[GREQ]

One more question. There's a definite humming/buzzing sound coming from one of the earbuds in a pair I just put together. It gets louder when I turn the volume up. Kind of like driver flex in an IEM, just more buzzy than crinkly, if it makes any sense.
What could be the reason? Is it something I did during soldering/assembly, or could it be a faulty driver?

Sounds like the driver is creased.
The usual advice around here is to put the bud around your lips and gently suck on it to pull out all the dents.
Worked for me once.
Sounds scary... sounds audibly scarier when doing it, but worked.

 

[SiggyFraud]

Sounds like the driver is creased.
The usual advice around here is to put the bud around your lips and gently suck on it to pull out all the dents.
Worked for me once.
Sounds scary... sounds audibly scarier when doing it, but worked.

Wow, it worked! I do remember reading about folks sucking on their earbuds in this thread or another, but I always attributed it to some weird audiophile fetish
In all seriousness though, thanks a ton. One less thing to be annoyed by.

 

[robar]

How can I check, with 100% certainty, that I soldered the wires to a driver correctly, i.e. in phase, without reversing polarity? I followed the colour coding on wires and the driver, tried all the popular test tracks and websites, but I'm still not sure I got it right. I know I can use a multimeter, but how exactly would I go about that?
Will appreciate any kind of help, as it drives me crazy.

I use this video all the time, right after soldering, before assembly. The second half shows polarity:



The buzzing can come from a loose solder joint, a broken cable or a faulty speaker, you have to investigate out. I usually put the speaker to my ears before snapping it onto the shell, and listen to something while I move the cable around with my other hand. This can filter out some of the cable/solder related problems. If that doesn't work, you could try a different cable or speaker to test where the problem comes from. If nothing else works you can try the sucking method (I see your problem is solved in the meantime, forgot to turn pages )

 

[assassin10000]

New 14.8mm drivers, shells and MMCX (updated design, protected center pin) all showed up finally.





Unfortunately I'm currently unable to use these shells. They don't fit 14.80mm drivers, they measure 15.00mm (+/- .02mm).





The covers included are larger as well, possibly like the B40's.

I'm not willing to try and transplant the drivers across covers unless I absolutely have to. Gonna have to try and find a good source for PK shells.

 

[DBaldock9]

I've had good service, getting both PK and MX500 style shells from DIY Earphone Tribe store -
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2046553820.html

 

[assassin10000]

I've had good service, getting both PK and MX500 style shells from DIY Earphone Tribe store -
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2046553820.html

Yeah, they're good. I've bought from them a few times now. They just don't have their PK shells in black, they've been out of stock for 3-4 months.

 

[robar]

New 14.8mm drivers, shells and MMCX (updated design, protected center pin) all showed up finally.





Unfortunately I'm currently unable to use these shells. They don't fit 14.80mm drivers, they measure 15.00mm (+/- .02mm).





The covers included are larger as well, possibly like the B40's.

I'm not willing to try and transplant the drivers across covers unless I absolutely have to. Gonna have to try and find a good source for PK shells.

I think steel mesh covers are not meant to be used with PK shells. I have both regular and B40 type of pk shells and none of them snap on my salvaged steel mesh speakers. They are just too different, the regular pk is meant for the thin plastic cover like PK2, the B40 needs the thicker type.

Try bell shaped shells like Faaeal Z-sound or the metal ones sold in several shops. Or any other shell that uses steel mesh by default, I'm not that familiar with what else is out there in terms of 14.8mm but I'm sure you can find other compatible parts.

 

[assassin10000]

I think steel mesh covers are not meant to be used with PK shells. I have both regular and B40 type of pk shells and none of them snap on my salvaged steel mesh speakers. They are just too different, the regular pk is meant for the thin plastic cover like PK2, the B40 needs the thicker type.

Try bell shaped shells like Faaeal Z-sound or the metal ones sold in several shops. Or any other shell that uses steel mesh by default, I'm not that familiar with what else is out there in terms of 14.8mm but I'm sure you can find other compatible parts.

I would probably agree if my prior PK shell purchases had not fit fine. The redfilm PK1 driver fit the plastic pk shell I MMCX modded fine. As did the wire mesh driver. I may remove the pk1 driver to try these out.





The other metal shells I ordered previously had to altered to fit the pk1 and sr2 drivers I ordered.




Funny that you mentioned the Z-sounds, as I already have one in the mail to me . They're a plastic housing, so we'll see.

I've also been looking at these vjjb c1s buds.
https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32276414240.html

 

[robar]

I would probably agree if my prior PK shell purchases had not fit fine. The redfilm PK1 driver fit the plastic pk shell I MMCX modded fine. As did the wire mesh driver. I may remove the pk1 driver to try these out.





The other metal shells I ordered previously had to altered to fit the pk1 and sr2 drivers I ordered.




Funny that you mentioned the Z-sounds, as I already have one in the mail to me . They're a plastic housing, so we'll see.

I've also been looking at these vjjb c1s buds.
https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32276414240.html

Wire mesh is a different thing, the shape and size of the plastic rim is different I never tried to build with those personally, but I have a Qian39 so I can compare with others from outside. Z-sound has steel mesh cover fortunately, and mine was very easy to open, so let's hope you will be lucky with that Its speaker is similarly not compatible with other 14.8mm shells, but it's definitely a 14.8mm speaker. I could snap on the B40 speaker on that shell by the way, fits tightly. The shell needs additional venting to smooth out the midrange, but otherwise it's a comfortable and good looking shell. I still need to buy a decent speaker for it, will do in the future (probably try the new 32ohm one from cklewis).

 

[furyossa]

I would probably agree if my prior PK shell purchases had not fit fine. The redfilm PK1 driver fit the plastic pk shell I MMCX modded fine. As did the wire mesh driver. I may remove the pk1 driver to try these out.





The other metal shells I ordered previously had to altered to fit the pk1 and sr2 drivers I ordered.




Funny that you mentioned the Z-sounds, as I already have one in the mail to me . They're a plastic housing, so we'll see.

I've also been looking at these vjjb c1s buds.
https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32276414240.html

For VJJB C1S shell I tried the same approach as for Beryllium 130ohm https://www.head-fi.org/threads/diy-earbuds.822327/post-15564605
MMCX mod is not so good because MMCX connector takes up a lot of space in this little shell. After some testing with PK1 (red coat) driver
I came up with a better result using the DOCOMO shell and Furukawa cable. Right now I placed PK2 driver in VJJB C1S aluminum shell.

 

[assassin10000]

For VJJB C1S shell I tried the same approach as for Beryllium 130ohm https://www.head-fi.org/threads/diy-earbuds.822327/post-15564605
MMCX mod is not so good because MMCX connector takes up a lot of space in this little shell. After some testing with PK1 (red coat) driver
I came up with a better result using the DOCOMO shell and Furukawa cable. Right now I placed PK2 driver in VJJB C1S aluminum shell.

Cool. At least you confirm the pk1 red driver fits .

 

[furyossa]

Cool. At least you confirm the pk1 red driver fits .

Yup. This is the only metal shell that I found for PK drivers. I suggest to drill back vent and connect with silver-plated or pure silver cable

 

[assassin10000]

Yup. This is the only metal shell that I found for PK drivers. I suggest to drill back vent and connect with silver-plated or pure silver cable

Do you know the size or could you measure the size of the hole where the cable inserts?


Also found these, trying to find out the driver size. Mrice E100A

 

[robar]

These small bell-shaped shells look nice, I wanted something like a Bell LB for a while. It's sad we can't buy shells like that separately for a good price. The Mrice you posted is quite cheap as well, for less than 5usd it's quite affordable even for the shell itself. I'm a bit concerned that it might utilize the "grey zone 15mm" standard which doesn't fit any generic speakers we can buy, I have a bunch of those sitting in a box already. But if it works with standard speakers then it's a great find for modding!

By the way, here is a nice looking 14.8mm metal shell, does anyone know which cover would fit with it? https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000220132187.html

If I recall correctly, those cheapo bell-shaped earpod-style metal buds can be used with PK speakers, but the stem falls out easily and additional vents are necessary, so not very ideal. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32894965305.html

Also, switching to 15.4mm land, has anyone tried to use Headroom MS16 shell for DIY builds? I like the look and form factor of it, probably the stock speaker has to be destroyed, but for 4.5usd it's not that big of a deal. I guess the stem is just cheaply glued in there so that's an area that would need some kind of reinforcement. With drill mods, maybe even the RY04 shell could be saved.

 

[furyossa]

Do you know the size or could you measure the size of the hole where the cable inserts?


Also found these, trying to find out the driver size. Mrice E100A

The size of cable hole is optimal to pass standard mmcx connector. Probably is the same on E100A. Is this metal shell on E100A or plastic?