I would have to agree with the comment before about lots of bass and harsh highs. I tend to EQ mid and treble into most headphones but I actually set out on a mission to water the Image One's down. Left flat it's almost as if someone bumped the whole EQ band up. Bass is overpowering and echoey, upper mid into treble is flat out harsh, fairly sibilant.. Full sound for sure but tons of tonality issues. I AB'ed them next to Sennheiser HD428's in Best Buy. I personally preferred those but this was a purchase for the gf. My conclusion was the Image One's were "fuller" to a fault. Loud is a better way to put it. The bass is more pronounced for sure. That was the main reason for the purchase. I noticed harshness in the store but hoped that would be tamed at home. Wrong. She likes them alot.
For me those Senns were the best thing on the rack. The bass was pretty non existent but detail was superb. Every instrument had a place. Tones seemed more accurate. Had that trademark Senn veil which I'm not extremely fond of (never owned a pair of senns) but once you adapt to that a bit they sound very nice. Just wish they had a little more impact. Bass isn't everything but when you don't offer any it is certainly missed. The Image One's have some stage but for this amount of money you can do much better across the board.
I feel that the Image One is an iPhone/iPad solution. I think the decisions made regarding tonality were based on plugging them straight into and Apple device. The device control is also part of what you pay for. Overall I'm not overly impressed. It's a $50 headphone with ipod controls and a brand name that adds $60 to the price.
Edited by emericanchaos - 2/15/12 at 1:41am
