[gunmetalTrevan]

Hi all, recently I bought a pair of Klipsch r6i earbuds after reading overwhelmingly positive reviews with their sound quality at their price point. And I guess to be brief, I don't understand where all the hype is from. I don't have tons of experience with headphones (only have AT m50x and a Polk Audio gaming headset), but I frequently work with home and car audio as a hobby and do lots of tuning. Out of the box my immediate opinion was that they had shrill, painful highs and lacked a "crisp" sound. The rest of the sound is good -- bass is loud but very smooth, mids prominent and detailed. But after forcing myself through 25+ hours of listening and telling myself they're good as a whole, I absolutely cannot get over the undetailed highs. Did I get a broken pair or something? Don't get me wrong, I'm quite fond of Klipsch and I don't think these sound BAD, the treble is just enough of an issue for me to deem them unworthy of an $80 pricetag, but I've seen people say they're better than $200-$300 headphones, which is what I'm trying to wrap my head around.

As a result I went hunting for another pair and was able to borrow some Sennheiser Momentums, fresh out of the box. Now as a regular set of earbuds, I thought they were a little too bright. But compared to the R6i, immediately without even burning them in I found these to have a much more crisp, detailed sound, and a soundstage that really pulls me in -- in these I find myself leaning back and closing my eyes which I rarely did with the R6i. And even though they're a little brighter than the Klipsch earbuds, to me the treble was much much smoother and more tolerable. The bass didn't have as much depth and wasn't quite as clear, but the treble outweighed that issue.

Over and over again I swapped between the two in the same songs. Sometimes I'd even sit with the Klipsch ones for a longer period of time and think "hey, maybe I was wrong about these," only to try the Sennheisers again and instantly change my mind.

So obviously I'm just going to buy what sounds good to me, but the reason I'm posting this is because I saw many complaints on the Sennheiser's quality on all levels and that they were very harsh (specifically I've seen people say they were much happier with the S4i, the predecessor of the R6i), whereas infinite people say the Klipsch earbuds are not harsh and sound very good. I just wanna wrap my head around that, because I found the exact opposite to be so.

Does anybody have experience with both of these that could give me their own thoughts? Did I actually get a counterfeit pair or something?

 

[SlashZack]

Hi you are not alone. I'm getting the same experience with you for the Klipsch pair. Mine is R6. Unbearable highs. Tried to burn in for two weeks and finally gave up. Back in the box it went. Got myself a Ath-IM50 since and happy with it.

 

[HiWire]

I've been listening to my new Sennheiser Momentum in-ears for a few months and I agree with gunmetalTrevan.

The Sennheisers are the opposite of harsh – my old Klipsch S4i were closer to sounding like that. Momentums have a balanced, smooth sound that is more enjoyable overall with increased resolution. Bass, treble and mid-range are natural and I hear more extended highs on the Momentums without any hints of sibilance or glare.

I recommend getting Comply foam tips to replace the stock silicone Sennheiser tips. You'll get a more balanced sound (less overtly bassy) than the stock tips and the foam tips are more comfortable (and better isolating) for long listening sessions.