ClarityOne

To all interested in ClarityOne Audio earbuds I say beware. I bought these headphones from airmiles (a licensed seller at the time) last summer. I loved the headphones and I commend the company for the quality of the audio that they produce. In my opinion they were pretty amazing. But then winter struck. I live in Canada, and incidentally the same city that the "Head Office" for Clarity One Audio resides. Anyways, I pulled them out of my pocket one day to find that the covering around the wire had come out (there was no glue or anything in or around the joint so I guess it was just put in there) and the copper wire was exposed. My headphones were still under warranty so I decided to claim the warranty (after all, they are worth $100+). I sent emails throughout December and ranging from once - three times a week all the way until July which was when I got my first reply. Then to get another reply I had to wait till late August (after my warranty expired) for them to say that my proof of purchase was okay and that they are ready for a warranty claim. Meanwhile, I searched the ends of the internet and I guess I was able to find out who the CEO was, where he lived but not the company phone number or any form of contact info for the company except for their email. I emaild about 6 different email addresses that were listed on the website (including the one written on my warranty card) and I even called Air Miles. It turns out that they don't have a phone number because a manager at Air Miles gave me a number for their supplier who gave me another number which just turned out to be a number for Yamaha where there was no Clariy One available at all... So it took a year for them to finally accept my warranty and they asked me to send in my product. Then it took them about a month maybe longer (I don't recall exactly) to send me a replacement pair when I could drive 20 minutes to the address I was told to send it to... I was finally satisfied when I received my new pair which was in about September or late August of this year. But unfortunately for me I was making a phone call last week using the mic on the headphones and when the person I was calling picked the phone up, the left ear shot. Since then, the left earphone doesn't work unless the wire is in a certain position. I guess these headphones weren't built for Canadian winters (even though its a Canadian product) and they have extremely weak joints. I hope I wont have to go through all the hassle for a new pair again, if so then I think this time im going to just give up and buy the Klipsch s4i Rugged.
 
But on a happier note, for me, they fit perfectly and provide me with an amazing seal with the smallest size ear tip.
 
To sum up, they have a horrendous customer service but an amazing product. So, if you live somewhere where the cold isn't a problem for you and you make sure there are no bends in your cables at all times then these are the headphones for you.
 
P.S. I tried every possible way to get them to respond to me, I even considered talking to local newspaper and since I was in law class at the time, was considering legal action xD
 
Obvs I got a little carried away there^ and of course I didn't actually do either of those 2 xP.

Bought these very slightly used - price paid is what I got them for, not what they retail for. I wasn't going to pay £120 for something I hadn't heard much from but paying half that was worth it. 
 
Early thoughts are that these are a step above from the SE115s I was using before which now sound a bit dull and insipid in comparison. The bass is very evident from what I had before, clear and smooth. Treble is a tad aggressive at times but I'll see how that goes. Isolation is superb. 
 
Not sure I'd recommend them at full price but I have nothing to compare them to atm. For less than I paid for the Shure's, they are good value. 

This "review" is based off a couple weeks' worth of experience with the ClarityOne, which I bought out of curiosity.
 
I used them primarily with my MP3 player, the iAudio X5, which contains files encoded with LAME 3.90.3, using VBR at 96-256 kb/s. So not necessarily an "audiophile" setup, but that was primarily what I intended to use them with if I was going to keep them.
 
First a preface that I own the JH Audio JH13 custom IEMs, which I like a lot. I didn't buy the ClarityOne to replace my JH13 but rather merely to try them and see if I could maybe use them as a back-up for secondary purposes.
 
So it could be said that I've been spoiled by the JH13, which I actually find pretty amazing with my MP3 player, and in comparison the ClarityOne didn't really hold up. It lacked the cohesive "wall of sound" element that the JH13 has, and it sounded very weak in the bass & mid-range too. I just couldn't tolerate these for either metal (In Flames, Helloween, Kamelot) or prog rock music (Porcupine Tree). The bass wasn't very deep or forceful either and I ended up very dissatisfied with electronica too (The Crystal Method, The Prodigy).
 
I'd describe the ClarityOne as sounding relatively thin in the mid-range & bass, with more of a tilt towards the treble than the bass, and very diverged towards the left & right too, as I never got proper center-point imaging with them, regardless of music. Also, considering that "clarity" is in its name, I didn't think its clarity was that great either. Definitely good, just not great - not as good as the Etymotic HF5 that I also recently bought for example, or my JH13.
 
I also want to single out the treble as being not very good either - when I tried some classical music, the violins came across as very screechy and fake-sounding. Not sure I'd recommend them for classical music for this reason.
 
But the one thing that detracted the most from them for me was the discomfort, primarily due to the large diameter on the plastic tip on which the silicone eartips are placed. Or in other words, the plastic tip was too large for my ear canal, and when I used these for long periods of time, it made my inner ear hurt. Trying the other eartips didn't do anything to help, as the plastic was just too large in diameter for my ear canal.
 
In short I'd describe these as having average sound quality for the price (not great but not terrible either), with a warning that not everyone will find them comfortable. I ended up deciding not to keep them and gave them to someone else as a gift, who didn't report any discomfort btw.

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