Review: v-moda faze

review by Bill Palmer

In a year where many iPhone accessory vendors have looked to adapt their signature products for significantly lower prices, v-moda’s new “faze” is essentially an attempt to recast its popular $119 vibe ii iPhone earbuds at a surprisingly inexpensive $49 price point.



The faze sports a styling more similar to the original vibe than the vibe ii, perhaps in an attempt to keep “this year’s look” limited to just the more expensive model. But looks aside, the faze sports largely the same characteristics of the vibe ii: a bassline that’s a little more prominent and a lot clearer-sounding than most other earbuds, along with mid and treble ranges that more than hold their own. Does the faze sound nearly as good as the vibe ii overall? Nope, not even close – but you knew that as soon as you looked at the price points.



The more relevant comparison for the faze is how it stacks up against other $49 iPhone earbuds on the market. The Macally HifiTune is a little cleaner in the mid and higher ranges; the Radius AtomicBass offers a ridiculous amount of bass for those who want that sort of thing; the iFrogz Timbre offers a more natural sound overall. But the faze bests them all in terms of clarity of bass, and is likely the best option for those who like bass but don’t want an outside-the-mainstream amount of bass. Users who most often listen to acoustic guitar are probably best off going with other earbuds with different strengths. The nice thing about the $49 iPhone earbud price point is that there are a number of very strong options, meaning you can be picky based on your specific preferences.



Bottom line with the faze is that it’s essentially a $49 scaled down version of v-moda’s own vibe ii, no match for the vibe ii of course but really well done for its price – which is great news for those users who’ve always liked the vibe ii but couldn’t afford to plunk down the $119. Only available through Best Buy, oddly enough.

Learn more about the v-moda vibe ii at v-moda.com.