Well my son and I listened to the x7i for a week and the soundstage was just not to either of our liking. I must say we both love the s4 and the s3, which we still have, but the x7i went back to Klipsch. We have now ordered the Westone UM3X and are looking for the V-Mod Vibrato in April.
However my story with Klipsch is not over. I called returns and the girl transferred me twice, even though she was in the returns department I needed. Once she found out I ordered through the website, she gave me the data on how you do a return and bam, hung up. So I overnighted the return and now they cannot find it. It seems Shopatron handles website orders and returns and it can take a week or so to show up in the system. In subsequent calls people could not be nicer, just getting no where. My last call was Friday and the suggestion was to call back Tuesday (I was hoping for a "I'll call you on Tuesday). Since we already have a number of Klipsch gear, I guess I was hoping for more.
Well my son and I listened to the x7i for a week and the soundstage was just not to either of our liking. I must say we both love the s4 and the s3, which we still have, but the x7i went back to Klipsch. We have now ordered the Westone UM3X and are looking for the V-Mod Vibrato in April.
However my story with Klipsch is not over. I called returns and the girl transferred me twice, even though she was in the returns department I needed. Once she found out I ordered through the website, she gave me the data on how you do a return and bam, hung up. So I overnighted the return and now they cannot find it. It seems Shopatron handles website orders and returns and it can take a week or so to show up in the system. In subsequent calls people could not be nicer, just getting no where. My last call was Friday and the suggestion was to call back Tuesday (I was hoping for a "I'll call you on Tuesday). Since we already have a number of Klipsch gear, I guess I was hoping for more.
You are correct, it took them about five business days to see my return through Shopatron and they project that my refund should be refunded on my credit card in another five days. So the process takes about 2 1/2 weeks from the time you get at Return Authorization.
Also, Glen in the service department was fantastic, I think his involvement really helped.
You are correct, it took them about five business days to see my return through Shopatron and they project that my refund should be refunded on my credit card in another five days. So the process takes about 2 1/2 weeks from the time you get at Return Authorization.
Also, Glen in the service department was fantastic, I think his involvement really helped.
Thank you for the feedback. Our customer service reps (like Glen) are pretty great. Warranty replacements are much faster than that but glad that we got you squared away eventually!
i don't think its just you, i got a ridiculous amount of noise too i tried the x7i over the ear like with my s4is it cut down on the microphonics however because the cables flat it was having a hard time staying over my ear and it popped out
i wish klipsch would find a way to cut down on the cord noise with the flat cables ( like beats dre tours) or just go back to the round cables like in the old s4is
plus changing the plug to a 45 degree jack ( l shape jack might not work with some cases, straight jacks doesn't promote confidence)
i loved the mids and the highs for the x7is, the mids are just liquid gold seriously... i was in love with vocals. the bass is fast but a bit low in quantity ( don't want it as much as the s4is but a slight bump around 6db- 8db would be okay i would think, it would be a bit better for subway commuters, to help cut down the ambient noise).
the highs are rolled off but not too quickly, not strident like the s4is or harsh, just enough sparkle that on synths and cymbals sounded real ( lacks a bit of impact there but thats okay ! it reduces listening fatigue)
but in the end i returned the x7is the cord noise is just too much and the flat cable just didn't allow the over ear fit.
the shirt clip actually left a little indent on the cable after a while soo i wouldn't recommend it, but it did cut down on the noise.
Got these half a year ago. The sound is great in my opinion vast improvement over my s4i, meelec cc51p, a151, and se215. However i am pretty disappointed with the build quality.. Between my brother and i, we are on our 5th pair (Pretty careful with them too...) but the right ear piece simply doesn't have sound anymore (Same issue on the other 3) and futureshop no longer carries them so i cant even swap onto another one. Perhaps i got unlucky with a bad stock of them but either way. Sound quality: Pretty definate hit, the tips that come with are nice as always. (Work well with comply tips as well) Bass is present but not bloated which im glad of. Best comparison i can think of is if you grab the s4i and add a world of clarity to it. Build Quality: Looks solid, feels solid, i personally like the ceramic touch. However i am majorly disappointed with how fast they broke. Have to see if Futureshop will let me do store credit or something now. Shame that im in canada i guess.. cant go straight to klipsch Anyone got advice on what to do from this point?
(Just learnt that our friend is also facing same dilemma. {he is on his 3rd pair as well} maybe futureshop gets bad shipments?)
I bought my pair of X7i's about 4 month ago in Singapore. I really love them. Not only their sound (some here said it is not too well going with classical music; I perceive it differently, great soundstage specially with orchestral and compared to my monster Miles Davis Trumpet I find the sound more natural and "relaxed") but also their finish; it is a pleasure handling them with their ceramic enclosures. But, unfortunately since some days there is a loose contact close to the jack on the right channel. I always found the jack itself rather on the long side and prodruting quite far from my iPod. So even if the jack itself gave me a quite stable impression, still it didn't survive wearing the iPod in the pocket
The story that started from here is only indirectly related to the Klipsch, it is about warranty and how a industry successfully avoids to stand for their quality promise. I purposely use the term industry here, because to me as a consumer it is not clear where the problem actually originates: (..."do you still have the packing"...."do you mean the plastic scrab I had to force open to get the phone out?"...."yes you need it to trigger the warranty"..."errr....I disposed it, it was just a piece of scrab"..."oh, sorry, without that we can not blah blah"... Then after convincing them that this kind of packing is not what you usually keep at home for whatever purpose, they told me that they can not do anything anyway because after 7 days any warranty has to be claimed at the Klipsch showroom in Adelphi.... aha, very interesting.
Now, since I really don't have the time to go all the way there just to probably have another discussion about plastic packing, I rather stop it here and I do some micro-soldering by myself; using an 90 degree jack. Will be better than the original one and then welcome back my beloved X7i.
This is ridiculous. I had dealt with meelectronics before and their customer service is superb. All I need was to email them the invoice in order to get the RMA and sent them the earphones. Got it back within days. It could be different in Singapore though... :-/
X7i repair continued: today I made it to Adelphi / Klipsch showroom. I got my defect x7i exchanged without any discussion about missing packing or whatsoever. Great service!
I thought I might add a couple of thoughts and initial impressions on X7i, which I recently purchased as a gift to my dear one. She is not (yet deeply infected with audiophilea headphonia LOL, so the task was to find a pair of great-looking (first priority!) nicely-isolating (second priority) well-fitting (this turned out to be very challenging) and good-sounding (hand-added by me to the list!) canalphones as as step up from iPhone's stock earbuds (earlier model, which came with her white (of course!) iPhone 4S). Oh, and they should preferably be white! (of course!)
So we made a trip down to a nice local retailer with tons of unboxed headphones and earphones which you can actually audition before you buy (and there's no obligation to buy a pair, even if they had to unbox it at your request "to listen to".
With earphones, of course, a pack of wet sanitizing tissues is a highly recommended accessory to wipe ear tips for hygienic purposes.
My beloved's pinnae and auditory canal openings are really on the small side, so our search was somewhat limited to really small-footprint small-tip headphones of the type of Etymotics, Klipsches, and some other "bullet-shaped" models, clearly drifting towards BA rather than dynamic drivers which usually require bigger enclosures.
As there was no additional amplification intended, and the earphones were supposed to be plugged right into iPhone's HP out, we narrowed down our search to single-driver BA models.
So the short list (based on availability at that given store) included:
This does not pretend to be an in-depth review and comparison. In fact, this isn't even a superficial review and comparison. This is just a set of one-liners about our listening impressions and a few more words about X7i.
Heaven IV were such a poor fit to her ears, that we didn't even attest the SQ. Even with the smalles eartips they were still akwardly sticking out, feeling as if they were falling out all the time.
SoundMagic PL50 felt better thanks to cable-up-and-over-the-ear type of wearing position, but unfortuntely, even as small as they were, their enclosures were too big to fit flush inside the pinna. As a consequence, we could not achieve the proper fit and sealing, which ruined the sound. And thery were "not nice-looking"
TDKs were a very nice fit, and soundwise they were a very nice pair of headphones. Probably, if it weren't for the X7i, we'd end up getting those. However, there were two slight ergonomics issues with them: first, their cable is extremely short, and you'd have to use a supplied extension if your source is kept anywhere other than in your shirt or jacket's chest pocket. Not exactly the best "lady-friendly" solution. Second, their plug is soooo tiny, that even with her miniature fingers it seemed a little weird to unplug it. Minor issues really, but in such a stiff competition...
Klipsches were really excellent in terms of fit (both the X10i and especially X7i), however, X7i clearly has an edge in fitting comfort over its senior brother for really small ears (in my "average ears" it was the other way around - I liked the fit of X10i better).
Sonically, X10i was clearly a stronger performer, with more balanced sound, less harsh highs and more naturally sounding lows. If I were buying a pair for myself (which I will not because I don't like canalphones), I'd certainly prefer X10i over X7i. But man, how aesthetically pleaseing X7i are! Especially for a young lady. Ceramic ecnlosures look terrific, but more importantly, they deliver amazing sound from such a disappearingly small enclosure!
The fit was perfect, and very solid. This, in combination with fantastic exterior, an iPhone-compatible mic/remote unit and generally very solid sonic performance,resulted in them ending up travelling to the check-out counter
Now, a couple more notes about X7i:
1) They are (maybe, as most other IEMs) EXTREMELY sensitive to proper fit and sealing! The sound changes from "Gosh, what kind of crap am I listening to" to "OMG, how can you extract that much good sound from these miniature babies?!!". I know it's an extremely rare case when a retailer has headphones (especially canal phones) available to unbox and audition at the store, but if you have this opportunity - don't rush, take your time, and experiment with different eartips. If a store has an unboxed pair for trying and is reluctant to let you change eartips - chances are you will not be able to really hear what they are capable of. In this case, buy them, bring home, open up, experiment with tips, and if you don't like them - return them for moneyback.
2) The cord... This is about my biggest complaint about X7i. Maybe it does tangle less. Maybe it looks kinda cool. But it is one hell of a microfonic cable!!! I can only fully confirm what's been said by other head-fiers on this subjec. Bad job by Klipsch on this one. I don't know what counts: ceramic enclosures that could be more sensitive to microphonic effect, or poorly chosen external insulation material of the cord, but it's bad, fullstop. To finish the cord discussion, I would also say that the mic/remote unit is nice, has a nice feel to it, buttons are pleasing to press. I would probably say it's a little too long to my taste -gets a little in the way when you wind them to place into the supplied (and very nice!!!) little pouch. The plug tip is on the large side, but very comfy to grip with your fingers.
3) The sound. Microphonics aside, these are a very nice sounding pair, with its own very clear sound signature. I will compare them to Ety's ER-P4S, as this is the only pair of balanced IEMs that I spent some time with.
Highs are clear enough, and bright. They may be a little too bright to my taste. definitely brighter than Ety and even brighter than X10i. I tend to attribute it to the sonic effect of the ceramic enclosure.
Mids are generally nice and correct, vocals sound very decent, although I'd call them a little too cold (ceramic again?). But more than adequate from a single-driver phones with such small enclosure.
Lows... This is where it gets difficult. They are definitely there, and, with proper fit, both the amount and the extension are more than adequate. This is where X7i makes Etys shy: it is simply a fuller-sounding, bassier headphone. However, I have two problems with them. The first is the extension: it is sooo low, that I felt it'd better not be. You can hear some really low bass notes, but the way they sound is not right - I think I am hearing a certain amount of distortion. Even with good hi-res lossless files played on a laptop with my portable rig (M2Tech HiFace DAC + RSA Predator) I hear traces of distortion at the lowest end. I am not a big specialist in BA phones, but I have an impression that such low extension is just too much to digest for single-driver BA.
My second problem was the way the bass punch sounded. It's definitely there, but it is somehow odd: "hollow and slightly echoed" is the best way I can describe it. As if the the bass was playing inside an empty-walls chamber. I am not sure if this is an attribute of ceramic enclosure, which might have too high reflection off its inner surface, or typical for single-driver IEMs, but there is this (although very slight and not too pronounced) characteristic of the lower end.
So overall, the Klipsh X7i, although not without its flaws and oddities, is a very solid BA headset, with stunning aesthetics, very good fit and sealing (with proper tips!), convenient mic&remote unit, and generally pleasing sound. The biggest disadvantage is the poor cord inducing heavy microphonics in use. I've seen much better cords (although, sometimes attached to much worse canalphones! LOL).
I thought I might add a couple of thoughts and initial impressions on X7i, which I recently purchased as a gift to my dear one. She is not (yet deeply infected with audiophilea headphonia LOL, so the task was to find a pair of great-looking (first priority!) nicely-isolating (second priority) well-fitting (this turned out to be very challenging) and good-sounding (hand-added by me to the list!) canalphones as as step up from iPhone's stock earbuds (earlier model, which came with her white (of course!) iPhone 4S). Oh, and they should preferably be white! (of course!)
So we made a trip down to a nice local retailer with tons of unboxed headphones and earphones which you can actually audition before you buy (and there's no obligation to buy a pair, even if they had to unbox it at your request "to listen to".
With earphones, of course, a pack of wet sanitizing tissues is a highly recommended accessory to wipe ear tips for hygienic purposes.
My beloved's pinnae and auditory canal openings are really on the small side, so our search was somewhat limited to really small-footprint small-tip headphones of the type of Etymotics, Klipsches, and some other "bullet-shaped" models, clearly drifting towards BA rather than dynamic drivers which usually require bigger enclosures.
As there was no additional amplification intended, and the earphones were supposed to be plugged right into iPhone's HP out, we narrowed down our search to single-driver BA models.
So the short list (based on availability at that given store) included:
This does not pretend to be an in-depth review and comparison. In fact, this isn't even a superficial review and comparison. This is just a set of one-liners about our listening impressions and a few more words about X7i.
Heaven IV were such a poor fit to her ears, that we didn't even attest the SQ. Even with the smalles eartips they were still akwardly sticking out, feeling as if they were falling out all the time.
SoundMagic PL50 felt better thanks to cable-up-and-over-the-ear type of wearing position, but unfortuntely, even as small as they were, their enclosures were too big to fit flush inside the pinna. As a consequence, we could not achieve the proper fit and sealing, which ruined the sound. And thery were "not nice-looking"
TDKs were a very nice fit, and soundwise they were a very nice pair of headphones. Probably, if it weren't for the X7i, we'd end up getting those. However, there were two slight ergonomics issues with them: first, their cable is extremely short, and you'd have to use a supplied extension if your source is kept anywhere other than in your shirt or jacket's chest pocket. Not exactly the best "lady-friendly" solution. Second, their plug is soooo tiny, that even with her miniature fingers it seemed a little weird to unplug it. Minor issues really, but in such a stiff competition...
Klipsches were really excellent in terms of fit (both the X10i and especially X7i), however, X7i clearly has an edge in fitting comfort over its senior brother for really small ears (in my "average ears" it was the other way around - I liked the fit of X10i better).
Sonically, X10i was clearly a stronger performer, with more balanced sound, less harsh highs and more naturally sounding lows. If I were buying a pair for myself (which I will not because I don't like canalphones), I'd certainly prefer X10i over X7i. But man, how aesthetically pleaseing X7i are! Especially for a young lady. Ceramic ecnlosures look terrific, but more importantly, they deliver amazing sound from such a disappearingly small enclosure!
The fit was perfect, and very solid. This, in combination with fantastic exterior, an iPhone-compatible mic/remote unit and generally very solid sonic performance,resulted in them ending up travelling to the check-out counter
Now, a couple more notes about X7i:
1) They are (maybe, as most other IEMs) EXTREMELY sensitive to proper fit and sealing! The sound changes from "Gosh, what kind of crap am I listening to" to "OMG, how can you extract that much good sound from these miniature babies?!!". I know it's an extremely rare case when a retailer has headphones (especially canal phones) available to unbox and audition at the store, but if you have this opportunity - don't rush, take your time, and experiment with different eartips. If a store has an unboxed pair for trying and is reluctant to let you change eartips - chances are you will not be able to really hear what they are capable of. In this case, buy them, bring home, open up, experiment with tips, and if you don't like them - return them for moneyback.
2) The cord... This is about my biggest complaint about X7i. Maybe it does tangle less. Maybe it looks kinda cool. But it is one hell of a microfonic cable!!! I can only fully confirm what's been said by other head-fiers on this subjec. Bad job by Klipsch on this one. I don't know what counts: ceramic enclosures that could be more sensitive to microphonic effect, or poorly chosen external insulation material of the cord, but it's bad, fullstop. To finish the cord discussion, I would also say that the mic/remote unit is nice, has a nice feel to it, buttons are pleasing to press. I would probably say it's a little too long to my taste -gets a little in the way when you wind them to place into the supplied (and very nice!!!) little pouch. The plug tip is on the large side, but very comfy to grip with your fingers.
3) The sound. Microphonics aside, these are a very nice sounding pair, with its own very clear sound signature. I will compare them to Ety's ER-P4S, as this is the only pair of balanced IEMs that I spent some time with.
Highs are clear enough, and bright. They may be a little too bright to my taste. definitely brighter than Ety and even brighter than X10i. I tend to attribute it to the sonic effect of the ceramic enclosure.
Mids are generally nice and correct, vocals sound very decent, although I'd call them a little too cold (ceramic again?). But more than adequate from a single-driver phones with such small enclosure.
Lows... This is where it gets difficult. They are definitely there, and, with proper fit, both the amount and the extension are more than adequate. This is where X7i makes Etys shy: it is simply a fuller-sounding, bassier headphone. However, I have two problems with them. The first is the extension: it is sooo low, that I felt it'd better not be. You can hear some really low bass notes, but the way they sound is not right - I think I am hearing a certain amount of distortion. Even with good hi-res lossless files played on a laptop with my portable rig (M2Tech HiFace DAC + RSA Predator) I hear traces of distortion at the lowest end. I am not a big specialist in BA phones, but I have an impression that such low extension is just too much to digest for single-driver BA.
My second problem was the way the bass punch sounded. It's definitely there, but it is somehow odd: "hollow and slightly echoed" is the best way I can describe it. As if the the bass was playing inside an empty-walls chamber. I am not sure if this is an attribute of ceramic enclosure, which might have too high reflection off its inner surface, or typical for single-driver IEMs, but there is this (although very slight and not too pronounced) characteristic of the lower end.
So overall, the Klipsh X7i, although not without its flaws and oddities, is a very solid BA headset, with stunning aesthetics, very good fit and sealing (with proper tips!), convenient mic&remote unit, and generally pleasing sound. The biggest disadvantage is the poor cord inducing heavy microphonics in use. I've seen much better cords (although, sometimes attached to much worse canalphones! LOL).
i actually thought that the mids were actually really nice and liquid, yes its bright but i love that about it its bass was a bit too little for me. i hated the flat cord, think klipsch was too pressured due to the beats tours's flat cable love.
i think they should go back to the original wires like on the original s4 but maybe add an extra coating to make it thicker (feel more durable) and change the remote. the new remote is too big and the buttons didn't enlarge either.
now it just weights it down so much plus the extra weight of flat cables = insane microphonics
how this passed testing i will never understanding
the sound is fine, imo i think it doens't need to be fixed its that build that needs to be revised.
get rid of the flat cable, shrink the remote back to the s4i version (its lighter smaller) less bulky )
add in the strain relief of the s4i to the x7i( has no strain relief on the housing)
the jack got beefed up thats good! but it should be changed to either a higher profile (l shape)--> allows for thicker cases, the old beats cables are too low profile that cases don't work or a 45 degree jack ( puts less strain) similar to vmoda. puts less strain on the jack
doing this will prevent people from using the warranty and returning them to store again and again
the sound as stated above requires little to no tweeking.. its only the bass (both sub and mid bass needs a little more) maybe +2 db maybe +3 no more
but thats hard for balanced armatures, so i'm not gonna fault them for that
if the x7 makes these changes i will definately buy one in the future! ( i hope they make one without a remote personally) but thats just my little quip
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deeply infected with audiophilea headphonia LOL, so the task was to find a pair of great-looking (first priority!) nicely-isolating (second priority) well-fitting (this turned out to be very challenging) and good-sounding (hand-added by me to the list!) canalphones as as step up from iPhone's stock earbuds (earlier model, which came with her white (of course!) iPhone 4S). Oh, and they should preferably be white! (of course!) 
