[borgqueenx]

I purchased a klipsch image s4i set of 100 dollar in the hope to finally have some good sound earphones.
But i didnt get that...the earphones sounds real rubbish imo.
They fit perfectly and the iphone control buttons are nice to...but the sound is real crap.
I have the feeling my old creative earphones of 25 dollars are doing a better job.

The sound fmreally shrill now, and low quality. And i only have them 2 days now..

Hope someone can help

 

[JoeyRusso]

Are you inserting them deep enough in your ear canal?  They are not supposed to just sit in your ear.  Try a smaller tip and twist and push them into your ear canal a little deeper.  It'll help if you use one hand to pull your ear lobe back and away from your head a little.  That opens up your ear canal.  If your seal is bad, they will sound horrible, but with a good deep seal they sound quite good.  Hope that helps.

 

[Yuceka]

Shrill? That's certainly not what I've experienced with them. Too much bass, bloated ? Maybe, but not shrill. Plus, their sound will significantly get better as you listened to them more and more. I don't think you should bash  headphone/iem after two days. Granted, they are not the best or the most accurate ones out there, but for $75 dollars, I think they are pretty decent! 

 

[borgqueenx]

the bass is very low as well. but it is controlled and good.
Wish it had been higher though.
 
And like i said: i had creative earphones before and they sound really better. also had nuforce, and it was a great music experience.
 
Even some crap earphones from dealextreme sounds better then these klipch crap...
sorry to call it that way but really, this sounds bad.
 
Already tried messing with EQ and plugging it into other devices. the sound quality is horrible. im really disappointed.
 
and yeah, im plugging them deep into my ears.
 
and i know they will sound better after several days....thats the only reason im using them...
 
by the way, the music i listen is 320kb/s.
 
i'm a real music lover and i know when i hear bad quality

 

[ZV3]

Don't know if I would call the S4 "crap", but I was not really impressed with them either. 

 

[Kunlun]

Quote:

the bass is very low as well. but it is controlled and good.
Wish it had been higher though.
 
And like i said: i had creative earphones before and they sound really better. also had nuforce, and it was a great music experience.
 
Even some crap earphones from dealextreme sounds better then these klipch crap...
sorry to call it that way but really, this sounds bad.
 
Already tried messing with EQ and plugging it into other devices. the sound quality is horrible. im really disappointed.
 
and yeah, im plugging them deep into my ears.
 
and i know they will sound better after several days....thats the only reason im using them...
 
by the way, the music i listen is 320kb/s.
 
i'm a real music lover and i know when i hear bad quality

Burn-in. It's a known issue with the S4.
 
Let them play at normal listening level  plus 15% (on a playlist of whatever you listen to) in a drawer or somewhere for a few days straight, say 100 hours or more. The treble and mids will get less thin and the sound will become more cohesive.
 

 

[ru9]

Quote:

I purchased a klipsch image s4i set of 100 dollar in the hope to finally have some good sound earphones.
But i didnt get that...the earphones sounds real rubbish imo.
They fit perfectly and the iphone control buttons are nice to...but the sound is real crap.

The sound fmreally shrill now, and low quality. 
 

I agree totally agree with your assessment.  My S4 sounded bad compared to my other earphones (IE6, CS751 and PL50).
Sorry to say that the sound will not improve even with hundred of hours of burn-in per my experience. 

 

[jonhapimp]

the s4s need burn in

 

[borgqueenx]

Do the burn in require such a long time to play constantly or is every night 2 hours also ok?

 

[sel00264]

Been using the S4's since they were first introduced back in '09, and they most certainly are not crap.  The Creative ones you have are far likelier to qualify for that category in comparison with the S4's.  Burn-in takes some time, and the results are rewarding.  They are not the best IEM's in the world, but for the sub-$100 category, they are exceptional.  This is my own opinion though, not everybody likes them that much, I understand that.  It is entirely a subjective matter.  Give it some time and lots of use first, and if after a month or two of continuous use you still don't like them, than they are not what you were looking for (in other words, they aren't crap, but don't quite have the sound signature you wanted, in which case there are alternatives equally good that may suit your musical tastes better.) 
 
Also, you are using an iPod, which in my experience doesn't match quite as well as other PMP's.  The iPod (or iPhone) have garbage EQ presets that do little to enhance audio.  In fact, with the S4, the only thing I ever did was keep the EQ off or enable Bass Reducer in order to add a bit more clarity to certain albums, as albums are engineered differently and the S4's warmer sound signature can lead to a rather muddied sound in some cases.  I have found that the S4 responds very well to equalization, and is a match made in heaven with a Sansa Fuze or Clip+.  If you determine in the end that the S4 is not what you are looking for, I highly recommend the Klipsch X5, which were $250 when released but can be found for under $150 now (I picked them up for $119 on Amazon a while back).  These are far and away a step above the S4, but they also contain a balanced armature speaker, which is different from the dynamic speaker of the S4.  

 

[jasonb]

i thought the S4's were quite sibilant and the vocals seemed distant. they had nice bass though.
 
my next set of IEM's was the Brainwavz M2's. one listen to the M2's and i made my decision to return the S4's to best buy.

 

[Hobohodou]

Quote:

 
Even some crap earphones from dealextreme sounds better then these klipch crap...
sorry to call it that way but really, this sounds bad.

Stop your trolling !

Budget IEM's are nowhere near from the S2/X1's i recieved today, there's a large gap between that sound signature out of the box and some budget IEM's, if you listen to a band like Tool or Isis you'd understand the large gap, as the mids are hella muddy in most of the budget IEM's i've tried to use while finding my reciept so i can get my regular HP's serviced...

From what i've read, S4 is similar to S2, i'd reccomend burning them in maybe same as everyone else....but they really are not at budget IEM standard

 

[fallingreason]

I can't believe some peoples' ears...
 
 

 

[Yuceka]

Absolutely agree! 
Quote:

I can't believe some peoples' ears...
 
 

 

[ZV3]

Everybody has different expectations from an IEM, but the S4 surely does not deserve the attention that it garners. I really consider them overrated, and at their price can find far better. But, I did find the fit very good, and nozzle is angled just right and the tips fit REALLY well.