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The Forte Classic Soprano are a good looking in-ear headphone. They have a nice dark wooden enclosure with a silver accent and a brown braided cord. As in-ear headphones go they're reasonably comfortable, probably better than average. There are no sharp edges and the rubber seems quite comfortable. They have an inline control which I can't test with my test rig, and they apparently have a built in microphone.

Microphonics are a small problem with this type of cord. When moving around you get a fair bit of cord noise, but it's not near as bad as the rubber cords. This is a fairly common problem with the fancier looking cords - sound quality is sacrificed for looks. Including a shirt clip would've been a good idea.

There's a pronounced hiss when these headphones are plugged in. That's not uncommon in in-ear headphones, probably due to the sensitivity. It's louder than average with these headphones, and you can hear over the music until the music is turned up louder than I prefer.

Sonically they're a fairly average in-ear headphone. By the name it's obvious that they've optimised for treble response more than bass, which is exactly how they sound. Bass is present, but the highs overshadow them.

This model obviously emphasizes bass, and it does have very low, very strong bass. With smaller in-ear headphones this is usually a trade-off with the highs, but these don't suffer from this too much. The midrange is slightly recessed but is pleasing, and reasonably clear. Highs are slightly rolled off, but this is really the norm for bass heavy headphones. The clarity is detail is good for this class of headphone, though the detail in the highs has been sacrificed a little.

The main thing I notice from this headphone is that with a lot of music the bass overshadows the rest of the music. If the music has a lot of bass then it overwhelms the rest of the music. On music that doesn't have excessive bass it's not so obvious, but this makes the rolled off highs and lack of clarity in the highs more obvious. All in all the music sounds quite bass heavy, slightly recessed in the highs, slightly recessed midrange, but it's not bad at all for people who love bass.

Here's the results of listening to some of my standard test tracks:
- Diana Krall, I love being here with you live. The cymbals dominate, being more forward than the voice and the bass, it's a bit distracting. The bass is present, goes reasonably low, but could do with being a bit stronger.
- Joss Stone, I Believe It To My Soul Live. Everything sounds pretty good. Again the cymbals are a little loud, but it works better. Bass again is there, but not overwhelming. The mids seems slightly recessed.
- Electronic dance music - the bass comes out a lot more with this type of music. It's quite low and quite strong, obviously less so than the bass model. The highs work ok with this type of music, but cymbals are still a bit too harsh. Midrange clarity could be better.
- Eminim Cinderlla Man, my bass test track. The bass isn't as low as some, but it's not bad either. This track has overemphasized bass, these headphones bring it back to a more managable level. Overall clarity isn't as good as it could be. Overall it works well.
- Sara Bareilles - Little Voice. The cymbals and high frequencies are too prominent, with recessed mids. Bass is well balanced. Midrange clarity again seems slightly lacking.

Overall they're a nice looking headphone but I think they went a bit far in their emphasis towards high frequencies. I'd say the bass model would appeal to more people, but that's a bit far in the opposite direction. Combine the two and they'd have a really nice headphone at a good price point.

Test setup: 256kbps mp3 files, Cyberdrive Clarity DAC feeding into a custom made PPA DAC, comparison headphones Audeze LCD2 headphones.

Disclosure: free review samples were sent to HeadphoneReviews for review.