Boombastic88
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Posts
- 63
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- 11
I thought I'd do a write-up on this since there's not much else on it on the internet. First off, here's a little something for the people who do not yet know: IEM's from the brands Etymotic, Westone, and Shure all use a small device referred to as a filter or damper inside of the canal that holds the ear tip. It is a small device with a metal casing and a small colored screen inside. Look down the tube of your IEM and you'll see it quite easily. It's purpose is to prevent wax and moisture from building up and damaging the drivers, and to smooth out the frequency response of the headphones to make a more enjoyable listening experience. Now if you're like me, you didn't know this small device existed and unknowingly pushed the wax cleaning tool straight through it.
And thus, after hours of panicking and online research, I have learned a couple things that I think would be very helpful to the people here on Head-Fi. The first being that Etymotic filters are fairly easy to find, with either a direct call to Etymotic, or a simple Google search of "etymotic replacement filters." The Etymotic green filters will fit inside of Westone and Shure products, but use a plastic casing instead of a metal one. They also can be found with an insertion/removal tool. The second being that dampers for Westone and Shure IEMs are very hard to come by, or so I thought. After hours of researching these tiny things, I found them on the manufacturer's website. Sadly, you could only view the data sheets and not actually purchase the products from there. So, after a quick Google search of "knowles dampers", there they were. Right on Westone's website for $2 a piece. They carry all 6 colors, each with their own resistance value ranging from 680ohms all the way to 4700ohms. Basically, the higher the ohm resistance, the warmer the sound, or the more bass. The only kicker is that I have yet to find where they sell the insertion/removal tool for these. For now, I'll do some creative thinking and come up with my own tool for the job. So, let's sum up what I've learned:
- Filters/Dampers in Westone, Shure, And Etymotic IEMs inside the tube that holds the ear tip.
-DO NOT PUSH THE CLEANING TOOL TOO FAR INTO THE CANAL OF THE EARPHONE!!!!
-Google "etymotic replacement filters' for Etymotic filters. Make sure they're compatible with your model of IEM.
-Etymotic filters sold with an insertion/removal tool.
-For Westone/Shure dampers, go to www.westone.com, click "Online Store", and type in 'knowles" in the search bar.
-Higher the ohm resistance rating on the damper, the warmer the sound. In other words, more bass.
-Westone damper removal tool cannot be found for purchase yet, but some creative thinking will get the job done.
-By changing out the filters in your earphones, you can pretty much tailor the sound of your earphones to how you want it.
I hope all of this is helpful to somebody. Have fun!!
- Filters/Dampers in Westone, Shure, And Etymotic IEMs inside the tube that holds the ear tip.
-DO NOT PUSH THE CLEANING TOOL TOO FAR INTO THE CANAL OF THE EARPHONE!!!!
-Google "etymotic replacement filters' for Etymotic filters. Make sure they're compatible with your model of IEM.
-Etymotic filters sold with an insertion/removal tool.
-For Westone/Shure dampers, go to www.westone.com, click "Online Store", and type in 'knowles" in the search bar.
-Higher the ohm resistance rating on the damper, the warmer the sound. In other words, more bass.
-Westone damper removal tool cannot be found for purchase yet, but some creative thinking will get the job done.
-By changing out the filters in your earphones, you can pretty much tailor the sound of your earphones to how you want it.
I hope all of this is helpful to somebody. Have fun!!
