Klipsch X20i In-Ear Headphones

It's been a long time since I've been able to give a pair of headphones 5 stars. I've tried several pairs of headphones, mostly of the in ear variety, all being returned for comfort issues or underwhelming audio performance, or both. I've long since been settled on the Klipsch x10 (x10i, x11i, x12i) which all seem to be about the same thing of a different generation. The x10 line has been with me since about 2009, stored in my pocket when not in use. It's been through a lot and still working great. I was hoping for a headphone with more treble response and was really waiting for Klipsch to come out with their own headphone to do just this.I love the design of the x10 line headphones, super small, very comfortable and easy to use. When I saw that Klipsch released and new and improved version called the x20i, I ordered a pair almost immediately. There was a hiccup in the ordering process through Amazon as the first order I placed for these I was instead presented with a 17 pound large center channel speaker. Don't know how a large speaker gets mixed up with earbuds, but when I tried it again I was correctly sent the x20i in a beautiful wooden box.These headphones resemble the x10s in many ways, they are still quite sleek, very small, and will still fully insert into your ear canal if you so desire. The included eartips fit the same way as the x10, but there is a new size, the 'super slim medium'. I haven't gotten the most out of the super slim, they seem to small for me to get a good seal. So instead I use the normal medium on the left ear, and the normal large on the right ear.The nozzle opening on the ear tips and earbuds are larger than that of the x10, and the cable a bit thicker. There wasn't a shirt clip included with the headphones this time around, which helps with the heavier cord weight from bouncing and tugging on your ears. I borrowed the clip that came with my x10i... also the eartip cleaning tool, and the adapters don't seem to be included anymore either. Must be the trade off for getting a pretty box instead.I plugged these into my iBasso DX50 digital audio player, listening to only lossless flacs, some being hi-res. The moment I hit play, no burn in what-so-ever, I immediately noticed a big difference between these and the x10s. They both have the same woofer driver in them, they both can play a good deal of strong rich bass. The mids were pretty good on the x10, the highs were really weak though. The x20i is pairing the x10's woofer with a super tweeter, the main difference in how they sound is that on the x20's it sounds suddenly like the treble has come out to play. The highs are incredible now, and the bass just as rich as ever with less distortion now. The sound signature resembles the x10s, but with the benefit of a tweeter, and that makes everything sound quite a bit different. Things sound very detailed, guitars sound so crisp and clean, drums are amazing. Switching back to the x10s after these and everything suddenly sounds very muffled through those.After having been using them regularly for over a week now, they've had plenty of 'burn in' time, however I don't notice them sounding different from burn in. I'm not a believer in this highly spoken of burn in concept, they sounded brilliant the moment I first hit play, and sound brilliant still now.There is an annoyance factor with these headphones, it has annoyed me since the x10i came out, but now more so because the x20i has a replaceable cable. The annoyance is, these headphones come with an Apple mic and control in the headphone cable. Past 7 years I have never got to use this feature as I never own Apple products and it doesn't work at all with Android products. Not that this really matters what it works with because I don't even listen to music using a phone, so the existence of the mic is pointless. The x20i has this mic further up the cable on one side, and I find this location horribly annoying. It is inconvenient, it is harder to wrap up the cable in a way to where it doesn't feel like I'm going to eventually break it, and the control itself is made of plastic whereas all the other accents on the cable is steel. I'd prefer this mic to be removed. Since the x20i lets you swap cables, I'd prefer Klipsch release optional cables that either have no mic or have an Android compatible mic, or both. I'd buy them. As it is now, I do not know where to obtain reasonably priced replacement cables for these headphones with these connectors, and I love the design Klipsch gave the cables. Being see-through, you can see the copper strands within.Well, that minor complaint out of the way, overall I love these headphones. They are amazing and feel they are worth my money, and worthy of being a replacement to the over comfortable x10. :)

This is my third pair of Klipsch IEMs. The first two were x11i. I was very happy with those, until the cable around the 3.5mm connector gave up. The construction quality of that part (at least) was not good, by far.So, being that I was very happy with the sound and comfort of the x11i, I decided to upgrade to a x20i after the second pair failed, instead of going for the x12i (that at least from the looks would result in similar issues). The x20i had at least detachable cables, and even if there is nowhere to buy a replacement cable that I found, in theory that was possible.So, almost two years after I bought them (and enjoyed them almost daily) today the right unit didn't work. Being that each side is detachable I swapped them, and now the right side sounded, but the left not. So the problem was not the cable that in theory one could replace, but the small cable (or the connection) at the IEM end. No way to fix that or replace that cable.So I have, again, a pair of IEMs that in theory are great and sound great, but can't use because the cables or connectors inside are very poor quality. Even this model, that the cable honestly feels and looks sturdy and pro.I have to say: no, there hasn't been any mistreatment of the headphones. I only use them to walk around (not even run or workout), and I have been very careful with this (as I am with all my stuff, specially 400usd+ stuff). If they suffered some problem with the cable or connectors it was caused by the expected normal use, and that qualifies in my book as poor quality. And the fact that the x11i also had similar issues (with the same good treatment and care) makes it clear to me that Klipsch has serious issues in their IEM's build quality.I have contacted them to see about repairs/warranty, but I don't expect much there. This, for some reason, have only 1 year of warranty, instead of the 2 that came with the x11i.Update 2019-05-23: I just received a reply from Klipsch from their ticket support system. It just took them almost 2 weeks to respond! And basically they tell me that I need to contact the seller, that they can't handle anything as this was shipped outside USA. But I stated clearly that I was willing to send this to USA and have them send the repair to USA. I was not even asking for a warranty repair, being that this only has 1 year. But no, nothing. Just ignored most of my email and just tell me to go and find help somewhere else. This, unfortunately, is consistend with several other comments around the internet about their very bad customer service. So, my recommendation: stay away. Get some Shure or something like that, where you at least can replace the cable from the earbud itself, and there are in fact cables available. This, as stated before, are detachable but there is nowhere to buy a replacement, if you are lucky to have the problem with the part you can detach. That's the same as not having a detachable cable.

These earphones are spectacular great piece of kit with or without a DAC player

Das ist mein vierter! Klipsch-Kopfhörer. Gebe ich nicht mehr her. Klasse Klang!Ein Stern weniger als 5:- die Kopfhörer wiegen etwas mehr als meine anderen Klipsch- in-Ear. Ist pysikalisch klar, führt aber praktisch dazu, dass ich sie bei Sport (sind auch nicht primär dafür ausgelegt) nicht mehr anziehen kann, da sie nicht sicher im Ohr halten. Also immer nur in "Ruhe" hören...- Das Tastfeld wirkt edler mit dem Wippschalter. Von der Bedienung sind die herkömmlichen 3 Taster deutlich intuitiver und treffsicherer. Wäre mir lieber.Kabelqualität ist sehr gut - Geräusche durch Kabelbewegung stören den Klang nicht.Den Vorteil der abschraubbaren Kabel habe ich noch nicht erkannt. Vielleich kann mir jemand weiter helfen?

I previously owned a pair of X12i’s; very similar in many way to the X20i’s, particularly the cable used. They did the job, excellent for use on the move, in my case with an iphone, streaming Spotify and Tidal.When I permanently mislaid my X12l’s, I decided to stick with what I knew and obtain the updated version of the same thing. Unfortunately that proved to be exactly what I ended up with; more or less the same thing.There was talk of improved treble, and it has to be said the ear-pieces are definitely heavier, but alas, whatever small improvements have been made do not justify the substantial increase in price.Very nice earphones, but not worth £400 plus. For home use I use Beyerdynamic Amiron Home, which are currently available on Amazon for £425, a little less that you would pay for a Pair of these at full price, and believe me the Amirons are quite simply in a different class, albeit for use in a different environment.

I've returned mine after extensive testing. At the price they are good IEM's. However, they lack at certain key areasPros; tiny form factor; patented Klipsch eartips which are very comfortable; improved depth of bass and sub-mids as compared to X12; classy design and leather caseCons: the two drivers don't sound very symbiotic; no option for balanced (4.4mm) connection, stiff cable, in-cable Apple microphone that feels off for a supposed high-end IEM as no one should use these on an iPhone...All in all, if you want high-end earphones that are tiny, these are a good purchase at the current price. But with Sennheiser's IE800 and IE800S you've got better options, albeit at higher price points.