Klipsch XR8i In-Ear Headphones

I happened to try out the sound of r6i, x6i, xr8i, x12i, except x20i which is out of my budget. I am no audiophile. I only choose whichever that I feel that it's awesome enough for me. r6 seems to be very normal without much excitement. x6 is pretty cool - sound is clear and bright. When I tried on the xr8i, boy I was impressed. I personally like bass. This wasn't too strong which I feel was bad for my eardrums over long listening, but instead it feels warm and bouncy. I believe x6 and xr8 are using the same drivers, except the latter has an additional bass driver and thus the hybrid. I didn't pay too much attention to x12i as I thought that I had made up my mind. I remembered it sounded crisp and superior but I still prefer the bass.As for the design wise, though xr8i is the biggest among all, I have no problem fitting them nicely to my ears and feeling comfortable. I've tried other brands of iem and sometimes they hurt over long listening. Somehow I didn't like the design of x6i and x12i. One looks like any other earphone while the other has this banana shape which may break into 2 if there's a hard impact on it. Xr8i has this metallic shell which feels nice and sturdy. After all, it's just a personal preference.

Bought these and was immediatly impressed with the sound. The downside was that after about three months of use the cables wiring went bad on me. They should have been able to take the abuse of regular pocketing on a day to day. Sadly I talked to amazon and klipsch for repairs and they turned me away. Klipsch had to. I did not buy them from Klipsch. My advice buy these from Klipsch and they will replace your broken device every time. Do not waste your money buying a product like this second hand from amazon. Not worth it.

These were made for 2 types of people: those who want a home theater experience from their in-ears (as advertised by Klipsch), and those, like myself, who are sound quality first, but are bass-heads at heart. If you fall into either one (or both) of these categories, you won't be disappointed with these.The only gripe I had initially (and I've read other reviews that stated the same), is that they're a bit heavy in the ears - and if your ears are above-average size, you may find yourself constantly adjusting them for a snug fit. That said, I have to say, Klipsch made a great effort to facilitate the wide range of ear-sizes with 4 different sized tips. As mentioned, my gripe was initial, because now that I've been using them for a minute, I no longer feel the weight of them in my ears.Update: I see the price has gone up to $279 (don't know if this was always their original price) - I paid $179; as much as I like these IE's, I'd have a very hard time convincing myself to pay that current price-tag. Had they been that high when I was shopping, I would've never gone for them; I don't think they're THAT good, IMHO.

These headphones sound great, and if you are in your living room or bedroom listening to music with these headphones on, these will be more than suitable. However, I have never owned a pair of headphones that slip out as frequently as these headphones do. It makes walking anywhere, looking around, or any kind of movement near impossible while wearing. Furthermore, the cord gets incredibly stiff when it's 40 degrees F or below making it get caught on jackets more easily.These do hurt my ears after a while but it's more from pushing the earbuds back into my ear than it is actual pain. I agree with another reviewer that switching the ears the buds are supposed to be in helps but it's not a permanent solution.The cord is also a weird length. A little bit longer would be perfect to wrap the headphones around my neck when I need to talk to someone but any shorter and the headphones won't reach my ears with enough length for movement.

Original MSRP is $279 and I would definitely not bother with these at that price, so my review is based on the $179 price tag. These are still way too much for what is offered.Build quality: B-, they feel like they will last awhile as long as I baby them. While the cable is fairly thick and the earbud housing is solid, my major gripe is the audio plug. It seems to be built in such a manner that speeds up wear and tear as it isn't in the "L" shape. This means sticking these things into any 3.5mm jack is a hassle if you don't want to wear out the cable.Comfort: A, their oval tips are only bested by having some custom mold fitted ones. You can have these in your ears for quite some time without them hurting. Dealing with inevitable ear wax build up through the day can cause them to slip out a bit, but I simply had to add a second cue tip cleaning to my daily routine.Sound quality: B+, the bass isn't as punchy as advertised, but they are definitely able to handle the lows without any distortion to my non-audiophile ears. The mids are a bit overshadowed by both the lows and highs. The overall soundstage is impressive as you can get a bit of a 3D feel to the sound, not simply just a horizontal experience. For instance, some instruments in any given song sound like they are in front or behind you. Cable noise is a small issue as the clothing clip provided mitigates most of it.Extras included: C-, Various sized ear tips and a useless carrying case that would probably damage the headphones since it's a light material. That's it. What a real stinker for the price.I feel like these need to be like 50 bucks cheaper than what I paid for what it offers. I can't believe the original price of these things. I want to give it more like a 3.75 star rating, but 4 will have to do.