Homemade Foam Ear Tips for IEMs - Page 16

If you do find some tubing that works, please post your source here, I'm looking too

I thought of wire sleeves too but thought they might be too soft to get the foam over it, but i might give it a go.

In the meantime, I am set with just a few pairs as I took the tubes out of my old Koss foamies, they are real nice and fit on the future sonics IEMs really well but ill keep looking for tubing as I want to make a whole heap in one go.

Sweet! I went to the jaycar website (http://www.jaycar.com.au/productResu...p?FORM=KEYWORD) and they sell heatshrink tubing in a range of sizes (1.5mm, 2.5mm, 3mm) so im bound to find one that fits my IEM's stem.

I called them up and told them I don't want to shrink them, the guy was helpful and told me that they can work as normal tubing but they may lose shape after a while (eg if kept on the dashboard of a car under direct sun).

Its really cheap, about $1.50/metre so i might grab a few metres and that should keep me going for a while, even if I dont take the tubing out of the used earplugs and just use a fresh piece everytime I make the foamies.

Ill let you know how it goes! Ill post pics once ive made a bunch of em!

Awesome! Looking forwards to it

what is the size/specificatio nof the tubing used in shures and what not? Where can we find the tubing to use?

This is a great thread.  I was sweating re-ordering tips for my ER-6i's when I came across this.  I was on my 2nd set of tri-flanges and they were starting to come off in my ear.  I got the Howard Leight earplugs from CVS and did some experimentation.  Un-shrunk heat shrink tubing worked very well.  I don't recall the exact size, but it was a little snug to get on, but it's on good now.  Another source that worked was wiring insulation cut either from multi-strand cable (security system 4-core wire was good, a little thinner than cat-6 network cable) or 12 gauge speaker wire worked as well.  The 12gauge was a little thicker.  The heat-shrink was the thinnest.  I suppose I could make it fit even tighter by fitting it on to the earphone and shrinking it gently either with a hair dryer or the tip of a hot soldering iron (hold it NEAR the plastic, until you see the tube react, don't touch the iron to anything.)

 

I have large ear canals, so I found cutting off the tip of the earphone and leaving the fat end worked best for me.  I used small scissors to shape the new tip to be a little convex. 

 

Poking the hole was quite easy, the key is all on how you pancake the earphone, getting that right is 90% of the job.  Keep the plug from folding as you squish it.  You want it to bulge out in every direction and become barrel shaped, then flatten it and just find the center.  I used a push-pin followed by the blunt end of a 3/32" drill bit.  This did not rip the foam but created a just-wide enough channel.  Push the bit in from the front and then feed it from the back on to the tube.  Make sure the tube does not crease or fold over on itself either.  I tested the gripping and it was quite good, just make sure you keep your hole on the small side so it grips the tube forcefully when it expands.  That's key. 

 

The result is quite remarkable.  An amazingly comfortable seal.  Bass and music detail are greatly improved, as is the sense of isolation.  The Leights take a very long time to return to shape, maybe 30 seconds, so it helps to keep them pushed in my ear while they expand, but when the outside world goes silent, you know you have a good seal.  Wetting them slightly helps as well. 

Does anyone know if it's okay to use a soldering iron to make the holes if you're using "E-A-R Classic Soft" plugs? It worked on urethane plugs, but these are made of something else...

 

Also, isn't $1.99 a good price for 5 pairs of those E-A-R Classic Soft's?

It looks like 1 pair costs $0.85 over at http://earplugstore.stores.yahoo.net/

 

If they're cheaper somewhere else, please tell me :P

 

Hi there!

 

Let me introduce myself first. I'm not an audiophile by any means. But when I buy something, I do it right. Certainly when it's a bigger investment like IEMs. When I was buying a bass guitar, I've done research on the internet for days. I'm always looking for the best "bang for the buck". So here I am, after a week of research. I've ordered the Brainwavz M2. Or actually the Chinese version, the ViSang R03, since it has a straight plug, and not a 45-degree plug (who's stupid idea was that? :P).

 

Why am I getting new IEMs? Well, my previous IEMs are broken. I used them as a lasso. Not a good idea. I got them with my mobile phone, the Samsung Nexus S, if anyone is familiar with it. Let me tell you something about the Samsung Nexus S. Not about how great it can make phone calls, but about how FREAKIN' AMAZING the sound quality is! Like I said, I'm not an audiophile. But it is good. Just like the Samsung Galaxy S, the Nexus S uses the Wolfson WM8994 DAC. According to a guy named "supercurio", that thing has a lot of potential. If you root your phone (something like jailbreaking, but with Android phones), you can use his improvement named VooDoo Sound. And it is amazing! 

 

More info about Voodoo Sound: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=806195

 

So I fell in love with the amazing sound quality of my smartphone. I don't think I will ever change phones again. How could I "just" buy mediocre IEMs with such amazing sound quality? I could not resist doing a lot of research. And the Brainwavz M2/ViSang R03 is perfect for me. I'm not a basshead, but I prefer a more "fun" sounding pair of earphones to more analytical earphones.

 

My quest for the ultimate sound continued. Well, not really ultimate, because I don't want to spend millions. I saw that you got a pair of foam ear tips with the ViSang R03. Foam ear tips? It opened a new world for me! I had no idea that there were different kind of ear tips, let alone that it would actually make a difference! I made the switch from "normal" earbuds to IEMs a long time ago. Never looked back. But foam ear tips? That was something new. So I did some research, again. The Comply foam ear tips seemed to be the best. I wasn't quite happy with the price though. Twenty dollar for some ear tips? While I paid only the double for the actual IEMs? And then I saw it! "http://www.head-fi.org/t/169789/homemade-foam-ear-tips-for-iems". Making your own ear tips from foam ear plugs? Cheap? Check! Awesome? Check! And that brought me here.

 

Damn, I talk a lot! Let's just move on to the questions. I found four types of ear plugs that I want to experiment with. The Hearos Ultimate Softness, the Howard Leight Max (or the Max Lite, since I have pretty small ear canals), the E-A-R Soft FX and the E-A-R Classic Soft.

 

1. I am buying the E-A-R Classic Soft because they are PVC foamies. I know that PU foamies will increase the bass, while PVC foamies will do that less. Are there any other differences between PVC and PU foam?

2. About the Hybrid ear tips that come with the ViSang R03/Brainwavz M2. What is so "hybrid" about them? The "tube" is supposed to be sturdier. Does that improve the sound, or is it only there so that the ear tips don't come off so often (it happened a lot with my previous IEMs)?

3. When looking at tubes for my homemade foam ear tips, should I look for PVC tubes (aquarium tubing), or silicone tubes, like the original ear tips have? Or does it not matter, as long as the fit is right?

4. Are there any other foam ear plugs I should look at?

5. What is the difference between the E-A-R Classic and the E-A-R Classic Soft ear plugs? They are both PVC, right (that's the only thing that really matters to me)?

6. Aren't those foam ear plugs supposed to be single-use only? For only a couple of cents I don't care about replacing them every once in a while, but I'm not going to make a new set of ear tips every day. How long can I use a set of those foam ear plugs? And can I wash them with some water? And does it really matter if you use them longer than advised? Do they only get dirty or does the quality actually become worse (does it loose its "memory" quality for example)?

 

I might have forgotten a question or two. I will ask them later if I remember then. Thank you for your time! I hope my English didn't bother you. I'm not a native speaker!

 

Greetings,

Androyed