aj28

This is what's interesting to me... A lot of people say the logo fades, but for some it doesn't. Some say it has too much bass, some say it has too little... As I pointed out in an earlier post, the reality is that Klipsch does change the design of these things from time to time, be it discontinuing the cleaning tool, changing the number of buds, or, as some reviews seem to imply, maybe even changing the internal design of the headphone itself. Needless to say, I'm lost, because there doesn't seem to be a definitive way to know. >.< Even with external design changes, the internal design surely does not change. That would call for an entirely new line of earbuds. Honestly, the only way to know is to go to an authorized retailer, buy it, and compare them. In the real ones, there is no bass overload - all mids and highs can be heard. For people who say there is too little bass, it's because they haven't got the fit right and/or haven't gone through the 50 hours of burn-in. I think it comes down to this: regardless of whether your earbuds (that you bought online from a non-authorized retailer) have logo fading, if you immediately notice muddled and over-powering bass that eats up the mids and highs, they are fake. Let me start by saying that I absolutely agree with the premise of a significant difference in sound quality between genuines and fakes. That much seems evident, at least from the reports I've read here and on eBay... That said, I'm not so sure about the other part... It's very difficult for any company to build a piece of electronics exactly the same over a very long period of time, and changes may or may not be documented when it comes to issues of internal parts suppliers. I've had experiences before where two units of a specific brand and model of headphone purchased years apart (in that case, Sennheiser) sounded different, and they were both from the same authorized B&M dealer. Also, things like LCD monitors will often use different brands of panels just depending on the batch that monitor was a part of or the specific factory it came from. Heck, there are models of cars where final assembly may be done in two completely different countries, and you can't know without checking the VIN! In the case of these specific headphones, when Klipsch changed from the L-shaped connector to the straight connector, people also started noticing differences in the wire strength/thickness and other issues... I wouldn't be surprised if there was a change of suppliers when this happened in 2010. I do agree though, it seems that if the headphones have very muddled bass and lack definition, they are definitely suspect. Fortunately, the pair I bought off Amazon doesn't seem to have that issue... A relief to be sure! Hurrah! =D

This is what's interesting to me... A lot of people say the logo fades, but for some it doesn't. Some say it has too much bass, some say it has too little... As I pointed out in an earlier post, the reality is that Klipsch does change the design of these things from time to time, be it discontinuing the cleaning tool, changing the number of buds, or, as some reviews seem to imply, maybe even changing the internal design of the headphone itself. Needless to say, I'm lost, because there doesn't seem to be a definitive way to know. >.<

I don't have the box anymore, so unfortunately I couldn't tell you... Hopefully we'll get some feedback from Amy soon on the differences to look for. Maybe they're waiting for a pair in the mail from Hong Kong. =P

I'm here trying to determine if mine are counterfeits as well, and while I think some of your points are spot-on, I'm not so sure on some others... The gray/black box is the packaging the Image S4 originally shipped in. The blue box was (I think) introduced in 2010, at which point they also changed the jack design from L-shaped to straight and discontinued the ear wax pick. That also throws into question whether they changed the tin, ear buds, and the headphones themselves... I've seen a lot of old YouTube reviews with the grainy tin you have in your pictures. Also, Best Buy lists the Image S4 as having 4 sets of ear buds, and Amy mentioned in another thread (http://community.klipsch.com/forums/t/149098.aspx) that they may have changed the number included. I think the logo wearing off instantly is probably the best way to tell... I guess we'll just see what Amy has to say about the situation.