[beraken]

     I think most of headfiers know the comply foam tips. I have been using it since I started to use some  IEMs, it offers great comfort and isolation which is most important aspect for IEM. 
     By starting this thread, I hope comply fans will write reviews and experience about the different series, such as TX series VS T series or P series, the newest TS series. From my personal perspective，the long P series is not as comfortable as TX and T because the backbone will make too much contact with the inner ear and for those who don't have much earwax, the TX is definitely not necessary. 
     Lastly, I really appreciate comply corporation for providing the most fantasitc IEM accessory to us!

 

[JxK]

To quote dfkt, since his posts are just so wonderfully blunt:
 
My opinion on the matter: Comply are unscrupulous gangsters that hold the patent on how to attach the tip's inner plastic tube to the foam surrounding them. Because of that patent they bullied all the competition off the market and can ask any extortionate price for their foam tips. With Comply it is more like you're renting your phones, not owning them. You pay $15 for three pair of foam tips, and they last maybe a week or two* per pair, before they get really ugly. This adds up pretty quickly. Especially with cheaper IEMs the price of the foamies will outweigh the price of the phones soon. It's just like the printer ink scam. Not to mention, for the same $15 you could get about a hundred drug store ear protectors, which are basically the same, just without holes.

[size=xx-small]*) Foam tips can be soaked in 3% hydrogen peroxide to clean them a few times, making them last longer.[/size]
 

 

[808FlyinHawyn]

Wow. Thats interesting,  is there a link in regards to the patent information? I  would be interested in learning more about these unscrupulous gangsters  . 
Quote:

To quote dfkt, since his posts are just so wonderfully blunt:
 
My opinion on the matter: Comply are unscrupulous gangsters that hold the patent on how to attach the tip's inner plastic tube to the foam surrounding them. Because of that patent they bullied all the competition off the market and can ask any extortionate price for their foam tips. With Comply it is more like you're renting your phones, not owning them. You pay $15 for three pair of foam tips, and they last maybe a week or two* per pair, before they get really ugly. This adds up pretty quickly. Especially with cheaper IEMs the price of the foamies will outweigh the price of the phones soon. It's just like the printer ink scam. Not to mention, for the same $15 you could get about a hundred drug store ear protectors, which are basically the same, just without holes.

[size=xx-small]*) Foam tips can be soaked in 3% hydrogen peroxide to clean them a few times, making them last longer.[/size]
 

 

 

[will13xo]

i received my 1st comply tips last week.  3 pair of (medium) tx-100's.for my soundmagic pl-50s. am pleasantly surprised how well they isolate. the bass seems more pronounced but not overpowering. they make me like pl-50s even more. sadly i dont see me using them more(outside) because they are too small to deter trivial conversations from random strangers. its shocking that more ppl dont know if a person is wearing big  headphones  at a club or music event heor she may not want to socialize.  i keep a set of koss behind head noise cancelling 'phones in the car,and even with the red light on.......
sorry about that. i hope i get more than a week out of each pair of complys. will clean with peroxide as needed. i've used the ear protectors on the koss sparkplugs years ago.

 

[AstroTurf]

To quote dfkt, since his posts are just so wonderfully blunt:

My opinion on the matter: Comply are unscrupulous gangsters that hold the patent on how to attach the tip's inner plastic tube to the foam surrounding them. Because of that patent they bullied all the competition off the market and can ask any extortionate price for their foam tips. With Comply it is more like you're renting your phones, not owning them. You pay $15 for three pair of foam tips, and they last maybe a week or two* per pair, before they get really ugly. This adds up pretty quickly. Especially with cheaper IEMs the price of the foamies will outweigh the price of the phones soon. It's just like the printer ink scam. Not to mention, for the same $15 you could get about a hundred drug store ear protectors, which are basically the same, just without holes.

*) Foam tips can be soaked in 3% hydrogen peroxide to clean them a few times, making them last longer.

Way to share someone else's opinion.?.

I love em. I also keep my ears clean, soes my Complys will last longer.

Jim

 

[FieldingMellish]

Comply isn't the devil. The thing with capitalism is that the product will die off if no one buys it. Just vote with your dollars if the product does not suit your usage or violate a sense of ethics.
 
Patents, and those benefitting from them, have been around for long. Many products out there are sold by manufacturers who hold a patent on its development. They ponied up the effort and money to develop it in the first place. They take a financial shot in the dark because nothing is a sure bet and can cost thousands to bring it to market. So they look to gain maximum benefit and protect that the product doesn't become a commodity with instant competitors copying the item. Sometimes, durability is curtailed to maintain sales. That blows, but again we have the ability to vote with our dollars. Something like shaving blades mystify me why they cost so much and they have been designed and manufactured so as to prevent the owner from sharpening them. 

 

[ProjectDenz]

Quote:

Comply isn't the devil. The thing with capitalism is that the product will die off if no one buys it. Just vote with your dollars if the product does not suit your usage or violate a sense of ethics.
 
Patents, and those benefitting from them, have been around for long. Many products out there are sold by manufacturers who hold a patent on its development. They ponied up the effort and money to develop it in the first place. They take a financial shot in the dark because nothing is a sure bet and can cost thousands to bring it to market. So they look to gain maximum benefit and protect that the product doesn't become a commodity with instant competitors copying the item. Sometimes, durability is curtailed to maintain sales. That blows, but again we have the ability to vote with our dollars. Something like shaving blades mystify me why they cost so much and they have been designed and manufactured so as to prevent the owner from sharpening them. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competition_law
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-competitive_practices

 

[FieldingMellish]

And your point is?

 

[ProjectDenz]

My point is Comply is using their market power in the foam tip market to price gauge consumers. Consumers who need foam tips and cannot use other types of tips have no other viable option, and hence are restricted to Comply and their shoddy, overinflated products.
 
Comply can go to hell for all I care, and besides, every Comply I have ever used screwed up the sound anyways....

 

[FieldingMellish]

Got it. Comply has a stranglehold on a necessity. You mean to say by posting those links that there are Comply users out there who are forced to buy Comply tips and Comply tips are the only alternative. 
 

 

[ProjectDenz]

Quote:

Got it. Comply has a stranglehold on a necessity. You mean to say by posting those links that there are Comply users out there who are forced to buy Comply tips and Comply tips are the only alternative. 
 

 
Do you know of any other foam tips providers that work with a wide range of iems?

 

[FieldingMellish]

No one is forced to use foam tips. I share a similar bent against LCD protectors,the thin bits of pliable plastic going for tens of dollars. Talk about overpriced. But again, no one is forcing me to buy it. If nobody buys, the price goes down, or they go out of business.

 

[ProjectDenz]

But some people who use iems need to use foam tips. Such an example is with the TF10 or Westones. Some people cannot achieve a proper fit without the Comply tips and so assuming they love the sound of these iems and don't want to sell them off then they are forced to buy the Comply foams.

 

[Focker]

Anyone who is going through a pair of Comply tips in a week needs to clean their damn ears. I use my Atrios all the time and have had the same 3pairs of comply tips that I bought a few months ago...
 
As for "having to buy Comply tips", when I bought my Atrios they sent me like eighty different types of tips...I just happen to prefer the Comply foams and I have no intention on changing this preference anytime soon. 

 

[FieldingMellish]

ProjectDenz, this Westone tips thread of around 140 posts worth has alternatives. Right off the bat, one person wrote that the Shure olives created an nice seal and sounded superior to Comply.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/391213/your-favorite-w3-tips
 
Here's a couple of TF10 tips threads:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/583297/seriously-tf10-owners-should-try-these-tips
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/583446/got-tf10s-what-tips-to-try
 
Here's a thread dedicated to how awful TF10 sound with Complys:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/542916/comply-tips-sound-awful-on-tf10
 
This thread describes how to surgically affix a Shure Olive to a comply tube for use with TF10:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/391859/shure-olive-mod-for-tf10
 
My feelings: IEM shouldn't present attributes that make the listener make specialized accommodations for it. Why struggle? Bottom line is that I learned to eschew IEM's that are challenging to match with my personal ear architecture. What good is a great sound others might hear if there's no seal to be had, or a seal that hurts, or a seal that goes wayward at the slightest movement, or a seal that makes you go through gyrations to affix. And last, one that causes pursuit of a seal ending with expensive and, for them, too-easily expendable Comply foam tips.