Klipsch Custom 3 & S4 earbuds headphones

[dtximages]

I just received my custom 3's in the mail. Got them for $120 off ebay.. My immediate impression with the factory installed buds was not good.. I triedthem all and the smaller buds the worse it got. I finally settled on the large oval ones but the sound is still dull and unlively. I can hear the highs but theyre muted and dead sounding.. Bass is pretty deep though.

I really thought these would sound great as all the reviews raved bout them. They really dont sound much different or better than my $40 sony IEMs.

So i went to best buy and got the S 4 for $79, they actually sounded cleaner and i could hear the music. Not the deep bass at all.

WHATS WRONG?? theres no way all these audiophiles or whoever have given these so much praise when they sound this way. My $40 senheiser cans blow them out of the water.

I REALLLLYYYY think something is wrong because surely Klipsch wouldnt have been satisfied with this sound..

I listened to high quality recordings from limewire. Listened to them on my phone, two computers, and then through a receiver. Same sound.

I cold see a SMALL amount of give n take because theyre IEM's but i really thought they should be at least kinda impressive right?

Any thoughts?

[CECAA850]

Normally on the Custom 3's, if you don't have a good seal, you get good highs, but reduced lows. If you're getting good bass, chances are that the headphones are inserted and pointed correctly in your ears. There must be something wrong with the headphones. My custom 3's make my Sony Walkman sound like I've got a mega-dollar stereo strapped to my arm.

FYI, there's a headphone section HERE .

[CECAA850]

Just had another thought. If the previous owner was less than ideal on his headphone maintenance, you may find a little ear junk in the headphones themselves (yeah, I know, gross thought). Take the seals off and look very carefully in the holes in the ends of the headphones. Obstructions there can cause greatly reduced highs.

[dtximages]

Yeah i thought about all that. They were still sealed and appeared unused and untampered with. If youve ever tried to get these out of the packaging you know that they WONT go back the same way haha.

I tried pushing, pulling, and pointing in different ways inside my ear and still just sounded blah.

Again, everything looks real from the packaging to everythign about the IEMs but is there a chance these are not real klipsch iems? The seller was from Detroid MI and had 100% positive feedback. Surely, you cant make fakes!!!

[CECAA850]

is there a chance these are not real klipsch iems? The seller was from Detroid MI

Detroid should have given it away. Are you sure they're not Kripsch, made in Taiwan?

[dtximages]

I dont know everything looks and feels authentic to me.

Im sitting here doing as close to an AB comparison possible with the Custom 3's and the S4 from best buy. The S4s sound more open and clear with less bass punch. Customs are muddy. The ebay dude did have a whole bunch of these things. Hmmm.

[jamesV]

Yea something doesn't sound right about that pair. I have Custom 3's and love the music that is produces, even with my BB phone, once I get the proper seal.

James

[dtximages]

hmm thats what it really seems like to me. these arent my first rodeo with good sounding audio. i have a million bucks worth of klipsch speakers and several earphones before. id be ok if they sounded really good just not my favorite.. but theyre no where near good..

i really want to fix this problem so i can delete this thread. i DO NOT like saying im unhappy with a klipsch product!!!!

[Fotog]

Looks like the Ebay seller has posted here (Klipsch Forums Garage sale). 1 post and hawking $120 sets of custom 3's.

[dtximages]

hmm i saw that. im just wondering how people have so many lots of them for sale. how do they get them? could they be from china where nothing is real hardly? how can you tell if theyre real?

[alphaphoenix]

Interesting. I just bought the C3 from the same person on ebay and finally love them. I've owned them before about a year ago and quickly sold them because of what I thought was inferier SQ. I later realized that a good seal makes all the difference and later found out the large earpieces were the ones for me all along and the newer, clear silicon tips that are now standard on the Image line are of better quality and more rigid. Also, due to the oval design of the eartips, I had to play around with the position and angle in relation to the earpiece housing in my ear.

This time around, they are my favorite IEM. I've owned most of the top tier IEM with the exception of the Westone 3 and the sound signature really does it for me. I'm listening to WMA lossess on my 8GB Zune and I'm very happy. The details, the range (low, med, high) is even to my ears and for me, it matches very well. I'm thinking about buying another new set as a backup pair. Regarding the wire issue that seems to a plague to these great IEM, Professor Thump shared his technique of pitching the cord and layering it eveing from left to right. I tried this technique and no kinks in the cable. Before, I was wrapping them around my fingers, but soon learned like before that the cable doesn't like this type of thing. As a consequence, the C3 requires more TLC for long time use without issues with the cord.

I assume we got the same C3 and the only thing I can think up that may contribute to the less than stellar expectations is the seal. Among my IEM, the C3 is the most finicky about a good-perfect seal.

[dtximages]

Interesting. Yeah i tried all the earpieces and the larger oval ones were far better than the others but still just not right. i tried turning them a little sticking them further in, less far in etc. I did call klipsch to see if there were more earpieces i could get and they said no. is there anywhere to buy additional silicone peices?

[100dB]

Caveat: I've not listened to Klipsch IEMs. Next time you are able to watch the band U2, you'll notice Edge (the guitarist) using Etymotic Research ER4 series IEMs. I use ER4Ss for monitoring live recordings (no bass, but the clearest highs anywhere), and ER4Ps for recreational listening. With the foam tips, the bass and outside noise isolation is quite good, though depth of insertion is key. I have Sennheisers (and others) as well, and overall prefer their sound to any IEMs. IEMs have a place and purpose, but to quote Ron Streicher, "Everything in audio is a tradeoff - everything." Disclaimer: I'm an audiologist and use Etyomitic products in my practice. Mead Killion is a genius - nothing leaves Etymotic without a lot of great R&D. I hope you can find what you"re looking for. Cheers!

[Gliderguy3]

I have Custom 3's, Image X-5, Image X-10, and S4's. I like the Custom 3 the best followed by the X-5's. I did have an initial problem with the Custom's getting turned in my ear such that it really blocked the high frequencies, although I was still getting the bass. The original dark tips that come with the custom series are actually a bit too soft and seem to pinch off the exit throat quite easily. The free tips you can get when your register your set seem to be a little more rigid at the exit throat and don't pinch off so easily. That was a big step in the right direction, but it still took me a little fiddling with the memory wire to get the Customs aimed right down my ear canals, and they still require just a bit of fiddling to keep right, but do seem to have the additional sound quality to make the effort worthwile.

I suppose it is possible you got grey market goods, because my S4's from an authorized dealer seem to have more bass than all the others, although it isn't as tight and accurate as the balanced armature models. It seems that my Custom 3's sound a lot like the S4's if you use the reduced bass setting on a classic Ipod with the S4s (actually reduces the mid bass just a little too much, but by reducing the midbass like this it makes the deeper bass seem to extend further by comparison.) Some of the Ipod series seem to have rolled off bass below 200 hz according to some other posts, I think if one were using the S4's with one of those units everything might come out balanced (I suppose that may actually be by design!)

[dtximages]

Btw, I take back what I said about the Custom 3's, they do sound great!!! But they HAVE to fit properly in the ear. That is hard to acheive since everyone's ear is different. I just wish they offered a greater selection of eartips that offered a better seal and stayed in the ear better while running or mowing.

[CECAA850]

I've never liked mine for running even though that's what I got them for. I run with my mouth slightly open and as my jaw moves, the sound comes and goes. If I breathe exclusively through my nose, it's fine, but I've never run that way.

[skonopa]

Btw, I take back what I said about the Custom 3's, they do sound great!!! But they HAVE to fit properly in the ear. That is hard to acheive since everyone's ear is different. I just wish they offered a greater selection of eartips that offered a better seal and stayed in the ear better while running or mowing.

When properly sealed, those Custom-3s really do sound awesome. I was having some of the problems that you had. I've tried both the large and the large double-flange that came with mine, but seems I could not keep them in all the time. However, I also had this pair of Sony headphones that I used at the gym that finally died. To find a suitable replacement (and not wanting to take what are essentialy a $300 pair of headphones to the gym), I also got a pair of the S4s. I was blown away at how awesome those things sounded, especially for $80. Not only that, I really like how well the medium ear tips that came with the S4 fit. So, I figured, lets try those same medium tips with the Custom-3s as well (as these are all supposed to be compatible). So MUCH better! The Custom-3s really shined, now that I got some eartips that fit me so much better than any that orignally came with those headphones. I ended up going to the Klipsch site and ordering some more of those medium eartips.

If you really liked how good your S4s sounded, try those same eartips on the Custom-3s as well (they do fit). You can order extras through the Klipsch site (Products->Headphones->Accessories).