Altec Lansing iM716 Earphones - Articles / Reviews

Reviews: Multimedia

Altec Lansing iM716 Earphones

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Mark Korff
Kurtis
Altec Lansing
Apr. 6, 2006

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Conclusion

Overall I was very impressed with the iM716 headphones. Not only do they reproduce very accurate sound, but they do so at safe volume levels and without a lot of background noise which makes the lower volume viable in the first place. While there were some instances where I wished they could be pushed a little louder, I would've only been leaving the volume at the higher setting for a brief period of time anyway, and the rest of the time I was perfectly content to keep them set lower.

One minor concern was that during testing, it was very noticeable if the cords leading to the earbuds were tapped or brushed up against something. This phenomenon didn't have anything to do with microphonics since I didn't even have the iM716s connected to anything at the time, but it was a little annoying nonetheless. I haven't had much exposure to earphones with a similar design to the iM716s, but my theory is that since they're in-ear headphones, anything that causes the earbuds to move is going to be easily perceived by the wearer. Again, this issue wasn't a big concern most of the time, but I do think it's worth mentioning.

I would recommend the iM716 earphones to anyone looking for high quality sound coupled with good noise reduction. Of course, they aren't exactly cheap with an MSRP of $199, but finding them online for around $110 is very doable (just look a little further down the page!), and at that price you'll be getting a very good value for your money. Apple might have even been able to save themselves some money in the long run by avoiding that nasty lawsuit if they would've bundled these earphones with their iPods in the first place.

Pros

Great overall sound quality
Bass is crisp without being overbearing
Very nice reduction in background noise
Good value when they can be bought for $110 online

Cons

Brushing against the cord is audible
Could stand to be a little louder in some cases
Case is overkill
Alligator clip would've been nice on the volume control
A little longer cord never hurt anybody

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Page 4 of 4

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: First Impressions
Page 3: Testing
Page 4: Conclusion

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4 User Comments

1 - Posted by handrail on April 7, 2006 - 7:47 am

great review mark, welcome to TTL.

I can't believe people are suing Apple for earbuds that are too loud! come on. ever since that damn coffee lady and the mcdonalds suit, this country has gone downhill. methinks i smell a newsletter rant topic....

brad.

2 - Posted by Nick on April 10, 2006 - 6:41 pm

Yah, smokers sue the cigarette companies too. Not that I like the cigarette companies, but take some responsibility for yer own dam actions! Next up, cracked out Whitney Houston sues the Colombian drug cartels for her addiction...

3 - Posted by Mark on April 11, 2006 - 11:57 am

Thanks Brad, I'm glad to be aboard.

I agree, most suits like this are really bogus. The one thing I can partly understand with this one though is that concerned parents might be more willing to allow their kids to listen to iPods if they knew they couldn't turn the volume up too loud and damage their hearing. However, Apple has already released a software patch that allows parents to limit the volume and set a password so that the max volume cannot be altered. Of course even if Apple didn't supply such an assurance, parents ultimately have the power to regulate whether or not their children are allowed to have an iPod in the first place if they're that worried about it.

4 - Posted by Rich on April 11, 2006 - 2:23 pm

Aren't young kids supposed to be loud and obnoxious???

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