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.
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.
