{"id":339779,"date":"2017-05-02T05:12:43","date_gmt":"2017-05-01T21:12:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1480659"},"modified":"2017-05-02T05:12:43","modified_gmt":"2017-05-01T21:12:43","slug":"v-modas-crossfire-ii-are-the-all-around-headphones-i-didnt-know-id-like-with-a-catch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/v-modas-crossfire-ii-are-the-all-around-headphones-i-didnt-know-id-like-with-a-catch\/","title":{"rendered":"V-Moda\u2019s Crossfire II are the all-around headphones I didn\u2019t know I\u2019d like\u2026 with a catch"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

V-Moda has been making audio hardware\u00a0since 2004, but the Crossfire II is only their second over-ear Bluetooth pair. It maintains the staple traits of V-Moda audio gear: nice\u00a0build quality, hexagonal ear cup design and a balanced, but deep and powerful sound profile.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s also\u00a0weird: The black version\u00a0seen here doesn\u2019t support aptX \u2014 only the rose-gold version does. A quick refresher for you: aptX is a codec that significantly improves wireless sound quality, to the point where some picky audiophiles might choose hardware with it over that without it.<\/p>\n

In short, V-Moda might have a deal breaker, something more than a catch, which\u00a0rests\u00a0entirely on which color you choose.\"\"<\/p>\n

That is nuts.<\/p>\n

Listening in\u2026<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not very often that I can say I\u2019m 90 percent satisfied with a headphone\u2019s sound profile. Some<\/em> of my benchmark songs included Kanye West\u2019s \u201cEverything I Am,\u201d Calvin Harris with \u201cHeatstroke,\u201d Frank Sinatra\u2019s \u201cYoung at Heart\u201d and, last but not least, the dimension-altering orchestral \u201cFrom Past to Present\u201d by Jeremy Soule, from\u00a0the old\u00a0Skyrim<\/em> soundtrack.<\/p>\n

Throughout all of those songs, with an attentive\u00a0pair of\u00a0ears, you can pick apart the melody or beat from the vocals. It\u2019s more a feeling than understanding the layers of sound and just letting it play through \u2014 it feels incredible.<\/p>\n

Bass is deep and rich but easily discernible from raspy to high-pitched vocals. The mids are present throughout an entire track, but never take front stage, which is personally how I prefer to listen to music. It\u2019s worth noting that even though the Crossfire II is a pricey bit of hardware, it doesn\u2019t include noise-cancellation, which does have a slight impact on sound quality.<\/p>\n

Regarding design: High build quality isn\u2019t indicative\u00a0of something beautiful. Neither is the V-Moda\u2019s $330 price. That is to say, the Crossfire II isn\u2019t as elegant a piece of\u00a0hardware as Bang & Olufsen, harmon\/kardon, Master & Dynamic or Beyerdynamic have put out in recent years \u2014 you get the idea.<\/p>\n

Although\u2026 you can remove the plates on the ear cups and buy replacements in a variety of colors and patterns, meaning that these headphones are customizable. In an odd way, this makes up for the lack of aesthetically pleasing design.<\/p>\n

However, I give V-Moda full credit for the Crossfire II\u2019s portability; folding them up and throwing them into the carrying case shrinks their footprint considerably. Similarly, I have to applaud V-Moda\u2019s decision to stick with physical and dedicated play\/pause and volume up\/down keys. Touch-sensitive controls on headphones are still hit-and-miss, so it makes sense they went with what actually works.<\/p>\n

Now, if you\u2019re like me, you never recharge your headphones until they die on you. In the Crossfire II\u2019s case, this is often around the 13-hour mark, which is close to V-Moda\u2019s suggested 14+ hours, but is also shorter than the 20-hour mark I\u2019ve been seeing in similarly specced over-ear headphones.<\/p>\n

Bottom line<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In the end, you get everything you need: a banging pair of headphones, a carry case with carabiner, charging cable and a hi-res 3.5 mm audio cable . After all, no matter how incredible or expensive a pair of headphones can be, good listening habits or sound production talents\u00a0are not included.<\/p>\n

While the V-Moda\u2019s audio prowess is strong, consistent and fitting\u00a0for music production, listening and gaming, a small part of me feels that getting the non-aptX version (for the same cost) is making a mistake; much\u00a0like\u00a0restricting aptX to the rose-gold version.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I\u2019d invest\u00a0in an all-around solid pair of headphones, sort of like these. I just hope you like rose gold<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Price as reviewed:<\/em> $330 at V-Moda\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\" V-Moda has been making audio hardware since 2004, but the Crossfire II is only their second over-ear Bluetooth pair. Read More<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"\/ <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5817,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[59,66,26],"class_list":["post-339779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-media","tag-techcrunch","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5817"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339779\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}