Radians CEP001

General Information

Radians Custom Molded Earplugs are an easy, do-it-yourself kit, molds in 10 minutes. Dozens of everyday uses including shooting sports, sporting events, construction, lawn care, assembly lines, farming, auto races, swimming, flying, factories and much more.

  • Molds in 10 minutes
  • Soft, permanent custom fit.
  • No mess.
  • All day comfort.
  • Simple, easy to follow instructions.
  • Safe, non toxic and hypo-allergenic silicone.
  • Environmentally friendly hearing protection.
  • Long lasting and washable.
  • Made in the USA.
  • NRR 26 dB

Latest reviews

ambchang

500+ Head-Fier
The best $20 I've ever spent (on audio)
Pros: Low cost
Notable improvements in comfort and sound (especially bass).
Fantastic seal
Cons: Ugly
Require some trial and error to get things right
I am here to review the Radians CEP001 Custom Ear Plugs, turned into Custom Ear Tips. I am not being paid for this review, I wasn't offered a free sample, I will not get any commission if you ever buy these, I just wanted to share my positive experience like a good netizen.

I have put some sections on Spoilers because I know you guys aren't here to read about my life story.

Background:
These have been on my radar for more than a decade now, based on the experiences of some very brave and resourceful souls on this very forum. From what I recalled it was back in the day of the Klipsch x10 (or some other IEMs back then) and to be honest, I don't even know if Klipsch still make IEMs nowadays but it gives a reference of how long ago that was.

I have cycled through many IEMs since then. Traluscent, iBasso, Fender, Noble, Shure, JVC, Westone, TDK, Logitech, UM, JHAudio, Earsonics. Most of these would be with me for about a year or two, and then the upgrade/sidegrade bug would hit. Outside of the Traluscent 1plus2 (which the second pair I tragically lost and never managed to replace due to the price), I never really had the itch of going back.

Which is to say, I never felt the need to make any of these IEMs into customs molds, or to make custom tips for, because I just wasn't committed to them enough to make them my forever IEMs. That is, until the Campfire Audio Andromeda came along. I absolutely loved them with their beautiful mids, and I stuck with them for 5 years. So around a year or so ago, I decided to look for custom tips for them, and they are expensive. So being the cheapskate that I am, I was able to recall reading about these Radians more than a decade ago and I decided to give it a try, my brain is just filled with a database to cheap out so these things really registered with me.

I thought, what could go wrong? If they don't work out, I will just lose $20. Much better than messing up on a pair of custom tips and lose $200.

About Me
As you may have picked up in the above section, I've been in this hobby for close to 2 decades now. While I do use full sized gear (see my profile), I only use them at home in a desktop set up and rarely use them on the go. I do use blue-tooth headsets but only for casual listening (while I am cooking for doing housework), podcasts, gaming and such. I spend most of my time listening while I am commuting, or waiting for my kids while they are at various practices, so the environments I listen to music are comparatively noisy, and noise isolation is important to me. This also means that I listen to music an hour or two at a time, so comfort, while important, is not a top priority to me.

I do not like ANC as it gives pressure in my ear, and the sound is just "off" to me. No matter which brand of headphones I use, ANC always gives me this odd veil when I turn it on.

Finally, I am cursed (or is that blessed?) with tin ears. I can barely tell the difference between most DACs, I cannot tell the differences between cables at all for headphones. I can tell people are using different cables for speakers when told, but I can't tell which one is the "good stuff". That said, I can tell the difference between amps, headphones, speakers, and file bitrates (in extreme cases, anything over 256 and I can't tell). In other words, if I can tell there is a difference, there is likely to be a BIG difference to you actual audiophiles.

The Product
Radians is actually a safety equipment manufacturer. In other words, they don't care about sound quality and all these fruity things us weird audiophile nerds care about. They just want to make sure people who do their jobs do it safety, and are protected accordingly.

As such, they have a line of earplugs for hearing protection, two of which are custom molded earplugs - the CEP001 and CEP002. While I am pretty sure CEP means Custom Ear Plugs, I have absolutely no idea what the differences between the two products are. I think CEP002 has a bigger package based on the specs, and everything else appears to be the same. The most important part, noise reduction rating, checks in at 26 dB for both products.

I bought the CEP001, red, because it's available on Amazon. I wish they have better looking colours like black, or grey, but alas, they only have red, orange, pink, and this colour which I think is best described as beige (they call it tan). They also have blue, which imho is the best, or least ugly, looking colour, but as life has it, I can't find them on Amazon.

The Process
So long story short (or longer), I bought a kit, and made my first set for my Andromedas. It was a bit of a failure. The seal on the right side was terrible, I put in way too much putty and used the whole kit when about 1/2 or even 1/3 of it is required. The left side though was great! So I bought another kit, and made the right side again, and it worked well. I got some qualms, it's ugly (why can't they be black or grey?), they fall off the nozzle too easily, there are some minor sound leaks, but it's really my own fault as I don't know what in the world I was doing. Overall though, I was generally happy with them. Comfort wise they are a step up, sound-wise there really isn't much of a difference.

Ironically, right after I got these "custom" ear-tips because I decided the Andromedas are my forever IEMs, an opportunity came up for me to acquire the Prophile 8. I have lusted after these IEMs for close to a decade, and I couldn't pass them up. I didn't care I don't have the funds for them, I didn't care Christmas spending is looming, I got them. For those who are wondering, I am still happily married so my wanderlust only really applies to audio gear ... I think.

A few weeks passed, and I decided to keep the PP8 and sell my Andromedas (very sad) so I used the remaining putty from the kit to make a set of custom eartips for the PP8s, and oh man, it makes a notable difference in sound because I did it right this time.

As an aside, the PP8s aren't necessarily better than the Andromedas, it's thicker, I felt the Andromedas sounded airier. The only reason I decide to sell my Andromedas is because I know I can always go back and purchase them, used, at a reasonable price (though unlikely in the condition I kept mine at). For the PP8s? I don't think I will ever come across them again at a price I can afford.

The Sound
So this time around, I made the earplugs perfect. They stick to the nozzle tightly and they create an amazing seal (I can turn my volume down from about 105 (Android, out of 160) down to about 85 to 90. The noise isolation is amazing, in fact, I will no longer wear these while I am walking on the street because I am totally blocked out from noise out on the street. After I made these, I was trying them on while cooking, exhaust fan on and everything, I can't hear the sizzle of the food (actually quite important to actually make a decent meal), I can't hear my kids yapping in the background, I can't even hear when my wife came home.

Because the seal is so well done this time, there was a notable difference in sound, especially bass. I didn't expect this at all as I didn't do as good a job on the Andromedas which resulted in no sound differences, but with these, the bass was clearly much more impactful. The details are drawn out more, I felt the separation in instruments was also better, but perhaps it was because I can just hear things more clearly with all the noises blocked out.

Conclusion
You may be able to tell that I am very happy with these, and I am. I spent a total of about $40 on these because I messed up a few times earlier, but most people are not as clumsy and DIY-inept as me, and I would imagine most people can get a perfect set on the second try, at worst.

With $20, you can make a comfortable set of custom IEM tips with way better seal and as such, at least to me, a significant improvement in sound. If it doesn't work for you, you can just chuck them in the garbage, write my name on a voodoo doll and curse me for wasting your $20, but this isn't a purchase that would cause you to miss your rent, which is frankly, what a LOT of purchases in this hobby do to me, sadly.

I really haven't been active in this hobby for a few years. Just look at my gear, I haven't had any new significant purchases in five years (other than the PP8). The fact that I am willing to come back in here, create a new product page so that I can write a review for these, without getting anything in return, tells you how happy I am with these.

I am not sure if these would have the same impact as a set of professionally made custom IEM tips, or an actual custom IEM, because I never had those as I am cheap. Frankly, I am so happy with these Radians I have no desire to try them.

One thing to consider for you is, with the seal in place, the pressure may be uncomfortable for you and I read that with seals that are too tight, the pressure from the IEMs may damage your hearing, but I personally feel no additional pressure with these custom tips. I am not sure how these would work with IEMs with the APEX modules or something similar as I do not have IEMs like those.

Hope you have as much success as I did with these. Best $20 .... well .... $40 I ever spent.

Things To Look Out For
  • Open your mouth while molding the earplugs. I bit into a a small box to keep my mouth open at a constant width for the 10 minute duration. The box was about an inch and a half thick.
  • Do not remold over and over during the 10 minute period. Mold it in your ear, stick in the IEM, remold it to make sure the putty wraps nicely around the IEM nozzle area, and leave it alone.
  • Leave them to sit overnight or longer after the initial 10-minute molding time to cure properly. They recommend 10 hours, I left them for a day, with my IEMs in place.
  • You only really need to use 1/2, maybe even 1/3 of the kit for a pair of tips, because the volume of the IEMs took out a large amount of volume in the ear plugs. You can make two or three pairs, either as spares or if you have multiple IEMs.
  • REMEMBER TO TAPE UP YOUR IEM NOZZLES. Otherwise, the putty could get into the nozzles and ruin your beloved IEMs. Also be careful how to tape up the nozzles. Too little tape and it would be useless, the tape being too loose and it would shift while you are pressing the IEMs down, too much tape and you can affect how well the eartips will stay on the nozzle afterwards.
  • Press hard on the putty in your ears and press hard on the IEMs to create that IEM imprint. The instructions says don't press too hard, but I find that without pressing too hard, the fit isn't ideal. Yes, I risked my hearing for a $20 eartip, but I am not deaf yet.
  • Remold the putty after you pressed the IEM in such that the IEM nozzle area will be perfectly molded. Creates a better seal, and they don't fall off afterwards.
  • Some people use a drill to drill the holes, I use an X-acto knife. I find that the drill rips the foam around the hole. The X-acto knife leaves a, well, exact, cut.
  • Remember to clean your ears prior to molding, you don't want ear wax sticking all over your ear tips, and you definitely do not want ear wax molds on your eartips.
  • Notice I left the tail end piece in. I find it creates a better seal, the downside is sometimes when I don't put in the IEM perfectly, that tail end piece folds up and blocks the nozzle, muting the sound. I thought I killed my earpiece a few times but after the initial heart-attack, figured out it was just me not putting the earpiece in properly.

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Comments

hecrews

Head-Fier
Going to give it a try. Any best practices you can pass along for fitting / molding you learned on your first set? Thanks
 

ambchang

500+ Head-Fier
Check the things to look out for section. The process is easy, I searched the web for a few tutorials as well. I forgot the links but I had a few articles with step by steps that’s pretty easy to follow. Overall these are pretty easy to make.

Remember you don’t need the entire kit to make a pair of tips, so use only half the kit the first time, and leave half the kit if you need the second pair. You’d have figured out what else to do after the first try.
 
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