Forward:
This is my first review, so all constructive criticism would be gladly accepted
also I'm pretty sure I still have a few typos/misspellings, but my spell checker is being a bit odd...
Okay, well I suppose that I should start with a brief music/head phone history of my life.
Up until I was around 14 or 15(only 2-3 years ago) I didn't really care about music, sure I liked it, but it wasn't really significant to me. Most of my music listening was to a local country radio station when going to sleep, then I stumbled onto the site spiral frog, and through it Dragon Force(yes, please feel free laugh). I liked them, and up until then I associated metal with bands like Lamb of God, and such. So I started a quest to find music, and started to care about, which led me mostly power/prog metal. About a year ago I came across the band Demon Hunter, which introduced me grunge like vocals that I liked, and vastly expanded my musical tastes. Through all this, I did still listen to country(still do, some) and various kinds of rock, and other kinds of metal(sub-genres anybody?). Through all this I was on a constant rotation of stock mp3 buds(for awhile including old ibuds) and ~20 dollar IEMs(at least once I had a pair of JVC marshmallows). But they kept dieing on me, so I keep having to replace them. So for several months I was left using stock buds to a 50 dollar mp3. Then my birthday came, and I decided to get a decent pair of headphones.
In my search what I kept coming across was skull candies, with good reviews, and I was pretty decided on set of the the skull crushers, but then I stumbled upon this forum... so after doing some asking around, I decided to go with a pair of Grado SR-60i,, I know that they had sound leakage problems but I figured that they couldn't be that bad. But once I got them, I found out that they where that bad(though sounded great) and luckily II got them headphones.com which has a 30 day return policy, no questions asked, including for openn packagess and no restocking fee unless they where damaged or something.
Which then left me with a bit of dilemma portable closed cans, or IEMs, and so I started to poke around some more with isolation in mind. Poked around, looked at the for sale forums, and made about two more help threads. I was leaning towards a used set of UM1s, until Joker came along and recommended the Im-590s. And after looking into them some, I decided to go with them, and after a little ordering fiasco with a Amazon vendor, and ending buying them from Amazon for 10 dollars more, I finally got them
I've had them for a couple of week now, and I figured with almost 200 posts I should actually contribute something to these forums.. so now here is my very first review:
The packaging is already pretty well documented by others, but I'll just mention in agreement that it is very nice. Nothing flashy, but nice and sleek, and easy to open. I'll take and upload some of my own pictures latter.
The accompanying accessories have also been well documented but I'll also put them in:
Case- comes with a nice semi-hard case, with a built in cable winder and a mesh pocket for the extension cable and extra ear tips(if you feel so inclined to carry them around with you) and the mesh is nice and snug so I you don't really have to worry about things falling out
Shirt Clip- just a basic shirt clip, that attaches to the cable slider. I had a bit of difficulty getting on and off though.
Extension Cable- A 2ft(I think, not sure) extension cable. I haven't used this much, since I haven't really found a need for it. I don't have any length issues when keeping my mp3 player in my jacket pocket, though it does get a little taunt if I use my pants pockets, and I imagine that I'd have to use if I constantly put my mp3 player all the way into my pocket on a regularly. From the little I've used it I didn't notice any change in sound, or that it made the cable to heavy/unwieldy.
Airplane adapter- a simple adapter so you can use them with a airplanes sound system. For obvious reasons I haven't had a chance to test this out...
Adapter for a cellphone- just a adapter so you can use it with a smaller cell-phone ear jack, haven't tested this out either since I have a cheapy cell phone, and though it does have the smaller jack, the only sound stuff I have on it is ring tones.
It also comes with four pairs of “dual flange” tips, the second “flange” is more of a skirt to cover the bulge at the end of the nozzle(body side) and I assume to help with isolation. They are small, medium, and large(please note that the size label only applies to first 'flange' as the skirt part are all the same size). My only problem with them is that they can be a bit difficult to remove and put back on.
Comfort: Since its been awhile since using IEMs, and then single flange foamish sleeves, they took awhile to to get used to. I'm still not 100% sure on the fit, and I'm currently using the large sized tips. Well I do notice that they are their, they don't really cause any discomfort. I have noticed though that after several hours of use my ears do start to get a little bit sore.
Microphonics: I think that they would be classified about average, when wearing them hanging down there defiantly is a decent amount of cable noise, but that is taken care of pretty well with the included shirt clip, or wearing them behind-the-ears(which is what I do). I still notice that I'll get a little bit of microphonics every once awhile when wearing them behind the ears, but not very often and not at all bothersome. I also haven't noticed any bone conduction(thing that's the right term, a thumping sound when walking) with these once again I do notice every once awhile, but nothing really bothersome. As for eating with them in, is just a very odd experience. I can fell them moving around in my ears when moving my jaw, and I can hear myself eating, but once again not that bothersome to me(though most defiantly noticed).
And now for the 'fun' part of the review, the sound. This is down out my Acer Aspire 5720z laptop, the first part will be with rhapsody music service, streaming at I think 320 mp3, but I'm not really sure. At the end I'll use a couple of my ripped music, in flac format. I have also turned of the EQ on rhapsody. I'm also going to going pretty much by song here:
Existence by August Burns Red- They kept up very well this mild musical assault. The drums kind of took the foreground, and seemed to drive to the rest of instruments. The guitars seemed almost a little laid back. But the bass was really nice, having a decent amount of depth to it. At times the drums did seem to fall a bite flat. They also handled the growling very nicely, placing it in the front and giving it a good amount of impact. Overall very nice sounding, and handled this low end(sound wise) quite nicely, and when the guitars did go into the upper range it gave them a nice amount of, sparkle.
Dez Moines by The Devil Wear Prada- the first thing I noticed here is the vocals, since the nuances where being caught quite nicely. I could hear almost a weariness in the singing, and it sounds like his growls almost broke a couple of times. I also noticed some enunciations, and dips of the voice that I've never heard before. It seems as if his deeper growls didn't go quite low enough to suit the rest of the song, like it tried to go deeper, but couldn't. The bass seemed to just kind of roll of, and had a rounded feel/sound to them. And the highs here really seemed to soar above the rest, having a nice amount of forwardness put to them but not over whelming.
Through the Fire and Flames by Dragon Force- okay, I got 3 minutes into this song before having to turn it off. The im-590s just wasn't keeping up to the guitar and drum assault of this song. Everything sounded kind of flat, with the mids being put into the foreground, and the highs seeming to end earlier and where kind of piercing. The vocals, well clear, where also sounding pretty flat, though once again I noticed some interesting stuff on the vocals-- this time with the vocalist barley being able to keep out, and his voice sounding kind of tired. The drums sounded flat, and I didn't notice any bass at all, and the only lows I could make out where the drums. I did notice a few new high end guitar/sound effects at certain spots, but I could barley make them out because they got ran over by everything else. I'm not sure if you can really fault the im-590s for anything here, but I thought I'd throw this song in for fun(this is the song that got me into metal/music in general).
Ember by Extol- wow, amazing
here the base is phenomenal, having a lot of depth and impact, though maybe rolling of a bit to early. I also noticed at times the bass seemed it extended downwards, and it kind of felt like I could feel it in my throat 0_0. Once again I noticed new nuisances in the vocals, though they didn't sound at all worn out this time. The bass was nice and resounding, the mids where nice clear, and the highs, where high; nice and clear all around with nothing overpowering each other. Also hear a few of the growls had a bass growl, and a higher pitched on at the same time, and this 'phones managed to pull of both at the same time very nicely, and in fact I never noticed that before. Once again I was hearing things new to me, little tricks around the mids and bass.
United States Of Eurasia(+Collateral Damage) by Muse- wow, the first thing that came to mind here was how smooth everything was. One note just seemed to flow into the next, all combing together to make a fantastic song. They also handled the sudden jumps of quite to loud, and from the mids to to highs very well, it all sounded natural and it didn't miss a beat while doing it. I also notice a lot of separation between the instruments and the vocals, both being what I said above, but extremely separate-- even though they fit together in sound.
The Human Stain by Kamelot- Once again the drums take the lead, driving the mids and highs forward. The highs sounded nice a crisp, though they didn't quite extend enough for my tastes. The bass seemed to fall a bit flat, and sounded rounded of again, but this time in a bad way, also ending a bit to soon. Khan's voice sounded amazing, as always, but these 'phones seemed to bring a much more human quality to his vocals. Once again the 'phones handled sound spectrum jumps, and volume jumps very well.
I only have time right now to do a couple of flac songs, though I'll probably come back latter with some more(also more for regular songs, get some classical and more acoustic music in there)
To Bright To See To Loud To Hear by Under Oath- Hear the vocals have are very up front. The highs sound good, and blend right in, in a good way. The drums have a a lot of impact here, but not up front. The mids also seem to flow together very nicely. At times the guitars also sound very individual, at times I can almost make out individual plucks/strums, and I can hear every impact from the drums, as in the sound doesn't really blend together. Make a very nice transition to quieter, and clean, to the jump from aggressive and growly vocals and clean vocals, with all the above traits still in place.
Gift of Cool by Rock 'n' Worship Circus- very nice sound, the vocals have a nice amount of enunciation to them, and very life like. The bass is a bit in the background, but is rolling together very nicely. When this song makes a jump to high from mids or low it handles it very nicely, not missing a beat. Once again the guitars are very clear and individual, but not so much with drums in this song.
I'll compare both this songs to a mp3 version of them later too.
So in summary, a very nice over all sound, able to adjust when needed. If the song calls for rounding bass, its there. If it calls for everything to roll together smoothly, the Im-590s can do it. Though at times things seem to fall a bit flat, or roll of a bit to soon, and I'm not sure if its from the quality of the music, or the 'phones themselves.
Bass- nice, and resounding, and impact-full. Able to put itself in either the foreground or background. Also at times it seems to have a nice roll to it.
mids- once again very nice, and smooth sounding. Also handles sudden jumps to to highs or lows very nicely.
Highs- nice and clear, and flow together easily.
Well, I hope this didn't turn out to be more of a music review then a headphones review, and that I didn't botch it entirely. Like I said above I do plan on adding pics, and more to the review at a later time.
Maximo iM-590 review
