Custom-3 announcements and impressions

[HiFlight]

It only took about a week for mine to show up on my bank account.

[acidtripwow]

After listening to my Custom 3s for a while now I like them with my Voyager amp much better than straight out of my Ipod. Just a suggestion that if anybody does buy these that they should probably try them with an amp.

[Kokofong]

Does any custom 3 user know how to solve the serious noise caused by the friction of the wire during listening (especially I wear glasses)? It's very annoying and inconvenient while I bring it out.

[cn11]

Originally Posted by TJ Max

Ok, I would like to share with all of you my "initial" thoughts of the Customs 3 after owning them for a full day.

They are smaller than the pictures indicate, the stem is longer than what the pictures indicate. These were good things to me.

With my first listen with them I used the medium eartips. I listened to an MP3 encoded at 256kbps, "Anderdon's Great Escape" from the Minority Report soundtrack composed by John Williams. I listened to it with the EQ turned off. The first thing I noticed was the bass. John Williams usually uses a "booming" bass drum at key moments for dramatic effect in his music. The Bass really stuck out here, I mean it was startling. It recreates a very powerful Boom. But It felt out of place and disconnected from the rest of the music, and was somewhat startling when it poped up. I really don't understand how people say the bass is'nt that strong with the Custom 3s.

Everything else sounded full and detailed but it lacked the highs I was looking for somewhat. I had heard the Custom 3s were bright, but they were'nt bright enough for me. So I switched to the small eartips. They were a little better, but I had trouble getting a good seal, so I switched back to the medium tips, and enabled the EQ and bumped up the 4-13Khz ranges.
Then the sound was more to my liking.

What I realize too is the the left ear tip, seems like it slides and shifts in my ear, I can get a good seal, but it seemed to come unsealed very easily. Sometimes the sound would go out completely because the eartip shifted and was pointed at a wall in my ear canal. And suggestions with that?
I've put on the largest ear tip, but I loose more of my highs with them.
I never had this type of ear tip problem with the Shure E4 tips, or the Ultimate Ears tips.

Anyway with some EQ'ing of the highs I think they sound decent, but the bass may be a little too much.

Anyway these are just my First Impressions, are always the least critical.

I'm one of the people that had the exact opposite experience as you with the sound. I found them very thin sounding, brittle, and no bass. I tried everything I could think of, going through all the tips (the mediums provided the closest thing resembling a seal), and no luck in achieving any sort of reliable seal. If I physically sat there and held them in deeper than they'd stay on their own, I'd start to get somewhat good sound with a bit more bass, and some respectable treble detail. But at this point they were jammed in so far into my ear canal that it was almost painful, and way too deep for safety. I am chalking up my experience to my ear canal shape being not compatible with these earphones. I guess Klipsch didn't do enough research into all the types of shapes for people's ear canals. That's the only thing I can think of for the disparity in people's experiences with their C3's. They simply didn't work AT ALL for me, and they went back within a few days. Huge disappointment.

[PeterDLai]

Originally Posted by TJ Max

Ok, I would like to share with all of you my "initial" thoughts of the Customs 3 after owning them for a full day.

They are smaller than the pictures indicate, the stem is longer than what the pictures indicate. These were good things to me.

With my first listen with them I used the medium eartips. I listened to an MP3 encoded at 256kbps, "Anderdon's Great Escape" from the Minority Report soundtrack composed by John Williams. I listened to it with the EQ turned off. The first thing I noticed was the bass. John Williams usually uses a "booming" bass drum at key moments for dramatic effect in his music. The Bass really stuck out here, I mean it was startling. It recreates a very powerful Boom. But It felt out of place and disconnected from the rest of the music, and was somewhat startling when it poped up. I really don't understand how people say the bass is'nt that strong with the Custom 3s.

Everything else sounded full and detailed but it lacked the highs I was looking for somewhat. I had heard the Custom 3s were bright, but they were'nt bright enough for me. So I switched to the small eartips. They were a little better, but I had trouble getting a good seal, so I switched back to the medium tips, and enabled the EQ and bumped up the 4-13Khz ranges.
Then the sound was more to my liking.

What I realize too is the the left ear tip, seems like it slides and shifts in my ear, I can get a good seal, but it seemed to come unsealed very easily. Sometimes the sound would go out completely because the eartip shifted and was pointed at a wall in my ear canal. And suggestions with that?
I've put on the largest ear tip, but I loose more of my highs with them.
I never had this type of ear tip problem with the Shure E4 tips, or the Ultimate Ears tips.

Anyway with some EQ'ing of the highs I think they sound decent, but the bass may be a little too much.

Anyway these are just my First Impressions, are always the least critical.

Your first impressions coincide with my first impressions pretty closely. They were definitely not bright sounding, but they were brighter than the Shure E500PTH and Future Sonics Atrio m5 that I tried before. The bass is definitely pretty strong (about as strong as the E500PTH as I remember it) and prevalent.

I did not keep them because it was not the sound signature that I was looking for, though it surprised me how many other people had fit problems and experienced little bass.

I am one of the few fortunate ones that found that I could get a seal using any of the tips quite easily and painlessly. I was not a huge fan of the thick memory cable, however.

I haven't run into an IEM that I wasn't able to attain a good seal and keep it yet. It's probably because I have smaller ear canals or perhaps the shape of my ear canals is perfect for IEMs.

[mikeymad]

I think that this has been asked before, but I cannot seem to find any information on it.

I am curious about the isolation numbers (db) of the C3's. Or has it been tested? I use my ETY's a lot for it's high isolation, and I would be looking at the C3 for the same level.

Cheers,

[Fud]

I've never been able to find the isolation ratings online, but I do have them in this little promotional pamphlet that Amy sent me. All models are rated at 26db of noise reduction.

[Spiritboxer]

Are the gel tips available as a separate item?

[rhyx]

Originally Posted by Spiritboxer

Are the gel tips available as a separate item?

Not that I can see on the web store. I do believe customer service told me they would be available later on once production ramps up.

[mikeymad]

Originally Posted by Fud

I've never been able to find the isolation ratings online, but I do have them in this little promotional pamphlet that Amy sent me. All models are rated at 26db of noise reduction.

Thanks Fud, 26 is not bad. But not quite up to the 35db (tri-flange), 42db (foam) of the ETY.

Cheers,

[smsl]

just ask my friend help me bought a Custom 3 back , this saturday can get it !! ^^

[Aevum]

quick news for european members interested in Klipsch IEM´s.

Advancemp3players in the UK has them at pretty good price, btw, i tipp my hat at klipsch for not doing the same 1:1 euro dollar trick, the price is fair,

[padam]

New review:
Klipsch Custom-3 Noise Isolating Earphones - TrustedReviews

[Goit]

Klipsch Custom3 vs Audio Technica AD900
Can someone answer this?

[aporcelainsky]

I really like the custom 3s, other than the microphonics associated with the upper cord I really don't have a problem with them. definitely comfortable.