Moshi Vortex Pro

Moshi is more of a design company than a straight-up audio manufacturer, so you'd be forgiven if you approached its earphone offerings with a healthy dose of skepticism. The Moshi Vortex Pro, however, is a quality pair of earphones that earns its $150 (direct) price tag with strong sonic performance and a thoughtful design that extends beyond the earphones themselves and into the included accessories. There's a tiny bit of distortion at top volumes on deep bass tracks, but it's very slight. For the most part, the Vortex Pro conveys deep bass cleanly, along with crisp, clear highs.

Design
Since Moshi puts such an emphasis on design, it's no surprise that the Vortex Pro looks and feels great. The entire design is clean and feels well-built, with a gray braided cable descending from two sturdy, triangular, metallic earpieces emblazoned with the Moshi logo. It's nice to see a manufacturer shun cheap plastic. The Moshi Vortex Pro's earpieces are made from a steel alloy, which has a pleasant weight to it?you notice it when you hold them but not when you wear them. The braided cloth material used for the cable makes it more durable and less tangle-prone.

Even the eartips are a great value. They're offered in three different sizes in a silicone hybrid material, plus one pair of Memory Foam eartips. The unique silicone carrying case?triangular-shaped, intended for you to wrap the cable around rather than stuff inside a pouch (pictured, right)?is well-designed, and also aimed at cutting down on annoying cable tangles. (But consider yourself warned: It is a dust and pet hair magnet.) Along the right ear's cable, a compartment houses the microphone and Apple iOS device controls for calls, playback, and volume. The 3.5mm connection is narrow enough to work with just about any iPhone case on the market.

Performance
It's easy to expect a company known more for design-centric products to gloss over the details of audio performance, especially when the company slogan is: "Purveyor of Electronics Fashion." Thankfully, Moshi didn't put out a well-designed pair of earphones with poor quality drivers. The sound signature here is a bit on the bass-heavy side, and at absolute top volume, we encountered the slightest bit of distortion on The Knife's deep bass track, "Silent Shout." The distortion was so minor, however, it was hard to pick up on at first?and no one should be listening to music at these levels unless they want to lose their hearing. We'll call the smidge of distortion something to be aware of, but not a real issue.

Despite its healthy bass presence, the Vortex Pro is a crisp-sounding earphone pair, with a bit of a high frequency boost that makes percussion and guitar plucking standout, in particular, on Bill Callahan's latest album, Apocalypse. Earlier recordings of his, where his vocals are more front-and-center, with a more treble-based gravelly tone, are delivered with just the right amount of high-mid frequency edge?never harsh. At high volumes, the overall sound signature can seem a tad too bright on most popular genres. But at reasonable listening levels the overall response is well-balanced.

On John Adams' modern classical piece, "The Chairman Dances," the low frequency boost of the Vortex Pro lends itself nicely to lower-register stringed instruments and deep percussion. The mids and highs are never overshadowed, and the high frequency wooden percussion hits and growl of the brass are all conveyed beautifully and clearly. The aforementioned brightness at higher volumes is not as noticeable on instrumental and classical recordings.

Conclusions
There's not much to dislike about the Moshi Vortex Pro. It's not a sonic masterpiece, but it delivers quality audio performance at moderate volumes cleanly, and it comes with a nice array of accessories, the best of which is the carrying case. In this range, however, you have a plethora of options. The Bowers & Wilkins C5 In-Ear Headphones ($179.95, 4.5 stars), our current Editors' Choice, is a bit more expensive, but delivers slightly more refined audio, combined with perhaps the most secure fit you'll find on a pair of earphones. If these options are out of your budget, consider the Sony XBA-S65 ($89.99, 4 stars), another secure-fitting in-ear pair that's ideal for exercise, or the AKG K 350 ($79.95, 4 stars)?a great-sounding steal for its low price.

The Vortex Pro is neither overpriced nor a steal. Instead, it delivers the strong audio performance you'd expect in this price range. But it's the extra thought put into its design and accessories, on top of its commendable audio performance, that makes it a standout in this crowded field.

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