[MN Ham Phones]

I've had my Etys less than a week now. I want the superior isolation and bass of the foamies so I've not used the flangies much.

How long do you find the foamies to last?

I'm convinced that this first pair is already in need of replacement, but wondered what kind of lifespan *you* get from them.

Thanks,

 

[Elec]

If your ears and hands are clean and you use the Etys maybe an hour or two a day or less, I'd imagine a month is probably a good lifespan for a pair of foamies. If you have a lot of earwax or are handling the foamies with dirty hands, they'll probably need changing sooner. Unfortunately it's hard to tell just how clean (or dirty) they are because they're black. I've been using kind of tan colored Flents Quiet Please earplugs with my Koss Plugs and it's quite easy to tell when they need to be changed cause the color gets kind of dingy and a little bit yellow or brown. Also, those get a little bit harder and don't quite expand as well as when new after you've used them awhile. I haven't had my Etys long enough yet to know if their foamies do that too.

 

[TonyTripleA]

Well, I've actually "washed" the foamies and it seems to work. After a week of 6 hours a day listening they started to feel, well sticky.

Not a nice feeling when you are about to plug these into your ear. So, hot water and detergent. Used other foamies while these dried for a few days.

I imagine if these are washed its only the compressibility of the foam which will determine how long they last.

Cheers,

TonyAAA

 

[BANGPOD]

Quote:

Originally posted by MN Ham Phones I've had my Etys less than a week now. I want the superior isolation and bass of the foamies so I've not used the flangies much. How long do you find the foamies to last? I'm convinced that this first pair is already in need of replacement, but wondered what kind of lifespan *you* get from them. Thanks,

MN Ham Phones --

Sorry to correct you, but I feel you should be made aware...
The foamies' isolation is the EXACT SAME as the silicone tips'.
This is if you insert both types correctly, and I assume you are.

The foamies have more bass, but don't last for a very long time.
The silicones "APPEAR" to have more detail because of less bass.
The decrease makes the treble stand out -- detail is the same.

But, to get to the question, my experience depends on my usage.
If a use them a LOT, I can usually only get a week out of them.

But on average, I can easily squeeze out two or three weeks per.

Also, the size and shape of your ears slightly skew the figure...
But more or less, between one and three weeks is the average...
But, as I said before, this figure relies on many different factors!

Also, your foamies need replacement under a number of premises:
1. When you squeeze, they don't visibly come back to full shape.
2. When you squeeze, they retain the shape of your fingers.

3. When they start to flatten out length-wise, like a pancake.

4. When it takes longer than 30 seconds or so to get a good seal.
5. When you hear an audible change in their frequency response.

I hope that my intuition helped you...

Scott

 

[MN Ham Phones]

Quote:

Originally posted by BANGPOD MN Ham Phones -- Sorry to correct you, but I feel you should be made aware... I hope that my intuition helped you... Scott

No worries about correcting me....

According to the graphs included with the Etys, the foamies have a 10 db greater isolation than the flangies. I haven't tested the flangies enough to confirm or deny this, but I took it as gospel since the flangies are so thin. 10 db is a serious reduction so I should be readily apparent....

I did mix up the bass issue though. It makes sense that for an equal seal I should get equal bass. I've read a bit about designing subwoofer boxes so I posted more cluelessly than I really am.

I appreciate the candor.

 

[d_wilson]

This question has come up before and we finially have the new site up with the graphed results.

The foam eartips provide more isolation. We had an independent lab test the ER-4 with both eartips and provide both average attenuation, and NRR. This is the upper two tests calle the REAT tests. The probe microphone testing was conducted in our labs.

Here is a link to the results.

http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er4-nr.asp

The eartips have a long shelf life and I have used some for months. I wouldn't share used eartips with friends.

Don Wilson
Etymotic Research

 

[Welly Wu]

Mr. Wilson:

That's a slick new appearance for your company's website! Nice job!

 

[d_wilson]

Thanks,

It has been a long time coming. Now we need to speed up the loading.

 

[mikeliao]

Try to keep the foamies as clean as possible and insert/roll the foamies with clean hands. I had an ear infection from old earphones. Most likely from handling with dirty hands. The infection plus 10 airplane flights in 2 weeks led to a perforated eardrum. Keep those foamies clean!

 

[adhoc]

do dampen your foamies with a drop of water before inserting.

they keep their squashed shape for longer (hence it is easier to get a deep insert) and they (imo) attneuate more when damp.

you might want to note though that their lifespan is reduced somewhat - from 2 months (in my experience) to ~1.5. if your ears are not clean, there might be hygiene concerns too.

 

[d_wilson]

If you roll the foam eartip (instead of squeezing it) to make it as small as possible for a few seconds it is easy to insert and will take 10-20 seconds to enlarge to seal in your ear.

 

[adhoc]

sorry for this late addition but -

insert the foamies shiny side in - trust me, it does wonders for comfort.

 

[toaster]

EDIT: whoops, didn't notice this was for ety foams. oh well.

As far as shure's foams are concerned it is true about inserting them shiny side in your ear. Shure actually intends for this to be the proper method of insertion.

From my experience with the Shures, i would say the foams are able to retain a good seal for about a month.

To second what Welly Wu said, the new etymotic site is WAYYY better than it used to be. It used to be too technical and boring. It actually makes me consider looking into getting some er4's to complement my e5's.

 

[wildeone]

Quote:

Originally posted by toaster22 To second what Welly Wu said, the new etymotic site is WAYYY better than it used to be. It used to be too technical and boring. It actually makes me consider looking into getting some er4's to complement my e5's.

As nice as the new web site is, you should consider looking into the ER-4's because of the sound. That is what it's all about after all! And I really think those two phones complement each other beautifully.

 

[daycart1]

Thanks, as usual, for the info D_Wilson!

After about 20 hours, my foamies start to get "hard" and don't re-expand nicely. I mostly use the flanged for convenience, but the foam do give me a last bit of isolation when I need it.