6 replies to this topic

[Rare177]

Ok, so after having the vibe sub for awhile thanks to the guys over at ICE distributors (great to deal with) i thought i would write a review on it!

now to start with, Vibe never really appealed to me, it reminded me of a company like BOSS, i guess it was just the name?
but once i got this sub in it's little box i was amazed how light it was for starters, after taking it out of the box and having a good look at it
i was also very suprised at the build quality, it looks just as good as any other high end brand i've used, and to top it off it's a sexy looking driver.

now i wasn't too sure how to go with the box so i just put it in a box i previously had laying around, 2cuft @ 32hz, this box prior to putting the vibe in had an IDQv3 12" in it,
so this was going to be a comparison between the IDQ and Vibe.

now lets first look at the 2 drivers.

the Vibe retails for about $399 i believe
the IDQ up around $500-600.

now before i get into how they sound, i will talk over build quality.

Build Quality, IDQv3 v Blackair

what did i prefer?
this is an easy one, i found the vibe to have much better build quality than the IDQ which happens to cost $200 more, reason being mainly the basket, although the IDQ has a much nicer recone design, it has a basket which likes to crack (happened to a few of mine) the vibe after all the use and taken out of the box was 100% fine, so it wins this.

Music

rather than just saying what i felt sounded better, i'll compare them side by side with specific songs.

Akon - I can't wait
This is a great relaxing song with really nice deep bass, it's one of my favorite songs for testing low end on a driver, on this song i think the IDQ had a tad bit more low end than the vibe, but I'm not sure if it was that much better to go the extra $200 on the vibe, either way the IDQ sounded nicer on this song, but the Vibe also sounded great, got nothing bad to say about either subs on this song.

IDQ 9/10
Vibe 7.5/10

Bass from the krypt - Dawn of the living boom
Now if you want to test how low your sub can play, this is the song, it scoops down i would say near 20-25hz, any way i'm always a little worried about playing such nice subs on this song, because it really hits low and abuses the subs, i knew the IDQ would do ok but i was a bit worried about the vibe, after a bit of thought i gave it a go on low volumes, it took it fine, so i decide to give it a bit more volume, once again no problems at all, i maxed the volume out to the point just before clipping kicks in, and this thing blasted, it hit very low and i couldn't hear anything when the very very low end stuff kicked in (20hz or so) i've played this song on other subs and you can hear the distortion when you go down that low, neither the vibe or the idq had problems with this song, both took it great, IDQ had a tad more output but in terms of SQ i couldn't notice a difference

IDQ 9/10
Vibe 8/10

E40 - U and dat
i like this bass line in this song, although the lyrics can annoy me at times, either way i gave it a shot, now this is where the Vibe starts to out shine the IDQ, on this song the Vibe had a bit more output but it sounded quite nice and on lower volumes blended in well, better than the IDQ did, so the vibe wins this one.

IDQ 7/10
Vibe 9/10

Metallica - One
I'm not a huge metal fan but i love this song, now this is a hard one, very hard, the IDQ shinned more than the Vibe here and it sounded a bit more musical, but i think i was just trying to listen too hard, the guitars and what not sounded cleaner through the IDQ, but the drums sounded nicer through the Vibe, tough call here, but i think the IDQ JUST takes the edge here.

IDQ 9/10
Vibe 8.5/10

Conclusion
Well it's hard to say, although the IDQ did better in terms of points, i don't actually think it's that much better than the Vibe, i've used alot of subs, some costing over 3 times more than these ones, so i'm quite picky, but i think for your average person either subs would be extremely impressive.

now i used a ported box, i think the Vibe suited the box alot more than the IDQ, the IDQ had nicer lower end but was muddy up top compared to the vibe, the vibe also played flatter than the IDQ which gives it a plus for me, in terms of output, hard to say, from 20-40hz i think the IDQ gets this, but from there up the Vibe wins.

just a few extra little things
xover point - 28-70hz
car - vx commodore sedan
amp - some kenwood amp that does 500wrms.

so if i had a budget of about $600 what would i get?
hard to say, i love how easy the ID subs are to recone, and i love the sound, but i think the vibe is just much better value for money, and the guys over at ICE are much better to deal with than the guys who distribute ID products, i had many issues with them, ended up going directly though ID because they wouldn't resolve my problem, ID resolved it straight away, so i'm not too keen on the ID distributor in aus, as far as the guys who distribute Vibe (ICE Distributors) they were quick to reply, good to deal with, kept me upto date and i see them being very useful on the forum.

so for me, i would take the Vibe over the ID sub without a second thought, they are very very similar in sound, but there's a $200 price difference between the 2, that could be put towards a nice box or some sound deadening, which all in all i think would bump the vibe up above the IDQ.

vibe + enough dynamat to do the boot = $600
IDQ + no dynamat = close to $600

i think for $600 the vibe + dynamat combo will blow the IDQ away in terms of good sub bass!

so my conclusion is, the Vibe Blackair is a great sub, highly recommended and it's really changed my view on Vibe, if you are looking for a sub around the $400 mark this is the way to go, i can compare it to a type R also which is more in the blackairs price range, but i think i would be wasting my time, the Vibe is a better driver.

[~Samuel~]

Nice review Rare

Any chances we could get some photos of the sub and setup? Always nice to ad some photos to a good review

[Rare177]

i'll put some up of the sub before i sell it, it's no longer setup now though.

[mo3y]

Good review, you should now try the Vibe Space 12". Waiting for the photos lol

[RoVer™]

Quote

better to deal with than the guys who distribute ID products

I believe Northfield in QLD distribute Image Dynamics and are great to deal with according to all reports? Are you basing this from personal experience with Northfield? (I'm not having a go at you by the way.)

[Rare177]

RoVer™, on Jan 30 2010, 01:42 AM, said:

I believe Northfield in QLD distribute Image Dynamics and are great to deal with according to all reports? Are you basing this from personal experience with Northfield? (I'm not having a go at you by the way.)

no im talking about the guys who bring ID into the country, mobile audio solutions i think they're called.

[RoVer™]

ah ok, fair enough.