[Sylverant]

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Hmmm.  They really need a "compare" guide for all of their S4 variations.
 
http://www.klipsch.com/headphones?&n=0&va=t
 
Personally, I found the original S4 to be bass-bloated and horribly sibilant.  Comfortable, but not much fun to listen to.

Eh, putting the bass inline in the S4 via eq or source matching works quite well. Mine are original launch, have been tugged and pulled on and really beat up (they go with me everywhere and aside from going through there very first jack replacement last month work perfectly. I won't lie about that treble being sibilant. If I had already been through my introduction to hifi I probably wouldn't have bothered with that sibilance. Back then I loved the edginess cause I didn't know any better 

 
 
My pair rarely play anything sibilant at all anymore though, 3+ years of constant everyday use have smoothed them out. 

 
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The cables do look more sophisticated and 'pro' . I really hope they add more smoothness to the drivers or smth, far too much sibilance for me. Painful sometimes..
The MODE M40 noise cancelling headphones looks good and sleek, hopefully not another variation of the soul or the studios.

It uses a dual driver design (40mm sub for bass and mids, 15mm tweeter for highs) with a crossover so hopefully not; that's got to take a lot more effort to design than the sound of beats.
 
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Double MSRP.

Doesn't look like its priced at $160? Its MSRP is $100 which is $20 more than S4 MSRP. Sadly, that probably also proves that were only getting a mere cable upgrade and a flashier color scheme. I'm not expecting anything of it in all honesty but i'll have to compare it to my 3+ year old S4.
 

 

[maingarden]

My old S4 finally died so I picked up the new Reference S4 and I feel it's very sibilant, harsh with treble even with EQ on the Sansa Zip.
 
Anyone notice this or did I just have a very "burned in" (if you believe in it) old S4 pair?  
 

 

[Thor89]

I'm 100% positive that your new IEM's need a "burn in" time before they actually sound the way they are designed to.  Go ahead and, pls, by all means,let us know your impressions thereafter.

 

[Mooses9]

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I'm 100% positive that your new IEM's need a "burn in" time before they actually sound the way they are designed to.  Go ahead and, pls, by all means,let us know your impressions thereafter.

i agree 100-200 hours of burn in maybe a little more, but i do a little pink,white noise for 100 to 200 hours. or just play music through them, the sound will change and probably even out and tone down some

 

[leaf1569]

Some please post a detailed review and comparison.

 

[MrChan]

I just bought them today for my cousin as a bday present. I figured it'd be kinda entry level enthusiasts where even casual listeners can see a difference between s4 vs iPod/iPhone apple earbuds. worked for me anyways

Anyways I am only just getting into this hobby and I'll try my best to articulate my experience with the correct terminology.

I own the original image s4i and today briefly tried the reference s4 in sham shui po, Hong Kong, and noticed a remarkable difference between the two. I like to use songs that have heavy bass but also has significant vocals that lean on the high pitch to do testing. Songs I used to compare were "sweet disposition" by temper trap, "ass back home" and "the fighter" by gym class heroes and "champagne showers" by LMAO. Not the most sophisticated play list, but I had my iPhone wiped only a few weeks ago.

Highs were s4's weakness in the image version and is still the weaker aspect of the s4 ref. this has not changed in the ref version, in that it continues to be a weakness, but there is obvious retuning to make improvements. the highs were slightly muddy but more prominent and noticeable than before. It does seem to be less sybilant than before.

I'm split in my opinion of the mids. The deeper voiced vocals were powerful and clear but the higher pitched vocals by females (or really girly sounding men) seemed slightly recessed and not as clear as they could be. Perhaps this is due tor the s4's natural strength in the lower frequencies. Instrument-wise, it was good and clear but the seperation of instruments could be better. It seems to have not touched the mids much, but considering the genre of music that they're often recommended for, klipsch should've tried to have done more.

The lows and the bass are the strengths of these phones. Bass is just slightly but noticeably more strong and is pushing the boundaries of being fun and too much. It seems a little looser and lets the bass carry on booming a bit more than before. This certainly makes the S4 reference more for fun listening rather than analytical.

For my cousin, he like pop, r&b, and an occasional hiphop song and is not an enthusiast. When taking that into consideration, I chose it over a v-moda iem (nice balanced sound) because of the style and needs. If its fun listening you're after on a budget, or if you're entry level enthusiast, these IEMs are not a bad choice.

 

[Tommy1001]

My Reference S4s have around 200hrs on them, and i have to say, the bass has been RECESSED , but works, the boominess is gone, what comes in is a "tappy" feeling of the bass. Treble is still rather harsh, but IMO MUCH better than an out-of-the-box pair.