Altec Lansing High Definition Noise Free Headphone Etymotic Research Earbuds - IM616 - Sound and Silence in Perfect Harmony!

This product is ridiculous.. Extremely uncomfortable, no bass whatsoever, yes I did have a good seal. I wish I could rate this junk in negative.
 
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Don't waste you money or time. Look elsewhere.
 
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very nice carrying case. quality product. however, i must be expecting too much when i buy noise cancelling headphones. i have three different companies and types, and they all reduce the noise somewhat, but i still hear outside noise. i'm primarily trying to get rid of lawn mower noise! and it is still overwhelmingly present, regardless of what $100 or less product i've purchased. i guess i'll have to try the expensive bose set.
 
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The Altec Lansing High Definition Noise Free Headphone Etymotic Research Earbuds are an excellent value at $42...I listen to a lot of classic rock, Jazz as well as some bombastic classical. The bass is solid without being overpowering and the high end tones are true and crisp. The mid range was a little weak but for the money it was a great buy. I also own Koss, Sony and JVC , this product was better then the Koss and Jvc and slightly out preformed the Sony MDR-E828LP which I got for a $105...HOWEVER the earbuds stopped working after 60 days of light use(I rotate them)mostly at the gym and on a plane. When I put a wool cap over them both buds became muted and could barely be heard thus rendering them useless. The cap was not tight but both connections were broken and I am assuming shody workmanship in China(where else?) caused this defect. I hope Buy.com does the right thing and replaces them if they do I'll only use them on planes because they are definitely not very sturdy!!!!!!!!!!!!alos the wire is way too long unless of course your shaquile o neal and it gets in the way but the buds themselves are very comfortable!
 
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I bought the Altec Lansing Etymotic-IM616s because (1) my cheap on-ear noise-suppression headphones start getting downright painful after about an hour, (2) the description of the IM616s made them sound good, and (3) the price seemed right (based on the described performance). Having use them a couple of times on long flights, I have to say I'm a little disappointed. The good: These earbuds are very comfortable. I wore them on a cross-country flight and never felt like I needed to take them out for discomfort reasons. The not-so-good: Contrary to the description, they do not have a robust bass. I don't need brain-frying bass; but I would judge these earbuds as down-right tinny-sounding. And I've tried to follow to the letter the instructions on use. I'd go a different direction next time. Sorry, Altec Lansing.
 
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Over the years I have purchased several earbuds. Generally I have found that spending a modest amount usually provides a product that meets reasonable performace levels. The Altec Lansing IM616 is an exception. These earbuds are the worst perfornming earbuds I have purhased. After testing on multiple audio sources the bass response is nearly non-existent. Overall the frequency playback range is no-different than listening through two tin cans and a string. Altec L. customer service is just as bad. For the asking price, consider another name brand.. shure, ultimate ears, etc.
 
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At first, I connected it to a USB sound card and it sounded terrible. I then connected it to a better sound card, the sound improved significantly but was still not impressive at all. It did not meet my expectation.
 
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I bought these insert-type earphones as my previous disc-type earbuds hurt my ears after about an hour. These were more comfortable, and did a great job of blocking out noise on the airplane, where the earbuds would not (I used the rubber tip, not the foam). The sound, however, lacked bass and was disappointingly tinny-sounding for a "premium" earphone. Luckily, I can use the bass-boost on my mp3 player and they're not too bad (though not as good as my inexpensive earbuds). Seeing as there are earphones out there that cost 2-5 times more than these, they are overall a decent buy. Nice case too.
 
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Excellent clarity, tonal balance, and imaging. Best use would be for music that features silent passages and dynamic range. These do not deliver a bass "whump". Pass on these if your music is all about the bass.
 
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I bought two pair of these IM616 earbuds, one for me and one for the wife, to replace the earbuds that came with our iPods. I bought them to use while exercising, mainly brisk walking on a treadmill or outofdoors. I should have saved my money. These are in-ear canal earbuds and require some practice inserting correctly. Although the IM616's reduced outside noise, both my wife and I found the bass totally lacking in these earbuds. Compared with a pair of Sennheiser earbuds that I paid $13 for, the Sennheiser earbuds are more comfortable to wear, have deep bass totally lacking in the IM616s, and overall just plain sound better. We also found the IM616s uncomfortable to wear, although if the sound was better, we could probably get used to wearing them. Even the cheap earbuds that came with our iPods sounded better than the IM616s to both me and my wife. Most disturbing to me was the fact that the wires moving against clothing, face or anything else, transmit annoying sound into the ear canals. I would not recommend these earbuds to anyone.
 
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It's a great product for the price I paid ($40). Not a real noise-cancelling earplug, but it does block the noise well and never falls from my ear--which saves me a lot of frustration esp. in the winter of NY.
 
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To sum it up: These earbuds sound really good for the money. I bought them on sale and have been very satisfied. They do a commendable job reducing outside noise so you do not need to play your music very loud.
 
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The earbuds work fine in terms of noise cancellation as well as in terms of producing musical sounds. No complaints, only praise. Easy to use, but keep in mind that this is a device of personal use only, not to share with anybody, because earbuds go deaply inside your ear. You don't want to pick up somebody's germs or earwax, so be selfish.
 
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I purchased these to block the noisy cube neighbor. The idea of a noise free ear bud from Altec Lansing at ~$40 sales price was just too tempting so I went for it. What I got was a pair of ear buds that didn't even block the sound from my cube neighbor. I could still hear her and that blasted speaker phone across the wall almost as loud as the cheap ear phones that I currently use. <BR><BR> They are advertised "to provide a genuinely accurate music stream", Not with my normal EQ settings, I had to distort the EQ to make them sound right and the "awesome bass" is a joke. Had to turn the lows way down to stop the distorted thumping.
 
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you will be disappointed in them unless you push them all the way deep inside your ear canal. Once you do that, however, they sound great. I doubt most people will be able to wear them properly and get the full effect.
 
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I think because it's "in-ear" type... so when I use it I have to put it "in" my ear, which easily make it dirty (especially with its white buds) and also not so comfortable for my ear.
 
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doesn't reduce noise level hardly at all. has good volume, but somewhat uncomfortable jammed deep in ear canal (or fall off otherwise.)bangor
 
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I purchased these earphones to see how they compare to my Planetair active noise canceling over-the-ear headset and to have something much smaller to lug around with my overstuffed bags. I was pleasantly surprised as to how well they performed. They work by a multi-layered seal that is made against the ear canal. They can be very effective at blocking out noise almost as well as the active noise-canceling headset, but they have to be deeply seated in the ear. It took a while to get used to and some people may not like this. The headsets seem to have better base response (to be expected given speaker size). Considering that the price is less 1/5 of the Bose sets and they are much more compact, they are a reasonable choice.
 
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I was expecting these to have great clean sound and good bass response, but both my 6 year old $30 Sony ear buds and the somewhat similar units that come with an Ericsson W580i phone have better bass and overall response. I found the headsets that come with the phone for about $8 online and they blow these out of the water. The only thing these were better at is blocking outside noise. They do sound good, but I prefer all my other headsets over them and most of them cost much less. They are also not as comfortable as the headsets that came with my phone and fit in the ear similarly.
 
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They're a little uncomfortable to wear for a long time, and some of the alternate/backup parts fell out of the packaging and disappeared, but overall I'm pretty happy with them.
 
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Tried these and found that all you hear is the high end and midrange, there is no bass. Does not block outside noise. Have noise cancellation headphone by S**y that actually work, unlike these earbuds. Sorry, purchased on sale at half price, but would not buy again at any price. They do not function as advertised, even with constant adjustment.
 
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Perhaps I have very deep ear canals, although I've never experienced a similar issue before. It seemed I was unable to get sufficient bass energy from these earphones at first. The remedy for my dilemma turned out to be inserting the earphone with the wire pointed up instead of down. This allowed the buds to be inserted deeper into the ear canal where they were able to produce plenty of bass. With this modification in usage, they are w