I got my pair from Woot back in Feb, and I love them. I'll admit I'm not an audiophile, but they sound very good to me.

I also own a pair of $150 Sennheiser active noise cancellation over-the-ear headphones that I'd gotten previously for air travel, but most trips now, I leave those home and take these earbuds. Yes, the Sennheiser do a better job at canceling the engine noise, but the way the rubber tips on these seal against the ear, they passively block the sound well enough that the difference isn't all that great. And the main advantage of these is that they are tiny - the Sennheisers, once in their case, are the size or a paperback book (and Bose are even bigger). I like to travel light. If I had a really long flight, or if I knew I'd be sitting next to the engine, I'd bring the Sennheisers, but for my typical 2 hour domestic flight, these are fine.

Many airlines now use a standard earphone jack for in-seat audio. These will work fine on those planes.

As far as fit, these are better for my ears than the typical "flat" style earbuds, like the ones that came with my ipod, much less prone to falling out.

I bought a pair of these about a year ago and they were fantastic. They have a solid feel and block out most exterior noise. They are great for airplanes and the sound is terrific.

I bought these the last time around and I like them. I only use them on the plane though because I would feel uncomfortable walking around the street with these in my ear since they do block out a lot of noise (even when not listening to music). I believe some peeps may have problems with the buds popping out but I noticed that one of my ear holes is bigger than the other (slightly).

I use an iPod and have gone from a cheap pair of noise cancelling headphones to these and I rarely use this at more than 60 percent volume. even on smaller planes. I typically watch movies on my iPod.

On some of the hotter days these plugs do tend to slip in and out so i would imagine that they are not good for exercise although I've never used them for that again, I would be uncomfortable in surroundings where I need to be aware (imagine wearing ear plugs).

for the price I recommend them.

If you're on the fence, buy them! I got three last time, and I've had two before them. Best. Headphones. Ever.

bought them last time and really enjoys them. good sound/noise isolation. Even when my mp3 volume is low I have to take at least one of them out to hear someone sitting next to me.

jamsoccer12 wrote:After over a year of being a troll on this website, I finally made my first purchase!

Congrats!

I bought a pair too.....until today I really thought I was the only person in the world who had trouble keeping ear buds in. I found one uber inexpensive pair at a retailer last summer, wish I had bought several pairs now, and I needed a second set for work. I don't care so much about the sound or noise isolation - although blocking out the loud people in the office is an appealing idea... I just want something that stays IN my ears so thanks for all the great reviews!

chainofcommand02 wrote:Beware: There are two versions of these earphones. Compare tonight's 1/8" jack with these from 2008:

http://sellout.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=6651

The older ones had a metal jack, with a rubber strain relief. Much better build quality than today's offering, with a plain rubber jack.

ar, i missed those... but got these and so I can't compare exactly, these have done vury fine by me. Would love to see a side-by-side comparision.. send me yours?

thericochet wrote:

Ended up buying the Blockade earbuds Woot had a couple weeks ago as a two-fer and am really happy with them. I liked the sound the Maximo provided for the first month, but the build is very dainty and not rugged at all. The only saving grace is the lifetime warranty...but after 3 or 4 RMAs or so you'd be spending more in postage, gas and time than buying a more rugged replacement pair.

I'm surprised that you like the Blockade earbuds. I bought them last time Woot had them and was really disappointed with them. The sound was very tinny. I was hoping to hear a comparison between these and the Blockades to help me decide whether to get these or not. If you like the Blockades better, I'm definitely out.

rotomobees wrote:I've bought four of these. One got caught in my lathe, and it surprisingly didn't survive.

You were wearing loose gear around high speed shop equipment? Keep that up and you'll be a candidate for a Darwin Award.

"The Darwin Awards salute the improvement of
the human genome by honoring those who
accidentally remove themselves from it..."

http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin/

These are good! I've had a pair for awhile and they've really held up.

clnbrn wrote:Dont think these work for the iPhone since iPhones 3.5mm jack is recessed. Anyone have a definite answer?

On the first generation, no these will not work since the jack is recessed. On the 3G and forward models, the jack is NOT recessed, so these should work.

Does anyone know if they have a built-in microphone? I wanted to get them for my iPhone but wasn't sure if it had this feature.

chainofcommand02 wrote:My thoughts exactly. I've had to send in a pair of 'phones and I got scaffolding back. That's what you get with a lifetime warranty I suppose.

The 590 is good. The 490 (these) are very, very, tinny sounding.

markrosenzweig wrote:I got my pair from Woot back in Feb, and I love them. I'll admit I'm not an audiophile, but they sound very good to me.

I also own a pair of $150 Sennheiser active noise cancellation over-the-ear headphones that I'd gotten previously for air travel, but most trips now, I leave those home and take these earbuds. Yes, the Sennheiser do a better job at canceling the engine noise, but the way the rubber tips on these seal against the ear, they passively block the sound well enough that the difference isn't all that great. And the main advantage of these is that they are tiny - the Sennheisers, once in their case, are the size or a paperback book (and Bose are even bigger). I like to travel light. If I had a really long flight, or if I knew I'd be sitting next to the engine, I'd bring the Sennheisers, but for my typical 2 hour domestic flight, these are fine.

Many airlines now use a standard earphone jack for in-seat audio. These will work fine on those planes.

As far as fit, these are better for my ears than the typical "flat" style earbuds, like the ones that came with my ipod, much less prone to falling out.

Since you have them already I figured you'd know, do they have a built in microphone that I could use with my iPhone?

watergem wrote:I bought these a few months ago from Woot and use them with my Zune. They seem to have issues either generating or not dispersing static charges and it causes my Zune to reset all the time.

Very comfortable headphones though, I do like them.

I use these with a Zune on a daily basis. Never had problem described. I've used for about 2 months and they are great. No problems.

These are so-so. This is the review I wrote for Amazon after getting a pair in a previous woot, and a replacement pair:

I got the iM-490 earbuds to replace the ones that came with my 4GB Sansa.

Pros:
- They look cool
- solidly built...sort of. You can't really crush them easily if you step on them
- Decent noise canceling when securely placed in ear
- lifetime warrantee (save receipts and packaging, ask how I know!)

Cons:
- Out of the box, left ear was very weak and had less volume than right. Normal break-in procedure seemed to fix the problem.
- Put the right earbud in my ear one day and POP! Hard to explain, but sound would only come out of the earbud if you set it PERFECTLY in your ear and "popped" it right. Clearly there was a bad connection somewhere that was affected by the air pressure of putting it in my ear. When I was able to position it, it sounded okay, but quickly fell out of place, which leads me to my next point:
- don't try to use these at the gym. They are extremely heavy for earbuds, which greatly increases the likelihood of falling out of your ears.
- As far as sound quality, they are mediocre. I felt that they were very bass-heavy and required a lot of EQ-ing to get decent sound. If your audio source has a good EQ, no problem.


I bought another pair of Maximo buds (cheaper) to replace these and left side went dead in about a month of use. At this point I decided I had given Maximo enough chances, my Shure buds and Sennheisers are phenomenal compared to these. I would recommend weighing all the options and shopping around (maybe trying a friend's buds) before committing to these buds.

Does anyone know if these are easy to take apart? I plan to take off the speakers on these buds and put them on my iphone headphones (so I can use the volume/music controls on the cable). I have done this before with other earbuds and it works pretty well, but now I want to upgrade them. Do these ones have a single metal housing for the speakers or is it two pieces?

Athgeek wrote:Anyone know if they work for airplane movies?

You may need a two prong adapter for some airlines like USAirways to get stereo sound.

I bought a pair of these on woot 1/16/08 for $14.99 use them all of the time on trans Atlantic flights they do a good job blocking out background noise. Going in for 2 more to upgrade my kids ipod earphones.

Keep your 22 month old away from these.

Mine ate both of the little rubber pieces off of grandpa's set.

[quote postid="3637114" user="sdc100"]MAKE SURE TO BURN THESE IN!!!


really? I would think that the manufacturer would test the items on a sample basis, but i will try it. No harm with a life time warranty.

mshemthe2nd wrote:Does anyone know if these are easy to take apart? I plan to take off the speakers on these buds and put them on my iphone headphones (so I can use the volume/music controls on the cable). I have done this before with other earbuds and it works pretty well, but now I want to upgrade them. Do these ones have a single metal housing for the speakers or is it two pieces?

They are very difficult to get apart, I had problems with mine and was unable to get at them, IIRC it is one metal piece.

I bought these the last time Woot offered them, that lasted 2 weeks...oh well...

beautyofmachines wrote:They are very difficult to get apart, I had problems with mine and was unable to get at them, IIRC it is one metal piece.

darn.
thanks for heads up

what do you mean you burned them in?

joec56 wrote:These come with a lifetime guarantee, I got these 6/2009, they stopped working 11/2009, cost me $1.34 to send them in for repair & I got a brand new pair back.

Lifetime warranty is important with this product. I bought two pairs the last time they were on woot. First pair stopped working within a month. I sent them back and received a new pair. Second pair stopped working about a month later. I haven't sent them back yet but I pray I get the same customer service as the 1st time. Net net...these puppies are not very durable.

These are pretty good.

When they first came out, they were around $50.

I got mine last xmas for $15 at buy.com.

The only poblem I have with them is I am alergic to the silicon ear pieces so I can not use them anymore.

Otherwise great sounding...

-Me

Don't waste your money on these. Two huge problems with these. First, one size fits all, and they kept falling out of my ears very easily. Second, the jack is straight which doesn't provide for great storage with your mp3 player. This is where mine went bad, the cable to the jack part became loose.

They have a great sound quality, while they last anyway.

cguznicz wrote:Since you have them already I figured you'd know, do they have a built in microphone that I could use with my iPhone?

No mike.

Bought these the last time they were on woot. The left earbud stopped working after a couple months of use.

I've bought 3 of these the last 2 times they were offered and I just bought 3 more. They are AWESOME - definitely the best available for the price.

HoDad wrote:Yes. I just returned from Cancun a couple of weeks ago and used them to watch the inflight movie. Great sound and great earbuds.

I don't have these specific sound isolating earbuds but several from other companies. They work great.

However, a word of caution about using them on the plane. Because they isolate so well, you end up using the lowest volume setting on the armrest. However, when the crew interrupts to make an announcement, the volume is not controlled by the armrest. It's always way too loud and hurts like hell. My solution is to put a signal attenuator in the line and set the armrest volume in the middle.

I bought these last time they were on woot a few months ago and I love them! Great product!

For people asking about taking them apart. I found them very easy to disassemble. part the cord goes into unscrews and the front part twists off with a just a little bit of effort.

I did have problems with losing the sound in one ear piece after a year of constant use, but I decided to attach these earbuds to my iphone cord so that I could have the inline mic and controls. It wasn't very hard to do, and they reassembled really nicely.

I have found them to be very comfortable to use all day while I am at the office, and haven't had any problems running with them.

Athgeek wrote:Anyone know if they work for airplane movies?

Most airlines require a dual mono jack because they wanted you to spend 5 bucks to rent those scaffolding headphones. Blah...not to mention they dont clean those rental headphones between uses...

A stereo jack will fit in one of these, however you will only get one side of the stereo sound delivered in both headphones.

I recommend an adapter such as this:

http://www.amazon.com/Parts-Express-Airline-Headphone-Adapter/dp/B002I9WCWK/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1260031271&sr=8-3

How well do they stay in when you are working out on the treadmill or going for a jog outside?

I own these exact earbuds. Bottom line is that they sound awesome, and at this price, this is an outstanding deal! Get em while you can now. You will not regret it.

I've compared these to other earbuds such as very high end Shure earbuds, some jbuds, and of course the standard iPod earbuds. These are my favorite.

Sonically, these are a little "hyped." It's like they have a little bit of a "loudness" EQ on them. But, IMO, this is a good thing for using them in less than ideal situations, like at a gym or on a plane. That extra little "loudness" boost makes everything cut through better without having to raise the volume making these more comfortable and less fatiguing in the long run.

The Shure sound a little more "true" and not as hyped. But they cost upwards of $300.00. The jbuds totally suck as do the iPod ones.

I paid around $50.00 for mine and they were totally worth it. At this price, they're a total steal!

Hard to beat the sound and comfort you get for the price you pay.

Good isolation: very soft flexible rubber cups provide a comfortable fit that seals music in, noise out.

You have to spend a lot more money for a better sound.

Beats non-fitted earphones for noise reduction.

Put the spare soft black rubber earpieces in a safe place, in case you lose one.

I usually find earphones painful or uncomfortable to wear, these feel just fine to me.

These are amazing. I got some last time they were on here and I'm really pleased, especially for this great price.

Excellent for out door activities.

JimmyJag wrote:I bought a set of these the last time around.

Pros:
- They fit my ears well and stay in place fairly well.
- Really good noise isolation.
- Reasonably priced.

Cons:
- Bass response is just OK.
- Noticeable high-freq. roll-off. The highs are there, but soft, not clear & transparent.

Overall, they're comfortable and decent sounding, but aren't likely to satisfy an audiophile.