Review: V-Moda Forza Metallo Wireless – Style

SOUND

When I come across anything with a wireless tech, my expectations immediately drop. It was the same with Crossfade II Wireless but it somehow impressed me with the sound. So this time I was quite cautious.

And yet, the V-Moda Forza Metallo Wireless impressed me even more than Crossfade II Wireless. Because Bluetooth headphones are out for a long time now and I know some of them have good sound performance. So Bluetooth headphones are one thing, but in-ears are another. It was very surprising to hear the sound from Forza because it has a great sound to offer.

When I look at the whole sound character, what I can say is; it’s a crisp sounding earphone, having a great bass power and treble articulation. Mids are not one of it’s strong points but because of the fact that mids never sound harsh or in your face with a wrong tonality, it deserves an appreciation. It’s a little bright and a bassy earphone but the great thing is it’s doesn’t exaggerate anything over the edge.

BASS

Just like V-Moda’s headphones, lows have some good rumble and punch. Bass can go quite deep, so the subbas part is very good. Midbass is not that apparent, going a little back in the spectrum. So if you want some midbass presence this might not be the choice for you. For getting that rumble by the way, you need to achieve a tight seal with the right tip choices for you, otherwise you won’t get that bass kick.

So I’ll repeat what I wrote in the Crossfade II review: If you listen to popular music or EDM, you’ll be very pleased because of this great subbass response. On the other hand the midbass is toned down and that can create and unnecessarily delusive sound. Even so, I found the bass of the Forza great and the speed and recovery after hitting are also the strong points of this earphone. You’ll definitely get prominent and tight low freq’s with Forza Metallo Wireless. It’s not a bad thing but if you’re after a reference sound than it qualifies in a different world.

MIDS

Forza somewhat has laid back mids. That results mids having a little difficulty at showing off. So basically Forza has a V-Shaped sound, which is great for popular stuff but not that good for folks like us. I mean the people who listen their DSD albums with many instruments and vocals in the recording. The mids are not in the deepest position but still they lack some realism and detail. Fortunately they sound very very clear with good tonality and resolution. The resolution part was one of the surprises for me in this earphone and it impressed me, no doubt. A little fuller and richer mids would be great, but that’s what it is.

TREBLE

The biggest surprise I had with Forza was trebles. Highs have great articulation all the time and that crisp sound struck me the first time I listened to it. They’re accentuated in the spectrum but not with a harsh way, and they have a very nice extension as well. I’m buffled by this qualitative treble response from a wireless earphone. So I should congratulate V-Moda for coming up this kind of a sound succession. I think every person who’ll try the V-Moda Forza Metallo Wireless will be pleasantly surprised by this great treble finesse and resolution.

TECHNICALITIES

Like in every review, I’ll say a few things on technical aspects and close it up.

If I start from resolution, I’d say it’s very nice and satisfying for this price and it’s no doubt a success for a wireless product. Also it sounds somewhat natural and I expected it to perform otherwise. I expected a digital character, and to some extent it still is, but not too much to make you uncomfortable. I listened many TOTL IEMs and mid-fi stuff, and believe me when you have a listen you won’t find it odd or strange. In fact, if I close your eyes and put you in a blind test, you couldn’t be %100 sure to say it’s a wireless earphone.

Separation is great but that is thanks to the midbass absence most of the time. Still it doesn’t feel very deficient under the favour of that great bass response. There’s no bleeding bass into the mids and that’s always an important challenge to overcome. Background is dark and it sounds very clean and transparent. Don’t expect a full black background like top tier IEMs of course but it still manages to sound quite separated.

Sound stage is another impressive strong suit of Forza. It sounds vast and positioning -especially with cymbals- is very good. By means of this, stereo imaging is quite nice and you have a lot of fun listening to this earphone. Because picking up the elements of music is always a special experience, and the phones that can extract this from the recording are very cool.

CONCLUSION

Like I said, I’m not very experienced in terms of wireless in-ears and it’s the first time that I tested a neckband earphone. Nevertheless, I don’t think there are so many neckband earphones like this one that offers this kind of practicalness together with a very nice sound quality.

The tiny earpieces and relatively small neckband adds a real style and comfort. It’s a convenient and a thoughtful design from V-Moda. Wireless performance is substantial, battery life is good and it’s very easy to use it. So there’s no big issue with Forza Metallo Wireless that I can put forward. Only small dent is the cable length to me.

I certainly recommend the V-Moda Forza Metallo Wireless if you’re after this kind of a wireless offering.