Custom 3 vs image

[dakayus]

Hi guys I was wondering exactly what the difference was. I thought that the more driver, the better. So by the looks of it, the custom 3 probably has 2 or maybe even 3, but the image looks like it only have one. So what's with the cost difference? Which sounds better? I'm pretty confused by the whole ordeal. I know nothing about ear buds and my iphone ear buds are pretty bad.

[BLSamuel]

The Custom 3 are the best sounding. They have 2 armatures (drivers) and a crossover in a reasonable sized package.

The IMAGE have one very high performance very tiny armature. Check out the Klipsch headphone pages for pictures to get an idea.

The Custom 3 is closer in size to ear buds but instead of cheap ear buds (ouch, those things hurt) the Custom 3 are extremely high quality in ear monitors that are quite comfortable. They may work better for some applications as the bendable wire can be used to hold them in place. It does take quite a bit of effort to get the Custom models inserted and oriented correctly to obain a proper seal required for optimum bass response (I own a set of the Custom 2 and it took a while to get them oriented correctly).

The IMAGE on the other hand are very small by comparison but probably a little lower in absolute sound quality but are exceptionally comfortable and very easy to use - just stick 'em in and are very unobtrusive as they pretty much fit in the ear canal. Just pop them in and you're good to go. I tried these as prototypes last summer and they are incredible. The Legendary Sound of Klipsch that fits in your ears. The IMAGE also have a way uber coolness to them. The incredibly small size is why they're more expensive.

In any case, the sound quality of either the Custom 3 or IMAGE is AWESOME. You can practically feel the bass in your head. Crisp highs, thundering lows. Can't go wrong with either one. There's a lot of good informative posts in the Headphones section.

The short answer

absolute best sound - Custom 3

absolute comfort and ease of use - IMAGE

One can't go wrong with either one IMHO. Personally, I'd opt for the IMAGE as I mostly use headphones working at my desk and they're so much easier to use and the ultimate in comfort. During my demo time they were barely noticeable, forgettably so, except for the wonderful sound.

The Custom 1 should crush your iPhone ear buds. The Custom 2 are even better - 2 armatures but no crossover - more thunderous bass and a little clearer highs and less distortion than the Custom 1. The IMAGE are next up in sound quality smoother and more extended than the Custom 2 in an insanely tiny package. The Custom 3 with 2 armatures, one optimized for bass, the other for treble, with a cross over are even smoother and more extended.

Let us know what you decide and as Professor Thump likes to say, "Stick it in your ear!"

[dakayus]

I love bass, so the ear thing doesn't bother me too much, it's just for listening when I'm in the library/at home when everyone else is studying. Did you ever compare them to senhessier, etymonics, shure, ultimate ears, westone, etc? I know klipsch speakers stacks up to all brands as I have tested them side by side to others, but I cannot honestly say I'll have that sort of chance with other earbuds. Klipsch speakers have been time tested, but the earbuds are pretty new so I just want to know how they stack up.

[BLSamuel]

The comparisons I've read have been very favorable.

I've owned the Custom 2 since they first became available. I also have picky overly sensitvie ears and I still use my Custom 2 on a daily basis. My only real comparison is my trusty Grado SR 60's I've used for something like 10 years. With the Custom 2 I hear things I've not heard through my Grado's.. and I still love my Grado's. That said, I'm comparing $200 in ear monitors to $70 open air headphones. I'd love to compare to the more expensive Grado's but I don't have the budget.

I was able to try out the IMAGE as a prototype last summer and they are amazing.

Either the Custom 3 or IMAGE would work fine at the library or at home when everyone else is studying.... The Custom 3 probably have even more smoother and deeper bass but with a bit more effort then the IMAGE and aren't as simple to use correctly and insanely comfortable. When I tried the IMAGE last summer, I'd had an ear infection and ear full of wax just before the Pilgrimage (don't worry, I'd completed my 10 days of antibiotics and things had cleared up thankfully and Klipsch provided plenty of alcolhol swabs) and the IMAGE were so comfortable during my brief time with them, 20 minutes or so, that I could almost forget they were in my ears except even at very low levels I had to pull them out a bit to hear the people speaking in the room, and of course the simply amazing sound.

The Legandary Sound of Klipsch that fits in (and I do mean in when referring to the IMAGE) your ear.

Man you can feel the bass in your head at times, even with the Custom 2 and the IMAGE and Custom 3 are even better. I'm hoping I can hear and compare them all.

In my best Professor Thump impersonation .... "Stick it in your ear!" (you'll be glad you did)

[Coytee]

Man you can feel the bass in your head at times, even with the Custom 2 and the IMAGE and Custom 3 are even better. I'm hoping I can hear and compare them all.

In my best Professor Thump impersonation .... "Stick it in your ear!" (you'll be glad you did)

I'm glad I did. I too heard the Images when in Indy. To be honest... I viewed it more as a novelty thinking I'd never own an earpiece since I didn't have an Ipod nor any kind of headphone jack on my home system.

Times change and now I've got an Ipod and some Custom 3's. My experience with earphones is admittedly limited so I can't say how these compare to really anything... all I can do is say that I DO like them.

[BLSamuel]

Welcome to the 21st century Richard!

Bet those Custom 3's sound great under your active noise cancelling phones while mowing or out playing with Brutus. Might not even need the active phones? But may make it even better in such noisy environments when the noise is gone to begin with. Eerily quiet ... all the better to hear the little voices in your head.

We've had mp3 since late 2005 (Christmas) or was that 2004 for the girls and the following spring (tax time just before spring break) for SWMBO and myself. Our's are the Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox Zen XTra, the girls 40GB and ours 60GB. Rather bulky dinosaurs compared to today's smaller and sleeker models. Rather bulky compared to the iPods of that time but a lot less $$ for a lot more capacity. I can carry my complete CD collection on road trips in the palm of my hand... beats the crap out of carrying a few wallets, or grocery bag (guilty) of CDs or cases of cassettes on long road trips. Now I'm thinking the 160GB iPod or a Cowon player (I think that's the brand, mentioned favorably here) would be the way to go. For youngsters, an iPod Nano probably makes more sense... and something smaller back in 2005 or 2004 would've probably been more sensible for the girls though think the smaller iPods of that time had no display and might still have cost more than the Zens

Now with the Custom 2 I use, I've found some CDs that need to be reripped at a higher bit rate or they're just extra noisy. I've also heard noise from my mp3 player that I've never heard before. A lot of extra hiss when not playing when the battery is starting to run or at least I presume that to be the problem as hooking up the AC adaptor / charger cleans it up. I've used Creative Labs sliding bit rate which is supposed to optimize for the music at 60%. Have since upped to 100% but it's mp3 so still throwing away a lot of information. Not sure I can tell the difference. Maybe should try a straight 192? Maybe just noisy recordings or CD's to begin with [:S] isn't that what the audiophile types call revealing? I hear a lot of crap I didn't hear before... but a lot better more live sound than before too...

Now just to get my "big music" (what our 18 year old daughter called albums when she was 2) converted to mp3 for listening at work or road trips...

Sticking them in my ears since November 2007.

[dgoreck]

Now with the Custom 2 I use, I've found some CDs that need to be reripped at a higher bit rate or they're just extra noisy. I've also heard noise from my mp3 player that I've never heard before. A lot of extra hiss when not playing when the battery is starting to run or at least I presume that to be the problem as hooking up the AC adaptor / charger cleans it up. I've used Creative Labs sliding bit rate which is supposed to optimize for the music at 60%. Have since upped to 100% but it's mp3 so still throwing away a lot of information. Not sure I can tell the difference. Maybe should try a straight 192? Maybe just noisy recordings or CD's to begin with isn't that what the audiophile types call revealing? I hear a lot of crap I didn't hear before... but a lot better more live sound than before too...

The head-fi.org site has some good information about ripping. I've ripped my music using a 192-320kBps VBR LAME encoder. It's great. The other thing everyone seems to say is to use EAC(Exact Audio Copy) which can compare you rip to others and does error checking/correcting. Basically will make sure you have a bit-for-bit extraction from your CD.