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(More customer reviews)I've had these Klipsch Custom 2 In-Ear-Monitor (IEM) earphones for about a month now. There are a number of things you should know before you buy a pair:
1.The Sound.
They used two Balanced Armature drivers to deliver a flat, balanced sound that really emphasizes the mid-range. Unamplified vocal music comes across warm and present. Treble is a less prominent than the mid-range. Bass is always in the background. Take note: The earphones can reproduce bass, however, it's muted--and after a few minutes of listening you don't notice it very much. It feels like it's missing something and this is due to the design. Balanced Armature drivers don't move the air as much as a moving coil "dynamic" driver, which many other earphones use. That's important because with these earphones we don't "feel" the bass punch the way you might be looking for. It's always in the background and not prominent with the Klipsch custom 2. This will be disappointing if you like music that emphasizes the bass. On the other hand, if you like a full-range earphone and find other earphones to be "too bassy", then these would be good for you.
So, these earphones are good if you like acoustic vocal music where bass is not a primary component.
If you do like bass, you'll find that these earphones are missing something which other earphones provide a bit more (no in-ear-phone will have a fantastic subwoofer-range bass response, especially for ipods, as earphones with an impedance of 16 ohms or over have reduced low-range on ipods).
Klipsch itself seemed to have recognized this as they have gone with a moving coil "dynamic" driver design in their Klipsch Image S4, which won an award from CNET recently.
*Update* I recently listened to the Klipsch Image S4. After a "burn-in" period necessary for dynamic driver-based earphones, it sounds great, with a more bass-prominent sound. The custom 2's are just slightly richer in the mid-range, but honestly, the Custom 2's are better than most earphones in that range. There are music tracks where you can hear elements of bass on the Klipsch Image S4 that you don't notice on the Klipsch Custom 2. The Image S4's are really great earphones and I wish I had bought them instead of the Custom 2's.
2. Comfort
Klipsch noticed that the human ear canal isn't round, it's oval-shaped. So, they've given us oval-shaped ear-gels. Well, an oval is different sideways versus upright, right? This accounts for all the discussion on comfort in other reviews. It takes a little time to orient the eargels in the right way. Once you get the hang of that, these are very comfortable earphones. A good fit is important for the sound quality (crybabies who gave these earphones 1-star clearly didn't take the relatively short time to properly fit the 'phones).
They have an over-the-ear loop. That may not be for everyone, but they're neat because you can pull the earphone out of your ear and let them dangle from the loop when you need to talk to someone or pay attention to your surroundings (IEMs block outside noise when they are in your ear). Not a feature for everyone, but it can be very nice.
3. Value
They used to be $199, now they are $60. There's a reason for the price drop, but if you like jazz or folk or acoustic or classical music, then these are a real steal (5 stars earphones for you). If you like punchy bass that really makes itself present and alive in your music, then you can avoid this discountinued set of earphones and maybe go for the Klipsch Image S4. People coming from an old pair of dynamic driver-based earphones (sony, monster, etc.) should go with the Klipsch Image S4 for sure. If you're coming from balance armature earphones like Etymolic, you'll find the Klipsch custom 2 to be more balanced than, say, the Etymolic Er6i.
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Klipsch Custom-2 In-Ear Noise-Isolating EarphonesDelivering crisp highs, deep lows and everything in-between, these earphones let you connect with your music like never before.
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