Being forced to quit IEM's... - Page 2

sad to hear...

and hear i am planning to sell off my full size cans to raise money for custom in-ears.

there are lot of great closed headphones which u could use

Man, that's unfortunate. Going back to earbuds must be like trying to quit cocaine.

sorry to hear that.
Maybe when you accumulate enough earwax some day, then try the IEM again to see if it still irritates.....

Bummer...

I too get irritation with a few types of tips (mainly Shure Olives) so I wonder if I too have some type of allergy/reaction...

You could always pickup a good clip-on. I'd try out some Yuin G1A's if I had to quit iems entirely.

How much do you use IEMs?

You seem to have a lot of cans in your sig, but I'm curious how new you are to IEMs or how frequent you use them.

I just want to make sure this isn't just a "getting used to" kind of thing and IEMs quite moderately annoy first time users or casual users for some time (months) until the ear gets accustomed to them. It does take a while for the ear to adapt. Things like tip choice, insertion amount, etc. all do affect ear fatigue and irritation. One option can very readily annoy in 15 minutes. Another option may be comfortable for 5 hours.

Your doctor should be able to say if the problem is allergic through testing. However, manual handling would also produce the allergic reaction.

Also, I would kind of advise not doing anything with the ear. You and others seem to do a lot of scratching, treating, touching the ear. This would moderately exacerbate the problem and help promote and spread infection. General hygiene is important of course but so is leaving it alone. The inner ear is relatively soft and sensitive tissue, so you really don't want to do more then you need to.

I hate to be a dick, but I sometimes lean towards blaming the user for their own problems. You just have to analyze what you're doing and question if you are doing the right things or if you are making the problem worse. IEMs are not natural. They are things to get used to and to build a tolerance for. This takes time. We have to learn to deal with the irritation during this time. We need to not make things worse by fiddling, scratching, irritating, and infecting. Make sure you use tips that fit well and are comfortable. They need to be the right size and shape to not cause irritation/pain with long use. Irritation and pain is not uncommon though.

That's really a shame, I really don't think I could ever go back to using earbuds or headphones and hearing babies crying on the bus etc, and hearing anything other than my precious music.
Maybe it's your time to invent some sort of isolating earbud that's external, somehow.
Hopefully cans will serve the purpose well enough for you. Man, I really would hate to be in your position. Good luck with the rest of your audiophile journies.

When I pressed "submit reply" I knew I made a mistake. Sometimes it's like tying cats to the bacon overhere. We should all go out some more. Dim, dusty rooms and shiny amps do strange things to a man.

Dude, that sucks

My ears tend to get a little irritated with IEMs too. They tend to itch about an hour or so. This just means you'll spend more time listening with your ESW10s

Mayeb an off the wall idea, buy maybe you could talk to jerry jerry harvey audio and see if they could make one of the customs that doesnt have a canal?and just have an opening into the ear. It might be a little looser than one with a canal, but im sure the helix lock would still hold it in just fine. Though as i said talk to him about it, because that may mess with the frequency response a bit or something.

Just an idea dude