Klipsch S4i – An audio beast in a tiny package

Posted by The Shogun on 11 Feb 2011 / 0 Comment

Pros

Fantastic sound quality
Very comfortable
Very stylish
Interchangeable ear tips should fit all

Cons

Cables are thin and maybe prone to breaks in the future

Klipsch are a world renowned audio company that produce fantastic sounding products and their upgrade from the Klipsch S4 to the S4i is no exception. The S4i is identical to the S4 in every way except that it contains an inline mic so it’ll accept voice calls with a simple touch of a button. It has a sleek design which looks very classy and has the sound quality to match in a noise isolating form factor. The 3.5mm mic jack also means it’ll work on iPhones as well as other portable music players.

The most important factor of a good pair of earphones is the sound quality. The Klipsch S4i is easily among the best if not the best sounding earphones available for under £100. We were pleasantly surprised at just how good these earphones sounded and they will certainly be to many audiophiles delight. The bass is deep and powerful without being overbearing, the midtones are clear and distinct and the treble is smooth and balanced perfectly. There really there isn’t another pair of earphones we could say that has a better quality sound without going over that £100 milestone.

The mic works very well and is very light so fortunately there isn’t any pull on the earphones. It’s three easy to press buttons and the mic wasn’t great nor bad, it was solid at picking up voice without too many issues. We were pleasantly surprised at how comfortable the earphones were too. I have quite large ear canals and usually I have an issue with in-ear canal earphones but with three pairs of tips, the mid sized ones fitted perfectly. Even after 3 hours of use, there was no strain or discomfort and so we couldn’t fault them in any way.

However the only thing that we found that stopped the S4i from getting a perfect score was the wires. We were disappointed about how thin the wires were and how delicate they feel. As anybody whose owned a pair of earphones for a long time will know, the cables break in the vast majority of cases over the actual earphones. The joints where most the problems are usually found are largely not enforced and we can imagine them breaking with prolonged day to day use.

We like the carry case that comes provided and the shirt clip that’s included is satisfactory although I’ve never personally liked using them myself. In conclusion, the Klipsch S4i has stunning performance and is one of the best we’ve seen for such a price point. Ultimately we felt that the only thing stopping it from getting a perfect score is the thin wiring but they’re still a highly recommend from us.

The Klipsch S4i is available for £89.99 from Klipsch.