Aero Dynamik
1000+ Head-Fier
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- Apr 2, 2011
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I used to buy Spiral Dots (and Spinfits) from Head-Fi:er Dopaminer. Good prices and fast delivery. I believe he has/had a large private(?) stock.
Does anyone here use the spiral dot tips with their A83?
I want to get some, but i'm unsure what size I will need. At the moment i'm using the large double flange tips that came in the box, which fit my ears comfortably. The medium ones are a bit to small for me and don't give a good enough seal. Should I get the large or medium spiral dots? i'm unsure which ones to get and because i'm in the UK I have to order them from Japan, and that takes up to three weeks for delivery.
I don't want to order the wrong size and have to wait up to 6 weeks to get the right ones for my ears in case the first lot don't fit.
Actually there is a ML size spiral dot. I have not used the default dual flange tips but the medium single flange was a little small for me while the large was a little too big... also with the A83 i think its better to err on the larger size rather than smaller size from my experience... hope that helps
Tried the Spiral Dots tonight and got a somewhat airier more out-of-head sound compared to Comply Ts. Not sure I preferred it though as I felt it subtracted from the "realistic rawness" of its tonality. Maybe my insertion depth was a bit too shallow. I think I have all sizes of the SDs so I'll try with small pair/deeper fit as long as I get proper isolation.
I must say; the tonality of A83 with acoustic instruments, especially strings is really quite fabulous! I'm not sure I ever heard this recording sound so realistic with any my other phones.
Tried the Spiral Dots tonight and got a somewhat airier more out-of-head sound compared to Comply Ts. Not sure I preferred it though as I felt it subtracted from the "realistic rawness" of its tonality. Maybe my insertion depth was a bit too shallow. I think I have all sizes of the SDs so I'll try with small pair/deeper fit as long as I get proper isolation.
I must say; the tonality of A83 with acoustic instruments, especially strings is really quite fabulous! I'm not sure I ever heard this recording sound so realistic with any my other phones.
I am guessing that it's the fit that you got from them that caused problems. I've realized recently that the fit of the earphones is actually not as tip dependent as I had previously thought; rather, it's more about the fit you get with the earguides.
When I try to use the stock cables, I can't get very many tips to work that give me a good seal. When I switched to a non-earguide cable, I found that I could actually use any tip of any size and still get a good fit. It's just that the weight of the cable pulls the earphones away from the ear a bit too much for me, preventing me from getting a deeper fit.
Anyways, I do think your impressions are similar to mine when contrasting the Complys to the Spiral Dots. The Spiral Dots open up the sound and make them sound clearer and airer at the cost of some low end thump.
I've actually been using the stock tips recently in order to see what the Fidue engineers originally had in mind in terms of bore size. The sound is definitely in-between the Spiral Dots and Complys, without a hugely open sound but also not a low end focused sound. It's definitely worth trying if you haven't already, granted that you can get a good fit with them.
Bass quality, exactly. Thats what I notice immediatelly. And then there's that extra treble sparkle and finesse that MP3 can't reproduce.
Last night I came across a thread on another forum that I stumbled on by accident, which I can't for the life of me find today.
Anyway, the thread was made by someone who took a pair of comply tips and put them on the inside of his silicone tips.
I decided to give it a try for myself and i'm glad I did, with the comply inside the silicone tips you get much better isolation, a more fuller sound and better bass.
All you need to do is remove the plastic guide inside the comply's, turn your silicone tips inside out and slide the comply's over the part of the silicone tips you insert the earphones into and then fold the silicone tip back over the comply. This seems to be the perfect combination for the A83's for me, I want to give this a try with some Spiral Dots as well though.
Here are some pics, sorry for the quality.
I once tried a similar method using cotton to fill the silicone tips. It worked really well. If it's not too much bother perhaps you could try both methods to see if there's any difference!? Who knows, maybe cotton sounds better than Complys!
I would assume that by "earguides" you mean the memory wire near the monitors!? A good fit of "any tip of any size" suggests that your fit is shallow as any tip larger than your ear canal won't actually "fit", no? As with any shallow fit the projection of the sound into the ear canal - the angle of the nozzle - is in my experience crucial. Of course, in that case the cable could be a problem tugging the monitors away from the ideal angle.
Last night I came across a thread on another forum that I stumbled on by accident, which I can't for the life of me find today.
Anyway, the thread was made by someone who took a pair of comply tips and put them on the inside of his silicone tips.
I decided to give it a try for myself and i'm glad I did, with the comply inside the silicone tips you get much better isolation, a more fuller sound and better bass.
All you need to do is remove the plastic guide inside the comply's, turn your silicone tips inside out and slide the comply's over the part of the silicone tips you insert the earphones into and then fold the silicone tip back over the comply. This seems to be the perfect combination for the A83's for me, I want to give this a try with some Spiral Dots as well though.
Here are some pics, sorry for the quality.
What are suggestions for cables then for better fitment?
I recently got a pair of CIEMs made with Linum BAX cables. They're supposed to be very unobtrusive as they're extremely thin and light. I think a part of the reason why I've never had much success or fondness for my A83 is because of the cables. I think it's affecting comfort and fit. As they are, I'm not gonna lie; I don't like the sound that much and I don't see what all the fuss is about. I'd take my IE8 or TF10 over them any day of the week, and I do. Which is odd given how good the A83 are supposed to be. I must be doing something wrong. Lol.
Last night I came across a thread on another forum that I stumbled on by accident, which I can't for the life of me find today.
Anyway, the thread was made by someone who took a pair of comply tips and put them on the inside of his silicone tips.
I decided to give it a try for myself and i'm glad I did, with the comply inside the silicone tips you get much better isolation, a more fuller sound and better bass.
All you need to do is remove the plastic guide inside the comply's, turn your silicone tips inside out and slide the comply's over the part of the silicone tips you insert the earphones into and then fold the silicone tip back over the comply. This seems to be the perfect combination for the A83's for me, I want to give this a try with some Spiral Dots as well though.
Here are some pics, sorry for the quality.