So let me just put the "rubber ring" industry out of business here.  $3 dollars for a pair of rubber rings by themselves...uh no.  Here is a way to get the same thing (if you use them underneath a foam).  You can build diameter of the outside circumference of you buds to fit your ears to get a better fit on smaller buds or to eek out more bass from your buds.  Silicon plumber's tape.  $5 a roll for a hundred bud rings.  Worked wonders on my Mojito and really helped out with getting a good fit and improved bass (because of good fit) with the **** PT15.
The Silicon roll is good because there is no adhesive whatsoever, is tacky by just being silicone, sticks to itself so you can wrap it tight, and is super easy to use and you can cut them to whatever width or size length you need.  Give it a try, you might like it.  You might even use a little on every bud you own.  We like to experiment here, and it's a great way to experiment with fit issues for some.

superluigi said:

  I have a small collection of Earbud's so far.  I have the **** PT15, qian39 and monk+.  I like them all for different reasons but probably use the ****  PT15 the most, followed by the monk +.  The qian 39 sound good, but i found the earbud a little too small for me.
 
I haven't been keeping up with the latest chatter but is there something I should definitely try?  I enjoy the PT15 but the bass issues are real.  Any recomendations?  I'd love to find some earbuds with a mic so I could use it for video games (XboxOne)

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I haven't ordered these [ https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/New-Arrival-32ohm-DIY-Earphone-Earbud-DJ-HiFi-Earphone-as-monks-earphone-MX500-fone-de-ouvido/1727211_32711687328.html ] yet, but several people here on Head-Fi, and on @BloodyPenguin's "Earbuds Anonymous" Facebook group, have tried them, and liked the sound.  They are available with a Mic, and cost less than $7.00.
 
Take Care,
David Baldock

Lee really is the man. He hooked me up with a replacement asura 2.0

I know they have like no bass without eq but i can't stress enough how far these can be pushed bass wise with amp and eq. It took me so long before i realized the full genius of these. EQ heads and amp heads really overlook this one too easily.

PT15 mod teaser

There is a lot of glue inside and it smells horrible when it gets liquefied. Yuck!!!





Edit.... Mod completed with edifier shells!


sound sig is still like pt15 but way more open, treble is still borderline piercing though. bass gets kinda farty with extreme eq and bass boost on the amp, haha. good with one or the other though.

You saw the PT15 mod here first folks!!

got my first earbud memt x3 mini and it totally sucks, no bass what so ever, distorts like crazy
 
very bad start

Sorry to hear that @Sound Eq , nobody has endorsed that model here though! we could have told you it was meh 
 
Hope you try out some qian39 or something like that for a bassy sound.

vapman said:

  Sorry to hear that @Sound Eq , nobody has endorsed that model here though! we could have told you it was meh 

 
Hope you try out some qian39 or something like that for a bassy sound.

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thanks man
 
i will wait for monk plus to arrive as i see that many like it so at least i can get some perspective, and if i like it then i will go full scale to the best earbud out there
 
update: based on your rec I just ordered the qian39 
 
thanks man

Before I ordered the K's 500, it was pointed out to me that they have a 2.5mm TRRS model, so I didn't have to buy & modify the 3.5mm TRS version.
 
Now, I'm wondering whether anyone has seen a 2.5mm TRRS version of the TY Hi-Z HP650?  If so, can you provide a link to it?
 
 
Thanks,
David Baldock

dbaldock9 said:

 
I haven't ordered these [ https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/New-Arrival-32ohm-DIY-Earphone-Earbud-DJ-HiFi-Earphone-as-monks-earphone-MX500-fone-de-ouvido/1727211_32711687328.html ] yet, but several people here on Head-Fi, and on @BloodyPenguin's "Earbuds Anonymous" Facebook group, have tried them, and liked the sound.  They are available with a Mic, and cost less than $7.00.
 
Take Care,
David Baldock

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Thanks for the suggestion!  I'll start my research there  
 
I really think if the PT15's had more bass I wouldn't be on the hunt for more earbuds.

I'd recommend HE150 for better quality bassy earbuds for (still, at 14$) very little money! I have Qian39 too and they're nice, but knowing what I know now I would have probably skipped them. I have quite a few earbuds waiting for all my better ones to break now before I'll ever touch them again, way way back in the drawer style.. I found the Qian39's to have good quantity but bad quality bass, not leaving an impactful impression but instead feeling loose and flabby. It's a very pleasant earbud in a way, laid back, easy to listen to comfortable sound with old recordings. However, recordings I knew well I noticed that it's not very detailed. Almost no depth to the soundstage to my ear, a very '2D' sound. I have some buds to compare between (Monk v1, Monk+, TY HP32 v1, Qian39, HE150 & K's 500 ) but for 14$ the HE150 is a steal, really where it's at in terms of bang for buck I think.. It also has a sturdy L-shaped connector. Usually I find with cheaper buds that the connectors are weak points for daily wear and tear, especially straight jacks. Riding along in pockets is much easier on L-jacks, from my experience at least. Really full bass that goes down low and still has some punch and growl to it, not the tightest but definitely not flabby. It can also be pushed *way* harder than al previously mentioned buds apart from K's 500. Soundstage is really good on them too..

@Danneq
I was wondering how thick, stiff, heavy and the feel in touch is he cable of your Diomnes Lv2.  

superluigi said:

  Thanks for the suggestion!  I'll start my research there  
 
I really think if the PT15's had more bass I wouldn't be on the hunt for more earbuds.

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Interesting you mention PT15. I consider them the ugly duck of my earbuds collection. Although they are far from being ugly (probably the best looking ones I have) the lack of bass and sometimes piercing treble keeps them in the drawer for most of the time. Today I was listening Rome's Flowers from Exile (one of my all time favourite albums) with my SHE3800 but found the sound lacking something. Soundstage, clarity, definition, not sure what. So I started to swap earbuds. Monk+ brought the soundstage, Seahf 32 some more punchiness, K25S were surprisingly good overall, but the PT15 gave me what I was looking for.  A superb detail of the acoustic guitar strings and a great spacial perception of all instruments. Since the bass was not really relevant in this case it was a great experience. They will get off the drawer more times in the future for sure  

barbazz said:

   
Interesting you mention PT15. I consider them the ugly duck of my earbuds collection. Although they are far from being ugly (probably the best looking ones I have) the lack of bass and sometimes piercing treble keeps them in the drawer for most of the time. Today I was listening Rome's Flowers from Exile (one of my all time favourite albums) with my SHE3800 but found the sound lacking something. Soundstage, clarity, definition, not sure what. So I started to swap earbuds. Monk+ brought the soundstage, Seahf 32 some more punchiness, K25S were surprisingly good overall, but the PT15 gave me what I was looking for.  A superb detail of the acoustic guitar strings and a great spacial perception of all instruments. Since the bass was not really relevant in this case it was a great experience. They will get off the drawer more times in the future for sure

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I can't express how much better the PT15 sound gets when you put them in a properly vented shell. MX500 or Edifier style shells will be just awesome with it.

vapman said:

  I can't express how much better the PT15 sound gets when you put them in a properly vented shell. MX500 or Edifier style shells will be just awesome with it.

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I know that the four holes, in the back of the stock PT15 housing, are vents - because the low bass disappears when they're covered with a fingertip.
 
What about opening up some of the space between those holes?  Do you think that would provide a bass improvement?

dbaldock9 said:

 
I know that the four holes, in the back of the stock PT15 housing, are vents - because the low bass disappears when they're covered with a fingertip.
 
What about opening up some of the space between those holes?  Do you think that would provide a bass improvement?

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Trying to make pt15 basshead bassy is a lost cause, let me make that pretty clear... even with no EQ, it gets all farty and uncontrolled when simply turning on an amp's bass boost switch. You can make the bass better but it'll never be slammin or even close.
 
I think the shape of the shell is actually the weakness. IT has vents, but not in very optimal places IMO. for example, putting the driver in a mx500 or edifier style shell makes the overall sound clearer and bass bigger, and the sound opens up in a way that makes the sound of it in the stock shell really nasty and congested in comparison!
 
To open it up i just used a heat gun and waited to smell the glue liquid. Kinda gross but they really load those things up with glue. Once you have it melted enough, the front piece comes off very easily.
 
Also note the cables in the stock shells are so thin it's offensive, put some nice fat copper wires on that driver. Shame it can't take a hint of bass boost though.