[scompton]

kramer5150 had a thread last year on demoing Shures at Brookstones at an airport. Every since, I've looked at Brookstones at the airport to see if they had them. Tuesday I had a flight out of DC National. I got there early enough to check out Brookstones. They had them, but I needed a coffee first. On my way back to Brookstones, I passed a shop called Airport Wireless that had a few crappy headphones out front on display. On a whim, I went in and saw that they had the entire Klipsch lineup and the entire Shure lineup for sale. The salesman came over to talk to me and mentioned that they had demos of all of them. It was a much nicer setup than Brookstones. Brookstones just has them out and connected to steel cables to prevent theft. You get to use the same ear tips that everyone else has used. At Airport Wireless, they take the tips off between each use and wipe them with antiseptic, and wipe them with antiseptic again before someone demos them. I didn't have a lot of time, so I just listened to the Images. I was impressed with the sound that came out of these tiny things. I didn't really have enough time to get a good impression, but this is just a short Metro ride from work so I may be going back soon.

 

[appophylite]

It is quite nice. We have an InMotion on the Anchorage Airport (I've seen the stores on the airports around the West and Midwest of Alaska) and they do the exact same thing, but they focused on the Shure and Ultimate Ear lines. I actually had a bit of time so I walked in to look and the guy behind the counter called me over and let me try all the different models. I felt really bad that I didn't have the budget at the moment to buy one, but I plan on going back and doing a more thorough A/B, particularly of the UE line, as I have been thinking of going in that direction.

 

[scompton]

The UE line, IMO, is the most important to try out as well because of fit problems. Some people have problems getting a seal. If you do try the FS mod. Essentially, you just put them in the wrong ear, backwards. If this works for you and you buy them, all you need to do is switch the cables. The problem I had with the UEs is pain. I couldn't wear them for more that 15-20 minutes without a lot of pain even after a minute or 2 they were uncomfortable.