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Custom IEM DYNAMIC driver reshelling service ≤ Ø14mm - $220

Oct 19, 2011 at 12:10 PM Post #91 of 118
Gosh kiteki, you crazy girl you! ;)

I'm inevitably going to take this route if (God forbid) my RE252's fail on me. Until then, I'm happy with my gummy bears. :D
 
Oct 20, 2011 at 8:14 AM Post #92 of 118
 
Quote:
defqon said:
The question is, would a reshelled dynamic sound better then its original form? I swear kiteki your a girl with some crazy ideas such as this one, anyway me on the maybe list for now, GR07 and IE7.
Click to expand...


In my opinion a well executed reshell with exact acrylic shape of your ear to the millimetre will always sound better than a piece of rubber or silicon randomly inserted into your ear.
 
However, the apple will not fall far from the tree, i.e. the fundamental sound the driver produces will not vary.
 
 
You should reshell if you love your IEM, and want to improve it's sound more.
 
You should not reshell if you don't like your IEM.
 
 
The caveat is universal IEM's with advanced construction like the JVC FXC700 or Sony EX1000, where I think it's quite likely the sound will become less good, since JVC and Sony have already put a lot of effort into custom tuning that specific sound.
 
 
Oct 21, 2011 at 3:27 AM Post #93 of 118


Quote:
kiteki said:
 
In my opinion a well executed reshell with exact acrylic shape of your ear to the millimetre will always sound better than a piece of rubber or silicon randomly inserted into your ear.
 
However, the apple will not fall far from the tree, i.e. the fundamental sound the driver produces will not vary.
 
 
You should reshell if you love your IEM, and want to improve it's sound more.
 
You should not reshell if you don't like your IEM.
 
 
The caveat is universal IEM's with advanced construction like the JVC FXC700 or Sony EX1000, where I think it's quite likely the sound will become less good, since JVC and Sony have already put a lot of effort into custom tuning that specific sound.
 
Click to expand...



Will the reshell's be silicon or acrylic? As far as I know acrylic sound better in my ears but silicon provide a firmer fit into your canal.
 
Nov 20, 2011 at 10:27 AM Post #95 of 118
Ha, how could I've missed this thread...
 
Would it be possible to reshell HifiMan RE-272 in this way? (seem pretty hard to take apart) The diameter can't really be much higher than 5mm.
Of course, acrylic or even better, vinyl. Silicone in a non-resonant way should also be good if the vent is correctly placed, it appears that RE-272 don't utilize resonances.
If possible, prepare them for over the ear fit without the channel reversal - I'd love to be able to use the balanced cable.
 
I'd consider converting GR07 as well later (need some fallback for the time), but I'm pretty certain the driver is their only limitation, not the casing - and that's impossible to fix.
 
Any special requirements on the mold, ear dimensions or canal size?
 
--
Should that not be possible, would the company endeavor making custom eartips? It's almost the same technology, just a partial mold.
 
Nov 20, 2011 at 10:45 AM Post #96 of 118
 
Hi there AstralStorm, thanks for expressing your interest.
 
 
A good quality ear impression in a reasonable case (for protection during shipping), and your IEM (if it's accepted) is all that's required.
 
I think the Hifiman RE252/262/272 series are good candidates.
 
I will ask if they can do vinyl tips.
 
 
I'm a little bit skeptical about the Radius DDM, since the driver sizes are 15mm/7mm, and when ljokerl sent his Radius on a loaner tour, they arrived to me with broken driver in the left earpiece, so I'm concerned they're too fragile for shipping several times.
 
I think an dynamic driver with a sub-bass or super-tweeter BA driver would achieve positive results, (i.e. RE272 + sub-bass BA driver).
 
 
 
Nov 20, 2011 at 3:47 PM Post #97 of 118
By the way, I've tried RE 272 w/o foam and cloth grill - highs above 4kHz get about 2 dB boost. I do hope the custom reshell can adjust for that in some way, as RE 272 are bright enough already. They also gain a bit of sensitivity as well as bass. On the upside, RE 272 get even more detail and bass control. Definitely a deliberate tradeoff by HifiMan - I suspect slightly lowpass casing would work very well with the driver. Say, very slight first order Bessel case with frequency around 10 kHz  - but I'm not sure those kind of tricks are possible with IEMs.
EDIT: More of the tradeoff - bass starts to noticeably resonate at lowest frequencies - not enough dampening. So, best to keep this foam...
 
Someone insane should build a DDM based on RE 272 "tweeter" and Atrio's MG7 "woofer". Not sure if that's possible, as Atrio's driver is large... but if it were, it'd be insanely good.
 
Nov 22, 2011 at 6:28 PM Post #98 of 118
kiteki,
 
When you said DHL with tracking will cost over $100, that is for shipping all 6 or more earphones together to China and back to you, correct? Is it possible to reduce cost by using a cheaper carrier without tracking? I have used many carriers w/o tracking and never lost anything. If you are shipping one set by one set, I would opt for cheaper shipping if possible.
 
Like AstralStorm, I also highly prefer vinyl shell over silicone over acrylic (do not want acrylic shells). I may want to mod my Yuin Pk1. I have Westone ES3Xs but find them not very comfortable.
 
Also, if seems that Thousand Sound In China is going to perform the reshell, correct? It may be helpful to point out that TS actually has its own dynamic / BA hybrid custom IEMs like TS842:  http://www.head-fi.org/t/541494/multi-custom-iem-review-resource-mfg-list-discussion-thread-info-on-page-1
 
I also wonder if TS can put their own full range dynamic driver in custom shells for us. If yes, would that reduce the cost?
 
I am looking for a set of cheaper and more comfortable customs for casual listening. There are custom IEMs option in the $200 range, but most if not all are single-driver BA types and all use acrylic shells. Dynamic driver in custom vinyl or silicone shell is more appealing to me.
 
 
 
Nov 23, 2011 at 4:24 PM Post #99 of 118
Silicone is not that great for keeping necessary vents open - but it's not impossible to do so - or perhaps the vent would use a small plastic insert.
The vent on RE-272 is about pin sized.
 
Time to haul myself to the audiologist then...
 
Another note: Actually, what I thought was undampened bass in these is actually a case resonance that is nicely removed by the foam. This shouldn't be an issue in a fully plastic shell.
rolleyes.gif
The resonance is a sizable (~8 dB over the case with foam, which still has some) 5 kHz peak. In fact getting rid completely of it would smooth out frequency response even further.
 
Nov 23, 2011 at 5:59 PM Post #100 of 118
Quote:
kiteki said:
I think an dynamic driver with a sub-bass or super-tweeter BA driver would achieve positive results, (i.e. RE272 + sub-bass BA driver).
Click to expand...

BAs will have issues reproducing bass, as the armature has major problems moving enough air - it's a small "plank" after all - unless the BA is made ridiculously large, negating its benefits. Technically, large orthodynamic driver would be best, while moving armature with large driver part (like Ortofon, but larger diameter) would be a close second. Then a subbass dynamic driver perhaps - even larger than the aforementioned and probably not as accurate.
 
BAs excel at high frequencies, as the armature can be made very light and stiff.
 
Yet another RE-272 note: the vents are mostly cosmetic and do nothing to the bass response. In fact, closing them helps with this annoying case resonance somewhat. The soundstage gets a tinge narrower, but is placed farther away - I consider it preferable.
 
Mar 27, 2012 at 6:18 AM Post #105 of 118
To be honest I don't ever see this project or "idea" happening as it will cost a lot to try to put a round dynamic driver with very thin and easily damagable membrane compared to a few armature magnets stuffed in an acrylic shell, to be honest I just think this idea is just ridiculous, even if such process is proved to be actually doable or possibly a service for something like this already that offers same or better performance of the same driver in a normal iem compared to a ciem, I will shout you a beer. My 2c, by the way, Kiteki is banned several times now and don't think she/he will be coming back.
 
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