Klipsch image S4 review
Bla part:
First thing's first - I don't consider my self an audiophile, whatever that expression actually meant.
Second - I believe these aren't the intended to provide finest quality out there which is very obvious when you look at the price tag.
Third - I know a good thing when I see one, and this is one of them so here we go:
Intro part:
I owned Sennheiser CX300, the best selling in earbud headphones out there. Reason for that is price and good sound that goes with it (much nicer than any pair that came with your player). However, after some time it is easy to notice they have much flaws of their own, so you are start to look at better alternatives.
Google this, Bing that and viola... You come across S4 who rocketed into mainstream by one editors choice award (Cnet's), and some other guys out there also gave it thumbs up but you still crave for more - and tension gets higher since you cannot actually buy one, yet only preorder and hope for the best...
In the box part:
Simple packing from one piece follows direction of "smaller-better" logic: Easier to ship, cheaper to produce and not so heavy on environment.
Works nice and after all, we are not here for the box but are searching within:
1 Headphones (Klipsch Image S4 if you didn't know)
3 Pairs of oval silicone ear tips (small one have double "heads")
1 Cleaning tool
and box made from aluminum to put it all in.
Oh, and there's also a piece of paper which pretty much states: don't listen to your music too loud!
That's it.
Actually useful part:
By my observation, the best comparison between CX300 (or some other "simple" pair of earphones) and S4 is clarity, best described in flowing example: Imagine you are standing in front of the room and hear music from it. It's pretty loud and you can hear it well. After a time you get so comfortable with it and start accepting it as "normal". Then somebody opens the door and you step inside. Finally, you have a feeling there is almost nothing between you and the sound. It's much clearer and you can enjoy much detailed sound without anyone telling you what is it you should be hearing. It is very obvious.
This is like going from VHS to DVD. And don't go japing about Blue-ray now - if you have "vhs", you gonna love this.
I can only guess that moving higher from this kind of quality is never that much of a difference.
Although, to be honest, first time I listened to them was some kind of disappointing. I was a bit nervous and didn't know what to expect. First thought was: they're ok but i guess i could of saved my money. It was only the day after that I begun to realize the benefits of S4.
S4 sounds very nice, clarity is good (no mater what is playing, Fleetwood Mac or AC/DC, richness of the sound stays preserved) and I find them precise, meaning you can determine position of every instrument/sound. They are without a doubt on warm side of sound spectrum and are pretty universal if we talk music genres. I wouldn't recommend listening to much electronic music with them (or any other headphones for that matter). Bass is decent but not overwhelming. Some prefer more of it but I think to much bass will choke your music and it is only but artificial way to create atmosphere. Balance is needed and balance is achieved.
Apart mentioned above here are few other bands I listened with these: Bon Iver, Beastie Boys, The Postal Service, Kings of Leon, Devotchka, Final Fantasy... and many others in self-made compilations. Point is - they all sound great on S4
As many before stated, one of the biggest surprises was how many songs sounds differently and one starts hearing sounds that were not there before. Of course, when earphones are new you are hearing music more analytically, but even now, almost month later I find myself turning of my ipod just to check does the sounds I'm hearing come from the music or outside.
Then it gets me - you can't here the sounds from outside with these on
Here we come to the other very important point which some will appreciate even more than quality - their fit.
Using oval ear tips is common sense and it is pretty sad truth that no one thought of this before (I don't mean you, you and you, but the guys who actually work in industry). Klipsch has them for some time now and this was my first experience with them. I am thrilled! They work flawlessly and are by far most comfortable I tried to date (haven't tried my Comply's though (made from foam)). I needed few days to make friends with them but now I can have them in my ears for 2 hours with almost no discomfort at all (for me, this is a lot).
Very important thing almost no one mentioned is you can ware them behind your ears!
Since they are oval, all you have to do is take them out, turn for 180 degrees and put them in again. Now you'll have your wires up instead down and all you have to do with them is put them behind your ears. This position is much more practical for running since you cannot feel the pull from the wire.
One more thing I would like to mention is they are smaller then they look on the pictures, yet they feel very nice in hands and are ridiculously easy to put in ears!
Accessories part:
One more detail to expand fanciness is cleaning tool which is basically nothing else then piece of plastic with a little bent wire on the top, but nevertheless it keeps one happy (there's a Klipsch logo imprinted on the plastic) and does the dirty job well (but you have to clean the space between wires with a toothpick afterwords).
Finally, the box.
People seem to dislike it and call it unpractical, yet I find it rather good. Since made from aluminum, it will keep your S4 safe from harm. Therefore i find it better than some small case made from polly or lather. One thing that should be better is closing system since case can easily open by itself, especially if earphones are not inserted correctly. In my case it is stored in little bag that goes around waist and there is not enough space in there for it to open.
Conclusion part:
I was never so happy to listen music, it's if I'm waiting for some excuse to put these earphones on. I find them excellent buy for everything they are: good sounding (clear, warm, precise), comfortable (silicone oval ear tips, can be worn behind ear, great for running, easy to put in), nice (fine design yet securely robust) and practical (safe aluminum box and cleaning tool).
At the end I just want to state I bought these from soundearphones.com and didn't receive them from Klipsch as a demo (in case you find my positivity fishy
)!
