royhendo

Well, all's well that ends well... albeit expensively well. I've not had a set of custom moulds made for the X10s from here: http://www.audiorelief.co.uk/shop/product_info.php?cPath=27&products_id=39 It kind of defeats one of the main purposes of the Images, namely how magnificent the isolation/attenuation is with the sleeves that come with them, and the fact they get inserted so deeply and comfortably in your ear canal... but I'm now on my 3rd set having returned two with cable issues, and with each of the first two sets the strain relief on the buds was in the process of disintegrating because they were being bent back 'against the grain' cos of the shape of my ear. So it was expensive - another £90 on top of it... and I have to up the volume a notch to get the same effect... but I get complete isolation and the wonderful sound of the X10s now, and if I ever need to get another pair I'll just slot them into the customs and they'll last longer. I'm hoping this will extend the life span of the earphones because honestly I'm 100% in love with the sound.

just a short note to say i've now sent back my second pair of images to the retailer because of faults that developed - first time it was the jack, and second time it was the left bud - sound became intermittent and cut out altogether for long spells. on both occasions i got the splitting on the strain relief on both buds, which gradually deteriorated. it's an awesome product but from my perspective i have serious issues with their reliability and durability.

my first pair developed a problem with a loose connection in the curved strain relief near the jack, and hey presto, i've got the same 'splitting' problem in the replacement pair. i've just gone and bought some adhesive rubber tape this time and wrapped them to reinforce it - it looks rubbish but nobody can see it cos they're inserted deep enough that all you can see is the cord. i love them but i do think this is a genuine flaw and as noted above, it does affect their resale value (which is an issue for most who experiment with various earphones when trying to find the right one for them). great product - i reckon you just need to work on your product's reliability overall.

my left image bud has, as I say in the title, died. my ear must have still been wet from the shower, and before I realised, the sound disappeared. it's now 3 days later - they're sat drying on a shelf, and while you can just about hear something from it when the volume is full blast, it's essentially silent. so - how long should I wait? am I doing something wrong? []

i've clipped the end of the rubber back now. they sound awesome and my feedback is that you might want to use a more resilient material on the connectors. but they're still nothing short of awesome and credit to you for a fantastic product.

hi - amy, anyone? should we send the product back?

did you get an answer on whether this is a return issue, professor thump?

Hi again Amy For future reference, a couple of questions... Is it possible to buy XL versions of the ear gels (particularly the double flanges) - i.e. a size bigger than the ones that come with the earphones as standard? And also - where can you buy ear gels full stop? Say I lose them - where do I go to buy replacements? I couldn't find a relevant section on the klipsch online store. Cheers Roy

The sound certainly hasn't been affected Professor Thump - I never actually asked to return them to be honest - just how to repair it or replace the rubber. To clarify - (as directed in the little manual that came with them, and via the tips from amy on this forum), I've been gripping the body of the connector section when inserting and removing the earphones (the bit that doesn't flex next to the metal end section). When inserting, I moisten the ear gel a little, insert them at an angle while gripping the connector body (not the end or the cable), and then twisting to achieve the seal, which has proven nice and easy (thanks very much). When removing them, I grasp the same part between forefinger and thumb. Personally I think the reason for the little tear is that with the bud going quite deep into my ear canal (I'm an ER-4P user and am used to a deeply inserted earphone - my ears are quite 'loose' I suppose in that respect, and if anything I could probably use an even bigger ear gel than you currently offer as standard (I don't know if you do an XL version of the double flanges but I'd buy some). As a result of the deeply inserted bud, it sits at quite a steep angle, and as a result the end of the connector doesn't appear out of the little 'notch' at the bottom of my ear as shown in dreven's (wonderful) review thread on this forum. Instead, the end sits a small distance inside the cavity, and as a result, the connector is bent back against its natural direction. I've used them for just over a week now, including five workdays sat at my desk with the ultra-comfortable buds inserted for several hours at a time (a privilege formerly reserved for my ER-4Ps, which I guess will now be reserved only for heavy duty noise levels on the train. thus far the images have coped with every noise the world has thrown at them, but occasionally British Rail rolls out the old rolling stock and the train can be quite deafening as a result. I may have to keep the ER-4Ps for those occasions (and I do love them - they're not particularly comfortable and the bass is nowhere near as satisfying as the images, but the foam tips on those really do block out all noise, even when it's a rattly old train, whereas with the images, they are fine for 95% of all situations noise attenuation wyse (although possibly with an XL tip it'd be as good and comfier than the ER-4P for people with 'loose' ear canals), but you still hear the train pulling in and so on - I'm being UBER picky here - the images are easily the best all round earphones I've ever encountered and I want to make sure they last as long as I want them to. Anyway, I'm not sure if this explains what I mean, but here goes... hopefully it illustrates where i think the pressure on the end of the connector is coming from - I guess when you're listening for around 8 hours a day on these things, it could cause a little tear/split, and you might find it quite a common user comment, notwithstanding the rigour of your stress testing (which I'm sure is comprehensive and exhaustive - I'm not dissing you in any way - just providing some feedback). To contrast, here's Dreven's picture, which I guess typifies the average image user's ear (with the connector some distance outside the 'notch' at the bottom fo the ear).

oh, and by the way, the sound remains flawless. when using them, I clip the ipod nano to my lapel. when my commute is done, they go back in the case. no way i'm going to abuse something I paid so much money for.

hi just to clarify - i have always carried the phones in the larger case along with my ipod nano (as shown below). That said, I've rarely had them out of my ear since they arrived. Will post a sketch later to show what I mean about the position in the ear. Not sure if the photo will be clear enough so might try again later with the flash on. See the full (uncropped) images here: http://clevaclogs.com/PHOTOS/DSC02771.JPG http://clevaclogs.com/PHOTOS/DSC02772.JPG http://clevaclogs.com/PHOTOS/DSC02770.JPG

Thanks Amy - just registered no problem - thanks for your help. Hopefully we can sort out the problem with the little split in the rubber connectors...

hi this is the exact same problem I have.

thanks for getting back to me Amy, much appreciated [] can i offer some feedback? first of all, they sound incredible 'out of the box' and the bass, without tinkering, is just delectable. the seal is also very easy to achieve and they've rendered my preference for custom earmoulds (used with in-ear buds I've used before) redundant. however, one snag. i've had them a week now, and as i insert them quite deep within my ear canals, the rubber (I presume it's rubber) curved 'stress reducing connector' that connects each ear bud to the cable has split on both phones. It's just a tiny split, but it's because the end of the connector sits within my ear 'cavity' (no idea what the proper term is, but I mean the gristly 'cave' at the opening of the ear canal surrounded by the earlobe (LOL)). The bud sits at quite a steep angle and so the cable is bent in the opposite direction to the rubber connector (against the grain, if you like). Presumably that's led to the split happening - not sure if it'll get any worse - is there any way I can fix it? Do you sell replacement rubber connector inserts? Just don't want my beloved images to get too busted up, is all. A fantastic product and I have to say (as an ER-4P user who prefers electronic 'head' music) you've really achieved something wonderful. Roy

Hi all I've lurked thus far (while I was doing my research before buying my images)... anyway, I've now bought them and would like to claim my free ear gels, but to do it online, i need the serial number, and i can't find it on the headphones themselves, or on the box. where should i be looking? Loving the product so much, by the way. Roy