To Infinity and beyond!
We first spotted these cool cans from Hong Kong-based i-Mego at the Bristol Sound & Vision Show, so we were keen to get them in as soon as possible for a proper test. The i-Mego Retro range comprises three models - the flaghship Infinity, along with the Classics and the Heavy with all three models sporting the same retro styling.
At around ?99.99, the i-Mego Infinity is the most expensive of the bunch and has a distinctive black leather and silver chrome finish with red detailing. Each earcup has been to styled to look like an old-fashioned radio mic and for some extra retro cool, the small, red fabric i-Mego label that's stiched onto the padding looks much the same as the red tab found on Levi's jeans. There's no denying that this is one very cool-looking pair of cans. You might find that the chrome-look finish gets slightly spoiled by smudgy fingerprints, but i-Mego has thoughtfully chucked in a small cleaning cloth to keep things looking nice and shiny.
The headphones look and feel reassuringly robust, although the tank-like build quality of the earcups does make them a little bit heavier than many of their rivals. Having said that, they're certainly not too heavy to cart around in your bag all day and it means that they feel nice and snug when you're wearing them.
The oval shape of the earcups means that they're just about large enough so that the padding rests around the ears rather than on them. This may not be the case if your ears are slightly on the large side, but we found the cans to be pretty comfy, even after a couple of hours of wearing them.
The headband is a fair bit wider than those found of many similarly priced rivals, which is good news as it makes them sit far more comfortably on the top of the head. The underside is well-padded and features a soft, brushed-leather finish for extra comfort. As you'd expect, the the length of the headband can be adjusted to find the best fit.
At 1.2m, the cable is long enough to give you a fair bit of leeway for movement when you're wearing the headphones. The red finish contrasts nicely with the detail on the cans themselves and the look is finished off with chrome-look casing around the goldplated 3.5mm plug. You'll also find a 6.3mm adaptor in the box so you'll be able to hook up the headphones to your AV kit as well as your portable devices. The only downside is that the cable looks as though it may be somewhat prone to tangling as it already had a few kinks in it when we got it out of the packaging.
The headphones feature an enhanced bass response, setting them apart from the cheapest cans in i-Mego's Retro range. This makes the Infinity headphones great for bass-laden music. In fact, the bass performance is so strong that it's actually a little overwhelming on some tracks, so choose your music wisely. Despite the headphones rock chic aesthetics, we found that they performed particularly well on dance music. The overall performance is strong with plenty of clarity and a warm tone. It's not audiophile quality, but the sonics are impressive for headphones in this price range.
Verdict:
There's no doubt that a fair bit of the asking price of the i-Mego Retro Infinity headphones is paying for the flashy design, but the comfort factor and enhanced bass are also key features that help to justify the price. The fact that they're really comfortable and robust enough to survive being chucked around in a bag all day also helps to sweeten the price pill, especially considering the above-average audio performance.
If you're after a pair of sub-?100 headphones and you're into retro styling then we highly recommed the Infinity. They're also good for those that listen to a lot of bass-heavy music.
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Tags: Audio Headphones i-Mego i-Mego Retro Infinity
i-Mego Retro Infinity originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:00:00 +0000
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