I’m a big fan of Blue microphones as I’ve used them in the last few years and can say that I enjoyed using them for various purposes. That’s why when Blue announced that they’ll be releasing a headphone line and mind you an ‘audiophile’ one, I got excited and wanted to try it out. Thankfully, the place I’m working on got a couple of their Mo-Fi headphones and so this review was born.
Overview
Blue Mo-Fi is a humongous circumaural sealed headphone that retails for $349. It only has one variant and as you probably already know, it looks way different than most headphones with its geeky and robot-like appearance. Depending on what type of person you are, you can either find this headphone striking or hideous. Personally I tend to gravitate towards the latter.
I should mention that this is not your average headphone as it has a built-in amplifier which is tied to various ‘modes’. The headphone can be used passively but the other modes use the amplifier which has battery that needs to be charged for it to be used.
This headphone is somewhat marketed as a portable headphone and while it technically is due to it being efficient enough and having its own amplifier, I find it hard to convince myself to use it on commute or while walking around. It’s just too big and funky-looking and I don’t have enough balls to carry it around.
Here are some pictures so decide for yourself.
Build Quality
The headphone is very sturdy as its made with premium materials like aluminum and metal. I’d like to say it’s indestructible however due to its own weight I feel like it can tear apart into pieces if it falls down on the ground. In fact one of the headphones in our office have been somewhat slightly torn apart already. Still it’s a very premium headphone in terms of its build quality and you can easily feel that holding it in your hands.
It has a unique adjustment mechanism in that the headband bends at six joints and moves together like a machine. It’s really hard to describe it so I’ll let you check out this and this from Gizmodo to see what I’m referring to.
The tension of the fit can be customized however I still feel that the caliper pressure is a tad too much for my liking. The earpads are fairly comfortable with the thick but plush leather material that seems to have a memory foam in it. It’s comfortable but can get a bit hot especially in a non-airconditioned environment. All in all it has a snug and secure fit with a slightly average comfort.
It includes quite a bit of accessories including a 1.5-meter iPhone-friendly cable with inline mic control, 3-meter standard cable, and 3.5mm to ¼-inch TRS adapter. A 1-meter USB charging cable, AC charging adapter, airline adapter, and a soft case with cable storage pocket are also included.
Isolation and Comfort
As briefly mentioned above, it’s a moderately comfortable headphone thanks to its plush materials and premium feel. What prevented it from being a super comfortable headphone is its weight and clamping force which makes wearing it fatiguing after some time. Personally I have to remove the headphone on my head after every 30 minutes.
Passive noise isolation is fairly good. Slightly better than most sealed headphones I would say. It also does not leak out sound when you’re wearing it and while the headphone is on the desk unless you’re playing music very loudly. Again I do not imagine this headphone as a portable headphone due to its size and weight but I feel its passive isolation can work just fine for daily commute.
Flip the page for findings on sound quality.
Page 1 – Packaging & Build Quality
Page 2 – Sound Quality & Conclusion