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Klipsch Headphones/Earphones


dtel's wife

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Guest IVstringer

I will let Mark handle the questions about our Klipsch products. However, I will share some experience from using other headphones. Like you, tidmack, I try to take good care of my headphones. I try to buy the carrying cases, wrap the cables correctly, etc.

I had some Sony "in-ear" headphones while in college. These were the ones which had soft tips like in-ear monitors, but they didn't really seal, and they weren't "pro style" (over the ear). I got about 2 years out of these before I think one of the micro-speakers blew out (lots of distortion, etc). At that time I paid about $50. I got a set of Shure E2c's about 2 years ago (for free, it was nice). Those are $100 retail. Aside from losing an eartip on a plane, I have had no problem with these. Like you, I use them to mow the yard, etc. Now that I travel for work, I have given them even more use. I'd bet I could get at least 2 years more out of them.

When you compare these two models, the Shure ones use a thicker cable. I'd say it has about twice the diameter of the Sony ones. Also, the strain relief on the Shure ones is much improved. The strain relief (or lack thereof) is probably an important factor to consider as well. Most cheap ones will use some little rubber piece attached at the end which clamps to the cable. Since the E2c's are clear, you can actually see they have some strain relief on the cable on the inside of the shell, as well as a higher-quality rubber piece on the outside. Of course, you would also conclude that Shure would know how to make their headphones though because of all the touring acts that use them. So, they have a lot of test data to support "rough" use.

There is another component that I cannot speak to. That would be the fact that I have always owned micro-speaker models (because I'm cheap). Even the free E2c's are micro-speakers. The balanced armature drivers in all of the Klipsch products are completely different in operation from a "normal" transducer. Based on my engineering instincts I would suspect that the armatures don't have to work as hard and would probably last longer than any micro-speaker, including higher-quality ones like the E2c. However, I reserve the right for Mark to tell me how wrong I am.

So, based on my own observations, craftsmanship (and thus price) does make a difference in durability.

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Man I can't wait for the Klipsch line to be released as this gentleman out on Head-Fi (believe he goes by Skylab) has been posting reviews of IEM's and portable amps and I'm sure the Klipsch are going to hold their own with the best from Ety, Shure, Westone and the likes!

Anticipation is killing me[:P] Argh!

Professor, I'm ready for my eval form[;)]

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Man I can't wait for the Klipsch line to be released as this gentleman out on Head-Fi (believe he goes by Skylab) has been posting reviews of IEM's and portable amps and I'm sure the Klipsch are going to hold their own with the best from Ety, Shure, Westone and the likes!

Anticipation is killing me[:P] Argh!

Professor, I'm ready for my eval form[;)]

Skylab is indeed his username, but he hasn't really posted much about IEMs or earphones. He has a thread dedicated to a huge comparison of closed headphones, and yes, something similar for portable amps too. His favorite on-the-go headphone is still the venerable Sennheiser HD 25. I have a pair myself and enjoy them, but I'm still looking for something awesome sounding AND ultraportable, and I'm hoping these Klipsch earphones will fit the bill!

If you haven't seen it already (I posted in the other thread here concerning headphones), I started a thread to start building hype at Head-Fi. You can check it out here. Your lovely web marketing specialist Amy has already put in a few words as well.

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Please do share more at head-fi, Prof. T. I'm an IEM-phile and test engineering geek, and I learned quite a bit from reading your contributions in this thread already.

There are a lot of rave reviews on the Klipsch phones from people who aren't big headphone types, it sounds like. How about from people who have already started their journey from Shure to Shure to Ety to... you know what I mean. My personal headphone journey has recently taken me from balanced armature IEMs like the Ety ER-4P and Shure SE310 to a dynamic driver model (Futuresonics Atrio M5). I'm kind of hoping that the Klipsch phones can bring me back to the armature world, especially since I generally think armature based phones have a faster response than dynamics (the balance on the Atrios won my heart, but I'm certainly willing to break up with them given the opportunity).

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Hello everyone, I'm also a Head-fi (Freeone-j)./ now Klipsch forum member. Heard about the Klispch IEMs from PeterDLai and I'm looking forward to hearing the Customs series or maybe even the Image.I realize this is Klipschs' first run at IEMs and I wish you guys (the team) success! From what I've read and seen, it look like the team is working hard to cover all the bases of releasing a good quality product!

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There are a lot of rave reviews on the Klipsch

phones from people who aren't big headphone types, it sounds

like.

I think I might fall into that category...but for what it's worth, I've

tried pretty much all sorts of IEM and normal headphones too. I hate

stating it this way, but the Klipsch stuff is nothing like anything

else I've ever tried. Without a doubt I could enjoy the Klipsch

headphones, but the only problem is I don't do any activities where I

don't have huge Klipsch floorstanders available. Heck, I've even got

Klipsch in the labs at school now [H]

Speaking of school....I think Klipsch should make a marketing push

towards the college market. Everyone on campus is running around with

headphones...and it's usually not the cheap stuff either.

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