Altec Lansing iM716 Earphones

Reviews: Multimedia

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Mark Korff
Kurtis
Altec Lansing
Apr. 6, 2006

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Introduction

If you keep up with the news you may have noticed that a class action lawsuit was recently brought against Apple for not taking adequate steps to prevent hearing loss among iPod users. Aside from the monetary compensation that is being sought, the suit also aims to force Apple to lower the maximum volume of their devices and provide headphones designed to block out external noise. While I know it must be easy to point fingers at a big corporation and blame them for your loss of hearing, I have to wonder if it wouldn't be even easier to just turn down the volume on that iPod a few notches. I understand the urge to "turn it up" though. Who wouldn't crank the volume up to ear damaging levels in order to drown out good old Betty and Martha, holding a conversation while pounding away on treadmills on either side of you at the gym?

Regardless of how you feel about the lawsuit, the push to get Apple to provide noise-reducing headphones is interesting. In our ever busier and noisier society, it's nice to be able to put on some headphones almost anywhere, and escape to our own little musical paradise. Of course, with most headphones the volume may need to be cranked to nearly unbearable volumes to escape the outside world completely, which is exactly why Apple is facing this suit. This problem is something other companies have been working to address and we'll be looking at one possible solution today; the Altec Lansing inMotion iM716 earphones.

Altec Lansing teamed up with Etymotic Research to develop the iM716 earphones which are similar in design to Etymotic's own line of in-ear headphones. The iM716's MSRP is $199.99 (although they can be found online for $110 in our hardware price index), which positions them between the Etymotic ER-6 ($129) and ER-4 ($299) in terms of price.

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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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