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Have you tried them with other tips? Like Sony Hybrids or triple-Flange. Was wondering just how much difference in sound it would make.
Hm... I don't have any of those unfortunately. I also can't stand triple flanges. The only ones I have with me are these:
The bores on most of these tips are slightly above standard size so don't actually fit very well on the nozzle of the Majors. In order to test, I had to wrap some tissue paper on the nozzle for a proper seal with the tips.
As you may be able to see from the picture, the stock tips (black one) have a smaller bore but very thick walls. This keeps the tips held on very tightly--hence the reason why I say there's little worry on losing the tips with regular use.
The opening size and the length/depth of these medium tips also differ.
You can see the stock tip has a little distance between the nozzle filter and the entry of the tip opening. The TDK has a much larger opening and the filter is practically level with the opening. The VMODA has a bit more depth than the stock one, although the hole is of similar size; slightly bigger. The Hippo foam creates a much longer tunnel, as you can see how some picture angles are greater than others.
The TDK with tissue actually does space the tip opening from the filter a bit more than without. As far as sound goes, there's a bit less bass impact, the highs feel like they did extend a bit more. The sound feels like it comes out more open; due to this the decay on the mids become a little less controlled. The changes are not highly dramatic though, and still come off with a similar balance to the stock tips.
The VMODA tips dont do too much change. The slightly larger opening probably counter balances the increased length.
The Hippo Foam ones, first let me say, have completely cylindrical bores, so the seal to the nozzle might not be as good. The tissues couldn't fit in there. With these the treble is just a tiny tad bit softer than stock IMO, but low bass notes become much softer. Parts of the upper mids also became softer. They really make the earphones become mid/highmids centric. Thanks to that, flutes may still sound nice for the most part but violins playing higher octaves do lose on timbre.
That said, from the tips I currently have with me the stock ones are still the best controlled. The TDKs might be nice though.
As a general rule, I think
Opening size: smaller <--------> larger
Bass quantity: more <--------> less
more open sounding <--------> more controlled <--------> congested (when too small)
As far as the length of the tips, I'm not too familiar since even these Hippo H500 are my first tips of this kind of length (minus some tri-flange I used to have and hated the way they feel in the ear). As far as headphones go though, more distance between ear and driver generally means more treble... more more so in the useless region (cannot hear depending on your ears, but can still hurt the ears/cause fatigue) than the useful region (clarity/detail). Maybe the Hippo foams would normally have increased the treble but due to them being foam it in turn ever so slightly decreased it.
