Klipsch s4i harsh? - Page 6

Yes, they are just as comfy, and I agree, if they were not, I would use the large gels. Keep burning them because I really have come to love their sound, and I was not hopeful in the early days either. I just hooked them up to my extra notebook and let them go 5-6 days at a decent volume via WMP11 shuffle.

I only tried the Shure flanges because I saw someone posted that they tamed their harshness issues. Mine had dissipated and were really gone with the gels, but I had 4-5 sets of tri-flanges sitting around from my Westone 3s, so I thought why not? And the poster was right. I will have to look for the post and thank that member.

Update: It was Walie, and thanks Walie. I checked back a few pages. Nice find. I would never have believed the flanges could be as comfy as the gels, but they are fine. Not exactly the same, but not a problem either. And to me, they sound a little better.

I'm sorry, but I would hardly call it "major sibilance." If that's what you call major sibilance, you just need to get some Shure's that completely roll off any resemblance of treble.

... and I think "horn-loaded" is an excellent description.

Do you honestly think I have even a microscopic level of concern that you don't appreciate my tone?

I believe that term is used on Klipsch's own website, so it's hardly "my own description"

P-39F Floorstanding Speaker - Overview
A Legacy Reborn
Since 1946, Klipsch has been synonymous with horn-loaded technology

Okay, everyone take a deep breath. The S4s are a fine low to mid priced IEM, we can all agree. I hope.

I agreer with tstarn06 . Peace, love and happiness people. Also the s4's do sound good. I eq mine to get them a little less warm and more analytical and detailed and am a very happy headphone owner.

So i am happy with my S4 so far. I do hear some harshness at times. They are definitely warm and bassy. I hear the shrill/harshness on some songs but i am sure with burn in this will go.

Yea I've grown considerably more fond of mine as I've listened more. Currently I'm listening to OSI and loving the details and bass. Blood is a sick track.

As they say here in the South, "They grow on you."

I think that the volume used in burning the phones has a lot to do with the length and quality of the cooking too. While I don't try to blowout my phones, I do cook them at a significantly higher volume than I would normally listen. I also feel that it's important to stress any electronic item early in the process, so if they are faulty, they can be returned without delay.

This recently served me well when my new HD 280 pros lost the right side 24 hours into cooking them... Bye, bye 280s, hello 440s. If your phones can't sit on a table and play loudly for hours, then I'm sure they'll have difficulties while you are listening on the go.

just for fun i burned mine in with white and pink noise for 200 hours they have no harshness. Infact i typically add a slight boost from 7k to 10k for some air.

after burn in the bass is more controlled too, still huge and the best part of these iem's imo.

 

i got the monster miles davis tribute iem last week and have about 50 hrs of burn in on them. i had read that they had some big bass too, but the s4 sub frequency replication is far stronger. i would compare the s4 to a pair of 12inch subs and the MTPMD to a pair of 10s.

Hi!  first time poster after lurking here for a few weeks.  new to the whole audio scene so if i use incorrect terminology plz correct me.

 

I bought a pair of the S4i's a few weeks ago after going online to read reviews (the general opinion seems to be good price-to-performance ratio) and so being my first pair of "good" headphones, i went with this for my iphone.  later on, my wife lost her standard apple earbuds, and we bought her a pair of Shure SE 315, and since then i've been fascinated with earbud builds, which brought me here to this forum.  long story short, i had the opportunity to compare them se315 being slightly higher up on the price vs the S4i

 

First thing i noticed is that the mid range sound is not as clear sounding as the se315 but only by a little bit.  the treble is definitely weak compared to the se 315.  When listening to music without much bass and lots of high pitched sounds, the S4i is only mildly better than standard apple earbuds.  the S4i also has a very strong bass as many people observed and in some songs it was just too much and pushes the other sounds to one side.  This caused me to be very curious and i compared the 2 for various songs to get an idea of what these puppies can really do.

 

Alt Rock - Sweet Disposition by Temper Trap

I found that the bass is very good on S4i but the high pitch vocals is not nearly as clear as se315.  SE315 wins by small margin

 

Hip Hop - Remember the Name by Fort Minor

Bass is just too much on the s4i.  its so heavy, it just sounds like rumbling.  se315 on the other hand lacks the bass to really give this song the punch it deserves. tie

 

Hip Hop/Techno - I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas

S4i nailed it perfect.  excellent mix of bass, mids and treble.  still not as clear sounding as se315, but blending all the sounds together, S4i's made my skin tingle listening to this song

 

Techno - Bass is Kicking by DJ Splash

S4i sounds good overall but on the low end sounds, there is detail missing that the SE315 caught.  on the S4i the missing sound is like a deep static sound, whereas on the SE315 makes it very clear that it is actually a carefully placed beat.  S4i is known for its bass and completely missed the mark on this.

 

Hard Rock - Shoot to Thrill by AC/DC

S4i's got this one spot on again.  the mid range is good and the weakness in treble isn't as pronounced in this song.  the powerful punch in its bass is what wins this one vs the SE315.  while the SE315 sounds cleaner and the vocals, guitars and drums are more defined from each other, it lacks the punch and power that the S4i's deliver to do this song justice.

 

Classical - Symphony no.9 by Beethoven

SE 315 has this wrapped up nicely.  the crisper and cleaner sounds in the mid to high pitch sounds makes this one a easy decision.

 

Overall, I found that the S4i's true strength is songs that have a good blend of bass and mids.  most average pop, hip hop, rock songs will be very good on these IEMs.  however, they are still only mid range buds and overly complex songs, songs with lots of high pitch sounds will reveal its weakness.  nevertheless it seems as long as you play to its strengths, it can sound as good as more expensive IEMs.  when you play songs it is weak at, it will sound very average.  infact only slightly better than standard apple earbuds on certain occasions.  Remember the Name is a bit of an anomally for me, since it should play to S4i's strengths.  However, the Bass was so heavy it made the song less likeable.  For me these were good beginning IEM's.  As I get into the audio scene more, I will definitely look for better IEMs.

 

Hope this helps

Edited by MrChan - 7/19/11 at 1:09pm

Nice review for your first post. sounds like the shures are a good compliment for the s4 weak points.

Edited by dailydoseofdaly - 9/1/11 at 7:07pm