I bought these because I lose/break in-ears like changing socks. Well, eventually I lost them after having them for only a few months, but they made such an impression that I had to buy them again.
Pros
-By far the most comfortable in ears I've ever had. This was probably the number one factor in my buying them again. After the initial break-in period, I found that bass response was adequate, but not overwhelming. Mids were clear and the highs were defined without getting 'tingy'. All in all, if you're looking for a well balanced sounding set of in-ears, these are the best for this price. I'd even go so far as to say they give a fair challenge to in-ears twice the price.
-Sound isolation is almost to the point of sound cancellation. Being a college student, I study religiously. I found it's almost impossible to find quiet places, so having these in-ears are a blessing!
-The left ear and right ear cords are the same length. The last couple in-ears I've owned had that weird feature where the left ear cord is shorter than the right cord. I guess it kinda makes sense, you're supposed to loop the right earphone around the back of your neck yada yada - I just don't care for it. I like them the same length, so thank you Klipsch!
Cons
-The cord, connections, and earpieces [seem] a little on the flimsy side though they never broke, warped, or spontaneously combusted. Compared to the high-end in-ears I've used on stage, there is a noticeable difference in the quality of the cord and the construction of the earpieces. This is what dropped the product down a star.
-Not so much a con, but a warning. Due to the sound isolation, be careful using these in circumstances where it would be wise to have your hearing (i.e. biking, driving, gorgeous girl trying to get your attention)
-Cord noise. This is kind of normal and more of a con for pretty much all in-ears, but it's like the whole connecting two cans with a string - though I realize the current generation of kids may have absolutely no idea why people would do such a thing. Basically, friction with the cord causes noise to travel into the earpieces.
Worth noting
-I'm sure you've seen the $200+ in-ears and wondered,"Man, I'm sure those sound even better." I would say, not necessarily. Unless you're rocking full sound quality as in uncompressed, unadulterated, straight up tracks from the studio hard drive; the more expensive the headphones, the more unforgiving they are with lower quality tracks. So for a casual listener not insisting on 256kbps as a minimum threshold for sound quality, these are actually the best bet.
Bottom line
These are a great pair of balanced sounding in-ears and I would highly recommend them. Klipsch Image S2 Comfort-Fit Noise-Isolating Earphones
Ear buds are a funny thing. There are so many manufactureres and so many horrid sounding products. Even the ones that should sound good often don't. Recently we tested a pair of super expensive noise isolating buds that sell for over 400 dollars but they didn't sound any better than our 50.00 pair. In fact they didn't even sound as good in some frequencies. So here comes the Klipsch buds and they seemed worth a try. After demos with the Voda-don't waste your time, Shure-way too costly, and the Bose-decent but too expensive for what you get, the Klipsch seemed like a decent bud to try and we wern't disappointed. They come neatly packaged, easy to access. There are three sizes of fittings small, medium, which worked the best, and large. Sizing the pieces is the key to sound quality, fitting, and comfort. They're easily driven and provide good quality sound even at low levels. Bass, mid, and upper range are all superb, easily exceeding most other products costing much more. The high freq cuts off over 10khz quickly so if you like super high highs, the Klipsch buds will come very close but other makers may exceed these but at a cost. Then there's the claimed noise suppression which is also superb. You can hear ambient sounds but they're sufficiently muted allowing the audio to be played at low levels if desired. In the lab, they performed slightly above the claimed spectrum. In the ears, they sounded wonderful. The only issue, and one common with this type of bud with free hanging cable, is noise transmitted from brushing against you. Moving the adjusting band helps a lot. The wiring is rugged and compact but should be kept close to the body away from potential snags. Overall, we loved them and their great sound quality and can easily recommend them. Klipsch has a strong tradtion of great sounding products, next to Sennheiser, and these uphold the tradition.
... and I bet you aren't either (because how many of those are there?). I picked these up on the recommendation of a friend because I wanted something with relatively good sound quality and without the annoying noise made when the headphone wire rubs across my clothes. These have both. Granted, I can't tell you that they have bright highs or whether the lows are muddy... I just know they do a reasonably good job of drowning out the sound of the bus and its passengers, that they sound better than my old headphones (skullcandy), that they're comfortable to wear even after two hours of studying, and they have almost none of that annoying cord-against-cloth sound. Maybe the $80 S4s are better. I don't know. I also know I don't want to spend $80 on headphones. $50 is pretty much my limit, and for that money I'm happy.
I love these.
I searched for a long time for comfortable ear buds. I must have the world's weirdest ear canals, or something, but I always found ear buds to be very uncomfortable and make my ears hurt so much I could only wear them for a short time. The other thing was that a lot of ear buds (sure I tried some cheapies), sounded terrible. I'm no aficionado, but these others sounded terrible. By the way, I tried JVC, Altec Lansing, Sony, and Skull Candy.
I use these almost exclusively for running with my Sansa Clip. They do not fall out at all. I put the Sansa Clip on my collar, so the 1 meter cord is a little bit too long for that, but not a big deal. Especially if I run the cords off the back and up under my arm to my neck. Frankly, I could use a 12-18" cord for my arrangement, so judge accordingly.
So, first off: comfort
The S2's have a long, skinny barrel. In fact, they easily bottom out in my ear canals. I can't tell you they get to my ear drums, but they do get just as deep as I dare to push a cotton swap. They go way in there. At first I tried the medium ear gels, and they go right in, but I wasn't getting much of a seal. So I went with the large ones. They make my ear feel a bit stuffed, but I get a good seal, and because most of that stuffing is from the soft silicone, they don't hurt.
The seal I get is tight, so they do provide good outside noise rejection. In the winter, I run a lot on a paved trail that happens to have been landscaped next to a new freeway, so this matters to me. They are working good for that.
So, for comfort, not perfect, but they are the best I've ever tried and they don't hurt.
I'd like to get around to trying the Comply tips, but we'll see. There are several barrel sizes for Comply, and to get the Tx-100's, you would have to get them from Comply's web site. Amazon and Radio Shack only carry the tx-400s.
Sound Quality
Wow! They sound like they should. What that means is clear sound and flat response. I don't ever hear any distortion out of these any volume level. It is always clear and smooth. And, after I get a good seal, the bass is strong, but not too strong. And the mids are clear. The cymbals are crisp and nice. I happen to prefer even beefier bass, so I use the EQ on my Sansa Clip to "make it so."
Klipsch makes a big deal out of the fact that their ear gels are cast oval. That seems superfluous to me. They aren't very oval. And as soon as you touch them at all, they deform from oval to whatever. So, starting out oval doesn't seem to matter much. My ear canals aren't perfectly circular, and I doubt they're perfectly oval, either. But isn't that why they make them out of silicone rubber?
By the way, I bought these off of eBay for $23. They were an open-box return. But I haven't had any problems with them in the weeks I've had them. - Headphones - Earbuds - In-ear - Earphones'
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