Performance

The task of judging whether an earphone offers good or bad performance is extremely hard to do. There are no real conclusive benchmarks to put them through, so testing them is rather tedious task. What I usually do is listen to the headphones intensively playing some of the CDs I have listened to a lot of times. As direct comparison I will be using my Sleek-Audio SA6s, Westone UM2s, Head-Direct RE2s.

First of all the Images were extremely easy to get a decent fit from. The medium sized single flange provided me with a superb fit straight out of the box. The contour ear gels are definitely some of the best silicone tips I have ever tried. Insertion was easy and the seal was tight yet still extremely comfortable.

To start off with I hooked them up to my Cowon iAudio i7 which is a portable player with a good internal amp. The sound signature of the Images was a real surprise to me. Being a single balanced armature earphone I thought they would sound analytical and perhaps a bit cold like the Sleek-Audio SA6s in standard configuration, but the Images were anything but that.

The midrange of these in-ears is very warm for an earphone which is good for some types of rock and other vocal driven music. Right from the start it was pretty evident that these in-ears provide a bass and midrange centered sound. They are very pleasant to listen to even when the recording quality is not all that good. The Images' sound is much more forgiving to badly recorded music than my other in-ears.

The treble area is less emphasized on these in-ears than the Sleek-Audios and lacks a sparkle. The Images' highs are a bit dull in comparison to most well balanced in-ears, which can both be a good or a bad thing depending on how sensitive you are to high tones. I absolutely hate sibilant sounding earphones so I was pleased to note that the Images had less aggressive highs.

Tonal balance reminded me a bit of my Westone UM2s, just with far superior treble extension and a slightly more natural and textured midrange. In terms of bass these cans are definitely only rivaled by the UM2s in quantity. It has a bit more bass than the Sleek-Audio SA6s with the "Bass +" port installed while still retaining excellent control of the deep tones.

The Images have a bigger mid-bass bump than my other in-ears which is alright, but it does make them sound a bit less balanced in some kinds of music. The mid-bass bump is not that dominant, it just adds a bit of coloration in my opinion. If you want a completely analytical sound you definitely should look elsewhere than the Images since these have a warm and fun presentation.

Surprisingly enough reproduction of drums and other types of percussion instruments is really good. The earphones also have an energetic fast sound to them with a very natural decay of notes. Sound stage wise they are a small step up from the Sleek-Audio SA6s, it is a bit wider with a tad bit better instrument separation and a greater sense of depth. As always in-ears do not have the same sound stage as big cans, but these are not too bad compared to other similar products.

Overall the Klipsch Images are a very articulate pair of earphones that makes most kinds of music shine. The tonal balance is also pleasing and makes them easy to listen to. Nothing sound particularly bad on these in-ears, they are good at almost everything and truly excel when it comes to rock and pop in my opinion.

Noise attenuation wise these earphones are just as good as the main rivals. They are equally good as the Westone UM2s and Sleek-Audio SA6s when it comes to blocking out outside noise, at least to my ears. The contour ear gels makes the Images extremely pleasant to wear even over an extended period of time. After using them for almost four hours straight there was still no discomfort to note, no irritated skin, sore ear or anything of that sort. The design and shape of the ear piece is also very good in terms of comfort because it only rests in the ear canal and does not press against any part of your outer ear.

Microphonic noise is a bit worse than with my Westone UM2s, but not nearly enough to be considered annoying all the time. They perform a bit above average with regards to dampening microphonic noise from the cable, but they are nowhere near as silent as the Westone UM2s.

Durability

The Klipsch Image Earphones are pretty durable for such a small pair of earphones due to the material they are made of. The aluminum housing and the rubber cable stress reliefs are of a very high quality and I doubt that they will break during normal use. They will probably withstand a fair amount of abuse, like the cord being caught on stuff and such.