Digital Trends

Klipsch Image February 13th, 2008 | by Mike Kobrin

Features and Design

Without the included silicone tips on, the Klipsch Image look a bit like a pair of dragonflies that lost their wings. Each earphone's tiny aluminum body is finished in anodized copper and houses a single balanced-armature microspeaker, similar to those found in canalphones from companies like Etymotic, Ultimate Ears, and Shure.

Curved black rubber cable connectors join the thin cables to the earphones; the curve and flexibility prevent the thin cables from breaking easily at the connectors. This is also supposed to help reduce cable thump -- the noise you hear as the cable hits your midsection when you walk. Unfortunately, a better solution would have been to design them to be worn with the cables over the tops of your ears, as with Ultimate Ears and Shure designs. The 3.5-mm gold-plated plug at the other end has the same type of rubberized curved connector, reinforcing yet another common breaking point. The plug even fits in the iPhone's recessed headphone jack.


The generous five sets of semi-opaque silicone eartips come in three sizes; medium fit our average-size ears. The Image's distinctive modern styling appeals to our urban tastes, but we can't deny the resemblance to tadpoles once the tips are on. The cables have an anti-tangle slider on them, and the package includes a faux-leather magnetic case that's rigid enough to protect the expensive buds, as well as a larger zippered case. You also get a quarter-inch adapter, a dual-mono airplane attenuator, and a cleaning tool. Everything fits easily in the large case.

Image Courtesy of Klipsch (no pun intended)