I-MEGO Throne Gold On-Ear Headphones Review

I-MEGO Throne Gold First Impressions

There are strata of purchasing ceilings within products. Depending on your needs, your budget, and any number of other factors, what is reasonable to spend on a product changes. With headphones, there tends to be the $20, $50, $100, $200+ tiers. These, of course, are not hard and fast rules nor are they empirically verified. They come from the emails I get from readers. "Looking for headphones under $50." "What do you think are the best cans under $100?"

When you cross over the $100 barrier, people stop asking about features and start asking about sound quality. They expect features, they want good sonics.

I-MEGO has two different versions of their Throne headphones - the Gold and Poison. I have no idea how those two things are related other than the Gold ones are actually gold. The Poison headphones look silver and red in the pictures though I-MEGO calls them "gunmetal and muted purple". I suppose they didn't want to call them Silver for fear that they'd be perceived as lower quality than the Gold.

The Poison headphones look identical to the Gold except for the color. Sonically, however, they are tuned completely differently. The Poison headphones are "built for stand-out vocals and acoustics that suite classical or new age music. The result is crystal clear audio with balanced audio response." They feature the same drivers as the Gold but the frequency response is tailored to be very flat. The Gold headphones are "geared towards big bass for rock, R&B, or hip hop. The result is crystal clear audio with deep, powerful bass."

Personally, I'd have preferred the Poison to the Gold based on those descriptions. But I didn't get a choice and ended up with the Gold. Externally, it's hard to knock the I-MEGO Throne Gold headphones on their aesthetics. The gold and black combination is very striking and the vents on the back of the earpieces are reminiscent of an old Shure 55S mic that singers used to croon into back in the day. 

Rather than opt for the ever popular fabric-covered cable, I-MEGO went with the more traditional rubber coated variant. I enjoyed for the first time in many reviews, not hearing noise transmitted into the earphone by rubbing on the fabric coating. There is a small, fabric-coated wired running into the headphones from the headband but it doesn't transmit noise.

I-MEGO has included with their Throne headphones a 1/4" adapter, an adapter to use with older smartphones (for control purposes), and a carrying case. The case is little more than a fabric sack (they call it a soft travel pouch) and the Throne headphones do nothing to reduce their size (they don't fold up like other headphones. While you could take these with you when traveling, it is obvious that I-MEGO meant for them to be used at home for high end listening.

I-MEGO calls the Throne Gold headphones "over-ear" but, unless you have small, pointy, elf ears, they will most likely be on-ear for you. The ear pads are constructed out of memory foam and are extremely soft. The headband is leather with the I-MEGO logo stitched into it with a soft underside for added comfort. The adjustable slides on each side hold their position relatively well though you'll probably find yourself readjusting them each time you put the headphones on. They certainly stay in place when in use.

The headphones are clearly labeled on each side though you won't need to look for the L and R as there is a red tab on the right headphone and the cable comes out of the left. The 1.2 meter cable features a single button control module and an in-line microphone for use during calls.

I-MEGO Throne Gold Use

The I-MEGO Throne Gold headphones were one of the most comfortable headphones I've ever worn. They were just tight enough to let you know they were on but not so tight as to be uncomfortable. When I first put them on, I thought I had them on backwards. The seemed to angle slightly forward off my ears. When I turned them around, they felt the same which indicated that they were actually flat. After a few moments, the memory foam earpads compressed to my ears and the Throne headphones felt much more natural.

The I-MEGO Throne Gold headphones weigh just over seven ounces (according to my highly scientific kitchen scale) so long-term listening isn't going to be an issue. The headband is softer and more comfortable than just about every other pair of headphones I've tested. The vents on the outside of the Throne headphones are aesthetic only and don't indicate an open-backed design. Isolation from outside noise was as good as other on-ear headphones and noise leakage was minimal.

The in-line microphone was well placed on the cable and I never felt the need to hold it in front of my mouth. During use, my voice was clear and nearly indistinguishable from using the phone alone. The in-line control consisted of a single button. Rather than using an indentation to delineate the button location, I-MEGO opted for a raised one. I found this significantly harder to find and use. The way the button was positioned on the control unit faced it toward my body which was the opposite side my thumb would naturally land when reaching for the control.

As mentioned, the I-MEGO Throne Gold headphones come with adapters for use with older smartphones (a small extension cord) and a 1/4" adapter. The 1/4" adapter snapped in securely without being overly difficult to remove. When you are spending over $100 on headphones, you don't want to fear damaging them when using an adapter.

When you get to the $130 price point, I start to expect removable cables. Let's face it - the cable is the weak link in nearly every headphone. If something is going to break, it'll be there. Even through there are in-line controls, I would have liked to see I-MEGO include a removable cable and, perhaps, a second cable without the in-line controls. This gives you the ability to swap cables if something breaks or install a much longer cable to suit your needs.

The fit and finish of the I-MEGO Throne Gold headphones was very good overall. The stitching on the headband was excellent and everything looked to be well made. There were a few scratches on the bottom of one of the earphones though it was hard to see on the reflective metal finish. This seems to indicate that the gold finish might not be very durable but small nicks and scratches are going to be all but indistinguishable.

I-MEGO Throne Gold Sound

When you review a Ferrari, you don't knock it for being fast. Or red. It's a Ferrari. They designed it to be that way. In the same way, it is not really fair to knock the I-MEGO Throne Gold headphones for their overabundance of bass. They were designed with a bass boost in mind. If you didn't want a lot of bass, you would have bought the Poison version. Here is the frequency response graph provided by I-MEGO of the Throne Gold headphones:

That's up to 15dB of boost from the average of the top end to the bottom. That's a lot. There is no way you aren't going to notice that amount of extra bass during playback. I'm not sure rock, R&B, and hip hop need that much extra bass. But someone must or I-MEGO wouldn't have customers for their Throne Gold headphones.

With that much extra bass, it was very hard to evaluate the upper end of the response. In fact, the bass was so overpowering that the vocals and overall soundstage of the music was very subdued and recessed. The top end of the Throne Gold headphones was well extended and natural. I sensed no inkling of fatigue with the Throne Golds even after long listening sessions. The slight weight and comfortable band and earpads certainly helped. The midrange was decently clear though the bass boost definitely muddied up the presentation.

One area where the I-MEGO Throne Gold headphones excelled was with imaging. For $130 headphones, they managed to perform pans better than many headphones I've tested. Even in-ear headphones tested at higher price points didn't perform as well. 

At low volumes, you may find it difficult to hear anything over the bass. At higher volumes (not immediately damaging but still quite loud) the higher frequencies were able to cut through. These are headphones for those that not only like bass, but like to listen to their music fairly loud.

As you might expect, the bass was very well extended. If you like low frequencies, you won't be left lacking with the I-MEGO Throne Golds. They actually sounded a lot more like an home theater subwoofer (one of the good ones) rather than headphones. The bass didn't quite shake your head but it did try awful hard. The emphasis on these frequencies did tend to muddy the presentation a bit, but the amount of bass was prodigious.

I-MEGO Throne Gold Conclusion

If you are constantly boosting the bass on your music and you tend to listen at moderately loud volumes, you might not need to look any further than the I-MEGO Throne Gold headphones. With up to 15dB of bass boost built in to the headphone design, these are for those that can't get enough bass. With an in-line mic and control, the I-MEGO Throne Gold have nearly all the bells and whistles you'll need. They are some of the most comfortable headphones I've ever tested and they have a unique style that is certain to turn heads.

I-MEGO Throne Gold Headphones

$129.99

www.i-mego.com

The Score Card

The scoring below is based on each piece of equipment doing the duty it is designed for. The numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the individual cost of each unit, thus giving a rating roughly equal to:

Performance × Price Factor/Value = Rating

Audioholics.com note: The ratings indicated below are based on subjective listening and objective testing of the product in question. The rating scale is based on performance/value ratio. If you notice better performing products in future reviews that have lower numbers in certain areas, be aware that the value factor is most likely the culprit. Other Audioholics reviewers may rate products solely based on performance, and each reviewer has his/her own system for ratings.

Audioholics Rating Scale

• — Excellent
• — Very Good
• — Good
• — Fair
• — Poor

Metric	Rating
Build Quality
Appearance
Treble Extension
Treble Smoothness
Midrange Accuracy
Bass Extension
Bass Accuracy
Imaging
Soundstage
Dynamic Range
Fit and Finish
Performance
Value