[Pet]

This evening I arrived home from a week walking in the Scottish highlands with a friend (which was amazing) and was looking around for my Shure SE215s to listen to a bit of music. I couldn't find them where I thought I'd left them. A vague feeling of dread in the bottom of my stomach, and I thought, 'Surely they haven't been in my rucksack all week?' 
 
Unfortunately they had, and that rucksack was not waterproof, and it was raining pretty much constantly all week, with temperatures fluctuating a lot as we went up and down hills. This is the result:
 

 
Close up:
 

 
 
As you can see, the cable has gone from the green colour it was previously to a rather strange pale, milky white. The foam tips were soaked through, and the rubber-ish tube in one of the tips was cracked, I presume from repeated cooling and heating.
 
I figured that because the tips of the SE215 are so narrow the insides surely couldn't have got that wet, so rather than drying them off, I popped on some new tips and plugged them straight in to my source - something I now realise was a pretty stupid thing to do. I immediately noticed that the left side was working but the right side was not. I wiggled the part where the cable connects to the right earphone and tried removing and re-attaching the cable to the right earphone but to no avail. I have now removed both earphones from the cable and put them in a bag of rice on top of the radiator, which is probably the first thing I should have done.
 
A brief look at the connectors between the earphones and cables suggests there might be a bit of corrosion there - should I try cleaning it, and if so, what with? The connector looks quite delicate, and things I've read about it bending and becoming loose seem to back that up. Is it likely that this will help, or more likely that there was water in the driver and I've completely busted it by plugging it in without letting it dry out? 
 
I've had these for four years and they're my first and only set of IEMs so I'm quite attached to them, but maybe it's time to move onto something new (or a new pair of SE215s)!

 

[smy1]

contact shure. i heard they have pretty good customer service

 

[Pet]

As I said, I've had them for four years now, do you really think they'll be able to do something for me?

 

[smy1]

As I said, I've had them for four years now, do you really think they'll be able to do something for me?

you can get them repaired by them but not sure how much it will cost

 

[Pet]

Took them out of the rice today and the cable had returned to looking like normal and both sides were working, but I thought I could hear a bit less bass response in the right one than the left. I've been using them all evening, and just took them out of my ears, and suddenly realised the right earphone was full of condensation:
 

 
I've put that one back in the rice now and will probably leave it there for a few days. I took the foam tip off this time, hopefully to make it easier for water to escape. Anything else I can do about this?

 

[Armaegis]

If you have any silica packets, you can try putting them in a bag with those. Or rock salt.

 

[Pet]

If you have any silica packets, you can try putting them in a bag with those. Or rock salt.

Unfortunately I don't have either of those lying around, but I can look into getting some. Thanks!

 

[smy1]

  If you have any silica packets, you can try putting them in a bag with those. Or rock salt.

there is a old trick for phones if they have water in them and if you put bag of rice it would work.

 

[Pet]

  there is a old trick for phones if they have water in them and if you put bag of rice it would work.

Yep, as I said, I was using that trick to try and dry them out.
 
After a couple of days in rice the condensation inside the right earphone is still the same. I'm thinking it's trapped in there behind the diaphragm and doesn't really have any way of getting out.
 
They sound fine and are currently my only pair of ear or headphones so I'm going to carry on using them. I'm looking into upgrading to a pair of CIEMs in a couple of months anyway. I'm thinking the Custom Art Music One, having read good things about it.

 

[Armaegis]

  After a couple of days in rice the condensation inside the right earphone is still the same. I'm thinking it's trapped in there behind the diaphragm and doesn't really have any way of getting out.

 
At this point I think you'll need a more aggressive dessicant than rice. See if your local home hardware store carries any. Search for dessicant or dehumidifier, or even rock salt. Actually epsom salt would be better (and you can further dry the salt in an oven before using it)

 

[F4R3W3LL]

I'm thinking about CIEM's as well, so come back with your experiences