Firebolt1
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2011
- Posts
- 6
- Likes
- 10
Two months ago I was struck by the lack of reviews on the Klipsch Custom-1. However, with gift-card in hand, I decided that Amazon's price on the 1's were the cheapest way to buy into the "head-fi" community. Disclaimer: This is my first real IEM, so I'm not that well acquainted with the jargon needed to accurately describe a sound signature.
Criteria:
Seeing as I have a rather eclectic music collection, I am going to group each song by genre rather than a simple list.
Soundtracks:
Pop
Jazz/Oldies
Folk (Mediterranean & Celtic)
On to the Review!
Fit/Isolation:
The biggest gripe about the Custom 1's on Amazon was the seal and fit of the IEM's. Thankfully (due to Head-Fi) I knew this was mostly due to improper insertion. Luckily enough, I got a good seal on the fist try. The isolation, compared to the Bose in ear's I had used, was absolutely incredible. It is such a relief to be able to hear my music over the noise of my morning commute without have to crank up the volume to ear-piercing levels. As these are also my first behind the ear phones, it took some getting used to, and I have to say that I do prefer having the cord hang straight down. Thin as it is, the cable combined with my glasses, tends to irritate some scar tissue after a few hours of use.
Quality:
Packaging was cumbersome, although in my haste to open my belated Christmas gift, it may have proved more irksome than the designers originally intended. My only quibble with the overall design of the IEM's are there cables. While they look much sturdier than the Bose (with which I had a tremendous amount of issues) they were prone to kinks, which cause quite a bit of micro-phonics when you first plug them in.
Sound
After marveling at the sound of silence, my initial impression of the Custom 1's once I turned my iPod (5.5 generation) on was the unusual amount of hiss. Every time since then, I have been greeted by a steady hiss until I choose what song I want to play. Thankfully, despite some fairly low quality sources (at times) the custom 1's were merciful when it came to picking up artifacts in the recording.
With Oblivate, I was rather perplexed by the lack of music. Five seconds into the song, and I still had not heard the familiar opening measures. I switched back to the Bose. There it was! I'm not sure if it was the source, (which I doubt because the file was ACC lossless) but the Custom 1's had trouble picking up the admittedly soft opening measures. desplat ( I think) appears to be mimicking John William's opening to the song Lumos! on the third soundtrack. With such a gradual crescendo, I had to edge the volume up past the halfway point. Not the most illustrious start. Throughout the song, I noticed that the Bose were far "punchier" with a wider bass range, and somewhat dimmed mid's and lows. To compensate, I had left the iPods EQ on treble booster for the past few years. Now I experienced the opposite effect. I had to agree that while not lacking, I prefer a little more bass than what the Custom 1's offer. The Mid's were outstanding. There was plenty of instrument separation, at least initially. As the more layers were added to the instrumentation, I began to hear some obvious strain on the treble. I think I now understand the terms recessed bass, rolled of highs etc. The best thing about the Custom 1's is that they are an excellent learning device! Once the song reached the largest crescendo I actually had to lower the volume. While I had once been able to pick out different sections in the orchestra, it was not a intelligible mass of sound. Obviously, I turned off the EQ.
The Yuma song was much less complex, and the Custom 1's really shone. This was probably the piece that convinced me to keep the Custom 1's.
Happy to move on to some songs with vocals, I switched to Josh Groban's newest album, Illuminations. As a fairly big Grobanite, I have been listening to his albums for years. At first I didn't really care for his new album, but I decided to give it a fresh look under a new pair of phones. While they didn't improve my overall opinion of the album, the songs that I did especially like, really took on a new dimension. With Voce, the Custom 1's truly brought Groban's vocals to the forefront. With the Bose, the vocals were often muddy, and blended in with the accompaniment. Not so with Kipsitch. While the highs were still disappointing, the excellence of the mids and vocals certainly made up for it.
White Blank Page was also new material. I had only just gotten the album the day before, so I was entirely unfamiliar with the groups sound signature. Despite the difference between the two types of music, most if not all of the initial impressions I had formed with the Groban track remained the same.
Unfortunately, my biggest disappointment was yet to come. With Take Five, a lot of strain was put on the bass. As it had with all of the other pieces, it did not perform.
Criteria:
Seeing as I have a rather eclectic music collection, I am going to group each song by genre rather than a simple list.
Soundtracks:
- Obliviate- Alexandre Desplat, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
- Bible Studay- Marco Beltrami, 3:10 To Yuma
Pop
- Voce Eixiste Em Mim- Josh Groban, Illuminations
- White Blank Page- Mumford and Sons, Sigh No More
Jazz/Oldies
- Take Five- The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Time Out: 50the Anniversary Edition
- Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart- Frank Sinatra, The Capitol Years Disc 1
Folk (Mediterranean & Celtic)
- Rocky Road to Dublin Pt.2
- Mala Femmina- Jerry Vale, Sings the Great Italian Hits ( I will not be commenting on these two, I don't think anyone will want to read a review that is six tracks long)
On to the Review!
Fit/Isolation:
The biggest gripe about the Custom 1's on Amazon was the seal and fit of the IEM's. Thankfully (due to Head-Fi) I knew this was mostly due to improper insertion. Luckily enough, I got a good seal on the fist try. The isolation, compared to the Bose in ear's I had used, was absolutely incredible. It is such a relief to be able to hear my music over the noise of my morning commute without have to crank up the volume to ear-piercing levels. As these are also my first behind the ear phones, it took some getting used to, and I have to say that I do prefer having the cord hang straight down. Thin as it is, the cable combined with my glasses, tends to irritate some scar tissue after a few hours of use.
Quality:
Packaging was cumbersome, although in my haste to open my belated Christmas gift, it may have proved more irksome than the designers originally intended. My only quibble with the overall design of the IEM's are there cables. While they look much sturdier than the Bose (with which I had a tremendous amount of issues) they were prone to kinks, which cause quite a bit of micro-phonics when you first plug them in.
Sound
After marveling at the sound of silence, my initial impression of the Custom 1's once I turned my iPod (5.5 generation) on was the unusual amount of hiss. Every time since then, I have been greeted by a steady hiss until I choose what song I want to play. Thankfully, despite some fairly low quality sources (at times) the custom 1's were merciful when it came to picking up artifacts in the recording.
With Oblivate, I was rather perplexed by the lack of music. Five seconds into the song, and I still had not heard the familiar opening measures. I switched back to the Bose. There it was! I'm not sure if it was the source, (which I doubt because the file was ACC lossless) but the Custom 1's had trouble picking up the admittedly soft opening measures. desplat ( I think) appears to be mimicking John William's opening to the song Lumos! on the third soundtrack. With such a gradual crescendo, I had to edge the volume up past the halfway point. Not the most illustrious start. Throughout the song, I noticed that the Bose were far "punchier" with a wider bass range, and somewhat dimmed mid's and lows. To compensate, I had left the iPods EQ on treble booster for the past few years. Now I experienced the opposite effect. I had to agree that while not lacking, I prefer a little more bass than what the Custom 1's offer. The Mid's were outstanding. There was plenty of instrument separation, at least initially. As the more layers were added to the instrumentation, I began to hear some obvious strain on the treble. I think I now understand the terms recessed bass, rolled of highs etc. The best thing about the Custom 1's is that they are an excellent learning device! Once the song reached the largest crescendo I actually had to lower the volume. While I had once been able to pick out different sections in the orchestra, it was not a intelligible mass of sound. Obviously, I turned off the EQ.
The Yuma song was much less complex, and the Custom 1's really shone. This was probably the piece that convinced me to keep the Custom 1's.
Happy to move on to some songs with vocals, I switched to Josh Groban's newest album, Illuminations. As a fairly big Grobanite, I have been listening to his albums for years. At first I didn't really care for his new album, but I decided to give it a fresh look under a new pair of phones. While they didn't improve my overall opinion of the album, the songs that I did especially like, really took on a new dimension. With Voce, the Custom 1's truly brought Groban's vocals to the forefront. With the Bose, the vocals were often muddy, and blended in with the accompaniment. Not so with Kipsitch. While the highs were still disappointing, the excellence of the mids and vocals certainly made up for it.
White Blank Page was also new material. I had only just gotten the album the day before, so I was entirely unfamiliar with the groups sound signature. Despite the difference between the two types of music, most if not all of the initial impressions I had formed with the Groban track remained the same.
Unfortunately, my biggest disappointment was yet to come. With Take Five, a lot of strain was put on the bass. As it had with all of the other pieces, it did not perform.
