PhoxHound
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2008
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I received my Klipsch Custom-1 around a week ago, and as such they've burned in for around 50ish hours. Thus if they really take a lot of burn-in to improve this audition will be slightly unfair but I have noticed absolutely no difference and as $80 dollar earphones (in the US) I somehow doubt they'll take 600 hours to burn in.
Also, some have recommended using an attenuator (volume control) with these phones. I have not done as such yet.
Appearance/Packaging
The packaging on this is very clever (no pics sorry). It's a combination of a museum-style display case and one of those annoying-as-hell "nuclear proof" plastic things that take forever to open. Extremely elegant design that shows off the headphones while simultaneously being classy.
The phones themselves are little black triangles with white lettering and the sound tube jutting out the back at a rear-facing angle. They have wires coming out the top. The first inch and a half or so are surrounded by a malleable casing which allows you to bend the wires securely around the back of your ears. Overall this helps keep the seal from shifting when the phones are in your ears.
Klipsch is kind enough to include loads of accessories. The phones ship with a protective carrying case, 5 pairs of ear gels (small, medium, large, small biflange, medium biflange), and a cleaning tool. You can register your product for free to receive more ear gels in the mail (presumably no shipping cost either since they could likely fit in a regular envelope). A shirt clip would have been nice since the microphonics are pretty strong on the thin, nylon-cloth-wrapped cable.
Comfort/Fit
This was a tricky one and is the main reason that I haven't posted this review until now. I spent the last week or so dealing with the fit of these guys and only just got a good fit. It's a really good thing they include so many sizes of ear gels since I had quite a time trying to get them comfortably and securely into my ears (perhaps I am a n00b but everyone has to have a first pair of IEMs). Currently I have found that I achieve the best fit with the small single flange in my right ear and the medium biflange in my left ear (evidently my ears are completely mismatched from each other). It will seem odd to put them on at first if you aren't used to over-the-ear IEMs, but they don't seem that way for long. If you can get the proper size tip for your ear canal, they are exceptionally comfortable and provide pretty good ambient noise attenuation (especially if you use biflanges on both, but the single flanges tend to be more comfortable).
Getting a good seal is essentially the same as getting them comfortable. Rarely will you have a good seal when the thing makes your ears ache. If you can try these out before you buy them, do it. Also, ordering those free extra ear gels might be a good idea.
Sound Quality
Associated equipment: Sansa Fuze 8GB
I am using these unamplified and without an attenuator.
Franz Schubert - An Die Musik
Compared to my full sized cans, Roland's RH-200, these things perform with such admirable quality as to literally leave me speechless. Absolutely dripping with beautiful detail, the silky and smooth mids present this piece with pure perfection. I feel like I'm sitting right on the stage, with the pianist a bit to my left and the tenor just a few meters in front of me. The separation of the parts is really excellent. Incredible performance.
Pendulum - Tarantula
The mids seem perhaps a bit less detailed and more mashed together in this much more intense song. The highs aren't harsh, but they seem rather...muddy. The mids still really stand out, both in quantity and quality, and are quite nice (if not as nice with the lack of solid instrument separation). The unfortunate truth that these headphones have pretty wimpy bass is awfully evident. I have heard that the attenuator + amp combination easily rectifies this and injects a healthy dose of bass, but that is to be evaluated hands-on a bit later. Right now, their bass is really lacking in extension and impact. Bass quality surprisingly is not bad despite these other flaws. It's fast and tight, which is a characteristic I tend to like in bass. I just wish there was more quantity and more extension.
coba - La Mer
Another exceptional performance, and another one dominated by the midsection. There are practically no highs in this song at all, and thus they present themselves rather far in the back, which makes for a surprisingly pleasing effect (as well as one that I had never really noticed). The guitar sounds smooth and calm, accompanied by a slightly less awesome sounding accordion (which is a wee bit bright but I'm not complaining). During harmony sections these phones really hold their own. Despite the poor instrument separation in Tarantula, the Custom-1 seem to be able to handle it fine as long as they're dealing primarily with the middle of the spectrum.
Rammstein - Mann Gegen Mann
The highs in this piece are much less muddy than in Tarantula, and the bass seems more well extended. The electric guitars are handled with plenty of growl, but they lose detail in exchange for the exciting sound. In fact, they lose quite a bit of detail and the chords become a bit slurred together. Perhaps this is because of the weak bass on the Custom-1 which focuses the sound of the guitars on the middle range. A decent performance, but it is just that: decent. The vocals are the only part of this piece that really sound great.
Basshunter - Boten Anna
Perhaps it is the recording effects, or perhaps all my Basshunter recordings are terminally screwed (if you recall my RH-200 review, I reported Camilla as sounding quite bad compared to the rest), but something sounds...off. It sounds like it's very far in front of me, in a big semicircle. Like I'm being partially surrounded by the music but it's rather far away, and there's just something a little unsettling about this signature. It could be caused by the fact that the lack of bass extension really can't grasp the deep bass notes that tie the song together. The whole song is a tiny bit bright, but not that much really. Basshunter's voice is not quite as pleasing as that in other songs, even distorted voices. This seems to be an odd man out, however, as the rest of the songs I've tried so far gave a decidedly up-front presentation.
Wir Sind Helden - Von Hier An Blind
Unlike Rammstein, the guitars in this piece are extremely clear, detailed, and they sound absolutely great. They don't have much growl or bite to them, but they're not really supposed to. The Custom-1 absolutely nail the clean and clear sound signature, with open, airy vocals and the aforementioned guitars. Again, the mids stand out strongly against the weak bass (though it is a bit better in this song as the bass line is higher). The highs again, though good, take a back seat. I really liked the presentation on this song, partially because the sound signature of the Customs really goes well with that of the song: tight bass, extremely detailed mids, and good but rather recessed highs.
Summary
An Die Musik
9.5/10
Tarantula
6/10
La Mer
8/10
Mann Gegen Mann
7/10
Boten Anna
5.5/10
Von Hier An Blind
9/10
Verdict
These perform at their best on music that really emphasized mids: classical, alternative, softer rock, and probably jazz would sound really excellent. If you're into metal, dance, hard dance, or anything else that needs bass or to withstand the onslaught of some serious shredding, these are not your beasts. For bass, the Future Sonics Atrio M5 will probably do you much better. I wouldn't say these are like Etymotics, however, because they're not really bright or analytical. They are just very detailed. And personally I am quite satisfied, though they're really not my favorite phones for my favorite genre (techno).
Also, some have recommended using an attenuator (volume control) with these phones. I have not done as such yet.
Appearance/Packaging
The packaging on this is very clever (no pics sorry). It's a combination of a museum-style display case and one of those annoying-as-hell "nuclear proof" plastic things that take forever to open. Extremely elegant design that shows off the headphones while simultaneously being classy.
The phones themselves are little black triangles with white lettering and the sound tube jutting out the back at a rear-facing angle. They have wires coming out the top. The first inch and a half or so are surrounded by a malleable casing which allows you to bend the wires securely around the back of your ears. Overall this helps keep the seal from shifting when the phones are in your ears.
Klipsch is kind enough to include loads of accessories. The phones ship with a protective carrying case, 5 pairs of ear gels (small, medium, large, small biflange, medium biflange), and a cleaning tool. You can register your product for free to receive more ear gels in the mail (presumably no shipping cost either since they could likely fit in a regular envelope). A shirt clip would have been nice since the microphonics are pretty strong on the thin, nylon-cloth-wrapped cable.
Comfort/Fit
This was a tricky one and is the main reason that I haven't posted this review until now. I spent the last week or so dealing with the fit of these guys and only just got a good fit. It's a really good thing they include so many sizes of ear gels since I had quite a time trying to get them comfortably and securely into my ears (perhaps I am a n00b but everyone has to have a first pair of IEMs). Currently I have found that I achieve the best fit with the small single flange in my right ear and the medium biflange in my left ear (evidently my ears are completely mismatched from each other). It will seem odd to put them on at first if you aren't used to over-the-ear IEMs, but they don't seem that way for long. If you can get the proper size tip for your ear canal, they are exceptionally comfortable and provide pretty good ambient noise attenuation (especially if you use biflanges on both, but the single flanges tend to be more comfortable).
Getting a good seal is essentially the same as getting them comfortable. Rarely will you have a good seal when the thing makes your ears ache. If you can try these out before you buy them, do it. Also, ordering those free extra ear gels might be a good idea.
Sound Quality
Associated equipment: Sansa Fuze 8GB
I am using these unamplified and without an attenuator.
Franz Schubert - An Die Musik
Compared to my full sized cans, Roland's RH-200, these things perform with such admirable quality as to literally leave me speechless. Absolutely dripping with beautiful detail, the silky and smooth mids present this piece with pure perfection. I feel like I'm sitting right on the stage, with the pianist a bit to my left and the tenor just a few meters in front of me. The separation of the parts is really excellent. Incredible performance.
Pendulum - Tarantula
The mids seem perhaps a bit less detailed and more mashed together in this much more intense song. The highs aren't harsh, but they seem rather...muddy. The mids still really stand out, both in quantity and quality, and are quite nice (if not as nice with the lack of solid instrument separation). The unfortunate truth that these headphones have pretty wimpy bass is awfully evident. I have heard that the attenuator + amp combination easily rectifies this and injects a healthy dose of bass, but that is to be evaluated hands-on a bit later. Right now, their bass is really lacking in extension and impact. Bass quality surprisingly is not bad despite these other flaws. It's fast and tight, which is a characteristic I tend to like in bass. I just wish there was more quantity and more extension.
coba - La Mer
Another exceptional performance, and another one dominated by the midsection. There are practically no highs in this song at all, and thus they present themselves rather far in the back, which makes for a surprisingly pleasing effect (as well as one that I had never really noticed). The guitar sounds smooth and calm, accompanied by a slightly less awesome sounding accordion (which is a wee bit bright but I'm not complaining). During harmony sections these phones really hold their own. Despite the poor instrument separation in Tarantula, the Custom-1 seem to be able to handle it fine as long as they're dealing primarily with the middle of the spectrum.
Rammstein - Mann Gegen Mann
The highs in this piece are much less muddy than in Tarantula, and the bass seems more well extended. The electric guitars are handled with plenty of growl, but they lose detail in exchange for the exciting sound. In fact, they lose quite a bit of detail and the chords become a bit slurred together. Perhaps this is because of the weak bass on the Custom-1 which focuses the sound of the guitars on the middle range. A decent performance, but it is just that: decent. The vocals are the only part of this piece that really sound great.
Basshunter - Boten Anna
Perhaps it is the recording effects, or perhaps all my Basshunter recordings are terminally screwed (if you recall my RH-200 review, I reported Camilla as sounding quite bad compared to the rest), but something sounds...off. It sounds like it's very far in front of me, in a big semicircle. Like I'm being partially surrounded by the music but it's rather far away, and there's just something a little unsettling about this signature. It could be caused by the fact that the lack of bass extension really can't grasp the deep bass notes that tie the song together. The whole song is a tiny bit bright, but not that much really. Basshunter's voice is not quite as pleasing as that in other songs, even distorted voices. This seems to be an odd man out, however, as the rest of the songs I've tried so far gave a decidedly up-front presentation.
Wir Sind Helden - Von Hier An Blind
Unlike Rammstein, the guitars in this piece are extremely clear, detailed, and they sound absolutely great. They don't have much growl or bite to them, but they're not really supposed to. The Custom-1 absolutely nail the clean and clear sound signature, with open, airy vocals and the aforementioned guitars. Again, the mids stand out strongly against the weak bass (though it is a bit better in this song as the bass line is higher). The highs again, though good, take a back seat. I really liked the presentation on this song, partially because the sound signature of the Customs really goes well with that of the song: tight bass, extremely detailed mids, and good but rather recessed highs.
Summary
An Die Musik
9.5/10
Tarantula
6/10
La Mer
8/10
Mann Gegen Mann
7/10
Boten Anna
5.5/10
Von Hier An Blind
9/10
Verdict
These perform at their best on music that really emphasized mids: classical, alternative, softer rock, and probably jazz would sound really excellent. If you're into metal, dance, hard dance, or anything else that needs bass or to withstand the onslaught of some serious shredding, these are not your beasts. For bass, the Future Sonics Atrio M5 will probably do you much better. I wouldn't say these are like Etymotics, however, because they're not really bright or analytical. They are just very detailed. And personally I am quite satisfied, though they're really not my favorite phones for my favorite genre (techno).
