[nc8000]

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldschool /img/forum/go_quote.gif Btw, the triflanges are still my choice for eartip for the Ety's, though I haven't tried the black olives and comply's.

I can't use triflanges at all, they really hurt my ears, and cutting the small flange of to make them biflanges wierds the sound out. My preference is clearly the medium black olive, I can use them for many hours on end (max I have used I think is 6-7 hours in one stretch) with no comfort problem at all and they sound great to me, even greater with this simple mod.

 

[oldschool]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nc8000 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I can't use triflanges at all, they really hurt my ears, and cutting the small flange of to make them biflanges wierds the sound out. My preference is clearly the medium black olive, I can use them for many hours on end (max I have used I think is 6-7 hours in one stretch) with no comfort problem at all and they sound great to me, even greater with this simple mod.

Maybe I should jump on the medium olives sometime, although I feel perfectly fine with the 3flanges once I learned how to insert them fast&easy.

 

[RASeymour]

I went from the grey foamies to Comply tips this winter (triflanges, even the baby blues just don't feel comfortable to me). Over the last few months I've been pulling them further and further out with results similar to Jan's.

However, I'm having a problem with positioning as the softer tips will squeeze close if the earphone cords are tugged down. I've fixed this with using a clip (which also helps with the microphonics). Any way to extend the more rigid inner tube?

 

[nc8000]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sayajin /img/forum/go_quote.gif Perhaps some pictures on this will be helpful

Here is a picture of the mod applied to my HF2 where it works equally well

 

[blacknile]

Hi Nc8000, I'd be interested to know how the HF2 compares to the Er4p soundwise. Do you notice significant differences? I'm trying to decide between HF5 and Er4p, your comments would be greatly appreciated..

 

[Sayajin]

hehe. this what I came up with yesterday.

 

[antonyfirst]

Ok guys. I noticed some stuff, which is the reason for I didn't want to start a thread before I was sure that the mod didn't have any drawbacks.
The tonality is pretty much good, but both with the triflanges and the Shure olive tips you add a treble peak, which I think is very narrow, bringing sibilance on random albums.
The spacer adds sibilance and sharpness, for example, in Television - Friction song, while it's not there without it. This lead me to rethink the usefulness of this mod, since it adds good aspects but also makes treble sick in few occasions. The Etys shine with Shpongle - Behind close eyelids, but treble starts to be painful with the spacer.

So I kept trying using other tips, especially complys. Long Comply tips suck, both with and without the spacer. Short Comply tipsare very good, both comfort and sound-wise, and don't show the same sibilance characteristic with the addition of the spacer.

Basically, the spacer makes the path that the soundwave follows inside the tip tube longer, thus conditioning the treble resonse and making that peak appear. This doesn't happen with short complys, because the sound tube is different and apparently shorter. The overall tip, though, is shorter as well and maybe some of the spatial improvement brought by the ring+olives might be lost. I'll have to keep listening to see if the Complys + ring combo adds any advantage over the Olives alone. I'll keep you updated, but some of you owning complys might experiment too, so we can merge our findings.

 

[nc8000]

Quote:

Originally Posted by blacknile /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi Nc8000, I'd be interested to know how the HF2 compares to the Er4p soundwise. Do you notice significant differences? I'm trying to decide between HF5 and Er4p, your comments would be greatly appreciated..

I haven't had a stock P for near to a year now so I can only compare by memory but I would say the difference is very small unless you are sitting down to do serious listening. While the Amazon offer at $100 was going for the HF5 I would say that the choice was a nobrainer. At $150 for the HF5 it gets a bit more complicated. The ER4-P is probably slightly better sq wise but the cable and profile of the HF5 is better.

 

[nc8000]

Quote:

Originally Posted by antonyfirst /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ok guys. I noticed some stuff, which is the reason for I didn't want to start a thread before I was sure that the mod didn't have any drawbacks. The tonality is pretty much good, but both with the triflanges and the Shure olive tips you add a treble peak, which I think is very narrow, bringing sibilance on random albums. The spacer adds sibilance and sharpness, for example, in Television - Friction song, while it's not there without it. This lead me to rethink the usefulness of this mod, since it adds good aspects but also makes treble sick in few occasions. The Etys shine with Shpongle - Behind close eyelids, but treble starts to be painful with the spacer. So I kept trying using other tips, especially complys. Long Comply tips suck, both with and without the spacer. Short Comply tipsare very good, both comfort and sound-wise, and don't show the same sibilance characteristic with the addition of the spacer. Basically, the spacer makes the path that the soundwave follows inside the tip tube longer, thus conditioning the treble resonse and making that peak appear. This doesn't happen with short complys, because the sound tube is different and apparently shorter. The overall tip, though, is shorter as well and maybe some of the spatial improvement brought by the ring+olives might be lost. I'll have to keep listening to see if the Complys + ring combo adds any advantage over the Olives alone. I'll keep you updated, but some of you owning complys might experiment too, so we can merge our findings.

Have you any idea as to at whar frequency this treble peak occours at ? I'm asking because I know I have a dip in hearing of near 25dB centered around a narrow frequency range in the treble (can't remember the frequency, would have to find the doctors report for that) which if this coinsides with your finding could be why I don't notice it.

 

[antonyfirst]

That's not very easy to detect: EQ experiments haven't been useful in taming it unless I take down a massive amount of dB's on specific frequencies, thus affecting a much wider range. I can do more experiments later. I think the peak is very narrow and shouldn't be over 3-6 dB overall. Being so narrow, it adds sibilance selectively to random tracks. There are songs which supposedly would kill me with a Denon D5000 or others (opeth - wreath, with all that cymbal abuse), while the ring+olives doesn't make it suffer. Others, like said "Friction" by Television or other stuff (some Shpongle, Shulman, Steven Ridgway) have increased sharpness. If I have to bet, I'd say it's around 9kHz or even over it. There is not much brashness, but the sharpness cuts through and slips away without pain, but very distractingly so... which brings me to rule out the usual 5-7kHz related peaks, which are much more painful and grate. It's possible that the reason you don't hear much sibilance is due to two combined effects: first, it's very selective with this mod. Second, by having a dip at a treble region full of information (I believe you told me it was 6kHz, months ago), much treble strength is already taken away, even when having a peak over the dip range: the upper you go with treble, the less information is carried by those frequencies.

 

[antonyfirst]

Also, keep in mind that treble hearing gets worse with the years, so people over 40 won't have the minor (but noticeable) issues I am having with the Olives + ring combo. If one doesn't get any sibilance, I'd say go for this mod because it adds some very good and welcome spatiality.

 

[nc8000]

Found the doctors report and it is the 4-8 kHz range that is affected with the main loss at 25dB around 6 kHz. Also I have a dip of 5 dB around 250 Hz but only on the left ear. And being 46 I'm in the "ancient" group

The problem however was easily detected for me on many tracks with the Gliders.

 

[antonyfirst]

Yes, with the Gliders treble rapes people's ears.

Question: where can I purchase that kind of "pink" looking foam tips? I think they are complys, but discontinued.

 

[nc8000]

Are you refering to the one set of pinkish I included when you bought the ER4 ?
They where short pink complys ordered from White noise ear plugs and ear phones! but they don't seem to do them any more and also they stop carrying short complys in general when there current stock is depleted leaving only standard and slim. I have one set left of them but prefer the black olives.

 

[CENTRAL]

May I ask whether the Gliders supposed to enter the ear canal, or not?

They look like emulating a shallow insertion.