Review
A Bit Pricey, But Definitely Worth the Price For the Sound and iPod Controls! (May 07, 2010)
| Ease of Use |
|
(5/5.0) |
| Value |
|
(3/5.0) |
| Performance |
|
(4/5.0) |
| Overall Rating |
|
(4/5.0) |
Reviewed By: Stuart F. - Madison, AL
Ive probably been using portable music players for at least 20 years now. First it was cassette players, then CD players and now MP3 or other musicvideo file type players. Progressively as I upgraded from one type of player to the next, I wanted an even better i.e., not cheap kind of players which would give me more features and of course, better sound. It wasnt until more recently that I discovered it wasnt so much the player, as the headphones that made the big difference in sound. Duh! I dont know why I didnt bother to get better headphones until recently, but I guess it was because I didnt understand that the type of sound I was hearing wasnt nearly as good as what the source material was capable of giving me. Especially for CDs So I finally decided to stop using el cheapos and plunk down some coin for a decent pair of headphones.
The first pair I bought was a few years ago and were the Bose In-Ear earbuds. The player I was using at the time was the Apple Ipod 5G video. Compared to the Skullcandy earbuds I was using before, they sounded like THE BEST sounding earbuds I had ever heard. That I had heard, not that existed. I quickly became disillusioned with these, especially when wearing them as I worked out at the gym and they would constantly fall out of my ears as I worked out. Surprisingly, this would also happen when I wasnt working out, although far less frequently. I tried all the different size ear tips, but made no difference. I knew there were far better more expensive buds out there to try, so after doing some research and comparing, I next went with the Ultimate Ears Super.Fi 5 pro earbuds. These had a bendable wire built-in to allow wrapping around the ears and fits deeper into the ears, which they did. Also, the sound was MUCH better! In fact, while waiting to get the X10is, I sold my Super.Fi 5s and reverted back to the Bose to see how they measured up and after listening to them again, I cant believe I ever thought the Bose sounded good! The bass they give is so overpowering and muddy that it drowns out some of the mids and highs, making for a poor listening experience when compared to the Super.Fi 5s.
A little over a month ago, I finally upgraded from using some of the Ipod Nanos to the 64GB Touch 3rd Gen. This model has an in-linevoice control feature which I wanted to use immensely, but I didnt want to use the craptacular earbuds that came with the Touch. After doing a little research, I found that the Klipsch were the only game in town that had some in-line controlsmicrophone earbuds that work mostly with these features. I know there is the cheaper S4i model, but after reading some of the reviews, I was afraid that they would be a lot like the Bose I had i.e. strong bass drowning out the mids and highs, so I decided to go all out and go for the brass ring and get the X10is.
I was definitely weary about paying the $350 price tag these things have, what with buying them online harder for exchangerefunds and not knowing how well they work. For the price though, they had to be good! And luckily, the gamble paid off. The X10is sound every bit as good, if not better than, my old UE Super.Fi 5s! The earbuds are definitely smaller as well and fit much more comfortably in the ears due to the oval shape of the ear tips. This makes quite a lot of sense, considering how oval-like the human ear canal is shaped. It is surprising how much research Klipsch and others like them put into making their earbuds the micro technology, form, design, etc. The medium size tips are what 60 of users find the most comfortable, so those are the ones that are already attached to the buds. I guess Im one of the 60 because I just left them on when I tried the X10is out for the first time and they fit comfortably and securely. I bought these for 2 main reasons 1. The awesome sound. 2. The in-linemicrophone controls. So I will review these 2 aspects of the earbuds.
1. The sound Again, this is a major pro! Unfortunately I had already sold my Super.Fi 5s before I got the X10is, so I couldnt do a sound check and compare the two. I can note that when using the Super.Fi 5s VS the X10is with my iTouch I had to turn the volume back up a bit when using the X10is to get the same volume level. I dont know exactly what this suggests maybe that the X10is need a little more power volume than the Super.Fi 5s did? Nonetheless, I get all the sound flavors. The sound is very clean, vibrant and reproduces the source as well as it can be done. Knowing how well these reproduce sound, I went ahead and re-ripped my music library from the AAC .m4a file format @ 150Kbps VBR to the same format @ 300Kbps VBR. This is about as high as I can go in the AAC format before it becomes too high a bit rate for the iTouch. Im also not ready to go lossless just yet, but someday. When theres more memory for PMPs like the iPod. Anyway, Im hearing some sounds in my music that I never have heard before. Some just small, background sounds others have become more distinct and vibrant. I dont know if this is because of the earbuds, the fact that I doubled the bit rate of my music or a combination of both. Probably both. The highs and mids are where these really shine. I listen mostly to Alternate rock, industrial, electronica, techno, etc., so nothing too bass intensive like R&B. Dont get me wrong, you still do get some tight, relatively strong bass, but Ive heard headphones with more. This may be the way they were designed, so the bass wont be too strong and over power the rest of the music spectrum. Still, I think the lows could be a bit stronger, so Id have to list this as a small con.
2. The in-linevoice control This is actually the main reason I decided to get the X10is. Theres a lot of things I like about the iTouch, but its auto-lock feature is not one of them. Having controls that allow me to have some basic functionality without having to unlock the iTouch every time I want to pauseplay, go to the next track or listen to a different album is VERY handy. Unfortunately, not all of the controls work properly or at least not all the time. Ill give a bullet point of each control and how well it works or not with my iPod Touch 3rd Gen.
- Volume - These controls work flawlessly every time. They will turn the volume up or down in about 10 increments across the volume bar.
- PausePlay middle button press 1x This works every time as well. Press it once to pause, press it once again to continue play.
- Next Track middle button press 2x This only works about half the time. I dont know why, but its not fully compatible with the iTouch for some reason. The specs for the X10is give a compatibility list and it has the 2nd Gen iTouch listed, but not the 3rd, so maybe the 2nd Gen is more compatible? Other reviewers have stated that this feature doesnt work all the time for them either with different model ipodsiphones. I have noticed that when I do double tap to go to the next track and it doesnt work, the song will skip for ½ a second like its trying to go to the next track, but cant. Sometimes I can get it to skip to the next track by trying multiple times, but it doesnt work every time.
- Previous Track middle button press 3x Same problem as the next track incompatibility.
- Voice Control middle button press, hold down 2-3 seconds So far, I have had little to no trouble having this work, thankfully. Ive only used it about half a dozen times or so, but Ive tried playing a few of my playlists by saying, Play playlist Powerman 5000 or albums by saying, Play album Thirty Seconds to Mars and every time it played the exact album or playlist I asked for. I did once ask it to play a playlist and it misinterpreted what I said and started playing songs by a certain artist instead, but all I had to do is restate my request more clearly and it played the proper playlist. SO MAKE SURE YOU SPEAK CLEARLY WHEN USING THIS FEATURE! There are many other voice commands besides the ones I mentioned, but havent tried them all yet. Also, you dont have to say the full name of whatever it is you are requesting, as long as its close enough. For example, when I said to play my Powerman 5000 playlist, the full name of the playlist is actually Powerman 5000 Mix, but I left out the mix part.
One last thing I have to say about these. Some reviews both amateur and professional have said that these are mainly for serious audiophiles that mainly listen to lossless music because these buds will uncover any flaws in lesser quality music. Thats somewhat true, but with a little BS sprinkled on top. These are for anyone who really cares about getting the best sound out of their music whatever the source may be, want ipodiphone in-line controls and can afford them. The truth is these earbuds will only let you hear flaws in your music if they actually exist. Lets say you have your music ripped at a standard .mp3 @ 192Kbps. You listen to a song with your old, cheap earbuds and then listen to that same song using the X10is its not going to make that song sound like crap. It will make it sound better than the cheap buds you were using, but only as good as that file formatbit rate will allow. The X10is may make your music sound inferior to higher quality versions in comparison, but thats only if you ACTUALLY compare them. If, for instance, youre use to listening to your music as audio files and not straight from the CDs you ripped them from, then youre not going to be aware of any possible deficiencies in your music. Audiophiles may say that music at anything less than lossless quality IS a flaw, but thats a matter of opinion.
