[Empire]

I'm not a frequent poster here because I constantly feel like I'd be eaten up because of my inexperience, but I was wondering, after my EP-830s lost sound in the right channel, if the actual jacket changes the sound "signature".

So I went to Best Buy and bought a random 20$ pair of earbuds (Rocketfish RF-EHP11) that came with large silicon and small (no medium) and a pair of Comply Foam tips.

I also had a pair of skullcandy (calm down, its only the jackets..) jackets I picked up from a friends broken earphones (I had lost my own EP-830 jackets), so I started trying to compare.

Unfortunately with my fairly uneducated ears, I can't really tell if something's an illusion or if it's real, but I had the impression that the larger the jacket, the boomier or deeper the bass went.

Am I wrong? Is there some kind of rule of thumb?

 

[Zalithian]

Jackets? You mean sleeves/tips?

Well, of course they change the sound. Certain materials tend to do certain things. Foamies tend to dampen the highs a bit and add some extra bass. They also isolate better than silicon tips. Silicon tips tend to brighten the sound up a bit (usually bring out the highs more and lose some bass) and don't isolate as much.

In terms of size, yes they also matter because the key to IEMS is finding the right fit. Unlike full sized headphones, you don't just put them in and hear them how you're supposed to. It requires testing out multiple tips and finding the right ones that fit the best to get the proper sound. For me, anything over the small sizes tends to sound hollow and have poor bass but I have small ears. For some people they need large or even bigger than large tips to get the right sound.

 

[Empire]

Hmm..well something's wrong..

The foam I've got doesn't isolate sound..in fact when I look at the website, it was advertised as non-isolating foam..

But reading on your post, it would be definite to say that the better isolation you can achieve, the better bass effect you will receive?

 

[Laokid18]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zalithian /img/forum/go_quote.gif Jackets? You mean sleeves/tips? Well, of course they change the sound. Certain materials tend to do certain things. Foamies tend to dampen the highs a bit and add some extra bass. They also isolate better than silicon tips. Silicon tips tend to brighten the sound up a bit (usually bring out the highs more and lose some bass) and don't isolate as much. In terms of size, yes they also matter because the key to IEMS is finding the right fit. Unlike full sized headphones, you don't just put them in and hear them how you're supposed to. It requires testing out multiple tips and finding the right ones that fit the best to get the proper sound. For me, anything over the small sizes tends to sound hollow and have poor bass but I have small ears. For some people they need large or even bigger than large tips to get the right sound.

No better way to say this.

 

[appophylite]

With just about any headphone, the entire device is built around achieving a specific sound (or in the case of most cheapos, they are built to just make a sound). Any change in materials used to make the device, alterations to the materials or changes in the foam/silicone/etc. tips that one uses will result in changes in the sound produced.

My old roommate and I had a good two years playing around with KSC-75 drivers and changing up the housings, modifying the new housings, etc to see how the sound changes in different cases. I also noted it with a pair of JVC HA-FX66 which have silicone jackets as part of the housing. When I took off the jackets, not only were they a bit more uncomfortable, but the sound changed with less emphasis on the bass.

 

[Empire]

Aha,

Sorry if I'm asking too many questions here, but I'm just interested in delving deeper into this..

Actual outer part of the silicone aside, I would assume the actual size of the hole and the depth of it could also potentially change sound signature.

I recently also found out about these. I'm not interested in them per say, but my attention was brought more-so towards the actual sleeves. They claimed one gave a surround sound effect, one was bass boost and one was "full range"

Welcome to the Purebuds Revolution
(scroll down a bit)

Would this just be considered marketing bull?

 

[derek8555]

Not familiar with the Purebuds... so I cannot comment on those but they certainly looked interesting.

I don't know about surrounding but my guess is that's pure BS and marketing. If it isn't multi-driver/channel I don't think it would be true surround - perhaps just an enlarged soundstage. But the rest, bassboost and "full range" or whatever they call it, should be achievable with different sleeves that give you different "flavors" of sound.

From I can tell you for sure is that as you have speculated, yes the length and hole size and material all matters and will change the sound you hear with them.
For example, with foams the longer the sleeve the more high frequency it will attenuate, such as the comply tips.

 

[Zalithian]

Not all foams isolate well. I use small sennheiser foamies but they're not true foamies. There are foam variations, such as Sennheiser Foamies and Nuforce Foams. In my post I'm more referring to things such as Comply foam tips and Shure Black Olive Foams which isolate better than silicon tips.

I wouldn't say isolation is the best indicator of bass response but that bass response is the best indicator of good fit while keeping in mind certain types of tips will generally have less bass or more depending on what type of tip they are. I can get good isolation with larger silicon tips but the bass response is horrible and they sound awful, while I get little isolation with small silicon tips but great bass response. Insertion depth and things also play a part.

It seems to be that certain tips also dampen the treble depending on how much they obscure the end of the sound tube. I noticed with the small Comply's on the UM3X the treble wasn't that great and the sound tube was buried under the foam, but with the larger Comply's the treble response was much better. I haven't done any controlled testing on it or anything.

On the sleeves, it looks like it's probably marketing bull to me but without trying them I can't give a definitive answer.

 

[Empire]

I see..So really when it comes to the IEM market, you can "possibly improve" sound depending on your tastes by buying aftermarket sleeves..correct?

 

[derek8555]

It is impossible to improve the sound to a higher quality (just like you cannot upsample a crappy mp3 file). But what you can do with different sleeves is to alter the sound signature to certain degree to suit your own taste.

Not all IEMs have the luxury to be compatible with aftermarket sleeves or sleeves off other products, but for the major brands out there (some models of Shure, Ety, Westone) their sleeves are usually interchangeable.

 

[Zalithian]

Yes. Certain people, myself included didn't have great luck with the stock IE8 tips or Nuforce NE-7M stock tips and found better sound with Sony Hybrids or the Comply T400's.

 

[Empire]

Thanks for naming some..I will probably go around buying different types of earbuds and testing changes..

 

[Zalithian]

Make sure the nozzle size is compatible before you go buying tips. Sony Hybrids work for wider nozzles like NE-7M's and Sennheiser IE series but not say Westone or Shure. Just ask around I guess before you go spending money.

 

[Empire]

Hmm, wouldn't it kinda go by driver sizes? Or do some companies make bigger nozzles for smaller drivers?

 

[Zalithian]

Dynamic drivers tend to have larger nozzles. The IE8, NE-7M'S, CX400's all have large nozzles and they're all dynamic. My SE210's, Westone 3's, UM3X's, PFE's all had/have small nozzles and they're all balanced armature.

There are some in-betweeners though, probably.