Been listening more to my new earbuds, and while I find both sound good I begin to think about DRIVERS FLEX....what does it mean exactly?
IS it about rattling noise create by drivers in some strange way like at high volume?
I encounter this in left earbud of Moondrop Nameless and it kind of depress me Don't know what it is or if its just because they can't deal with volume I listen too...wich even cheap earbuds can deal with without creating distortion.
This is some QC issue on Nameless (I think), membrane is probably dislodged slightly. This is a very common issue with EMX500, people call it "rattling" - not distortion. If it were distortion you'd hear it on both sides plus rattling just happens all of a sudden and is very loud while distortion creeps up as you increase volume.
Driver flex happens when there is way too much air pressure on the driver's membrane and it literally moves the membrane from the resting position, creating a tin foil crackling sound. This happens with certain IEMs if you insert them quickly or take them out, can also happen with same IEMs if you get a very good seal and slightly move IEMs while they are in your ear (this second part never happened to me and I wouldn't be able to live with that). Driver flex is said to be generally safe and I haven't seen anyone damaging a membrane because of the flex. This usually only happens with IEMs that don't have a front vent - for example iBasso's IT01 although considered one of the best IEMs around 100$ has a driver flex (and it even has a small front vent), my RT-1 has driver flex, Sony MH1c has it - all of these sound amazing and build quality is overall superb on all of them (not owner of IT01). Heck, a few people had driver flex with Sennheiser ie800 which has an elaborate venting mechanism around which the whole IEM was designed.
I also experience driver flex with earbuds if worn without foams and pushed in the canal creating a seal - this only happens when pressed not when normally worn.
And finally: If this issue with Nameless is making them useless for you and you are willing to try something, first attempt should be this: Just opening front cover and closing it again, simple as that.
This isn't a guaranteed fix. What you do is try to separate front plastic cover from metal body - it is glued to one another plus there is friction (you won't need glue to close them back). Be careful, you mustn't just yank them apart as the driver in the front plastic cover might not be glued enough and it might want to come out - if you are not careful, the membrane of the driver could potentially remain in the front cover while the rest of driver is coming out and result in damaged coil wires. Here is my EMX500 opened + driver removed, Nameless should look similar inside. It might be impossible to open them up with just hands, I used a knife to kinda poke into the seam and slowly worked my way around until it could be opened with hands/nails.
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