[Aero Dynamik]

I used to buy Spiral Dots (and Spinfits) from Head-Fi:er Dopaminer. Good prices and fast delivery. I believe he has/had a large private(?) stock.

 

[pat1984]

Does anyone here use the spiral dot tips with their A83? 
I want to get some, but i'm unsure what size I will need. At the moment i'm using the large double flange tips that came in the box, which fit my ears comfortably. The medium ones are a bit to small for me and don't give a good enough seal. Should I get the large or medium spiral dots? i'm unsure which ones to get and because i'm in the UK I have to order them from Japan, and that takes up to three weeks for delivery.
I don't want to order the wrong size and have to wait up to 6 weeks to get the right ones for my ears in case the first lot don't fit. 

Actually there is a ML size spiral dot that i use. I have not used the default dual flange tips but the medium single flange that came with the A83 was a little small for me while the large was a little too big... also with the A83 i think its better to err on the larger size rather than smaller size from my experience... hope that helps

 

[SieB]

Actually there is a ML size spiral dot. I have not used the default dual flange tips but the medium single flange was a little small for me while the large was a little too big... also with the A83 i think its better to err on the larger size rather than smaller size from my experience... hope that helps

Yeah,  I saw the ebay seller that Jon Parker linked on the previous page sells ML size ones.  
I think I will go with that size to be honest, it seems to be the safest bet seen as they are larger than medium but smaller than large. 

 

[Aero Dynamik]

Tried the Spiral Dots tonight and got a somewhat airier more out-of-head sound compared to Comply Ts. Not sure I preferred it though as I felt it subtracted from the "realistic rawness" of its tonality. Maybe my insertion depth was a bit too shallow. I think I have all sizes of the SDs so I'll try with small pair/deeper fit as long as I get proper isolation.
 
I must say; the tonality of A83 with acoustic instruments, especially strings is really quite fabulous! I'm not sure I ever heard this recording sound so realistic with any my other phones.

 

[JimmyTryhard]

  Tried the Spiral Dots tonight and got a somewhat airier more out-of-head sound compared to Comply Ts. Not sure I preferred it though as I felt it subtracted from the "realistic rawness" of its tonality. Maybe my insertion depth was a bit too shallow. I think I have all sizes of the SDs so I'll try with small pair/deeper fit as long as I get proper isolation.
 
I must say; the tonality of A83 with acoustic instruments, especially strings is really quite fabulous! I'm not sure I ever heard this recording sound so realistic with any my other phones.

 
I am guessing that it's the fit that you got from them that caused problems. I've realized recently that the fit of the earphones is actually not as tip dependent as I had previously thought; rather, it's more about the fit you get with the earguides.
 
When I try to use the stock cables, I can't get very many tips to work that give me a good seal. When I switched to a non-earguide cable, I found that I could actually use any tip of any size and still get a good fit. It's just that the weight of the cable pulls the earphones away from the ear a bit too much for me, preventing me from getting a deeper fit.
 
Anyways, I do think your impressions are similar to mine when contrasting the Complys to the Spiral Dots. The Spiral Dots open up the sound and make them sound clearer and airer at the cost of some low end thump.
 
I've actually been using the stock tips recently in order to see what the Fidue engineers originally had in mind in terms of bore size. The sound is definitely in-between the Spiral Dots and Complys, without a hugely open sound but also not a low end focused sound. It's definitely worth trying if you haven't already, granted that you can get a good fit with them.

 

[Aero Dynamik]

 

  Tried the Spiral Dots tonight and got a somewhat airier more out-of-head sound compared to Comply Ts. Not sure I preferred it though as I felt it subtracted from the "realistic rawness" of its tonality. Maybe my insertion depth was a bit too shallow. I think I have all sizes of the SDs so I'll try with small pair/deeper fit as long as I get proper isolation.
 
I must say; the tonality of A83 with acoustic instruments, especially strings is really quite fabulous! I'm not sure I ever heard this recording sound so realistic with any my other phones.

 
I am guessing that it's the fit that you got from them that caused problems. I've realized recently that the fit of the earphones is actually not as tip dependent as I had previously thought; rather, it's more about the fit you get with the earguides.
 
When I try to use the stock cables, I can't get very many tips to work that give me a good seal. When I switched to a non-earguide cable, I found that I could actually use any tip of any size and still get a good fit. It's just that the weight of the cable pulls the earphones away from the ear a bit too much for me, preventing me from getting a deeper fit.
 
Anyways, I do think your impressions are similar to mine when contrasting the Complys to the Spiral Dots. The Spiral Dots open up the sound and make them sound clearer and airer at the cost of some low end thump.
 
I've actually been using the stock tips recently in order to see what the Fidue engineers originally had in mind in terms of bore size. The sound is definitely in-between the Spiral Dots and Complys, without a hugely open sound but also not a low end focused sound. It's definitely worth trying if you haven't already, granted that you can get a good fit with them.

I would assume that by "earguides" you mean the memory wire near the monitors!? A good fit of "any tip of any size" suggests that your fit is shallow as any tip larger than your ear canal won't actually "fit", no? As with any shallow fit the projection of the sound into the ear canal - the angle of the nozzle - is in my experience crucial. Of course, in that case the cable could be a problem tugging the monitors away from the ideal angle.

 

[SyntheticShotz]

I also would like to note that the locking mechanism in the A83's stock cable makes it harder to get the desired angle, my Shure cables with the memory wire work pretty well since it lets the A83 swivel to the right angle.

 

[Darkestred]

What are suggestions for cables then for better fitment?

 

[Darkestred]

   
Bass quality, exactly. Thats what I notice immediatelly. And then there's that extra treble sparkle and finesse that MP3 can't reproduce.

Yes.  Bass quality and a bit more thickness (layering?).  I recently decided to try a vinyl rip and holy ****.  Now i see why people love vinyl.  The vinyl rip albeit lower in volume and static when loud, was so warm and nice.  When i played a flac, while it sounded good it had this obvious overtone/harshness vs the vinyl flac.  Granted i'm playing this on some really nice speakers but i was impressed at the differences.
 
meant to combine above with this...sorry.

 

[159650]

I recently got a pair of CIEMs made with Linum BAX cables. They're supposed to be very unobtrusive as they're extremely thin and light. I think a part of the reason why I've never had much success or fondness for my A83 is because of the cables. I think it's affecting comfort and fit. As they are, I'm not gonna lie; I don't like the sound that much and I don't see what all the fuss is about. I'd take my IE8 or TF10 over them any day of the week, and I do. Which is odd given how good the A83 are supposed to be. I must be doing something wrong. Lol.  

 

[SieB]

Last night I came across a thread on another forum that I stumbled on by accident, which I can't for the life of me find today.  
Anyway, the thread was made by someone who took a pair of comply tips and put them on the inside of his silicone tips. 
 
I decided to give it a try for myself and i'm glad I did, with the comply inside the silicone tips you get much better isolation, a more fuller sound and better bass.
 
All you need to do is remove the plastic guide inside the comply's, turn your silicone tips inside out and slide the comply's over the part of the silicone tips you insert the earphones into and then fold the silicone tip back over the comply. This seems to be the perfect combination for the A83's for me, I want to give this a try with some Spiral Dots as well though.
 
Here are some pics, sorry for the quality.
 

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[Aero Dynamik]

  Last night I came across a thread on another forum that I stumbled on by accident, which I can't for the life of me find today.  
Anyway, the thread was made by someone who took a pair of comply tips and put them on the inside of his silicone tips. 
 

Spoiler: Wnarnig: Sepoilr!

I decided to give it a try for myself and i'm glad I did, with the comply inside the silicone tips you get much better isolation, a more fuller sound and better bass.
 
All you need to do is remove the plastic guide inside the comply's, turn your silicone tips inside out and slide the comply's over the part of the silicone tips you insert the earphones into and then fold the silicone tip back over the comply. This seems to be the perfect combination for the A83's for me, I want to give this a try with some Spiral Dots as well though.
 
Here are some pics, sorry for the quality.
 

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I once tried a similar method using cotton to fill the silicone tips. It worked really well. If it's not too much bother perhaps you could try both methods to see if there's any difference!? Who knows, maybe cotton sounds better than Complys! 

 

[SieB]

  I once tried a similar method using cotton to fill the silicone tips. It worked really well. If it's not too much bother perhaps you could try both methods to see if there's any difference!? Who knows, maybe cotton sounds better than Complys! 

 
I don't have any cotton unfortunately, I suppose filling them with anything (within reason) would have the same effect. Depending on what you use, i'd guess there would most likely be a difference in comfort and sound though. 

 

[Midgetguy]

  I would assume that by "earguides" you mean the memory wire near the monitors!? A good fit of "any tip of any size" suggests that your fit is shallow as any tip larger than your ear canal won't actually "fit", no? As with any shallow fit the projection of the sound into the ear canal - the angle of the nozzle - is in my experience crucial. Of course, in that case the cable could be a problem tugging the monitors away from the ideal angle.

I understand what he was saying, the way the memory wire bends, it does tend to tug the shell out of your ear a little bit. I had the same issue. My solution was not to simply do a loop, but rather to actually also bend the wire inwards at the same time. Still, a cable completely without memory wire (like the cheap lunashops cable I'm using right now) works far better than the memory wire system. I never liked memory wire; it has good intentions but it never works out well for me. I've tried Fidue's and Shure's and neither worked for me; Fidue's wouldn't leave the shell where I put it and Shure's was always way too loud when wire knocked against the legs of my glasses (which is pretty much any time I moved my head).
 

  Last night I came across a thread on another forum that I stumbled on by accident, which I can't for the life of me find today.  
Anyway, the thread was made by someone who took a pair of comply tips and put them on the inside of his silicone tips. 
 
I decided to give it a try for myself and i'm glad I did, with the comply inside the silicone tips you get much better isolation, a more fuller sound and better bass.
 
All you need to do is remove the plastic guide inside the comply's, turn your silicone tips inside out and slide the comply's over the part of the silicone tips you insert the earphones into and then fold the silicone tip back over the comply. This seems to be the perfect combination for the A83's for me, I want to give this a try with some Spiral Dots as well though.
 
Here are some pics, sorry for the quality.
 

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Spoiler: Pics

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Ah yes, I remember doing this with my GR06 a few years ago. It's totally a way to get foam/silicon hybrids without buying stock ones. And it's different from the kind you can just buy anyway since I find the foam in those aren't as dense as the foam of actual foam tips. I cut mine up and put them in the my old eartips for the GR06. It's a method that works fairly well, albeit at the cannabalization of some perfectly usable foam tips

 

[JimmyTryhard]

  What are suggestions for cables then for better fitment?

 

  I recently got a pair of CIEMs made with Linum BAX cables. They're supposed to be very unobtrusive as they're extremely thin and light. I think a part of the reason why I've never had much success or fondness for my A83 is because of the cables. I think it's affecting comfort and fit. As they are, I'm not gonna lie; I don't like the sound that much and I don't see what all the fuss is about. I'd take my IE8 or TF10 over them any day of the week, and I do. Which is odd given how good the A83 are supposed to be. I must be doing something wrong. Lol.  

 
I personally use a Linum BaX cable with my A83's. It has solved all of the fitment issues for my personal case, and it has also improved the overall user experience with it in general.
 
Any type of non-earguide cable from for example lunashops would most likely solve any cable pulling issues like the ones I had.
 

  Last night I came across a thread on another forum that I stumbled on by accident, which I can't for the life of me find today.  
Anyway, the thread was made by someone who took a pair of comply tips and put them on the inside of his silicone tips. 
 
I decided to give it a try for myself and i'm glad I did, with the comply inside the silicone tips you get much better isolation, a more fuller sound and better bass.
 
All you need to do is remove the plastic guide inside the comply's, turn your silicone tips inside out and slide the comply's over the part of the silicone tips you insert the earphones into and then fold the silicone tip back over the comply. This seems to be the perfect combination for the A83's for me, I want to give this a try with some Spiral Dots as well though.
 
Here are some pics, sorry for the quality.
 

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I'm going to try this with Spiral Dots right now! This solves a lot of issues I have with foams(degrades, inability to clean wax, inconvenience) while still giving me the benefit of the fit. Maybe they'll even provide a unique sound signature.