Moshi Audio Vortex Pro Earbuds Review

Vortex Pro Design and Build Quality

You have likely seen Moshi Audio products. You may think you've never heard of them before, but I can pretty much guarantee that you've at least seen their offerings. The make chargers for your iDevices, screen protectors, keyboards, adapters, and much more. Of course, they also make headphones. More specifically, they make earbuds. Their most recent offering is the Vortex Pro earbud. Based on the highly successful Vortex design, the Vortex Pro seek to upgrade the sonic performance as well as the compatibility with iDevices (see our Moshi Clarus Headphones Video Review here).

The Moshi Vortex Pro headphones have a number of unique and interesting things going for them. First, they offer not only the normal silicone-tipped ear pieces, but also a set of memory-foam tips. The memory-foam tips are just like the earplugs you may have used over the years. It requires you to squeeze the tip to compress it, stick it in, and hold it in place while the foam expands. This creates a tight but comfortable fit. It is great for noise isolation as well. The silicone tips come in small, medium, and large sizes and are, in my experience, at least as comfortable as other silicone tips. They are not at all firm, which makes the connection to your head one more of suction as the silicone grabs the walls of your ear canal rather than through compression (by shoving them in there). I found the silicone tips on the Moshi Vortex Pro to be much more comfortable than the Sony XBA-1iP In-Ear headphones I recently reviewed.

The Vortex Pro headphones have an unusual pyramidal shape and are quite heavy. This conveys a feeling of quality and sturdiness that other earbuds just don't provide. The enclosures are constructed out of steel alloy with a brushed finish on the sides and a mirrored one on the end (with the Moshi name engraved on them). There is an R and L to indicate the proper ear, but this is also (cleverly I thought) indicated by the color of the silicone. There is a red and white of each size (red is intended for the right). On top of this, the control unit and mic is attached to the right ear. With all these reminders, there is no reason to put the headphones in reversed.

The cable, rather than having a rubber coating, has a braided cover. This gives the cable a feeling of cloth rather than one of a high tech device. It is a grey color and supple to the touch. Where the cord splits into two, there is polished steel (or plastic, it was hard to tell) cover with a rubber tip. The tip slid forward to reveal that the inside was completely sealed against the elements, a nice touch. The 3.5mm plug at the end was also covered in a polished steel cylinder. The control panel, on the right earbud cable, was black plastic with soft rubber controls (volume up and down plus a center "control" button).

Build Quality

If you haven't gotten the impression that the build quality was high on the Moshi Vortex Pro... well, I'd suggest reading this review again. All that steel and attention to detail conveyed a sense of quality, durability, and outright care by Moshi as to how their product looks and performs. There was very little I didn't like about the Moshi Vortex Pro as I removed them from the box. The pyramidal shape and heft was very cool, the braided cord was unique and interesting, and the steel accents on the cable complimented the overall design well. There is no one that will see you with these earbuds that will mistake them for another. They scream "unique" and, to me at least, "high end".

The only problems I had with the earbuds as far as build quality were the memory-foam tips. I installed them and used them for a while and then decided to switch back to the silicone. When I did, the memory-foam on one of the tips ripped completely off the part that holds it onto the Vortex Pro earphone. My guess was that this particular one wasn't glued together properly. While I could still use the memory-foam tip (if I was careful), I didn't want to for worry that the foam might be left behind in my ear when I removed the earbud. Turns out Moshi was aware of the problem and already has a fix in the works as well as customer support for existing users:

We've identified that there is an issue with the memory foam eartips and are currently redesigning them so the problem will not happen again. In the short term, we are contacting everyone who has purchased the Vortex Pro directly and offering them the updated replacement eartips; we're also happy to replace eartips for anyone who has bought the Vortex Pro from another vendor.

There have also been user reports on the Vortex earbuds that the braided cord has been a failing point. I didn't notice any spots of wear or weakness in my tests, though they were far from exhaustive. The cable did tend to kink and hold bent shapes more than I would have liked but nothing that made me believe that I would have a problem with them. I did feel, however, that I had to be more careful with the braided cable.

Moshi Vortex Pro Fit and Use

Moshi includes a triangular carrying case with the Vortex Pro earphones. The case is rubber and has fitted slots for the earbuds and a track for cable. This is one of the times that a manufacturer hasn't tried to make a case that doubles for a cable management system. I prefer this as it makes me feel less bad for leaving the thing at home. The rubber of the case seemed like it would protect the earbuds well and the design, like all of the design of the Vortex Pro earbuds, is very unique and interesting. I thought that the earbuds fit in the case too loosely but I designed a highly technical and scientific experiment to test out how well the Moshi case works.

I threw it across the room.

Yes, I know that no one in their right mind would throw $150 headphones across a room, no matter how good the case was. But I'm a reviewer so I have to do the things that you wouldn't and shouldn't do. In each of my experiments (tosses), the earbuds stayed firmly (and safely) in the case. The wire often unwound from the outside but the earbuds never fell out. For this reason, I suggest that Moshi install a way to secure the tip of the cable to keep everything together. The heft of the tip was just too much to keep in the wire-track.

If there was one flaw in the overall design of the Moshi Vortex Pro, it was the orientation of engraving on the back of the earbuds. Like most people, I use the text as a gauge of how to wear the headphones. I assumed that Moshi would want their name to be legible to those seeing someone wearing their headphones. So I, at first, installed them with the cables hanging directly down from my ears.

This is not how they were meant to be worn.

The cable is intended (notice I didn't say "designed") to be wrapped over the ear. This placed the engraved name upside-down to the observer. It also does little to secure the earbud as the cable doesn't have any sort of earhook like the Sonomax PSC-250 eers. The problem, at least in my mind, is that the weight of the Vortex Pro earbuds, while conveying quality, also tends to pull the Vortex Pros out of your ears. Why they didn't add an earhook to help support the bud is really beyond understanding. To me, this felt like a last minute solution to the weight problem. With an earhook, the earbuds would have stayed more firmly, Without them, wrapping the cable around your ear seems a stop-gap solution at best.

While I had the best fit with the memory-foam tip, they broke almost immediately so I had to use the silicone ones. I found them to be comfortably, but they didn't stay in very well. I was constantly, even with minimal movement, having to push them back in. These are not earbuds you'll be able to exercise in (at least, I couldn't). Even when doing minimal activity (like typing), I'd find the earbuds slowly falling out. I tried all three of the silicone tips but none of them made a difference. It could just be that I have the wrong shaped ear canals for the Moshi design.

In fact, most of the design cues that I liked so much, worked against the Moshi Vortex Pro earbuds in actual use. The weight made them unstable in the ear, the braided cable looked and felt cool but tended to kink, and the soft rubber controls were nearly impossible to identify by touch. I almost missed a number of calls because I was hitting the volume controls rather than the center button. The weight not only pulled them from my ear but made wearing only one (as I would often do when driving so that I could both receive calls and hear the traffic) impossible. If I had a breast pocket, I could place the other earbud in there. Otherwise, the weight of the free earbud would pull at the other and Moshi didn't include any sort of clip to secure the cable to your shirt.

What I decided is that the Moshi Vortex Pro earbuds are more like an over/on-ear headphone that go in your ear. You wouldn't go running with your over-ear headphones. You wouldn't wear only one for any length of time. You wouldn't be surprised if they dislodged with quick motion. These are all the things that the Vortex Pro do. Is this a negative? Sure, if you expect all earbuds to be used in the gym. But if you use your headphones while on the bus, during long plane rides, or just at your desk, it really doesn't matter. So, in this case, it is better to realize where they will work best rather than expecting them to perform in a certain way just because of the design.

Moshi Audio Vortex Pro Sound Quality

Moshi brags about the inclusion of their latest XR9 extended bandwidth drivers in the Vortex Pro. These are 9mm, neodymium, full-range drivers with a spec'ed frequency response from 10Hz to 22kHz. Of course, that is -10dB and at 1kHz. They have a 14 ohm impedance and the memory-foam tips will block out up to 23dB of noise. The cable is the standard 1.2 meters though you can eek out a few more inches if you don't wrap them around your ears. 

The Vortex Pro sports an in-line microphone for use with your iDevice or smartphone. I tested it out and was described as "robotic" by those on the other end of the line. Universally, the phone alone was preferable to the in-line mic though I never had a problem with intelligibility. The soft buttons (as I mentioned) were hard to locate by touch alone and I wished Moshi had made them more obvious.

The first thing I noticed about the Vortex Pro headphones was the bass. There is a lot of it. TONS. If you love bass or bass-heavy music, these are your earbuds. Look no further. There were a number of tracks that I listened to with bass runs that extended further down than I'd ever heard before - even in a room with two subwoofers. The bass was linear and not at all bloated (if a little boosted). It didn't sound like the bass was being boosted as if by one of those DSP modes on your receiver - just that Moshi had made sure that every bit of bass that was available was heard.

Without anything playing and with only one Vortex Pro headphone installed, it sounded like I had an echo chamber on my ear. My guess is that Moshi was utilizing that space inside of that pyramid-shaped earbud just like a normal speaker enclosure. This is a great way to increase the bass and is used all the time in speaker manufacturing. It also turned out that Moshi used a ported design on the Vortex Pro headphones, another way to increase bass. It also explained the echo-sensation I experienced. This didn't, in anyway, show up during listening, however.

The top end was overall pleasant and I'd describe them as a bit laid back. While headphones like the Pioneer SE-MJ591 were unforgiving of poorly recorded music, I found the Moshi Vortex Pro to sound great with almost everything. They were not at all fatiguing, the bass was full and lively, and the midrange sounded full but not bloated. 

When describing the Moshi Vortex Pro earbuds to a friend, I used the term "engaging". I can describe them in no other way. The Vortex Pro earbuds are a very friendly earphone and I found myself really enjoying all my music regardless of encoding method. Does this preclude them from critical listening of high quality music? Not really. But they aren't the most revealing earbuds. To me, that's just fine. Because most people don't want to fight with their headphones. They just dropped $150 on a set of earphones, they don't want to find out that they have to re-import all their music in lossless in order to enjoy it. With the Moshi Vortex Pros, you'll find that all you'll need to do is stick them in, press play, and enjoy.

Vortex Pro Conclusion

The Moshi Audio Vortex Pro earbuds aren't without their issues, but, in the end, they are a serious upgrade in sound quality from any of the stock earbuds and are certainly worth the asking price. They have a ton of bass, a forgiving top end, and don't care what bitrate you used when encoding your music. If you are wondering what you get when you spend $150 on a pair of earbuds, you get the sort of sound quality that makes you wonder why everything else you own sounds so bad. With a standout design and a "look at me" aesthetic, people will definitely notice your earbuds. And if you just spent that sort of money on a pair of headphones, that's definitely what you want.

Moshi Audio Vortex Pro Earbuds

MSRP: $150

www.moshiaudio.com

The Score Card

The scoring below is based on each piece of equipment doing the duty it is designed for. The numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the individual cost of each unit, thus giving a rating roughly equal to:

Performance × Price Factor/Value = Rating

Audioholics.com note: The ratings indicated below are based on subjective listening and objective testing of the product in question. The rating scale is based on performance/value ratio. If you notice better performing products in future reviews that have lower numbers in certain areas, be aware that the value factor is most likely the culprit. Other Audioholics reviewers may rate products solely based on performance, and each reviewer has his/her own system for ratings.

Audioholics Rating Scale

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• — Fair
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Metric	Rating
Ergonomics & Usability
Build Quality
Appearance
Treble Extension
Treble Smoothness
Midrange Accuracy
Bass Extension
Bass Accuracy
Imaging
Dynamic Range
Fit and Finish
Performance
Value