[breez]

Recently I have been having problems with my ER6i's eartips (small biflange) getting loose, and to my great discomfort, occasionally stuck in my ears. Now I took a glance at my non-used triflange and big biflange eartips and the tube is clearly smaller in diameter. I wonder if the stretching of the tube is a common problem? I have been using these since June.

I guess I'll just order a set of 5 pairs for replacement ($13 shipped from ebay). Is there anything I can do to prevent or slow the stretching? The manual advices that I should have the eartips installed at all times for "shock protection". I don't make it habit to smash the earphones on table or otherwise abuse them so maybe it would be ok to leave the eartips off when I'm not using the phones. How do people usually take care of these things?

 

[Vault]

Yeah I experience the same thing and I guess I've taken it as a sign to replace the tips - which is now running at about once every 5 months with low use and once every 3 months if I have a block of business travel. This usually coincides with the tips going that nasty yellow colour (on the flanges at least).

So that has become my gauge to change the tips:
1. Colour gets nasty
2. Then tip gets loose
= Change tips

To slow down the stretching try to pull them out of your ears in a straight line as much as possible, rather than bending them out (which is what I do almost all the time because I don't think). This will put less stress on the flange at it's weakest point - the part where it connects to the bud.