[Cagin]

I think the 400 euro tax post was directed to me. For the Omega's order. The Supra 2 costs $400. You'd expect around $80 for customs if thinks go 'bad'.

 

[Sirenia]

I think the 400 euro tax post was directed to me. For the Omega's order. The Supra 2 costs $400. You'd expect around $80 for customs if thinks go 'bad'.

400 euros tax?

Only time I had to pay such taxes was when I got my Schiit Ragnarok from Schiit US but it was worth about 700 euros more than the Omega.

 

[Levanter]

If you had contacted Jack prior to shipping he could have helped you out in that regard

 

[davidcotton]

Good News!  Got the supra's today.  Better news, no taxes either.  Looking forward to trying them out later.  First time my iems have come in two carry bags though!  6 working day's from order to delivery so not bad at all really.  Any tips on how to insert them properly?

 

[Cagin]

 
400 euros tax?

Only time I had to pay such taxes was when I got my Schiit Ragnarok from Schiit US but it was worth about 700 euros more than the Omega.

the 400+ eur would've been total from adding the right of import tax according to goods + administrative custom duties + VAT of the total cost 
 
 

If you had contacted Jack prior to shipping he could have helped you out in that regard

 
Yup that's what I did, Jack did this, hence why I never got to pay that 400, got away with 32eur
 
But it's a double edged sword I hear. If the shipment would get lost or destroyed along the way, there'd no way to recover the cost/value
 

  Good News!  Got the supra's today.  Better news, no taxes either.  Looking forward to trying them out later.  First time my iems have come in two carry bags though!  6 working day's from order to delivery so not bad at all really.  Any tips on how to insert them properly?
 

Nice! Enjoy em.
So you got the Peli and zipper case too? The small Zippier EarWerkz logo case was much more tougher than I had thought. I'm still partial towards the Pelican 1010 though, like a pistol case for a derringer lmao
 
 

 

[davidcotton]

 
 

  the 400+ eur would've been total from adding the right of import tax according to goods + administrative custom duties + VAT of the total cost 
 
 

Nope no peli case (though I have them lying around).
 
This is what I got :-
 
Zipper case with earwerkz logo
 

 
Left, Right and together shots (apologies for crap Iphone pics, I'm not the photographer Moedawg is!)
 

 

 

 
Carry Bag
 

 
Cleaning cloth
 

 
all nicely presented (along with spinfit tips and comply's) in
 

 
Not really tested them yet as I'm having trouble getting them to fit.  How flush are they meant to sit in the ear?  As the only times I've got them to seal they are still sticking out quite a way.  I'm guessing I'm doing something wrong but not sure what.
 
Cheers

 

[Cotnijoe]

They should sit quite flush, as theyre fairly small. Also, from my experience, a deeper insertion REALLY helps the sound of them.

 

[shotgunshane]

Looks like wood and other exotic faceplates are coming soon:
https://www.facebook.com/EarWerkz/posts/1655241501379731

 

[shadow1121]

Guys whats ur opinion between Nobel's 4C vs Earwerkz EW4..thinking of finally getting my first ciem and in torn between the two

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

 

[MikePortnoy]

Looks like wood and other exotic faceplates are coming soon:
https://www.facebook.com/EarWerkz/posts/1655241501379731

 
They look good; wooden faceplates on appropriate colors are impressive. Eerwerkz seems to improve their designs. However I like traditional EW faceplates more than flat ones. 

 

[pretend]

What do you guys think about the EW-III or Supra II versus the 1964 v3 or JH 5?

 

[davidcotton]

  What do you guys think about the EW-III or Supra II versus the 1964 v3 or JH 5?

From earwerkz front page "I’d recommend it over CIEMs in this same price range like the prestigious UE–4 PRO and the JH5 Pro. The Supra really are that good. EarWerkz is going to hit it big with Supra and send competitors back to the drawing board." - SnazzyLabs". 

 

[MikePortnoy]

I recently got a picture of my Omega from Jack. That looks very nice! Will post a review after enough listening..

 

[Rotijon]

The Earwerkz Experience
 


As you can see, the Noble K10U above is one of a kind. If you’d like to read about how it came to be, please continue.

About 2 days ago, I finally received my package from Earwerkz. I am honestly quite blown away with the level of craftsmanship and the service provided, and felt I should do something. And thus, this post was born. I copied the parts of my K10U reviews that were relevant and added some more. Do enjoy. And Jack, if you’re reading, let me just thank you again.

Disclaimer: Earwerkz provided the refinishing service for free and 3 Spinfit eartips.
 
Edit: THIS IS A ONE OFF. EARWERKZ DOES NOT PROVIDE A RESHELLING SERVICE TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE. They really should consider though.

Background
About 2 months ago in late April, I had purchased a K10U from a fellow headfi-er here. This was a purchase I was really excited about as it was, Firstly, it was a mother****ing Noble K10U (HEAD-FI HYPETRAIN!) and, Secondly, It was THE RED ONE, which was given out during Canjam 2013 and thus basically unobtanium. One thing did dampen the mood a little, the seller indicated that they were hairline cracks in the lacquer, but I figured it was something that can be very easily remedied and since Brennan indicated that the lacquer was engineered to not flake when cracked, I felt I had nothing to worry about.

When the Noble K10U’s arrived, they did not disappoint. They were the iem that the Layla wishes it was. It was beautifully smooth, and had a coherence and clarity that only the truly TOTL iems have. The signature was very neutral, with a slightly warm hint and yet still musical. For once, the headfi hypetrain was justified.

Having heard them, I figured that this was a masterpiece and a piece of headfi and Noble history that was worth collecting. I started emailing Noble (Brennan) on the possible restorations and possible designs.

It was around here when things started going south. In our email, Brennan stated that cracks in the lacquer are likely due to customer error. It was with this statement I took issue with, as by experience in woodwork, lacquers usually crack when, it is not applied properly or applied on inappropriate materials. Properly applied lacquers do crack due to extreme conditions, but I doubt the inside of your ear is considered extreme and I don’t think the original owner tossed them in the oven. I posted on the Noble thread in frustration and the rest can be read below.

http://www.head-fi.org/t/684787/noble-audio-the-wizard-returns/10185#post_11560639

The gist of the exchange is this. Lacquers can crack due to exposure to temperatures equivalent of the air blown out of laptop vents. However, all incidents of lacquer cracking in Noble IEM’s is due to customer error and thus there is no warranty in such incidents. If you are situated in a particularly hot and dry or humid part of the world, John cannot guarantee that the lacquer can never crack due to such living condition as such a statement that can only be made by Dreve (They are apparently the premier manufacturer of lacquer for hearing aids) and not him. To be fair, I should have probably tried to settle this via pm with John and the mods, but the ludicrousness of the statement made by Brennan tipped me over the edge.

In the end, Noble made a very reasonable offer to replace the K10U with a new unit (without warranty, understandable since mine was a secondhand unit and was without warranty) for a payment of USD200, excluding shipping etc.

Enter Earwerkz
At the same time, I received a mysterious email from a person claiming to be Jack Vang, the owner of Earwerkz, and he empathized with my current situation and offered to repair my K10U’s for free. My first thought was, “No way in hell, it is probably some random dude who wants to rip me off”. Even after much research and reassurances that the email really belonged to Jack, I was still very suspicious as to why anyone would offer to do it for free.

And thus, I decided to take up Noble on its offer, however, when the lacquer and coating around the bores started flaking really badly (I can actually see the tubes, check pictures below). I decided to take the plunge with Earwerkz instead, as there was no point in getting another Noble K10U when I can see one literally disintegrating in front of me.


 

The Process
The earphones were first sent to Jack for inspection on what went wrong and what he can do about it. Jack was quite keen on doing a custom, but I decided against it(as i do like the K10U's form factor), and decided on a “simple” (turned out to be a major piece of work) refinish.

I decided on a more rugged finishing, and I also wanted the logo of Earwerkz on it as I felt that this was only fair as Earwerkz did complete the refinishing job.

When I first received it, I had my own theories about why and how the cracks in the lacquer started. From whatever information I could glean, I figured the cracking of the paint is due to the nature of the shell itself. Looking at the picture below, you can see that the shell of the K10U is made of ABS plastic. ABS plastic is prone to expanding and contracting due to hot or cold temperature. In addition, as hearing aids are usually made of acrylic, I am pretty sure Dreve’s lacquer is meant to be applied on acrylic and not ABS plastic. You can probably apply it on ABS plastic, but i doubt it’s recommended.

In our emails, Jack also noted some excessive bubbling and uneven lacquering on the shells, which we felt probably contributed somewhat to the formation of the cracks. Originally, I figured that the cracks on only on the lacquer, however, as you can see from the flaking, it goes much deeper than that and actually affected the paint/finishing of the IEM. Which resulted in something I hoped was a quick and easy solution, to a very laborious one.

Earwerkz had no choice but to grind out everything, exposing the bare material, sanding it down until everything was even and then buffing it out to smooth the surface. Once the surface was sufficiently smooth, only then could they get started over on the lacquering process (if you were to see the original sanding pictures and the after pictures, you can probably see why this job became such a difficult one).

I noticed that the black finishing on the earphones seemed very unique compared to other IEM's and CIEMS and asked jack for an explanation. According to him, the finishing itself isn't a paint or a dye but the result of a laborious, hand finished makeover with meticulously applied ABS approved, German made lacquer.

Finishing notes
Throughout my interactions with Jack during this process, I could usually expect a reply within a few hours. Considering it was only a charity job concerning an incident that had well and truly blown over (Noble released the Savant, and everything seems fine and dandy for them), I was pleasantly surprised. I can only imagine how much better he treats his own paying customers.

After talking to some of his local customers and even second hand customers. They described the similar speed in replies and warmth in treatment. Which was the main reason I felt compelled to write this post.

PS: During our initial emails, when I was still deciding on whether I should go with them on the refinishing, I remember this line from jack that made me trust Earwerkz, and to be honest, would make me a future customer (Damn you exchange rates)

“Customer service is something this industry is seriously lacking. We're going to change that. I've dealt with many 3rd and 4th owners and happily treat them as if they were my first, there's absolutely no reason not to. They still spent their time and hard earned money to make a decision to choose my products over someone else's.”

Talk about a perspective you rarely, if ever hear about.

Here is a few more close ups. Thanks Jack!!


 

 

[mrhizzo]

Absolutely stunning history and pleasant surprise.