[Keith Wallace]

So I've been debating a use for a $25 gift card and $25 in Best Buy rewards money that I was given. My Zune earphones are about dead (the casing on the cables is split where the earphones split into two, and the left one no longer works), so I was thinking so I was thinking about earphones.

I see that Best Buy is having a sale on Klipsch headphones and earphones this week, and I was looking at these: Klipsch Image S4i Rugged Earbud Headphones 1014915 - Best Buy

Has anyone tried this line of earphones and/or know about their quality? I'll have to spend an extra $30 with the Best Buy money to get them, and I'm hesitant to put $80+ into earphones because I have bad luck with them, as far as durability is concerned.

[david90531]

Most Klipsch headphones I've tested have great sound, better than most other name brands. Price is always attractive from them, and these look quite durable because it's rugged, so you should be happy with it if you bought them

[Keith Wallace]

I did go and get them Wednesday night. I only got to try them for about 10-15 minutes on the walk from my class to my car, and I'm not sure how I feel about them.

It ended up only being $17 to get them. They were $100, marked down to $80 for their 20% off of Klipsch sale. However, they were placed on a rack for the non-Rugged S4i earphones, which had them at $64. The cashier gave me the price on the tag, so after the $25 gift card, $25 in rewards money, and tax, I owed $17 and change out of my pocket, which was a nice deal.

However, after using them, I'm less than thrilled. I've never used Klipsch's stuff before, so I'm not sure how it compares to other brands. These don't seem to get especially loud. In fact, they're a bit on the quiet side. I tend to keep my music at 25/30 on my Lumia 920, but I was keeping these at 28 (because the music was kind of distorted at 30), and it wasn't as loud as my Zune ones at 25, I didn't think. They didn't sound bad, just a bit quiet. It's not a big deal because I was casually walking to my car, but I did genuinely wonder if they'd be loud enough to comfortably listen to them in a not-so-quiet place. I like my music fairly loud, so it was something I took notice of.

Also, downside to these: The volume buttons do not work on it, as they are made of Apple devices. The Play button DOES work (and the double-tap to skip to the next song works as well), which was a little weird. IDK why the Play button would work, but not the volume ones. It's not a big deal though, and I do like having the button to pause my music and skip songs I don't care to hear, rather than having to unlock my phone for it.

Overall, these are certainly worth the $17 I paid, but certainly NOT worth the normal $100. Even $50 would be iffy, in my opinion.

[Jastow]

I have both the S4I and the ones made for android, and both are plenty loud for me. I use the android set on the 920 and never need the volume past 10. I used to abuse my ears, but have learned my lesson and am not even 40 yet :)

[Keith Wallace]

I put mine around 10 in a quiet setting, but when I'm outside and the general noise of the world is afoot, 25 is where I keep it so I can hear it reasonably well. I could probably survive with it as low as 15 in those cases, but who wants to listen to metal at a low volume? It's just not as fun.