[alchu]

I purchased an ipod mini and a pair of ER6i's for my fiancee for her birthday. Since she commutes on the NYC subways every morning and afternoon, I figured the ER6is would be a great way to save her ears... I've tried using my sr-80s in the subway before

... I'm sure that's a quick way to go deaf.

The issue I have with the ER6i's is the color. White earbuds in the NYC subways are a huge flag that says "mug me! mug me!" these days. Has anyone tried taking a sharpie to them to make them less conspicuous? Any other methods/suggestions? My fiancee isn't the type who needs to be chic with the color of her earbuds.

Thanks!

Allan

 

[JeffS]

I haven't tried it, but maybed vinyl dye would work. It does well for plastic
parts on computer cases. It soaks into the material, so it won't flake off.

just a thought.

let us know how things work out.

-Jeff

 

[JB.]

I think white looks far more inconspicuous, as people just assume that they are crappy stock iPod buds. Changing the color might just draw attention to them.

 

[Emon]

Hardly. No one will think, "Holy **** that guy has hi-fi canalphones! Lets mug 'em!!!" quite the opposite. If people think you have an iPod, it draws more attention. So white = attention.

 

[Possede]

I had a lot more people staring at me when I had my iPod stock buds in (When I had just sold my E2c's and E3c's and my E5c's were on order. God that was a hard time, trying to enjoy my music with the stock buds) than now when I wear my Shure E5c's. What about spray paint?

 

[alchu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JB. I think white looks far more inconspicuous, as people just assume that they are crappy stock iPod buds. Changing the color might just draw attention to them.

The crappy stock ipod buds are exactly what thieves are looking for. I'm looking to change the color of the canalphones because I don't want people to know she's listening to an ipod. They want the ipod, not the canalphones... JeffS, I'll take a look at the dye - thanks for the suggestion!

I feel like spraypaint will just flake off eventually...

 

[Emon]

Vinyl dye is the only way to go. You can easily dye the cable...vinyl dye is known to work on a wide range of plastics. ABS, acrylic, PVC, etc. And considering PVC is polyVINYL chloride, it works pretty damn well on it. And the ER-6i's insulation is no doubt some PVC formula.

As for the phones themselves, you can slide the rubbery silicone cover off (I did this accidentally a few days ago removing old foam tips). The ER-6 (and ER-6i) appear to have a plastic snap design for the housing. If you really wanted to, and were very careful, you could take them apart and dye the parts to whatever color you want. Probably not worth it, but you could do it. The right driver on my ER-6 sometimes cuts out if you pull the cord the right way, so I'm thinking about recabling them...when I accidentally exposed the driver housing, I realized it probably wouldn't be too hard with some really thin wire and a lot of patience.

Edit: Oh, I forgot to mention. Vinyl dye should be available at any decent auto store. Especially ones specializinig in body work, aesthetics, etc. They use it for dying vinyl interiors. You should be able to find it in an aerosol spray (like spraypaint) or in cans or bottles for painting it on (for vinyl interiors and such). Make sure it's a real vinyl DYE, not just a vinyl "color". I used some vinyl "color" on some PC components a while ago. It worked, but could still flake off. It seemed to be more like a vinyl based paint or something.

 

[alchu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emon Vinyl dye is the only way to go. You can easily dye the cable...vinyl dye is known to work on a wide range of plastics. ABS, acrylic, PVC, etc. And considering PVC is polyVINYL chloride, it works pretty damn well on it. And the ER-6i's insulation is no doubt some PVC formula.

Yes, I did some google searching on the stuff, seems like it's my best bet. I was planning on just doing the wire, but we'll see how adventurous I'll feel when it comes time to actually do it.

Thanks for the tip on looking for the 'dye' labeling. I need to go to Home Depot this weekend for a roof project so I'll try to pick it up there. Otherwise, I'll try the auto parts stores.

 

[JeffS]

Please post picks when you do the dye job. I've been wanting to do this for
a while, but didn't want to be the first one to take the plunge

-Jeff

 

[Emon]

I tried Home Depot and Lowes, they didn't even know what it was. They just pointed me to Krylon Fusion and other "paints for plastics" which are awesome paints for plastics, but not for dying anything flexible. But since you're going anyway, ask around for it. Just an FYI that they probably won't have it.

 

[OceanEnthusiast]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alchu I purchased an ipod mini and a pair of ER6i's for my fiancee for her birthday. Since she commutes on the NYC subways every morning and afternoon, I figured the ER6is would be a great way to save her ears... I've tried using my sr-80s in the subway before ... I'm sure that's a quick way to go deaf. The issue I have with the ER6i's is the color. White earbuds in the NYC subways are a huge flag that says "mug me! mug me!" these days. Has anyone tried taking a sharpie to them to make them less conspicuous? Any other methods/suggestions? My fiancee isn't the type who needs to be chic with the color of her earbuds. Thanks! Allan

send them back and get regular ER6's. they're black.

 

[BowerR64]

been there done that, what color you want?

 

[Emon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by OceanEnthusiast send them back and get regular ER6's. they're black.

Also slightly inferior...at least unamped. I've yet to try my ER-6 amped. I imagine it's something like ER-4P vs ER-4S, but not as extreme. The ER-6 are 48 ohms, the ER-6i are what, like 16 or 32 or something? I doubt there's very little difference in the drivers. Though the barrel size is different on the ER-6i...maybe part of that "enhanced bass response".

 

[stewtheking]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BowerR64 been there done that, what color you want?

Is that just tape?
That's a cool idea, then you can chop and change whenever you want!

Stew

 

[Ttvetjanu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BowerR64 been there done that, what color you want?

What tip is that?