[kenman345]

Yea, shelf life seems annoyingly short.
 
My overall interaction was rather short lived. I have kept a close eye on them for over a half year now, but never ordered something. They are usually known for their great build quality. The fear of a bad impression didn't happen with my first CIEM's. I had a perfect fit and ordered a second pair of a different model from the same company. Aurisonics scans in the impressions and then using methods similar to rapid prototyping, print out the impressions to use as the shell. It's an unfortunate thing though that any company using a different process will eventually have issues with their methods. with the company I went with for CIEM's, its a matter of getting good impressions made. With most other companies though there are a lot more variables and it's not entirely up to your control. I am really surprised their lack of concern though, they pride themselves on craftsmanship and even an insincere generic email sounds like it would've been better than how you were treated. I would've gone for regular tips after the first tip broke. 
Quote:

Yeah, that was the other part that frustrated me: If I'd been told, 'Not only will vinyl tips be more expensive, but you'll essentially be buying something with a shelf life of ~ year,' I obviously wouldn't have gone with that choice, but the way it was presented was that the vinyl tip was more comfortable -- which is why it cost more. I guess when the left ear ripped I should have put 2 and 2 together and sent them back in pronto, but I (naively) assumed that a company selling CIEM would let you know if regular use meant it wouldn't last. 
 
It's also a little bit frustrating that after sending them in, their first suggestion was that I pay $225 for new vinyl tips without any mention of the fact that if I got them again, I should expect the same thing to happen. 
 
Anyway, I'll keep people posted. I sent a very polite note yesterday saying I understood that I was no longer under warranty but I didn't think it unreasonable to think that they'd last more than 15 months. I didn't make any specific requests inre: whether I thought they should cover it, whether I thought we should split it, whether it should be pro-rated, whatever, but just left it at that and am waiting to hear back from them. So far, nothing. 
 
Also, kenman345, I'm curious about your interactions with 1964 overall. In general, I've found their customer service to be a bit lacking -- but perhaps more from lack of awareness than anything else. When they initially sent these to me and the fit was really pretty egregiously off, they didn't say they were sorry but just instructed me to go pay for another ear mold to be made. (They didn't even offer to cover the shipping on sending in that new mold.) Instead, I just paid the audiologist who made the mold to make some slight adjustments -- and they didn't offer to cover any of that either, or say they were sorry it ended up being a hassle -- they just said, essentially, good, glad it's fixed. It's not even that I think they should have covered that cost -- I haven't given it much thought one way or the other -- but it would have nice to have some acknowledgement on their part that their first attempt didn't work and that they were going to do whatever they could to make it right. 

 

[rroseperry]

If I remember a conversation that was going on when they came out with these tips, 1964-Ears said something about this being an experiment. I guess I wasn't surprised that they dropped the option fairly soon.

I think they give pretty good CS. I'm not sure that as a boutique operation they have more bandwidth to deal with customer requests like this, but it never hurts to ask.

 

[barihunk]

Quote:

If I remember a conversation that was going on when they came out with these tips, 1964-Ears said something about this being an experiment. I guess I wasn't surprised that they dropped the option fairly soon.
I think they give pretty good CS. I'm not sure that as a boutique operation they have more bandwidth to deal with customer requests like this, but it never hurts to ask.

 
That was the full silicone customs. They still offer the vinyl tips. 

 

[rroseperry]

^Oh, thanks for the clarification.

 

[hardtimes]

Out of curiosity, has anyone had both vinyl and the regular tips? Is there a big difference?

 

[hardtimes]

An update: Just got an email from Vitaliy, who said he could give me a $100 discount, which seems fair. (It's basically half off of what it'll cost to fix them, although i also need to get another impression, which'll add another $50 or so.) I asked him if he'd recommend I get hard tips instead of the soft vinyl tips -- I'll let folks know what he says in response. 
 
He also thought they showed more than normal use, which kind of surprised me, but I do listen to them between 7 and 10 hours a week, pretty much every week. Do folks consider that heavy use? 

 

[Fizz]

Quote:

An update: Just got an email from Vitaliy, who said he could give me a $100 discount, which seems fair. (It's basically half off of what it'll cost to fix them, although i also need to get another impression, which'll add another $50 or so.) I asked him if he'd recommend I get hard tips instead of the soft vinyl tips -- I'll let folks know what he says in response. 
 
He also thought they showed more than normal use, which kind of surprised me, but I do listen to them between 7 and 10 hours a week, pretty much every week. Do folks consider that heavy use? 

You monster.
The amount of time doesn't seem that egregious.
Honestly the acrylic are probably your better bet. With a good impression they'll isolate and fit comfortably.

 

[doublea71]

Quote:

You monster.
The amount of time doesn't seem that egregious.
Honestly the acrylic are probably your better bet. With a good impression they'll isolate and fit comfortably.

I agree with Fizz. Get the full acrylics; the "fool me once,..." axiom applies here.

 

[Defiant00]

Quote:

An update: Just got an email from Vitaliy, who said he could give me a $100 discount, which seems fair. (It's basically half off of what it'll cost to fix them, although i also need to get another impression, which'll add another $50 or so.) I asked him if he'd recommend I get hard tips instead of the soft vinyl tips -- I'll let folks know what he says in response. 
 
He also thought they showed more than normal use, which kind of surprised me, but I do listen to them between 7 and 10 hours a week, pretty much every week. Do folks consider that heavy use? 

 
That doesn't sound like much use at all to me; if I had customs I'd probably listen that much every couple days.

 

[barihunk]

Quote:

An update: Just got an email from Vitaliy, who said he could give me a $100 discount, which seems fair. (It's basically half off of what it'll cost to fix them, although i also need to get another impression, which'll add another $50 or so.) I asked him if he'd recommend I get hard tips instead of the soft vinyl tips -- I'll let folks know what he says in response. 
 
He also thought they showed more than normal use, which kind of surprised me, but I do listen to them between 7 and 10 hours a week, pretty much every week. Do folks consider that heavy use? 

 
Nice - I should have pressed my case further with them. Keep us posted!

 

[project86]

I don't think that amount of use is abnormal, though every set of ears is different and some will cause more "wear per hour" than others if that makes sense. Not saying you have filthy, wax encrusted ears, but a slight difference in that area could matter in this case. Also some ears have an angle where customs are really hard to insert/remove, putting stress on the vinyl section, while others are a more straightforward "insert and twist". Not saying I agree or disagree with Vitaliy, just pointing out the possibilities.
 
Also, I notice that the 1964 Ears crew is going to be showing at RMAF this weekend. So I would expect a delay in communications and even builds due to that. That goes with quite a few other companies around here too. 

 

[briankeeeem]

So I've been lurking this thread for about a good month now and I just sent in my ear impressions to 1964 Ears yesterday.

Interesting about the vinyl tips. I'm not too surprised at all however. I suspected that the vinyl tips wouldn't last very long considering the nature of the things and the constant stress of inserting them and taking them out. Maybe if they were full vinyl or full silicone they would've lasted longer, as the point where the vinyl meets the acrylic creates major stress point. Hope everything turns out well for you though!
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by project86 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Also, I notice that the 1964 Ears crew is going to be showing at RMAF this weekend. So I would expect a delay in communications and even builds due to that. That goes with quite a few other companies around here too. 

Totally forgot about this. So I guess the wait just went from 2-3 weeks to 3-5 weeks? Oh Lord, help me to have patience.

 

[project86]

Quote:

Totally forgot about this. So I guess the wait just went from 2-3 weeks to 3-5 weeks? Oh Lord, help me to have patience.

 
It's just something to think about. Maybe it is just Vitaliy and 1 or 2 others heading to the show, and the rest of them are still in the lab working. I don't know. But it will certainly slow down email communications if nothing else. 

 

[briankeeeem]

Quote:

 
It's just something to think about. Maybe it is just Vitaliy and 1 or 2 others heading to the show, and the rest of them are still in the lab working. I don't know. But it will certainly slow down email communications if nothing else. 

 
Hmm, well I sent them an email about a few days back about seeing if the artwork on mine qualifies as simple artwork and I still haven't gotten a reply. Let's just hope they see it before they start working on my pair of ears :O

 

[digi7]

Subscribed! If anyone got a chance to demo the V6's at CanJam could you please post your impressions of them? Thanks!