jSatch
500+ Head-Fier
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- Dec 30, 2005
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This thread is a follow-up from another thread “Make Your Own Shure and UM2 Foamies!” started by noorudeenshakur.
Because the original thread had branched out well beyond Shure and UM2 foamies, there may be many Head-Fi’ers that have missed this interesting DIY project. I am hoping here to start a new thread for a wider audience; perhaps participants can join in with their particular phones and construction tips. I am using the Altec iM716 phones here, but I hope we can get feedback on Shures, Etymotics (should be comparable to Altecs tubes), Westone UMs, UE Super.Fis, etc. It would be interesting to see if this method is also applicable to ear canal phones like the Senn CX300, Creative EP630, Sony EX series, etc.
The basic concept put forth by noorudeenshakur was that foam ear tips are fundamentally earplugs with a hole in them for ‘audio’ tubing to bind the foam tip with the phone, and for sound passage. The thread then went on to explore homemade foam ear tips.
Although the original thread was an effort to DIY to save money on tips, an important outcome of this project, at least for me, was the ability to try many earplugs to see which fit my ear canal the best.
Supplies:
Earplugs: Please take a look at the Ear Plug Store. The link to this store is at the top of this page under Head-Fi Sponsers. This store will sell from single pairs to thousands of pairs of earplugs. The advantage here is that you can try many different flavors to see which you like best before proceeding to buy a bunch of your favorite.
I’ve been experimenting with 3 earplugs: (1) E-A-R Classics, the yellow ones that look similar to the Large Ety ER4 tips; (2) Hearos super soft, thought to be similar to the Westone Comply tips; and (3) the 3m 1100s, which to me appear similar to the picture of the ETY ER6i medium size foam tips.
Tubing: As per dvallere, from the aforementioned thread, try aquarium tubing from a pet store. Other options include hardware stores or laboratory supply stores (Fisher, VWR, etc). Best bet, just use the tubing from your worn out tips. The latter is especially true if you have dual driver IEMs.
Construction:
Making the hole: Not as easy as it sounds. These things are very soft, it’s not like drilling wood. Noorudeenshakur and others have used hole punchers (please refer to that thread for details and links). Some, including myself, have tried simply compressing the earplug into a coin-like size and drilling. I found this method did not give the best results. Maybe others fared better with hole punchers. In fact, the very soft Hearos plugs never retained their original shape and ended up looking like a piece of Juicy Fruit gum on a tube using the flatten and drill method. I believe noorudeenshakur also preferred the E-A-R Classics (stiff PVC) to the urethane, tapered plugs possibly because of undue compression on the soft urethane with his hole punching method. One could also employ a red-hot poker and push it through, but I’ll leave that for another day.
I would recomend the excellent advice of Sugarfried (from the Shure company- how cool is that!!) from the original thread, and freeze the plugs. Pretty simple- squeeze the air out of the plugs, throw them in water until they expand, then toss them into the freezer. Even the contoured tips of the soft urethane Hearos and the 3M 1100s were easy to work with like this. In a rigid, frozen state they are also easier to cut shorter, if you wish. Thank you Sugarfried!!! But please wear gloves, in case you slip.
Tubing: Always cut the final tubing so it will be shorter than the earplug. You don’t want the tube to scratch your ear canal. This could not only be irratating, but could also make it prone to infection.
To insert the tube, place it over the shaft of an appropriately sized jewelers screwdriver and twist it through the plug. I placed a longer piece into the plug while it was still frozen, that is a piece that was long enough to stick out on both sides of the plug. I pulled it out and cut it shorter later, after the plug dried. It just seemed easier to insert the tube the first time with a frozen plug- no compression as opposed to trying to jam the tube/screwdriver through a non-frozen plug.
UPDATE: Many people find the most difficult part of this DIY procedure is getting the tubing. Of course, the tubing from your old foamies can be scavenged from that set and used here.
Gluing: After they dried I tried gluing the tubes into the E-A-R Classics using Crazy Glue. Bad idea. The glue dried out and ruined the foam as well as the elasticity of the tube. I would recommend cutting a smaller, tighter hole and nixing the glue. Perhaps someone can recommend another glue that works well here. Perhaps I applied too much.
The Sound: This , of course is the critical part. The E-A-R Classics sound remarkably similar to the supplied, stock foamies of my Altec iM716s (Etymotic clones). So far, so good.
Different from the coarse, open cell PVC foam of the E-A-R Classics are the smoother, less stiff urethane derivatives. The Hearos are very soft and the most comfy. But these were just too small for my large ear canals. The 3M 1100s are denser than the Hearos, and a slightly wider diameter that I needed. Importantly, the bass and fundamentals really came out with these. They were, to my ears, better than the PVC foamies and the silicon flange tips. The urethane may also have a longer compression / expansion lifetime as it appears to be a denser and less open cell structure (smoother too) than the PVC ear plugs. But then, this is just my experience with these. Your results may vary.
Anyway, I am happy to have tried this little experiment; it worked out well for me. But then, I kinda like DIY stuff. And this was pretty simple. If you are considering this solely to save money, let me say unless you go through these tips like toilet paper, a dollar a pop for a professionally finished tip is not a bad deal.
Looking forward to other comments for other models of phones.
(I'll have to post a photo at another time. Haven't figured out how to reduce the photo to the 25kb limit yet.)
Because the original thread had branched out well beyond Shure and UM2 foamies, there may be many Head-Fi’ers that have missed this interesting DIY project. I am hoping here to start a new thread for a wider audience; perhaps participants can join in with their particular phones and construction tips. I am using the Altec iM716 phones here, but I hope we can get feedback on Shures, Etymotics (should be comparable to Altecs tubes), Westone UMs, UE Super.Fis, etc. It would be interesting to see if this method is also applicable to ear canal phones like the Senn CX300, Creative EP630, Sony EX series, etc.
The basic concept put forth by noorudeenshakur was that foam ear tips are fundamentally earplugs with a hole in them for ‘audio’ tubing to bind the foam tip with the phone, and for sound passage. The thread then went on to explore homemade foam ear tips.
Although the original thread was an effort to DIY to save money on tips, an important outcome of this project, at least for me, was the ability to try many earplugs to see which fit my ear canal the best.
Supplies:
Earplugs: Please take a look at the Ear Plug Store. The link to this store is at the top of this page under Head-Fi Sponsers. This store will sell from single pairs to thousands of pairs of earplugs. The advantage here is that you can try many different flavors to see which you like best before proceeding to buy a bunch of your favorite.
I’ve been experimenting with 3 earplugs: (1) E-A-R Classics, the yellow ones that look similar to the Large Ety ER4 tips; (2) Hearos super soft, thought to be similar to the Westone Comply tips; and (3) the 3m 1100s, which to me appear similar to the picture of the ETY ER6i medium size foam tips.
Tubing: As per dvallere, from the aforementioned thread, try aquarium tubing from a pet store. Other options include hardware stores or laboratory supply stores (Fisher, VWR, etc). Best bet, just use the tubing from your worn out tips. The latter is especially true if you have dual driver IEMs.
Construction:
Making the hole: Not as easy as it sounds. These things are very soft, it’s not like drilling wood. Noorudeenshakur and others have used hole punchers (please refer to that thread for details and links). Some, including myself, have tried simply compressing the earplug into a coin-like size and drilling. I found this method did not give the best results. Maybe others fared better with hole punchers. In fact, the very soft Hearos plugs never retained their original shape and ended up looking like a piece of Juicy Fruit gum on a tube using the flatten and drill method. I believe noorudeenshakur also preferred the E-A-R Classics (stiff PVC) to the urethane, tapered plugs possibly because of undue compression on the soft urethane with his hole punching method. One could also employ a red-hot poker and push it through, but I’ll leave that for another day.
I would recomend the excellent advice of Sugarfried (from the Shure company- how cool is that!!) from the original thread, and freeze the plugs. Pretty simple- squeeze the air out of the plugs, throw them in water until they expand, then toss them into the freezer. Even the contoured tips of the soft urethane Hearos and the 3M 1100s were easy to work with like this. In a rigid, frozen state they are also easier to cut shorter, if you wish. Thank you Sugarfried!!! But please wear gloves, in case you slip.
Tubing: Always cut the final tubing so it will be shorter than the earplug. You don’t want the tube to scratch your ear canal. This could not only be irratating, but could also make it prone to infection.
To insert the tube, place it over the shaft of an appropriately sized jewelers screwdriver and twist it through the plug. I placed a longer piece into the plug while it was still frozen, that is a piece that was long enough to stick out on both sides of the plug. I pulled it out and cut it shorter later, after the plug dried. It just seemed easier to insert the tube the first time with a frozen plug- no compression as opposed to trying to jam the tube/screwdriver through a non-frozen plug.
UPDATE: Many people find the most difficult part of this DIY procedure is getting the tubing. Of course, the tubing from your old foamies can be scavenged from that set and used here.
Gluing: After they dried I tried gluing the tubes into the E-A-R Classics using Crazy Glue. Bad idea. The glue dried out and ruined the foam as well as the elasticity of the tube. I would recommend cutting a smaller, tighter hole and nixing the glue. Perhaps someone can recommend another glue that works well here. Perhaps I applied too much.
The Sound: This , of course is the critical part. The E-A-R Classics sound remarkably similar to the supplied, stock foamies of my Altec iM716s (Etymotic clones). So far, so good.
Different from the coarse, open cell PVC foam of the E-A-R Classics are the smoother, less stiff urethane derivatives. The Hearos are very soft and the most comfy. But these were just too small for my large ear canals. The 3M 1100s are denser than the Hearos, and a slightly wider diameter that I needed. Importantly, the bass and fundamentals really came out with these. They were, to my ears, better than the PVC foamies and the silicon flange tips. The urethane may also have a longer compression / expansion lifetime as it appears to be a denser and less open cell structure (smoother too) than the PVC ear plugs. But then, this is just my experience with these. Your results may vary.
Anyway, I am happy to have tried this little experiment; it worked out well for me. But then, I kinda like DIY stuff. And this was pretty simple. If you are considering this solely to save money, let me say unless you go through these tips like toilet paper, a dollar a pop for a professionally finished tip is not a bad deal.
Looking forward to other comments for other models of phones.
(I'll have to post a photo at another time. Haven't figured out how to reduce the photo to the 25kb limit yet.)
i...tured_Pictures
