Klipsch Custom Series Earphones

[PeterDLai]

UPDATE: The first two in the Custom Series are now available directly from Klipsch. The IMAGE is also available. All three of these models have a discount if you order before January 4, 2008. Check out the discounts on this page here. The Custom-3 is delayed, with them coming out in January 2008 at the soonest.

Custom-3 (dual-driver)
Custom-2
Custom-1

This was brought up in the Klipsch IMAGE thread, but felt that the information about the Custom Series wasn't seen by many, plus I have more information to present.

In addition to the minuscule IMAGE earphones, Klipsch announced a line of earphones called the Custom Series. You can read the press release here. The product pages for these earphones are up as well.

I scoured through the Klipsch forums to find more information about these, and I found this informative post by someone who I believe is the engineer behind these. Here is the post quoted here if you don't want to click through (it's long, but it's pretty detailed).

There are a lot of consumers who are confused about which earphone to choose. This is understandable. The earphones have one or two or maybe even three little thingies inside them and the more thingies the higher the price. It just doesn't make sense to the average consumers, so what is difference?

At first...When I was a virgin user of balanced armature technology, I was working at Apple Computer. We had an earphone company come to Apple to demonstrate their single armature (arm) product. Many people didn't like it because you have to jam it into your ear all the way to your brain, or at least this is what the 3 flange ear tip felt like to most users. For those users that didn’t get a seal (where the air leaks out of the canal) which was a majority of users, they complained about not having any bass. I couldn't believe they were saying this. The design had reasonable bass; they just weren't using it correctly. This is when I first realized that a better solution is needed. The creature comforts were not considered.

How many arms do I need?

Here is the lowdown as best as I can explain it without you having the earphone models in your ears.... Before I explain how many armatures you need. Let's go over some terms first:

IEM or IE = In Ear Monitor - this is usually a professional level earphone that is customized to fit your ear canals. The performer will use these to minimize stage volumes, so they can work for more than 10 years without losing your hearing. With lower volumes it is easier for them to control what they want to hear in the monitor mix thus saving their hearing. Now the performer can stay on pitch and keep good timing.

PM = Personal Monitors, earphones with armatures

Headphones or HP = General description for all types

Earbuds = Similar to the Apple headphones with Moving coil transducers inside

Entry Level PM's.......... use a simple balanced armature. The challenge the engineer has primarily rests in the balance armature design itself, the damper and the nozzle design. This is a very difficult task to make full range since the transducer will work well in the LF or the HF but not generally wideband. Typically the Bass, Vocals or Drums suffer the most with this design, sounding slightly harsh or not having any output that is audible in that range. In other words the vocal sounds throaty or scratchy depending on the model. There is also limited SPL with this design due to being a single arm design. Even with these disadvantages it sounds better than any moving coil design that I have heard since the mass of the diaphragm is much less the HF is much more accurate than a standard earbud with a moving coil. Custom 1 has been optimized to give the best balance of LF and HF. This design uses a KG332 armature.

Mid Level PM's............ use either premium single armatures that are usually smaller or dual armatures with minimal or no EQ. Each product has its limitations.

For Klipsch's IMAGE PM a premium armature is used which is a proprietary KG926 driver. The KG926 is ultra compact. Less weight generally means more comfort because there is less force on the ear canal. This model has "special sauce" which I can't go into, due to its proprietary nature, but it is very full range with delicate high's and smooth deep bass. The sound is very accurate due to its light weight diaphragm and the multiple levels of treatment to the design. Generally speaking people will have a hard time complaining about this design. It is easy to use and sounds very accurate. Vocals are silky smooth and drums have a nice snap to them. You can not believe your ears...a product this size sounding this full! The primary limitation is that it is small so you must have a good air seal or you will loose bass. The way we have minimized this problem is by making the chassis micro small with a thin aluminum extruded body or chassis. This small diameter allows the armature to get closer to your eardrum than all of the others models out there. Precision machining is required to make this model, and the design is complicated to get correct due to its size. The patent pending eartip also insures a better seal since it is similar to the shape of your ear.

Another type of mid level design is using dual armatures similar to our Custom 2. In the Custom 2 design we have partnered with Sonion and have applied for a patent on this armature, so I can talk about some of the details. The KG534 driver is really two drivers i.e. two motors two armatures and two diaphragms that are tandem (back to back). The benefit of this design is that the diaphragms pump air in opposing directions so any vibration modes are minimized. Think of this similar to dual air bellows on your fireplace with a single nozzle. When you have dual diaphragms your SPL increases by 3 dB and your distortion goes down because it is not working as hard. Part of our applied patent evolves around the low pass acoustic filter that is built into one of the two armatures. This give Klipsch greater control over the EQ since we can have two pistons, one optimized for bass and one optimized for full range. This baby rocks! Musicians will love this product because it is portable yet very efficient. Your vocals will stand out in the mix as an IEM application.

High Level PM's...............use two or three armatures and a passive crossover. Our Custom 3 goes much further. Not only does it have two different types of drivers and a passive crossover it also has a patent pending low pass acoustic filter. The Custom 3 utilizes a Klipsch KG723 for the HF tweeter which is a premium armature. This allows the vocals to be ultra silky and very low in distortion. The LF is implemented by a KG732 armature for the LF woofer. The Custom 3 has TWO low pass filters the armature has an internal LP filter plus an additional.... you guessed.... patent pending LP filter on the outside which is optimized for a very low crossover point in such a small chassis without sacrificing sensitivity in the low region of the response. This bad boy has it all! Looks! Comfort! And Concert Level Sound! The passive crossover has 5 components more than any other in its league. With the two acoustic filters and a second order crossover, the LF has a 24 dB per octave rolled off at 1 kHz. Why so low? Everyone else seems to crossover above the vocal region but we wanted to eliminate Intermodulation Distortion (IMD) so we have remove the kick drum and bass tones from the tweeter so the diaphragm can concentrate on silky highs without movement from the LF signal. This also allows use to take advantage of the shape of the crossover for additional EQ in the midrange. The vocals are so natural that this high end IEM won't fatigue your ears like most designs can. But my favorite part is the BASS. I use to have a regional touring pro sound system for live performance applications. I had eight 18 inch 1000 watt drivers just for the subs, so I don't have to tell you how much I can appreciate good clean bass. Image hearing headphones flat BELOW the musical bandwidth. There is no limitation to the bass. I just wish it would shake my pant legs like my pro system did. I encourage everyone to try this product before the buy any other. You will find that the money was well spent.

So what type of HP do you need? You will have to be the judge, but you will need to keep in mind that there is a reason why there is large range of prices. The number of arms does make a difference for the IE headphone family.

It seems like the extra money towards the IMAGE earphones as opposed to the Custom 3 is purely for aesthetics and design. Their flagship product for sound quality will be the Custom 3, and with a retail price of $299, it might stir up the IEM world a little bit. So far, all of the reviews of the prototypes in that thread have been positive. On the other hand, it is the Klipsch forum and could have a tendency to be biased. Furthermore, it seems like most of them have limited experience with high-end IEMs.

So what do you guys think? Just marketing to hype these up? Or are these going to be real contenders? They are slated for a November release, which might even be before the Westone 3 shows up. I guess the only way to find out is to wait until they're released and fully compared to other high-end offerings.

[freeone-j]

Are you kidding me, these sound great! I would be one of the first ones to try these at that price point.I would try these before I'd try the Westone 3's.

[shaizada]

Interesting.....I think I will bite. Another one to add to the IEM journey. Knowing Klipsch sound quality, it just might be REALLY good. However, I know they have horns mastered.....but this is a their first forray into headphones.

~G

[luckypictures]

Hmmm. I'm not sure if I have enough IEM's, and I definitely don't have any around that price point.

[jinx20001]

they look and sound astonishing, but its usually the case that the more the earphones are boasted with amazing terms like

''The Custom 3 has TWO low pass filters the armature has an internal LP filter plus an additional.... you guessed.... patent pending LP filter on the outside which is optimized for a very low crossover point in such a small chassis without sacrificing sensitivity in the low region of the response.''

it almost certainly flops or isnt as special as made out, now with the westone 3 it claims 3 drivers and a 3 way crossover...thats it, and we know its going to be great, now klipsh or whatever its called look like its making a big deal outta this to burst a few bubbles but it seems very far fetched. certainly sounds terrific tho

[jinx20001]

i sure as hell wanna hear more and more pics would be a bonus

[xnothingpoetic]

I am naturally skeptical, and even more so since my recent love for er4s

but I would be willing to give them a try.

If I don't like them I can sell them to my dad (vintage and modern klipsch speaker fan)

[jinx20001]

bump! i think these could be big i wanna hear some first impressions

[James63]

I for one am very interested in these.

It is good to see a speaker company get into the headphone biz!!

I hope other big name speaker companies fallow suit.


When do they come out?

[d0td0t]

Interesting, especially for Klipsch speaker user for 5years.. =)
but the build don't look very durable.. aesthetic is good, but looks like the prints will be worn out fairly soon..
and y must they haf the 'UE' style memory wires.. eekx

[yobs]

Hopefully the sounds is awesome, cos ! Those are beautifully designed earpieces . One for Team-aesthetic fi for sure (self included ).

Notice the cloth style cords? Love it.

[gtp]

Great read, THANKS for posting.

[PeterDLai]

Originally Posted by jinx20001

i sure as hell wanna hear more and more pics would be a bonus

Here's another picture on their website with its case and accessories. You can click on the picture and download a high-resolution print-quality image, which is huge and quite detailed.

Originally Posted by d0td0t

but the build don't look very durable..

I don't work for Klipsch, but here's what they have to say about that:
"Furthermore, Klipsch has gone to great lengths to ensure the long-lasting durability of these Custom earphones, up to and including their 50-inch-long cables. The company has added appropriate strain relief at every cable connection point to avert wire damage. Plus, underneath the cable’s black cloth weaving, a special PVC Wireguard jacket prevents the wires from becoming exposed and frayed."

Also, the design engineer had this to say concerning durability:
"Durability - It has got to be rugged because it's Klipsch! need I say more? We have tested these puppies in so many ways thanks to Boy Wonder Brad's ME Purdue skills and Black Belt Brian M's expertise that Brian has to use a wheel barrel to cart the test documents around. Cables go through tens of thousands of flex cycles at every joint, strain and stress. We actually have a sweat test to see if these babies corrode! Cycle temperature test beyond the extremes of human safety."

Originally Posted by gtp

Great read, THANKS for posting.

You're welcome.

Here's some more reading material for you folks (another very informative post by the design engineer).

[d0td0t]

LoL.. aesthetics!! LoL, lets jus cross our fingers on the durability then.. can't wait for reviews from fellow Head-Fier when it is released =)

would really hope its as punchy as their speakers. may consider getting a pair!

Thanks PeterDLai for the insights.
cheers

[PeterDLai]

I noticed this a while ago, but I forgot to post. There seems to be a slight difference in the memory wire in the two product photos. One has a clear memory wire, and the other has a black memory wire. Or maybe they're both clear and it's hard to tell from the picture.

Not really important, just something I noticed.