Customer Reviews

Maximo Imetal IM-490 Isolation Earphones Tuned for Ipod

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
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The IM-490 and IM-490S are essentially the same. Maximo and SanDisk claim the IM-490S is specially tuned for SanDisk products, but lacking a fuller explanation, I question that.

In any event, I saw these on-sale and since I was looking for a pair of very portable, good sounding earphones, took the chance.

These are very stylish, made of a lightweight metal alloy and - most importantly - sound great.

They use silicone earbuds and provide three sets in the package: small, medium and large. The earphones are equipped with the medium earbuds and they fit well for me, providing an excellent seal against outside noise. As it happens, there's a construction project going on across the street from me and I was able to put the Maximo earphones to a real life test. The sounds of bulldozers and pneumatic tools were greatly reduced..

Audio quality is excellent. Use the built-in equalizer on your device and the sound output is even better. The bass, of course, does not match what you'll hear from larger headphones or speakers. That's the nature of the beast and if you are a bass freak, you will be disappointed. For me, the bass was fine without additional equalization on the two devices tested.

The units come with the earphones of course, a 2 foot extension cable which is a nice touch, 2 additional sets of earbuds and a case. The case with the IM-490S is semi-rigid, while the IM-490 comes with a cloth bag. Maximo also provides a limited lifetime warranty, which from other reviews, it appears they honor without delay or hassle.

All in all, a nice set of earphones with good audio quality and excellent noise isolation. One note: the description here says it is a 2.5mm jack. The Maximo websites says 3.5mm.

Jerry

For the price, these give a wonderful sound quality. The cables can wear away a little so be careful of that, but what makes up for it is what i love most about these earphones, their customer service. They offer a limited lifetime warranty,and their process is straight forward and simple. Their representatives were quick to respond via email, and they followed through as promised. My earphones were not functioning properly after a year of use, so I sent it in for like a dollar through usps and they sent back a new functioning set. I am happy.

These are one of the two best sounding earphones in this price range I've used so far. The other one I like is the JBuds J3. Other earphones (including the J2) costing less than $40 sound muffled in the mids and highs. These earphones sound open and bright and clear.

Over time the two halves of the housing tend to come apart, but that's easily fixed with super glue. The left and right indicators are hard to read, as they are on many other models. I use red nail polish to paint a red dot on the right one.