Altec Lansing audio gear

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2006/02/16/altec_lansing_audio_gear/1.html

 

I have to admit it's articles like these that cause me to lose faith it bit tech a bit. Your only real analysis of the sound produced is "ample bass" for the iM716. You say that sound delivered directly is an overall plus point for sound quality. Sure detail is much improved but sound stage is much worse. You recommend these for home use. The majority of users would actually be better off with a full size headphone. For the price they will in generally deliver a better sound as there is less problems producing good sound from a 50 mm dynamic driver than a tiny dynamic or an armature driver although IEMs will as mentioned sound more detailed. You may accuse of me being to audio minded and this is a technology site but that is ultimately the point. These are $200 earphones, a decent chunk of cash by anyones standards. The only reason you'd spend this money is sound quality. The level of isolation can be achieved by a shure e2c or an eymotic Er6 or Westone UM1 etc. at around half the price and they pretty much look the same too. Now the surround sound headphones I understand. It's main application is gaming and possibly movie watching. A piece of technology is being used to enhance this effect which is worthless for stereo music but great for the kind of things this site specalises in. This site is about technology, computing and gaming and it does it fantastically. The reason I'm being so critical is that I don't want this site losing it's quality. You may know tons about hi-fi and headphones but show it. If your going to start reviewing headphones approach them as hi-fi products, concentrate on their sound, describe it fully and give us the great information you do on things like CPU and graphics cards.

 

That's a totally fair point C-Peng. Thanks for your feedback

 

Interesting and valid points Penguin. However, i feel you're missing the point. Although the article didn't go into much detail about the sound quality etc that wasn't the main concern. The simple fact of the matter is that you've got to be seriously into travel to justify $200 on a pair of earphones becuase noone in their right mind would buy earphones for home use (except in the workshop maybe). Don't get me wrong, i'd buy these in an instant if they were half the price but $200 is just laughable. As for the surround sound ones, meh.

 

Comrade Penguin,

I appreciate the feedback, and I will try to make sure to include that in future articles. Just as an explanation (not as an excuse), I was writing this article more to bring forward a market that we don't normally cover, but that is getting to be of greater concern to us. Unfortunately, sound quality is an extremely subjective thing, and I take great care to offer my personal opinion without starting to try and make it sound like fact. Were I to say it produces a certain depth of sound, or attempt to quantify it in any meaningful fashion, I was afraid I would stretch that subjective/objective line.

Basically, this is one of the first reviews we've done on real high-end audio equipment, and we're more used to technical analysis. Audio is subjective enough that we haven't got a perfect formula down for review yet...but we're more than happy to take suggestions. We weren't sure how much interest would be generated, or what you guys would expect from us...so please consider this a trial run!

If you have further feedback on how we could better cover these products (as, since we're getting into greater home theater products, we will be covering more things like this), please feel free to drop me a PM. That goes for anyone who felt the review really deserved a little more meat!

 

the sugestive point is a good one, there are a set of bose headphones that almost everyone i work with think sound amazing, but they are really flat on the midrange to me.

but if you think $200 is rediculous Shure Audio has a set of earbuds for $550

http://www.shurestore.com/earphones/eseries_e5c.html

now thats rediculous, ive decided they should come with one of the musicians you listen to on them.

as for suround effects, just get an X-Fi and what ever headrphones you want, there is a good set of $20 sony studeo headphones that work quite nicely with the X-Fi.

 

yah, i have those 20$ sony studio monitors, they are great for the money, and they provide probably alot more bass than those 200$ earbuds . though i have broken at least 3 pair of them, the quality keeps my coming back for more.

 

I personally just got some shure E3G's (same as E3C's except they're black - not into the whole ipod thing....yet I own a nano...) anyways... I agree with you that sound and hearing is very subjective... but you could give us more technical information as well.

Etytomic ER6 and ER6i REQUIRES the user to buy new filters every single time they get clogged up. Does this in motion need that? you mentioned that the red filter could be removed but does this mean just removing and cleaning it or removing it and buying a new one?

The clip on the wire is not for wires getting clogged up, one important thing you forgot to mention was microphonics. The clip is found in ER6 and ER6i. They don't have that volume control thing, but the clip is still there. It's to reduce the microphonics as these are IEMs. You forgot to mention how thick the wires are. they are also vital in knowing whether microphoics will travel to the ears (they're tiny vibrations cuased by rubbing motions on the wires which conducts up the wires into the head phones).

Furthermore, you forgot to mention awkward things about IEMs, like eating and chewing, walking and sometimes even heart beat sound will become more evident.

anyways, like C-ping...these are only some suggestions. I vist your site daily and I love the quality of the writing and the columns. The fourms are awesome too (Black narcisis, Metaversa, HPres II) but I just found this article lacked in "meat"

and I don't rip in lossless...:'( but I rip with 320Kbps (highest nano would support) and I don't really hear that much of a difference between the two....

I know most of these stuff would have been found out by going to etyotimics's own site, but that's why I go to bit tech, it's convient and it's informative so that I won't have to visit numerous sites for information.

 

anyone got a link to a retailer in the uk stocking the earphones? i'd really like some when I get round to getting a new mp3 player

 

"First, I must mention something. Installing these things about your person in public makes you look like a monkey learning a new stretch. Their recommended way of inserting them in your ears (which I highly recommend, after testing) involves putting the opposite arm of the ear you’re going for behind your head and tugging the ear back while inserting the earbud."

I feel like that all the time when I drum either in practice or on stage. So I'm a monkey a lot!

 

Just thought I'd mention as these are well thought of earphones that they can be gotten by our US friends at Amazon for $120 so nearly the half the price you wanted Meanmotion.

I don't those Altecs are available in the UK yet Ab$olut however they are very similar to the Eymotic range (some argue they are upgraded E6i others slightly downgraded ER4s), for example the ER6/6i and Er4P and S. Other options you might want to consider are the Shure, Westone and Ultimate Ears ranges. Also if isolation is you main concern it might be worth looking into getting a cheaper earphone and getting a custom earpiece made for it such as the Westone UM56.

Headphone World stock a wide but by no means comprehensive range at very competitive prices.

Earphone Solutions stock a much wider range but are based in america though they will ship to the UK.

 

I agree with the veiws expressed here, no mention of the specs of the headphones. Freq range, ohm rating etc etc.

No real descriptive terms of the audio quality produced.
Also in audio reviews it is common to list what you used them with. Be it an mp3 player, a low budget sound card, or a £20K cd player. Its important. Also the sort of things you listened too. If you only listened to rock music and thought they where great fine. But if someone buys them expecting them to be great and only listens to classical they might be rahter dissapointed.

edit: not trying to sound all down and stuff, otherwise it was a good review. well written etc.

 

Good review but sound quality is very subjective. When I built my computer I was moving off of the sound blaster 16 and much worse, when I got everything all set up I realized my subwoofer actually did somthing, in fact the whole system sounded better. I thought that moving up to the onboard sound from my Asus was good or at least good enough for me. If I had written that review I would have been raving about those headphones probably, Im assuming you have more experience with higher end sound quality.

Altec Lansing does make good stuff, I bought a headset from them a few weeks ago and it is the best sound quality I ever heard out of headphones. I can only imagine what those souround sound sets sound like.

 

I have the Etymotic ER-6, and the sound quality is actuall quite good, (Iriver H320), but then again, they are the only decent headphones I have tried so have no comparison. The one annoying thing is, it seems like you can never get both sides equal, one side always seems deeper than the other into your ear. Maybe it's just me being obsessive.

 

I recommend Shure E3G's....

I really like them. Isolation is really good with the Tripple flanged sleeves, the music... incredible....or at least I think it is. This is my first venture into "high end" sounds. and like ozstriker, I have not tried the ER6 or the ER6i (I hear the ER6 is hard to drive and needs amp to make the sound "pop"). I'm using this with my iPod nano and PSP.

These make the music sound like if they're comming from home theater setups minus the surround.

One thing I have to mention though, the first time I used them with the grey sillicon ones... they hurt like hell... could not bare for more then 30 min. but after a few days, I think the nerves in the ears either die off or do not create nerve impusle upon stimulation becuase now they feel fine...I can wear them for 5 hours + straight comfortably.

Be sure to rip with 320kbps or up

 

I will say I tried Shure's product lineup at CES, and I was remarkably underwhelmed compared to Altec Lansing, both in the depth of the sound quality (altec had much more consistent volume at all frequencies in the range) and in the isolation quality.

 

N/A - The original ER-6 pouch is quite the perfect size for Qtips, spare filters, the foam earpieces and the filter changing tool. I'd assume they'd also fit the altec lansings nicely. In 2+ years of having these I haven't had to change the filter once -



thanks for the link penguin. Looks like the price dropped to $110 with free shipping.

 

Can't comment on the sound quality but the isolation difference would be caused by the flex sleve rather than a triple flange. You can get triple flanges for shures which should offer as much isolation. Also if isolation wasn't that great it could explain the lackluster sound as a good seal is very important with IEMs. Even different tips are thought to change the sound quality if a good seal is acheived with both. Most people find that in terms of comfort, sound quality and isolation foamies work out the best however you will have to replace these every couple of weeks if used regularly so it is an expensive way to go.

 

Wow. You haven't changed the filters? maybe you don't have a lot of earwax? anyways, fourms usually indicate the filters be replaced when they get clogged up.. it'll reduce the volume and quality. Most people do it once every few months. have you inspected your filters for earwax? It may also store harmful disease which casues ear infections.

I agree with C-penguin. the seal for IEM's are VITAL. That's why I paied extra $15 CAD to get my tripple flanges. They make it sound SO much better. I ride on the bus right on top of the engine (at the back) and I only hear a very low muffled sound if my music was off. If it was on, I can barely hear it, and at only ~60% on my nano. If the seal was not perfect, then the sound will be very tiny and high pitched, and seem like it has no depth. I actually found the foamies more time consuming to put on, and less comforable then the tripple flanges. It offers the best sound isolation as all 3 flanges stops the air vibrations.

how did you try them at CES? aren't you worried about few hundred other guy's ear wax? some other causes of "flat" sound coud be you didn't get tight seal with flex sleeves? or maybe you didn't stick them far enough into your ear canal?

 

Hehe...actually, it was pretty neat the way they tried it. CES is a HUGE show, but to them it's such a fantastic marketing opportunity...they had just bags of the sleeves and foamies, and when I asked to try them they simply popped a new set on there, one of each. They did not, however, change the filters...