[iamdone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lindrone Obviously, the same audiologist here.. so the same methodology worked perfectly. She works only with IEM's and musician's equipment, so she knows what she's talking about. The other audiologist that UE referred me to before had me open the mouth the whole time, the impressions turned out horrible in comparison. Edit: further clarification, the silicone was about half-way inserted before she asked me to open my mouth.. so it's a combination process of injecting & opening... not that everything was done injecting and then you open your mouth.

Yeah, that is more accurate. She just didn't want my mouth open when starting and then told me exactly when to open. You then leave it open long enough to dry, which I can't quite remember. I think on the remold I kept my mouth open longer than I need to but it doesn't hurt the process. Basically once both molds are in your ears and hardened, this is how the headphones will feel.

 

[Zoide]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iamdone Sorry, but you might have a problem. The headphones feel exactly the same as the molds. The first left mold was a little lose and so was the driver. The remold was snug and comfortable and so was the driver. I guess it's wait and see. The process of opening and closing sound about right. You open after the silcon is injected.

ARRRGGG.... then I'm pretty sure I'll need a remold...

The right mold definitely felt like it had loosened a bit. I'll give the audiologist a call and see what she has to say.

 

[Jahn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ipodstudio Easy gorman, it was just a little light humour to relieve the intensity of this discussion. As they say in the US: "It's all good!"

I was once at a lounge and some drunk guy woke up from a stupor and decided to bum rush me. well after being restrained by my crew (in a humane way) i tried to calm him down by saying that line - "It's all good!"

He responded...

IT'S.

NOT.

ALL.

GOOD.

Yowza. Six years later and I can still remember the rage and the ridiculousness of that statement.

 

[iamdone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zoide ARRRGGG.... then I'm pretty sure I'll need a remold... The right mold definitely felt like it had loosened a bit. I'll give the audiologist a call and see what she has to say.

You have to go back to her when they come in, right. Or did you have it shipped directly to you? I'd say don't panic, try them on when they come in and see how they fit. If there really is a problem, you get the new molds done right there and back off they go. Who knows, maybe it's nothing to worry about.

 

[Zoide]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iamdone You have to go back to her when they come in, right. Or did you have it shipped directly to you? I'd say don't panic, try them on when they come in and see how they fit. If there really is a problem, you get the new molds done right there and back off they go. Who knows, maybe it's nothing to worry about.

Thanks for your advice

As an update, I just spoke with Lisa, and she said that what I've described is pretty normal. ie. The mold retreating a little from the depths of the canal as it hardens is normal.

Now, just in case, do the remolds take as long in the lab as the first time you get the canalphones made?

 

[toaster]

back from the dead...

well zoide, congrats on getting the sensas. i was a little surprised to see you say the universal 2X's were "nothing to write home about," cause you can bet your ass the final product is. i never heard the universal fitting sensas, so maybe the fit does affect the sound quality more than just a little bit.

anyway, i don't think you should feel frustrated just yet. it's likely the audiologist would have mentioned something to you or seen a problem with the molds when she took them out of your ears. the molds do NOT fit exactly the same as the earphones do at least one way that i know for sure:

they do not go into the ear nearly as deep as the silicone injections do during molding.

so, know that sensaphonics will do the best they can to shape the earphone properly for your impression.

hopefully there won't be an issue, but if there is, sensaphonics will cover you.

just give it a chance first before you get upset.

 

[Zoide]

thanks toaster...

And about the universal fitting ones, also remember that I mentioned that the source was far from ideal, or at the very least different from what I'm used to.

Also, I only listened to about 5 minutes or less of music that I don't particularly know very well and that might not have been very well recorded to begin with.

I was pretty excited about the whole situation and had the look of the audiologist near me, so I got anxious and didn't really do a rigorous evaluation of the universal phones. So please don't regard my comments on that as gospel

When I get the custom-fit ones, then you can

j/k

 

[toaster]

when i went home for break a couple of weeks ago (the same time i got my right ear remolded,) i tried my sensaphonics on my family's home system. I put in some cd's and checked out the sound. It sounded absolutely horrible.

the main purpose of this system my family has is to enhance tv-watching. it's a relatively inexpensive, get-the-job-done, standard-level consumer systems. we bought it a while ago, and my family actually doesn't use it that much, but it gets its job done. in other words, the thing's not exactly a piece of hi-fi audio equipment.

after listening to a bunch of the original cd's i had used to rip lower-quality versions of the mp3's for my ipod on this system, i can safely say that in every instance i preferred listening to the the 320kbps version of the song i had ripped to my ipod, as opposed to hearing the cd out of this system's headphone jack.

now, of course there are a bunch of reasons for this: the fact that it was a non-audiophile source and that it was right out of the god-awful standard headphone output. i realized then, how much a poor source could affect one's interpretation of a headphone, even the sensaphonics; just cause it can sound so good does not mean that it always will. so i guess, thinking back to that expereince, i can understand how you could say what you did about the universal sensas not knocking your socks off zoide - plus they were the universal model.

after this experience, i also came to have a greater appreciation for the sound output of the ipod, especially the 4'th gen. it's really pretty damn good. it's very balanced in its presentation of nearly all frequencies across the spectrum and it creates a very even soundstage with lots of power and detail. i mean, it's obvious some minor improvements can be made to the sound. i am sure adding an hr-2 would create a slightly more impactful and consitent deep bass (which is, to tell you the truth, kind of scary considering what i hear out of my ipod already) and more significantly, widen the soundstage and just "open everything up" a tad more.

in the end, these sonic changes i would expect to receive with a nice headphone amp and a higher quality source, would all be very minor improvements, as there isn't that much better sound i think my ears could notice, compared to what is reproduced on the ipod/sensaphonics combination - a worthy audiophile's portable indeed.

 

[Zoide]

toaster22:

Phew! I was still a bit worried about my universal fit 2X first impressions, but your post has eased my worries. To be honest, I'd also say that they sounded pretty horrible out of the audiologist's receiver...

It's just that I wanted to be more cautious of saying that b/c the listening situation itself wasn't ideal, and I didn't want to seem like I had a radical idea from a tiny listening session.

 

[ayn]

When I first got my 2X-S I plugged them into my Panasonic HTIB system, and it sounded quite good, and the entire system costs less than the 2X-S. I'm pretty happy with the 4g ipod, but I still get the high pitch HDD noise, it gets kindda anonying at times... I use AL exclusively so I hear that in the middle of a track all the time. I also ran out of space on mine, hopefully the 60gb version will be out soon.

--Andrew

 

[Zoide]

I thought the iPod noises could be prevented by putting some tape on the headphone jack so that the headphone plug doesn't touch the metal body of the player?

 

[toaster]

no problem zoide.

ayn, that's a shame that you're getting that noise with your ipod. it must be frustrating for anything to detract from the incredible experience that is the ipod/sensaphonics combination.

i am really glad i do not have that problem or any other problem with my 4'th gen ipod. i had so many (never-ending, really) problems with my second gen ipod, that it is pleasant to have a working product this time around.

 

[iamdone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zoide toaster22: Phew! I was still a bit worried about my universal fit 2X first impressions, but your post has eased my worries. To be honest, I'd also say that they sounded pretty horrible out of the audiologist's receiver... It's just that I wanted to be more cautious of saying that b/c the listening situation itself wasn't ideal, and I didn't want to seem like I had a radical idea from a tiny listening session.

I don't remember what kind of receiver the audiologist had, but she was embarrassed by it. It was definately a low quality system.

When you go back with your portable player, give the universal model another try. I thought it gave me a good example of what to expect. The real one has better highs and clearer lows. Also don't fully judge them until you try them to your home system. With the PPA, I found the opa637 works best.


Sorry for getting you worried about the fit. I think mine was just an exception.

 

[Zoide]

No problems

I'm much less worried now after reading the last few posts

 

[toaster]

just picked up the remolded sensas...they're perfect.

both sides now slide into my ears in equal time, with an equal amount of effortlessness. both sides now, are basically "unfeelable" in my ears. having the left and the right side (as opposed to just the left side before the remold) fit right, really elevates the experience with these things to perfection, whereas before the remold it was merely close to it.

this is how it's supposed to be.

if your custom-molded iem's do not fit perfectly, then remold them. it does not make sense to settle for anything less than perfection.

if you think your custom molded iems can fit better, they probably can.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

with the new perfect fit, the sensas really do create a unique experience for me while listening to my music. with all the other phones i have ever had, it's usually possible to describe their sound by describing the things the phones do well, and the things they do not so well. (eg. good bass but harsh highs/not that comfortable, but provide good sound so it's bearable/smooth midrange, but bloated bass...) i do not feel that the sensas are best explained in this fashion; they are the first phones i've had that just sound like real music. they do not really have good or bad sound characteristics, they just sound real. and, with the perfect fit, there is nothing that inhibits the experience from sheer perfection. it's like i have a new detachable appendage, whose sole purpose is to allow me to experience live music anytime, anywhere.

thanks sensaphonics.