Last summer, V-MODA released the VAMP, an all-in-one headphone amp, DAC, and battery pack said to be slick enough for 007. While VAMP was an interesting product, it was built for the iPhone 4/4S and would-be Bonds with an affinity for Samsung were left out in the cold (we’re picturing somewhere in the Soviet Bloc).
Yesterday, however, V-MODA announced its VAMP VERZA and Metallo case, a pair of audiophile-worthy add-ons designed specifically for the Galaxy S3 (and, we’re told, eventually the recently released Galaxy S4). The VERZA features an integrated 150mW x 2 headphone amplifier, two dedicated DACs (Digital-to-Analog Converters), a 2200mAh battery pack and – like its predecessor – is an all-in-one product. The Metallo, on the other hand, is a Galaxy S3 case that slides and locks onto VERZA. When used together, the two combine to create a one-piece mobile hi-fi system that V-MODA claims can pick up all the slack left by your smartphone’s built-in audio.
If you’re not the audio-obsessed type, but you are in the market for a case, Metallo still has you covered (literally). It functions quite nicely as a standalone phone sheath (albeit an expensive one) and V-MODA says we’ll see variants designed for the Galaxy S4, Note 2, and iPhone 5 arrive in the coming months.
At first blush, it looks like VAMP VERZA should be fully capable of giving your digital music the ol’ shot in the arm (if you know what we mean) and together with Metallo, this espionage-worthy bit of gadgetry is all the more attractive. Still, though the pair is cool, fun, and functional, $600 for VERZA and $100 for Metallo means $700 for the full spy kit. That’s a lot of coin for mobile accessories and makes us wonder if aspiring secret agents might do better to head to their local bar for a martini instead (shaken, not stirred, of course).
VAMP VERZA and Metallo are both available to order.
