Etymotic HF5 Tips

u could always try the standard foam tips they come with. in my opinion they provide just as good isolation, better comfort and the sound is almost the same. they just need abit more effort when inserting into ur ears

Ety grey tri-flanges (for my ear canals anyway) give the best sound and isolation. Comply plain suck on all the iems I've tried them on, ety foams and gliders have bad durability.

Shure olives are a definite good option, but you won't get the same isolation. Try the custom tip option if you get frustrated with foamies (again isolation isn't as good). Or just get used to the tri-flanges... they soften up after regular use and last pretty long.

For me, everyday type use = Shure olives

Air travel, very noisy enviroments = tri-flanges

I've used the Shure foam tips with my old HF5 and now my ER-4P, but I'm currently back to the grey 3-flange tips majority of the time.  I find that sometimes when I'm not in such a noisy environment, I don't have to insert the 3-flange very deep (I have smaller ear canals) to get a good seal and balanced sound.  The deeper I go, however, the more I have to wrestle with them for a balanced sound.

The Shure foam tips are very comfortable and provide 80-85% of the isolation the 3-flange give me.  About the same for the roundish Glider tips, but I haven't really AB'd the gliders with the Shure. 

The Shure tips last longer and provide better isolation than the Comply tips (too porous), but after a while they get bloated and expand too much and have to be replaced with new ones (every 4-6 weeks for me -- just surface clean them, don't soak them in water, is the trick).

The wedge shape is normal, mine continue to transform when I use them.  I love shure olives when I use any ety type of IEM.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by nyonya 

 

Thanks for the response.  For the Shure Olives, is the isolation significantly better than for the gliders?  Also, what size would I get if the triple flanges fit pretty well?  The triple flanges haven't gotten softer over time - if anything, they've gotten more painful.  They've also developed a shape where I've wedged them in my ears, so they aren't perfectly round anymore.  Is this normal?

Shure olives are better than Ety gliders in comfort and isolation and longevity (about 10 times better infact!)

My friend loves the Klipsch eargels for his Ety HF3. I use Klipsch eargels on my Atrio's. I wouldn't use any other silicon tips!

I use the Shure mushrooms on both my Etys and the Westone UM3X--incredibly soft, great isolation and easy on the ears as they don't irritate

Quote:

Originally Posted by nyonya 

Any idea how the Klipsch eargels compare to the Shure olives in terms of sound and isolation?  How are the Shure olives in isolation compared to the triple flanges?  Thanks for your feedback!

The Klipsch will be just slightly less isolation than the Shure Olives but I find the Klipsch give better sound, better comfort and ofcourse less hassle as you don't have to squeeze foam and set it in your ears.
 

I tried the regular olives that came mine, and I thought they worked quite well and were so much more comfortable than the phallically-insert-me ones.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nyonya 

How does the ER-4P compare to the HF5?

While the HF5 is an excellent phone, esp at the current $100+ price, the ER4 is another step in clarity (not huge), and pretty significant step in musical cohesiveness.  It's hard to explain, but AB'ing them, the ER4 just presents all the instruments more correctly -- they are clearly defined and positioned properly -- whereas, with the HF5 in comparison, sometimes the location of instruments is a little more vague.  You can only really hear this by listening to them side by side.

I decided that when I had an opportunity to get the ER4P for a decent price, I jumped on it, and am glad I did.