise-canceling (would use eventually for air travel)- doesn't leak sound to the people around me- price range: $60 - $200Yes, I'm picky. Lol. And after weeks and countless hours of researching the "best" headphones, I came across the V-Moda Crossfade LPs and it just so happened to have ALL i'm looking for in a headphone!! Plus it doesn't have the one cord with the play/pause/volume controls, it comes with two!! One for audio only and one with the controls! AND the "3D sound stage," noise-isolating feature is a new thing i've come to love! I cannot believe that to this day how amazing and sexy these headphones are. Even the box is sexy. Haha! I love the fitted hard case; i KNOW my headphones will be safe in it. It's been about a month since I've had them and they're always on my ears. Super comfortable. Amazing sound (except on pirated music or music ripped from youtube videos using sketchy programs). You hear people bashing how the bass is too loud and how guitar-oriented music doesn't sound too great, but really it's all in your preference. To me, every legitly purchased music on iTunes or Spotify sounds pretty amazing. Let me just say that back In high-school, every day is a new stress or embarrassment (all teens can relate) and music was my one outlet to take me anywhere but here. The Crossfades brought back that feeling. They're not made to be noise canceling, but inadvertently it does cancel out most of the outside noise and I'm once again, "anywhere, but here." I guess that's why I love them so much.That's pretty the end of my "i love these headphones so much it hurts" part of the review so you can stop reading here if you want, cuz now I'm gonna talk about what has happened since I opened the box on Dec 23, 2012.So right out the box, everyone says the sound is crappy. But after a burn-in sesh, it'll sound SO much better. Some say burn in is 24 hours, some say 100 hours.. i don't really know. This is my first time hearing that I need to "burn-in" a pair of headphones. I guess once you break the $100 range in headphones, you need to take special care. The first three nights I played music all thru the night using my Spotify account. I had every genre in the playlist. And honestly, I can't tell the difference. To me, it sounded great right out the box and it still sounds great hereafter. I guess switching from earbuds to over-the-ear headphones will do that to you. And after testing the different genres of music, I wanted to know if I can sit through an entire movie (at about 1.5 hours), not have my ears hurting, and be blown away by the sound all at the same time. And success! My ears didn't hurt after watching "The Amazing Spider Man." Also with the movie trailers for Man of Steel, Star Trek Into the Darkness, Twilight Breaking Dawn Pt 2, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 2, the action scenes shook my ears. This is where the bass shined. All the explosions made me feel like I was in the theater! Yeah, that sounds a bit exaggerated but i don't care how it sounds, that's what I felt. (again it may be due to the transition from earbuds to over the ear headphones).Like I said, these headphones aren't noise-canceling, but when I sat in the car with my fam, I could still hear them yelling. Well, then again it didn't help that they were sitting right next to me. When I studied at Panera Bread, during the lunch rush, I forgot people were there. The sound drowned out the noise. And I love that they drown out noise because I'm currently studying for my state boards and the house can get kind of loud when every one is home. But when I put on my music, nothing is heard outside the room. I love these headphones (; there i said it!When it comes to music, these headphones were made for dustup, EDMs, and club music. I think they were "Made by DJs for DJs," but I found that all genre sounds great to me. Again, if the music was legit (bought from iTunes or imported from CDs). Don't judge my taste in music, but with Demi Lovato's album Unbroken, um her music is amazing to begin with, but I had to boost the treble with almost all her songs from that album to sound better. Which I don't mind at all. Another song I wanted to test were my "rock out" songs. Specifically, "Tears Don't Fall" by Bullet For My Valentine and "Welcome Home" by Coheed and Cambria. Listening to the acoustic version of "Titanium" by Boyce Avenue, it sounds okay to me. But I noticed in "Welcome Home," the guitars are drowned out by the bass at about 0:16 into the song. Then there's "Tears Don't Fall" sounding so bang-worthy. Which brings me to another point, head-banging and dancing crazy doesn't knock the headphones off my head. Any club remix sounds amazing; i mean cuz that's what these were made for. Currently I love listening to the "Good Time" remix by Carly Rae-Jepsen and Owl City; "Scream" remix by Usher; and "Til The World Ends" by Britney Spears, Nicki Minaj, and Ke$ha. When it comes to film scores, it just like what I hear from watching movies. The bass really shines. "The Battle" from the Chronicles of Narnia soundtrack gave me goosebumps. The last place I got goosebumps from that film score was in my new 2012 Camry, but that's another review lol.The only thing that scares me, worries me, or what i don't like are the soft pads. They're super soft but too soft to where it made me think what if they're firm now and over time, will they become worn? I guess only time will tell. Plus i think the pads are replaceable. Another issue was that maybe it was because I couldn't wait to get these on my head, I had the Crossfades on my head every second I was awake since I got them. This was on the 5th day of having the Crossfades that I got a headache and had to stop wearing them for a bit. I think it was equivalent to wearing them 2 days straight as to why i got a headache. But now I've learned my lesson to have breaks after 3 hours lol.An irritating, yet minor issue is that when sitting on the left side of an SUV or van, the seatbelt rubs against the cord which echoes throughout the left earpiece. So basically I just have to sit on the right side of the from now on.Another comfort issue is I wear glasses but I don't like to wear them with my headphones. It's a comfort preference. Plus i was scared that the things from my glasses would leave a crease in the ear pads. I don't really know that for sure, but it's probably just me. I'll wear my contacts just to listen to my headphones. Oh, and i can't wear earrings with these headphones. It really does go "over-my-ear" and rests on my head. By the way, I'm a smallish person (4' 11"), so having small ears isn't a problem. But with bigger ears, I hear that it hurts after about 2 hours of use. Sorry....When I wore these while eating, I found that eating small foods is fine, but full-on chewing a heavy meal, my jaw started to hurt.I've already pulled the cord out of the headphones twice. it scared me to death but it didn't affect the sound, thankfully!I also found that my ears do get hot. I didn't notice it at first but now that it's winter, my ears were nice and warm; a little moist at one point when i turned on the space heater, but not like dripping with sweat. To fix this problem, I just took them off for a while and got right back into listening to more music.Despite the minor issues, there are more good things to love about these headphones! However I can't say compare it to Beats (because my Beats are knock-offs Haha), I will say that it's a big difference from earbuds. You won't be disappointed!