What a terrible time to release “luxury headphones,” but such is V-Moda’s luck. Its Vibe II headphones are one of those noise isolating deals—that is, the headphones block out external sound (using a fancy silicone that the company calls Bass Level Isolating Soft Silicone, or BLISS) but don’t cancel out noise, if that makes any sense. They’ll only be available at Apple retail stores as well as Apple.com and V Moda’s Web site.
That out of the way, what’s the deal with them? V-Moda swears up and down that they’re stylish, sophisticated, etc. (When they’re in your ear, though, who really notices what your headphones look like?) V-Moda also promises, as you might guess, halfway decent sound, stimulating your ear drum with the aid of its 8mm V-Masque driver.
Now, to be fair, $128 for the Vibe IIs, yes, is more than your average pair of Wal-Mart earbuds, but I once paid $250 for a pair of earbuds two years ago (that subsequently broke). How wise it is to spend $100+ on earbuds in this environment is your call. Smoke ’em if you got ’em, I suppose.