Just Another Mobile Monday

iM-490S iMetal Isolation Earphones Review

Posted by: Steve Laser on Oct 02 2007

I’m always in search of the next pair of great headphones. It’s an obsession. I love music. I play drums and I need great headphones.

I need them when I workout, I need them when I travel.

I want them when I’m out and about; I need them to unravel.

Are you singing along?

So when Maximo Products offered up their iM-490S Earphones up for review, I jumped. They are "acoustically tuned to provide optimal audio playback from your Sansa®MP3 player", though they are supposed to work well with other brands as well. My wife happens to have a Sandisk Sansa e260. How convenient!

When my plastic blister package arrived, I tore into it like a child at Christmas - who owns a very sharp scissors. But my rush was premature. In order to truly enjoy these sophisticated in-ear headphones, I was told to condition them overnight, by playing music through them at medium volume. Oh, the wait!

The Sandisk Sansa is really a tiny player, and the headphones come in a tidy carrying case. They even have an extended cable section that gives you an extra couple feet. The headphones are very handsome, the case looks great and I’m ready to roll after I pick out one of the three included pairs of tips that fit my ears the best.

Comfort and Fit

What good are headphones if you can’t wear them for more than a few minutes? These happened to fit great. They come with small, medium and large soft silicone tips. I chose the medium. These headphones actually go into your ear, unlike the iPod type that "fit" outside the edge of your ear. But unlike some of the in-ear headphones I’ve tried in the past, I didn’t feel like they went in so far that my brain was getting penetrated. iPod headphones are actually decent headphones - until you hear good headphones. And good headphones must fit properly. iPod headphones just lay on the edge of your ear. These cans fit nicely, and create a comfortable seal that locks out the ambient sound. iPod style cans are incapable of that, as they do not form a seal in your ear.

Sound

Would the sound match the good looks? These are $49.95 msrp headphones, so I went in not expecting to be blown away. The sound was clear and loud, even at low volumes. The Sandisk Sansa can really crank and I played with various equalizer settings to experiment with the range of the cans. What I found was that these headphones have a nice high end, clean and smooth. The Midrange struggled to get on the better side between being full balanced and flat. The bass was undistinguished and distant. Overall, the cans tended toward the warmer side of the spectral audio landscape. They blocked the outside sound beautifully as well. In fact, I forgot I had the TV on. I’ll have to rewatch the final episode of Bret Michaels - Rock of Love, as I didn’t hear a thing.

Conclusion

I have found that everyone has their own set of ears and their own set of preferences, so if you like cans that lean toward the treble / high end, these are your set. They are smooth, fit very well and look great. For the price, they are a nice deal. If you shop around you can find them for a better price.

Features

• Light-weight aluminum alloy body
• High-fidelity 9mm neodymium drivers
• 3 pairs/sizes (L,M,S) of eartips
• Gold-plated 3.5mm stereo plug
• 2-ft extension cable
• Premium carrying case
• Lifetime warranty

Specs

• Frequency response: 18Hz-22KHz
• Sensitivity (1KHz, 0.1V): > 100dB
• Maximum SPL output: >120dB