[ru9]

Amy of Klipsh said:

Quote:

I'm not sold on the burn in, but if others say it helps, then I'm ok with that

And in another thread:

Quote:

The X10 is a more accurate sounding headphone, while the S4 is tuned more to compensate for the degraded quality sound of compressed files.

So the S4 tweaks the sound of the source file. It does not honestly portray the sound of the flacs. What a bummer!

An IEM sounding sibilant out of the box is really a bad IEM. I happen to read members saying that the S4 is sibilant out of the box but magic happens after burning from 100 - 200 hours. Is this an IEM to recommend?

So potential buyers, be careful of all the glowing praises for this IEM.

 

[mark2410]

well i never used to believe in burn in

then i bought the C751 and i really, really was not happy with it at first but it did change. my IE7's too a wasnt happy with for a while but now they are easily one of my favourites. now im a very firm believer that some dynamics do really need a burn in.

 

[Azathoth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by krucacing /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have one question, the earpiece of the S4 can be worn as per normal or 180 degrees(over the ear), isn't this suppose to flip the soundstage, sound from the front is reversed as coming from the back of the stage?

The left and right earpieces can be worn the traditional way or the cord over-the-ear, without the need to swap them to your other ears.

There were no differences with the soundstage when I compared both wearing styles. I did get more isolation wearing the cord over-the-ear though.

 

[tstarn06]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ru9 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Amy of Klipsh said: And in another thread: So the S4 tweaks the sound of the source file. It does not honestly portray the sound of the flacs. What a bummer! An IEM sounding sibilant out of the box is really a bad IEM. I happen to read members saying that the S4 is sibilant out of the box but magic happens after burning from 100 - 200 hours. Is this an IEM to recommend? So potential buyers, be careful of all the glowing praises for this IEM.

Be careful of the glowing praises because why? Enough already. Do you own the S4 or S4i? If not, your perspective really carries no weight.

We have a pair of relatively inexpensive phones here.

Some owners, myself included, found them harsh out of the box (were ready to send them back in fact), but stuck them on our "burn in" machines (whatever that is for each person) and when they emerged on the other side after 100 hours or so, we liked them.

Some other owners say they sounded fine out of the box.

Some other owners didn't like them, out of the box, burned in, whatever.

Happens with almost every pair of phones, especially dynamics, which, in my view, do seem to benefit from a "break in" period of various lengths, depending on the phone.

My advice is you buy a pair, then come back and post your impressions, both out of the box and post-break in. Otherwise, your "warning" to potential buyers is not really credible.

Whatever glowing praise is being tossed about on this thread, it's because people who have actually heard the the phones really like them. Why is that so hard to fathom?

 

[rawrster]

it does not sound like you own the S4's. You can read up on stuff and do as much research on them as you like but all of that is nothing compared to actually owning them and seeing for yourself. Your ears are definitely different any my ears or anyone else here so only you can judge for yourself. Some people have reported sibilance out of the box and others (like myself) did not find any sibilance at all out of the box outside of tracks that were sibilant(due to the recording not the S4). Also burn in has been highly debated in head-fi. Some people believe it and some don't. It's as simple as that.

So until you own them it's not really fair to give a warning on the S4 when you have no experience on it. Also a bunch of people here (myself included) liked the S4 and recommended it..why not recommend something that you like?

 

[tstarn06]

Looks like you were reading my mind.

 

[germanturkey]

mine came today. first impression:
they're very comfortable, it hardly feels like there's anything in my ears at all
bass is a little muddy, but i've yet to burn them at all
mid female vocals are rather good
isolation is great when music is playing, not so much when music isn't playing.

more to come.

 

[SactoMan101]

My personal impression are that while they are very good-sounding IEMs, the silicon ear tips provided by Klipsch doesn't fit my ear well--even the large size oval ones.

That's why I quickly ordered a set of Comply Foam Tx-100 eartips and the Image S4i now sound REALLY good with really clear bass, excellent noise isolation and the IEM doesn't fall out of my ear so easily.

 

[germanturkey]

interesting revelation today. i realized when i rub my feet on carpet while i have S4s in my ears, the left earbud slightly shocks my Tragus. hmm

 

[TheRH]

Ya I had that happened to, then again I have had that happen with other IEM's, I think it is common with cold dry weather.

 

[ru9]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tstarn06 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Be careful of the glowing praises because why? Enough already. Do you own the S4 or S4i? If not, your perspective really carries no weight. My advice is you buy a pair, then come back and post your impressions, both out of the box and post-break in. Otherwise, your "warning" to potential buyers is not really credible. Whatever glowing praise is being tossed about on this thread, it's because people who have actually heard the the phones really like them. Why is that so hard to fathom?

Already forgot this post?

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/6194971-post14.html

Quote:

Originally Posted by MatchFire Has anyone else run into this? Using the S4's i get these 'spikes' at certain high pitches (testing with sinegen shows ~7000hz) that are absolutely unbearable. Like an ice pick right into my ear drum.

I agree and confirm your observations regarding the S4.

I just cannot believe what I have read about this S4 with all the positive reviews. Had about 80 hours on them. And what a disappointment. AGGRESSIVE, EAR-PIERCING and a VERY SIBILANT IEM.

 

[tstarn06]

For one, I don't follow your posts. Also, you obviously decided to side-step the fact you owned the S4s n the post above. No matter, check out the concept behind a book called Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. There were always be outliers in the IEM world as well, no matter which brand/model discussed, which is how it will always be.

The vast majority of S4 owners (in this thread and the other prime S4 thread) do not find them "AGGRESSIVE, EAR-PIERCING and VERY SIBILANT" (he says shouting). As repeated over and over and over to the point of absurdity, some owners found them sibilant out of the box and no longer do. Some liked them right away. A few said no thanks and returned them. Saying potential buyers should beware because of such a small, shouting minority is not really much help for anyone making a decision.

It's already been established that dozens of S4 owners would SHOUT otherwise. So there is only one way to know, buy them, burn them in, and try them.

 

[PANGES]

I'm new to this forum and am new to IEM's, but after doing alot of searching and reading on here, I decided to go with the S4i's, which JUST came in the mail.

These are my first pair IEM's or anything other than the stock ipod (ipod touch 3g) earphones. I must say, I was worried that they wouldn't fit my ear since alot of people were complaining about them, but they fit perfectly in my ear right out of the box kinda.. I have to use a medium in my left ear and the large one in my right ear (I guess my ears are oval shaped AND different sizes. lol).

As far as sound quality goes, they sound good to me. The vocals are clear in the mids and I noticed some songs where a female singer hits the higher notes and gets a bit pitchy, these earphones seem to help mellow that down a bit so it's not so abbrassive. The best song I can think of to describe the high pitched female sound is the song "Don't Stop Believing" but the Glee cast. It's pretty abbrassive to my ears when I listen to her sing that song with my old earphones, but it's not so bad with the S4i's.

The bass is nice and go well with the songs I listen to (I listen to mostly rock and rap.) The sound does seem a little bit muddy when I listen to really bass heavy songs. Even Leona Lewis songs, which aren't too bassy seem a bit muddy. However, I'm hoping it clears up a bit over time. It almost sounds a little bit like i'm listening behind a curtain or something. I'm wondering if they will sound a bit clearer if I switch out the eartips to something different.

Obviously this is my own personal opinion and experience. My ears aren't as "well tuned" or trained like some of the people on this forum, but from the perspective of a complete audio newbie, I can say that these are way better than the ipod earphones and better than the Shure IEM's (not sure which model) my girlfriend has after listening to them all back to back.

 

[germanturkey]

^^ i thought fit was a strong suit for these. i know they fit perfectly in my ears and don't get uncomfortable at all. mine have burned for 30+ hours now, and i think there's a difference in the way they sound. my ears aren't finely tuned either, but everything is rather clear to listen to, especially mid vocals. i'm not much of a bass head, so i don't mind that the bass isn't always thumping.

 

[rawrster]

the fit for these have typically been great for most people who have owned them. they are one of the most comfortable with the stock tips ive tried.

panges, enjoy your new earphones

easily better than stock buds. now i suggest you run away from head fi and never come back or your wallet will not be as happy