Klipsch Image ONE Premium On-Ear Earphones

The Image One's were the first over-ear/ on- ear headphone I purchased. I was always concerned about them not being as loud as in ears, and the portability issues as well, but with an amp, I was no longer concerned with volume, and I actually now find full sizes to be as portable as in ears. At the store, I was torn between a few in-ears, and the reference versions of these, which as far as I know are the same sound, just the reference series has a different look, and perhaps better materials (better as in better looking material perhaps). The Image Ones are truly a great pair of headphones, and I loved them even more when I was more of a bass head. Not saying I don't enjoy them still. The bass they provide is a powerful as Beats, but cleaner and more accurate, especially amping them. They have decent mids and highs, but they are muffled when they are not plugged into an amp. With an amp, the mids and highs are good, but not sparkling, for the headphones are really meant for bass. In the sound department, I would give them a 10/10 for bass heads, but now an 8/10 for my taste, as I would no longer consider myself a basshead. Really, there isn't much else to say about sound. The bass can be lessened with an amp, revealing a great sound when you don't want to be analytical about sound, just have something to listen to when doing things like writing a paper.

Comfort wise, the Image One's are quite comfortable really, but due to having smaller head, the headphones were just always too big for me. I find this with many headphones, but the Image One's also have zero clamping. If my head were larger, adjusting the headphone band would increase clamping actually, for as with most headphones, they go in a horseshoe shape to allow some clamping, and making them taller also would make them to have to be stretched further to be put on ones head. I still think the Image One's clamping force would be lower regardless. MY other gripe with the Image Ones' is that I don't know if they are over ears or on ears. My ears are not huge, but not tiny, and the pads extended on parts of it slightly past my ears, and this stopped any isolation. They were not initially like that, but after use, the pads clearly flatten out a tad, and seemed to push outwards.. The pads never got widen enough to go around ny ears. If clamping force were stronger, the force would make the foam widen inwards and outwards, and conform to my ears better, offering a better seal. As a result, I found myself needing to push the pads towards the center of the driver to reshape them. This would work for some time, but another issue came about: The material holding onto the drive casings would stretch and the pads became somewhat easy to take off from the housings. Unfortunely, it a not easy to pop them on again. Even with this dislikes, the Image Ones where never uncomfortable, and with their lightweight design I hardly felt them, but during listening, I could feel sound leakage at times.

The Image Ones are light, but well built overall. The cable seems like it would be a weak place, but it worked well until something caught the wire on the left driver as I stood up and ripped it out. This was after a lot of use and a few good yank on the wires from similar incidents, mind you. I have another pair though, which will be discussed soon for why I do. While not a build weakness, the "paint" stuff on the headband that makes it flat black and also give it a texture that is hard to explain comes off very easily, leaving behind a different luster black. This just was annoying, for the headphones are nice looking, with a very conservative, professional look. I did have one breakage, the left drive swivel cracked, but this crack never got any worse. The crack gave the area more flex, and I was initially worried, so I contacted Klipsch. This is when I saw how great of a company they were. I told them the issue, they asked for shipping information. I thought they were going to send a new swivel, but no, I got a whole new pair of headphones. They didn't ask for proof of the damage. That is very impressive, especially when after my SoundMagic amp broke after a week of using it at home, MP4Nation wanted it shipped all the way back to China to get it repaired or replaced. It was an okay sounding amp, but was horribly made. I just tossed it and didn't bother sending it back. Even though my original Images Ones are toast, I still have a never used pair in a case sitting in my closet, and it is nice to have customer service like that. Of course the Image One's are marked up in price, like any headphone, but I like that a company would trust a customer and not require proof, and better yet, send a whole new pair, and not just a replacement part. Klipsch is an excellent company to deal with. While I prefer the Shure SE215's over Klipsch's S4's, Shure never responded back to me after I complimented them on how pleased I was with the cabling they use. Customer service is, I feel, extremely important, and whether you find a product to be better or worse than another, the company that cares about their customers is a good company. I've had great support from ClarityOne and Comply, if that helps anyone.

Back to the Image Ones, they are a good set of headphones, and the muffled mids and highs disappear with the use of a half decent amp (I was using an E11 with them before I lost the E11, and when they broke not long after).  They are no doubt bass heavy and they will impress most bassheads with delivering punchy, boomy, yet clean bass. One who wants neutral and analytical sound should probably look at another set, but for anyone, they have a fun sound, and with bass turned down, one will hear a sound that is great for listening for background music. They are a comfortable pair of headphones, but would be better with more clamping and/or smaller size. They would also be better if they were over-ears, or even smaller pads that are more  on-ear rather than in between. Someone with small ears will find these to be just large enough to be over-ears, and one with large ears will find them to be great on-ears. For me, my ears are just in the middle, and with a pad size that is right in the middle, sound leakage occurs. Overall a good buy, especially for $80. I got them for almost $150, but everything is more money in Canada it seems.

My favourite earphones were the Klipsch Image s4's. Purchased these for 80$ back in Jan 2011. Still going strong. Theses were my first expensive earphones, and they got me hooked. I have tried Bose, Sennheiser, Dr. Dre( haha lol...), Sony and a lot of othet IEMs/ headphones below 200$ after that, but none even came remotely close to my s4's. I currently own:

1. The s4's

2. The Image one

3. MEE M6

4.JVC HARX700

5. Apple stock

6. couple of samsung stocks, etc...

So my s4's were getting older, and I thought, might as well get a decent backup earphone. I wanted something with a similar sound signature to the s4, good, thumping bass, overall clarity on the sound spectrum, airy soundstage, comfort, etc. Then came across the Image One, and miraculously got an open box item for 45$.

Source: Galaxy Nexus i9250 , with Poweramp.

Burned it in for 30hrs, and started listening. Its true, its very much like the s4, but there are definitely a few places where klipsch went downhill a bit.For example, the soundstage is a bit cramped, not as airy and full as the s4. Even if I increase the "airyness" of the sound via my phone, I never actually get the full distinction between instruments I used to get on my s4. Might be I am not doing it right or something, idk, just my 2 cents..

Second, I read a lot of reviews saying the bass is punchy without being overpowering, I personally found that to be a bit untrue. While the bass is punchy and gives a very enjoyable "thump" on the hip-hop and rap songs( love boom boom pow on this), it does tend to leak into other spectrums a bit sometimes. While it can be corrected by playing with the EQ a bit, and is not at all a deal breaker for me, but I still enjoy the clearer bass of the s4.

Third, comfort wise, its pretty comfortable. Its my first time using on-ears, I typically use over-ears and IEMs, so my ears do feel kind of stuffy after a couple of hours, but I guess I will get used to it.

Also, construction is not overly magnificient or anything, but is nice. Feels classy, typical klipsch. Mostly plastic. not very heavy, but feels very solid, no creaking parts, nothing looks breakable.

Isolation is not very good, at 80% volume on my phone( which is pretty high for me), a person next to me can hear the song if I am in a relatively quiet environment. Again, this might be the standard for on-ears, idk. But I dont c a problem with this while travelling in a train, bus or cab, but not to be used in hospitals lol.

My biggest gripe would be the cabling system. It is a symmetric connection, I would have preferred asymmetric. The cable feels good, sturdy and thick. I hate straight connectors with a passion, they are notorious for going single channel, an L-shaped connector would have been good, but I can live with this. On top of that the cable isnt replaceable, like the SOL republic tracks, which I seriously considered. But all things considered, I dont regret this, and would have gladly paid 100$ for these.

My first impressions were simply horrible! The bass quantity is way too much.

So in the following review I will have equalized the iPod app in iOS 4.3 with the "less bass" option.

Build quality: Rubbery plastic, fake leather, fake chrome made out of plastic, ... typically made/designed in America! Nice looks at first, but cheap materials on closer looks. The design is a cross of Phiaton's PS320 and Bose's On-Ear. It's not too bad, but it's still very far from anything high quality or luxurious.

The cable feels nice and the plastic buttons on the remote respond well.

My only two actual concerns with the design are that the earcups don't rotate far enough (they remain bent so that your ear has more pressure in the back) and that they're not foldable (the cable is two-sided, Klipsch could have easily added some more joints, really).

Bass: Uncontrolled, echoed, bloated, rumbling, extends even to the higher mids, ... IF not equalized!

However, if you take the bass by the balls and bring it down on its knees, you will have a nice musical thumping bass with nice punchy impact that extends very deep.

But again, I must warn you! If your source does not provide an equalizer, stay away from this beast! The bass rumbles. A lot!

Mids:The overall sound has a great energetic feel, similar to that of the Panasonic RP-HJE900 in-ears. Even though recessed, guitars sound powerful. (Especially female) voices are crystal clear and are highly detailed without being too sensitive about production quality. I'm not saying that RHCP's Californication sounds good, but the body and richness of the sound can overshadow a few mishaps. Even though definitely not designed for that purpose, the Image One does offer adequate analytical capabilities for the price.

IF not equalized, the bass extends fairly deep into the mids, not only darkening the sound, but even ruining the sound of electrical guitars: Dear Klipsch, if you have a song starting with a guitar intro, people do not expect it to rumble! Thank you!

Highs: Similar to the medium frequency range, the Image One does a nice job creating a rich and full bodied sound. Occasionally I experienced a small sparkle. On the other hand, I've noticed some high notes were cut off. This is a phenomena I only know by Bose's cheapest On-Ear: cymbals that are supposed to sound like "TS" end up as a flat "SH". This is not often the case (with the Bose always) which leads me to believe that the high frequency graph is not linear at all. However, I hardly noticed any sibilance, which, regarding the extension, is very good.

Luckily, the bass does not affect the highs.

Timbre is bad, IF unequalized (sorry, but I can't emphasize this enough)! The overall sound is too dark and the low mids and bass are a rumbling mess without any chance of instrument separation or recognition. Maybe my ears are a little too touchy, but even with the iPod equalizer settings set to "less bass", quantity surpasses that of the HFI-780 - it's really that strong.

Equalized, I really enjoy the overall sound presentation. Timbre and soundstage (the sound has a nice amount of air) are good for the price.

The remote works well, calls are a little too quiet (but the volume buttons are easily accessed) and the mic is alright. It's nothing worth rewarding, but it works well, both with the iPhone 3GS and 4.

To conclude, my main gripe with the Klipsch Image One is the killer amount of bass that has an awful powerful rumble. I've had an eardrum perforation once and I can say that the Klipsch sounds exactly like that! Why I would pay 150 € for a boxed version of a default is beyond me!

Luckily, the Image One does have potential and it just needs some help to get into that direction. A fun and rich sound awaits the durable eardrum. Fans of high fidelity will be ashamed by Klipsch for the mainstream youth product that's been thrown on the market, even more so by the popularity.

Sources that do not provide an equalizer should stay far away!

Value: 2.5/5

You get a decent headphone, average build quality and a good enough headset.

Audio Quality: 1.5/5 unequalized, 4/5 equalized

The rumbling bass is just way too much. It has the most amount of bass I've ever heard.

Design: 3/5

Looks are good but some decisions, like the earcups or missing joints, are confusing.

Comfort: 2.5/5

A lazy copy of Bose. Pressure on the ears is awkward and the soft cushions still manage to crease my ears.

Overall: 3/5

The Image One is fairly new and it's on sale already. Looks are good and sound can be very engaging. The high resolution and strong presentation make a great couple. I also value the headset.

Price paid: 69,95 + 5,95 € (new)