V-Moda Crossfade 2 Wireless - Review 2022

At $330, the V-Moda Crossfade ii Wireless headphones are among the pricier pairs we've tested recently. There's plenty of competition in this price range, but much of information technology includes noise cancellation, while the Crossfade ii Wireless is a regular pair. This makes the cost seem a tad high, but the Bluetooth headphone deliver a solid audio experience with rich bass and bright, shimmering highs. The fit is exceptionally comfortable as well, even over long listening sessions, and the pattern is certainly unique.

Design

No one will accuse V-Moda of designing tedious headphones. Available in matte black, matte white, or blackness-and-rose-gilt, the circumaural (over-ear) earcups are rounded hexagons, with exceedingly generous memory cushioning that completely seals off the ear. This too ends upward blocking out some ambient room noise passively. The underside of the headband is also nicely cushioned, and the overall fit is quite secure and comfortable.

Clothbound cabling connects the earcups through the headband, and tiny screws agree the outer earcup plates in place. Each plate has three five-shaped vents, and the overall look feels modern and retro at once. The outer panel of each earcup tin too be removed and replaced with a variety of designs, available for more than money from Five-Moda. (You can besides upload your own blueprint.) Inside each earcup, 50mm dual diaphragm drivers evangelize the sound.

A power/pairing switch on the right earcup is located near the bottom of the outer panel, and a multifunction button is situated up top, along with plus/minus buttons for adjusting book. The multifunction button operates playback, call management, and, with multiple taps, track navigation. These controls work fine for all functions, but it tin can be a piddling difficult to tap the multifunction button multiple times for track navigation, equally the button is a piffling stiff.

The included micro-USB charging cable connects to a port on the bottom of the left earcup. A clothbound audio cablevision connects to a jack on the lower portion of the correct earcup, and includes a mentum-level in-line microphone and a trunk-level in-line remote control compartment of the single-button variety—it can command playback, call management, and track navigation, but not volume. The cablevision allows you to apply the headphones passively and preserve battery life—connecting them automatically disables the paired Bluetooth connection and switches the battery off. Unplug the cable and the headphones volition automatically re-pair—a prissy feature, but beware if you're thinking the headphones are fully off, as removing the cablevision turns them back on.

The cablevision mic offers above-average intelligibility. Using the Phonation Memos app on an iPhone 6s, we could understand every word recorded—the recordings weren't crystal articulate, merely they did have a nice amount of low frequency presence to them. The Bluetooth mic delivers boilerplate audio quality—fuzzy, but at least with good volume. Whoever y'all're calling volition understand you regardless of whether you use the cablevision's mic or the wireless option.

In addition to the aforementioned charging cable and audio cable, the headphones transport with a hardshell zero-upwards case (the earcups fold in toward the headband to fit inside the example), a carabiner (for the case), and a quarter-inch headphone jack adapter.

V-Moda estimates bombardment life to exist roughly 14 hours, just your results will vary with your volume levels.

Functioning

The departure between wireless and wired listening modes is negligible—V-Moda has done a solid chore with ensuring both modes take similar power, bass depth, and high frequency clarity. On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife'southward "Silent Shout," the headphones deliver ideal depression frequency response—at top volumes, there'due south no distortion, and at moderate volumes, you hear plenty of deep bass, but information technology's also balanced out well with crisp highs.

Neb Callahan's "Drover," a track with far less deep bass in the mix, tells us more almost the sound signature. The drums on this rails can often sound overly thunderous on bass-boosted headphones, only here, they sound wonderful—circular and vibrant, merely never too booming. Callahan'southward baritone vocals also benefit from some graceful low-mid richness paired with loftier-mid treble edge, while the guitar strums and college annals percussive hits are delivered with ideal brightness and clarity. At that place's surely a niggling sculpting and boosting happening here—the lows are propped up a bit, and the highs take a little extra shimmer—but it sounds great, and works across all genres.

On Jay-Z and Kanye Due west's "No Church in the Wild," the kick pulsate loop receives slightly less loftier-mid presence than nosotros're used to hearing—instead, information technology seems to be pumped up a scrap more than usual in the lows and low-mids, only it'due south a solid audio nevertheless. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with strong depression frequency presence, only nothing similar you hear on truly bass-heavy headphones. The vocals on this rail are delivered with solid clarity and no hint of added sibilance. Perhaps it could benefit from a hair more high-mid presence, only nothing about it ever sounds muddy.

Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, are probably too additional in the lows and low-mids for most purists, but the resulting audio isn't offensive, it's just an exaggerated sound signature. The lower register instrumentation jumps forwards in the mix considerably, merely the spotlight still belongs to the bright high register brass, strings, and vocals.

Conclusions

Audiophiles in search of flat response headphones will find the lows also pumped and the sculpting in the highs perhaps a tad too bright here, but well-nigh listeners will welcome this vibrant, balanced audio signature. The only question is: Do the Crossfade 2 Wireless audio like $330 headphones?

We've heard excellent wireless audio from the B&O Beoplay H4, Bowers & Wilkins P7 Wireless, and Bowers & Wilkins P5 Wireless, and at that place's ever the noise-canceling route with the Bose QuietComfort 35 II. All of these models are similarly priced or more affordable. Only the Crossfade 2 Wireless headphones are well-congenital, comfortable, stylish, and evangelize heady audio, so when nosotros say they're expensive, we're not talking about highway robbery. If the look appeals to you lot, the sound won't disappoint.

Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/review/19932/v-moda-crossfade-2-wireless

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