Sunday, June 30, 2013

MashButtons reviews Phiaton's newest Moderna, the Bridge

Phiaton has sent out their latest headphones, the MS 500, or Bridge. The Bridge is the latest in the Moderna series, so that means a large emphasis on style. These headphones are built with machined aluminum, wrapped with leather, and a dual chamber design to deliver a rich and deep sound. As for the sound, that would be delivered through newly developed 40mm drivers that includes a vibration system and oversized magnet to provide a signature audio experience. Let’s see if Phiaton’s new Bridge can provide the same great experience as that seen in their previous Moderna Series headphones.
The MS 500’s are definitely a grown up version of the prior 300 and 400, switching up plastic and carbon fiber for leather and machined aluminum. The leather wrapped cups were incredibly soft like pillows, isolating my music from the outside world and into my dome, all while making it easy to listen for extended periods of time without discomfort. Now for the sound, the highs are clear and the bass is punchy, and most of all capable of high volumes without distortion. Lastly, due to my history with the tri fold headphone I have never been a fan as it is always the first part to break. The aluminum allows for reinforcement without the weight and doesn’t jiggle, rattle, or creak while around my neck or in a bag.
The first complaint that screams out at me is the audio cable, the cloth is nice and the connectors are beefy, but the in line remote is lacking a couple buttons. I was only given one button so there is no volume control and it is a bit on the short side. The volume could have also been louder, they sound great when casually listening to music, but when there is a lot of outside noise or when listening requires the volume to be set to AGRO, it just doesn’t quite reach that point. Lastly, for the price point of $299, I would have expected a hard form case and not the sack with drawstrings case that was included.

The Bridge from Phiaton, were a great pair of headphones, taking the modern design of the MS headphone line to the next level in terms of build, materials, and design. While the carrying case immediately got left in the box, they do fold up nicely to fit in my laptop bag on the go, and the cable inputs are on both the left and right sides to make the short cable more acceptable when my phone was in my pocket. The sound was great, the dual chamber design makes live music sound great, rock gets loud and used my ear drums as speedbags, and rap put them to work trying to make them hit deep lows, but the Bridge struggled at times.