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- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 103 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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3 out of 10 people found this review helpful
1.5 stars
"OK if you are not picky about sound quality"
Pros: convenience... well, it docks your iPod...
Cons: flat sound, useless remote
Summary: We bought this thing as an alternative to wiring the patio for outside speakers, and we thought it would be great to have a single little unit to shuffle through almost our whole CD collection without having to reload CDs... I guess it was silly to expect a "stunning" sound quality (as some reviewers claim) from an iPod player. Hello-o-o! It's an iPod! The sound is compressed, it CAN't be anywhere near the normal CD quality. I mean, it's good enough when you are listening to it on a train on your way to work - through your little ear phones... As soon as you try to play it through some speakers, unless you are deaf or totally don't care, you will hear the difference in the sound quality. It's not terrible, of course. However, don't expect anything similar to a decent CD-playing boom-box. The sound is flat. Period. That means that when you make it loud enough to be heard over the noise of your party, it becomes sort of too loud, and you immediately want to turn it down so the people can hear each other over the music. The speakers do provide a decent bass, but it only muffles the overall sound because the trebles range just doesn't do it. The bottom line, iM7 sounds like a 30-dollar CD-playing boom-box from Wal-Mart, except it costs $250 and doesn't have FM radio. My home stereo system is very high-end, I have put a lot of research and dedication into building it over the years - only because the sound quality makes a lot of difference to me. I know that most people are not as picky (my wife is one of them!) So, that said, if you just need some background noise at your party (or when no one else is talking), want the convenience of playing hundreds of songs without reloading CDs, and are not too picky about the sound quality, you probably will be satisfied. But remember, you can get the same sound quality for about $$30-40 from a regular CD boom-box.
Oh... almost forgot... the remote is totally useless. On the second day of useage, it would only work from 2-3 feet away! And even when it works, it only controls the volume, tone, next, previos, and power. You can't use it to browse the menu, etc. (well, I suppose, when you do that you need to be near your iPod anyway...)
- 7 replies to this review
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The point of the review is to .. well review the product. Not the merits of mp3's vs CD's or your high end home speaker system. This is an iPod speaker -- not a home theater system.
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I generally tend to ignore all the high score reviews and look at the negative ones so that I can see what problems that people are having with the items. I bought my IM7 for $50 on ebay, almost new with a small scratch on the front. I also bought a Klipsch igroove for the same price. I plugged in the Klipsch first and thought it sounded good. I then plugged the ipod into the im7 and the im7 blew the igroove away. I gave the igroove to my son!
I am picky about sound quality, I like the im7, this will be a keeper to listen to my the tunes on my ipod in my office.
This reviewer says basically .... duh...it's an ipod (paraphrased) like ipod audio sucks or something... if you don't like the ipod, then go listen to something else..... -
Itunes music in downloaded and encoded by default at 128, which does not sound very good. You should encode your music in Lossless or 256 at the minimum.
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Very helpful review, it was exactly what I was looking for since none of the reviews (including CNET) mentioned anything about outdoor qualities. I was wondering whether this product is only good for iPod or also good as general speakers. People shouldn't get so sensitive and defensive on these posts. Jeez. Thanks again!
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Is the IM7 alien technology that can defy the laws of physics? No. Does it do a better job than any other other iPod speaker system available at "2005 holiday shopping" time? Definately.
The system works, and works well. To compensate for its compact size it packs A LOT of power, it can be driven to very loud level.
One would have to be deaf to call the sound from the IM7 "flat" -- in fact like most such compact system this unit has quite a but of EQ dialed in by default. I prefer to tone the bass down in all but the most "dance party" uses.
If anything I'd knock the unit for being "unaccurate" but it IS quite "musical" -- the tuning is biased to electronic & amplified music, though I find it acceptable/listenable for music including piano & voice, which is very demanding of even hugely expensive home systems.
In a nut shell: this is a GREAT product that works much better than its competition (products from Bose & JBL). -
1. You're not the self-proclaimed audiophile you claim to be.
2. 11 Million users can't be wrong (about the iPod)
3. If you want to wire your patio for true environmental sound, resolve your yourself to a bigger budget and stop trying to squeak by with this.
4. The music is pure CD quality. I'd question the source files you have loaded and hte bit rate and compression you have chosen. Oh, that's right, you're a hard-core audiophile.....right.
5. It's America. Take it back if you don't like, but for Godsake, grow up and stop your whining.
6. Better to be thought of as a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt. You should of kept quite my friend. Flat sound? Adjust your hearing aid...
7. If your wife was truly picky as you state, I'd look in the mirror and state that same claim. Does it really match?
It's brilliant and a true contender in its market. Period. -
You claim to be an audiophile who has spent many hours of research on your home audio equipment, yet when it comes time to provide music for your patio for a party, you provide a boom box. If you want to rock your patio, buy some Niles OS-20 or Technomad outdoor speakers connected to a proper amplifier. By the way, CDs are considered "low end" of the home theater and entertainment market. A CD can be scratched and the audio quality thereby compromised. Once dust accumulates on the pickup lens, audio quality is further compromised. Most professionally installed home theaters today feature RAID array storage for both digital music and video. If you are still using CDs, you might as well be in the dark ages. The sound of the iPod is not as good as vinyl or a MFSL Gold Disc, but that has to do with the codec used when creating the data file. An iPod is not indestructible, but the sound quality of my music files will not degrade with time as it would with CDs or vinyl. That is the compromise a true audiophile must make. I want the incredible portability of being able to walk around with 10,000 songs in my pocket, I am willing to sacrifice some sound quality to get that. My review of the iM7 states that it is the best sounding PORTABLE system I have heard. I can find better sounding systems, but cannot pick them up with one hand. Anybody who has seen and heard my iM7 simply cannont believe such sound could come from such a small package. Most simply said WOW at both the design and sound quality. Rating the iM7 a 3 is simply unfair. If you didn't like it, take it back to the store and quit complaining. I'll keep mine, thank you.
Where to buy
Altec Lansing InMotion iM7:
$499.99
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$499.99 | See Site |
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