Sound great, with caveats (Image S4 model)

I've spent a fair amount of time with these, and I have to say, they do sound great -- when I have 'em jammed in my ears *just* right. And there's the issue. While these are, by a huge margin, the best-sounding earbuds I've ever tried, they still suffer from the same issues as any other earbuds. They don't always stay in place, and even a slight movement will adversely affect the sound quality. (I find that the trick of arranging the wire behind my head and over my shoulder helps, but it's still not perfect.) Also, when they do stay in, they can get uncomfortable after a while. They're quite comfortable as earbuds go, but stick anything in your ear for more than an hour or so and you're going to notice it. On the plus side, three different sets of rubber end shells are included. They're easy to swap, but they attach securely and won't fall off. Having tried all three, I find the small (which are a slightly different shape) and the large to be more comfortable than the medium, with the large staying in my ears the best. Having three options is great. Another nice feature is the sound isolation. While it's not the same as active noise-cancelling headphones, I was surprised at how well these buds block out background noise. I wasn't expecting that, but then again, I haven't had earbuds that tightly block the ear canal like these before. The wire, which is only about 1 meter long, is as thin as what you'd find on the cheap buds that came with a $5 pocket radio. Maybe it's sturdier; I don't know. I haven't risked breaking it by testing its strength. But I was expecting it to be a bit thicker for this kind of money. The cleaning tool is a nice accessory. It's a tiny plastic stick with a tiny wire loop on the end for scraping ear wax out of the holes on the bud tips. The sound is excellent, with very nice bass response, clarity, and stereo separation (at least until they slip out of place). I would say these are somewhat superior to my Sennheiser HD 457 headphones in terms of audio quality. However, the 457s cost less than half as much. For the same money as these, one could almost certainly pick up a pair of regular headphones with better sound. And, of course, regular headphones are more comfortable to wear for long periods of time. I would only recommend these for portable use or for short sessions. In the interest of fairness, I'm giving these 4 stars since their shortcomings are mostly common to earbuds in general. But taking regular headphones into account, I'd only award three stars.