synaesthetic
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2008
- Posts
- 2,263
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- 11
I love my Etymotic Research ER-6i, but the cable microphonics have always been a problem when listening to them on the go. Even with the shirt clipper, which stops the weight of the cable from breaking the seal and cuts cable thump by quite a bit, there still remains a problem.
The "pigtails," as I call them, the individual wires running from the cable break near the driver end of the IEMs, are rather long, and with the shirt clip positioned comfortably to enable head movement without jerking the earphones from my ears, tend to bounce. And when they bounce, they hit stuff, and thump loudly. They hit all kinds of things--my cheeks, the collar of my jacket, zippers, even my hair... and if I wear drop earrings, they smack against those. They also hit each other, and all of this translates to a very annoying and loud thump that disrupts my enjoyment of these fine IEMs.
So I was thinking about switching to one of the over-the-ear IEMs (like the super-fi.5's) but I prefer the Etymotic sound and would rather have the ER-4P when I do replace my aging ER-6i. But I was playing around the other day and I discovered a simple way to end the cable thump caused by the driver wires smacking into things. It's easy and costs no more than a small black twist-tie of the type usually used to secure electronic items in their packaging.
Simply put the earphones in as you normally would and pinch the pigtail cables together near the underside of your chin, leaving just enough slack that you can comfortably move your head. Remember that spot.
Remove the earphones and hold them together at the spot you have previously indicated. Take a twist-tie. The ones used to secure items or tie cables up work best, since they're heavier and made of plastic-coated wire. The twist tie has two sides; one side is smooth, and the other side is where the wire is mounted. Make sure the side touching the wires is the smooth side, and gently wrap the twist-tie around the cables near the spot you indicated earlier, starting from the center of the twist tie and wrapping outward. Once you've wrapped it around a small portion, wrap the excess twist tie around itself and lightly push down the edges.
It should remain secure with no protruding sharp edges. Light pressure should be sufficient to hold the cables securely together without damaging the cable itself, and still be loose enough to make minute adjustments on the fly.
I originally tried this with electrical tape, but the twist-tie actually works better since it won't leave any gross adhesive residue on the cable and it is adjustable once you've placed it. It's completely reversible, of negligible cost and drastically reduces the cable thump caused by the bouncy pigtails. I hardly ever hear those irritating thumps anymore, and I can even wear long dangly earrings with my ER-6i now without issue!
The "pigtails," as I call them, the individual wires running from the cable break near the driver end of the IEMs, are rather long, and with the shirt clip positioned comfortably to enable head movement without jerking the earphones from my ears, tend to bounce. And when they bounce, they hit stuff, and thump loudly. They hit all kinds of things--my cheeks, the collar of my jacket, zippers, even my hair... and if I wear drop earrings, they smack against those. They also hit each other, and all of this translates to a very annoying and loud thump that disrupts my enjoyment of these fine IEMs.
So I was thinking about switching to one of the over-the-ear IEMs (like the super-fi.5's) but I prefer the Etymotic sound and would rather have the ER-4P when I do replace my aging ER-6i. But I was playing around the other day and I discovered a simple way to end the cable thump caused by the driver wires smacking into things. It's easy and costs no more than a small black twist-tie of the type usually used to secure electronic items in their packaging.
Simply put the earphones in as you normally would and pinch the pigtail cables together near the underside of your chin, leaving just enough slack that you can comfortably move your head. Remember that spot.
Remove the earphones and hold them together at the spot you have previously indicated. Take a twist-tie. The ones used to secure items or tie cables up work best, since they're heavier and made of plastic-coated wire. The twist tie has two sides; one side is smooth, and the other side is where the wire is mounted. Make sure the side touching the wires is the smooth side, and gently wrap the twist-tie around the cables near the spot you indicated earlier, starting from the center of the twist tie and wrapping outward. Once you've wrapped it around a small portion, wrap the excess twist tie around itself and lightly push down the edges.
It should remain secure with no protruding sharp edges. Light pressure should be sufficient to hold the cables securely together without damaging the cable itself, and still be loose enough to make minute adjustments on the fly.
I originally tried this with electrical tape, but the twist-tie actually works better since it won't leave any gross adhesive residue on the cable and it is adjustable once you've placed it. It's completely reversible, of negligible cost and drastically reduces the cable thump caused by the bouncy pigtails. I hardly ever hear those irritating thumps anymore, and I can even wear long dangly earrings with my ER-6i now without issue!
