Good Earbuds: Not Quite Perfect

Hey everybody, I'm Chris Wook, and good earbuds are good earbuds, right? Not quite. If you want to make volume changes, skip tracks, or make and receive calls, you want to make sure you have the right pair of earbuds for your device. That's why today we're looking at the Clips Image S4A and S4I earbuds before we get into the rest of the review. Let's take a look what the difference is between the image s4a and the image S4 I.

You might have guessed already, but the s4a are designed for Android devices, and the S4 I are designed for iOS devices. Besides what kind of device they'll control, they're identical when it comes to everything else. As soon as you open the box, you'll notice the earbuds nicely packaged in a plastic backing. The only other thing you'll see at first is the carrying case, which is more of a pouch. Open this up, and you'll find the rest of the rubber tips for a total of four pairs of tips and a clip to attach the mic and button to your clothes.

If you look at the highest end Clips earbuds, you'll see a bunch of crazy materials used. But the image s4a and S4I use plain old plastic still. The build quality is pretty good, I didn't notice the flimsy feeling that you do notice in cheap rep pairs of earbuds. Not that this should be here anyway, for the price. The style is always going to be more of a personal thing, but I like the black and silver styling. It's much more striking than the usual one color scheme you see in a lot of earbuds.

The images also sit pretty flush with your ear so they don't stick out as far as a lot of pairs do. You're never going to lay on one side of your head on a pillow comfortably, but I've never noticed a pair of earbuds that let me do this anyway. While the S4 eyes will work with any iOS device out of the box, the s4a seem to have trouble with full functionality on a lot of Android devices. Clips recommends using the clips control app to provide functionality, but for a lot of phones it doesn't seem necessary at all as the functionality is the same either way.

There's only one button here that controls everything. A single click plays or pauses music and will also answer a phone call and mute or unmute the mic during a call. Double clicking skips the music to the next track, these functions worked fine, but you're supposed to be able to triple click the button to skip to the previous song. In my testing this always called the last person I had talk to. A long press is supposed to control volume but this always pulled up Google Now or Google search. Looking at the Play Store, I can tell I'm not alone. Clips has said they're looking into a fix but I wouldn't count on it.

Call quality was good when using the s4a for handsfree calling. The incoming audio sounded as good as a phone call could and the outgoing audio was the same. I did test the headphones using a high-quality audio interface and headphone app, most people are going to use these with a phone or similar device so that's what I did for most of my testing too. I didn't have EQ or anything similar enabled either.

These earbuds use a fairly high-powered driver so the low-end reproduction was very solid and accurate. You hear what's in the song, and that's it. I like this but if you want more bass, you're probably going to want to use your device's EQ to bump it up. The mids are similar, solid accurate and not boxy sounding no overly woy sounding lower mids and no high harsh mids unless they're in the song already. The high end is very clear and open sounding, it's not muffled or muddy but it also isn't harsh or irritating.

This is one area I think everybody will agree this is a good thing. Both the s4a and the S4I used to go for about 99 bucks now you can find them online for closer to 40 or 50 bucks for that price. They're definitely worth it for the sound alone on the other hand if you use Android and really need these inline controls, you might want to look at another pair.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey everybody I'm Chris wook good earbuds are good earbuds right not quite if you want to make volume changes skip tracks or make and receive calls you want to make sure you have the right pair of earbuds for your device that's why today we're looking at the clips image s4a and s4i earbuds before we get into the rest of the review let's take a look what the difference is between the image s4a and the image S4 I you might have guessed already but the the s4a are designed for Android devices and the S4 I are designed for iOS devices besides what kind of a device they'll control they're identical when it comes to everything else as soon as you open the box you'll notice the earbuds nicely packaged in a plastic backing the only other thing you'll see at first is the carrying case which is more of a pouch open this up and you'll find the rest of the rubber tips for a total of four pairs of tips and a clip to attach the mic and button to your clothes if you look at the highest end Clips earbuds you'll see a bunch of crazy materials used but the image s4a and s4i use plain old plastic still the build quality is pretty good I didn't notice the flimsy feeling that you do notice in cheap rep pairs of earbuds not that this should be here anyway for the price the style is always going to be more of a personal thing but I like the black and silver styling it's much more striking than the usual one color scheme you see in a lot of earbuds the images also sit pretty flush with your ear so they don't stick out as far as a lot of pairs do you're never going to lay on one side of your head on a pillow comfortably but I've never noticed a pair of earbuds that let me do this anyway while the S4 eyes will work with any iOS device out of the box the s4a seem to have trouble with full functionality on a lot of android devices Clips recommends using the clips control app to provide functionality but for a lot of phones it doesn't seem necessary at all as the functionality is the same either way there is 's only one button here and it controls everything a single click plays or pauses music and it will also answer a phone call and mute or unmute the mic during a call Double clicking skips the music to the next track these functions worked fine the rest well didn't you're supposed to be able to Triple click the button to skip to the previous song but in my testing this always called the last person I had talk to a long press is supposed to control volume but this always pulled up Google Now or Google search looking at the Play Store I can tell I'm not alone Clips has said they're looking into a fix but I wouldn't count on it call Quality was good when using the s4a for handsfree calling the incoming audio sounded as good as a phone call can and outgoing audio was the same while I did test the headphones using a highquality audio interface and headphone app most people are going to use these with a phone or simar device so that's what I did for most of my testing too I didn't have EQ or anything similar enabled either these earbuds use a fairly high- powerered driver so the low-end reproduction was very solid and accurate you hear what's in the song and that's it I like this but if you want more bass you're probably going to want to use your device's EQ to bump it up the mids are similar solid accurate and not boxy sounding no overly woy sounding lower mids and no high harsh mids unless they're in the song already the high end is very clear and open sounding it's not muffled or muddy but it also isn't harsh or irritating this is one area I think everybody will agree this is a good thing both the s4a and the s4i used to go for about 99 bucks now you can find them online for closer to 40 or 50 bucks for that price they're definitely worth it for the sound alone on the other hand if you use Android and really need these inline controls you might want to look at another pair and that's it for this one guys if you want some more details there's a link to the accompanying article in the video description down below while you're down there you can find social media links to follow me Android Authority or the Android authority crew now if you haven't yet make sure to subscribe and while you're here why not check out some other videos I'm Chris wook thanks for watchinghey everybody I'm Chris wook good earbuds are good earbuds right not quite if you want to make volume changes skip tracks or make and receive calls you want to make sure you have the right pair of earbuds for your device that's why today we're looking at the clips image s4a and s4i earbuds before we get into the rest of the review let's take a look what the difference is between the image s4a and the image S4 I you might have guessed already but the the s4a are designed for Android devices and the S4 I are designed for iOS devices besides what kind of a device they'll control they're identical when it comes to everything else as soon as you open the box you'll notice the earbuds nicely packaged in a plastic backing the only other thing you'll see at first is the carrying case which is more of a pouch open this up and you'll find the rest of the rubber tips for a total of four pairs of tips and a clip to attach the mic and button to your clothes if you look at the highest end Clips earbuds you'll see a bunch of crazy materials used but the image s4a and s4i use plain old plastic still the build quality is pretty good I didn't notice the flimsy feeling that you do notice in cheap rep pairs of earbuds not that this should be here anyway for the price the style is always going to be more of a personal thing but I like the black and silver styling it's much more striking than the usual one color scheme you see in a lot of earbuds the images also sit pretty flush with your ear so they don't stick out as far as a lot of pairs do you're never going to lay on one side of your head on a pillow comfortably but I've never noticed a pair of earbuds that let me do this anyway while the S4 eyes will work with any iOS device out of the box the s4a seem to have trouble with full functionality on a lot of android devices Clips recommends using the clips control app to provide functionality but for a lot of phones it doesn't seem necessary at all as the functionality is the same either way there is 's only one button here and it controls everything a single click plays or pauses music and it will also answer a phone call and mute or unmute the mic during a call Double clicking skips the music to the next track these functions worked fine the rest well didn't you're supposed to be able to Triple click the button to skip to the previous song but in my testing this always called the last person I had talk to a long press is supposed to control volume but this always pulled up Google Now or Google search looking at the Play Store I can tell I'm not alone Clips has said they're looking into a fix but I wouldn't count on it call Quality was good when using the s4a for handsfree calling the incoming audio sounded as good as a phone call can and outgoing audio was the same while I did test the headphones using a highquality audio interface and headphone app most people are going to use these with a phone or simar device so that's what I did for most of my testing too I didn't have EQ or anything similar enabled either these earbuds use a fairly high- powerered driver so the low-end reproduction was very solid and accurate you hear what's in the song and that's it I like this but if you want more bass you're probably going to want to use your device's EQ to bump it up the mids are similar solid accurate and not boxy sounding no overly woy sounding lower mids and no high harsh mids unless they're in the song already the high end is very clear and open sounding it's not muffled or muddy but it also isn't harsh or irritating this is one area I think everybody will agree this is a good thing both the s4a and the s4i used to go for about 99 bucks now you can find them online for closer to 40 or 50 bucks for that price they're definitely worth it for the sound alone on the other hand if you use Android and really need these inline controls you might want to look at another pair and that's it for this one guys if you want some more details there's a link to the accompanying article in the video description down below while you're down there you can find social media links to follow me Android Authority or the Android authority crew now if you haven't yet make sure to subscribe and while you're here why not check out some other videos I'm Chris wook thanks for watching\n"