[XBTed]

Well, I finally got my new earmolds for the ER-4s.

The first pair I got were really hard, though the audiologist thought they were soft as far as hearing aid material goes; but I thought anything that clicks when you drop it on the table could be considered quite hard. As it turns out the lab where I had them prepared had taken the liberty to mold them out of a hard material to keep the tips of the ER-4s from breaking. Though I appreciated their engineering reasons behind using hard materials, and they were surprisingly comfortable, I had a couple problems with them. First, being hard, they didn't really seal very well. Secondly, the sound was very detached, I know there's a term for it, but I don't know it, when it sounds like sound is coming through a tunnel. And also, though comfortable, pusing them up into the ear canal to get a better seal was irritating becuase they were hard. It was kindof like pushing a pen up into your ear.
So I took them back, and the audiologist and mold lab were more than happy to fulfill my request for soft molds.

Well the difference is night and day. I can barely tell they're in my ears. The material they made them out of is squishy and softens with body heat a bit so the seal is good too. And when I get a good seal, the bass just booms, I didn't know it was possible with ER-4Ps to get that kind of bass, it's very rich and filling. (are those audiophile terms?) Some of the highs and mids sound a bit different though, and I assume it's from the angle the sound is exiting the drivers. The sound hits the upward angle of the molds going into the ear canal, so if has a slight attenuating effect. Tomorrow I'm visiting the audiologist again to see if maybe they can drill a little bit to make the output hold a bit bigger so more sound comes out. And I'm not quite sure if the seal is as good as I want, but I can eventually get the molds made bigger.

I'll post a link to where I have some pictures. I have the blue mold for the right ear and red for the left. I know it seems backwards, but I'm a Kansas alum, so now each ear has red and blue, Jayhawk colors, and I think it looks pretty nice.

So my initial conclusion of my second set of molds is that I'm pretty pleased with them. I'll post some more after I've had more time to listen, but so far I think they do the job.

Just in case anyone is wondering, I had them made through Mid-States Labs in Wichita, Kansas. The cost, through the audiologist (including having the casts of my ears made) is going to be $80. And they only took 3 days to get!

Ear Molds

 

[Sheynkman]

do they just slip off for cleaning?

 

[XBTed]

Yep, I mean they're on there pretty well, but it's really easy to take them off.

And I wanted to make a little addendum to my previous post. I noticed how some of the higs and mids seemed a bit attenuated. Well, I thought my foamies sounded pretty darn good, so I took out that little plastic tube from a couple of them, and stuck them into my molds. Well, now my molds sound as good as the foamies did, but with more bass. And they seal a bit better too, I guess from the outward resistance of the tubes. Anyway, my first mod!

 

[seeberg]

Dang, reading your impressions on the custom pieces makes me want to get some of my own or figure out how to make them myself and use them on my new love, the ER6i.

Representin' tha

crew,
Abe

 

[Ellen_125]

Quote:

Originally Posted by XBTed Just in case anyone is wondering, I had them made through Mid-States Labs in Wichita, Kansas. The cost, through the audiologist (including having the casts of my ears made) is going to be $80. And they only took 3 days to get! Ear Molds

Is this a lab for non-audio (headphone) purpose? What I'd like to know is if any lab for hearing devices can make this molds or do you have to get to a specific shop/lab?

 

[seeberg]

Ooo, is it a lady? And born on April 3rd? Woah

Anyway, any audiologist in your area-there should be one in the Netherlands- should be able to get in contact with whatever company engineers the final molds. For example, if you have Ety ER4's, you can contact Sensaphonics and have them get in contact with your local audiologist for the mold and fitting process. At least, that's the idea. I don't have any molds for myself, but I get the feeling I might know how to make some...

,
Abe

 

[JeffS]

Seeberg,

please post your feedback if you get molds for the er-6i. I've had a pair
for quite a while now, and have been on the fence about getting custom
molds for them for more than a few months.

There's a fair amount of feedback in here on custom fittings for er-4 but nothing for the 6i yet.

-Jeff

 

[seeberg]

Well, with my budget (I'm $16 in the hole at the moment) I'm probably never going to buy acutal custom earmolds. What will probably happen is I'll have one of my brothers inject a proper substance into my ear, the proper way(with my mouth wide open on a biting block) and then cast molds and inject silcone but have a special tube lead through it so when the mold is finished, sound can pass through it as it's supposed to. That's the theory anyway. At present, and partly due to my satisfaction with the triflange tips, I'd like instead to try the Ety S adaptor cable on my ER6i to see what happens.

With the price considered for acutal molds my Sensaphonics, Westone, or Etymotic, I'd rather make molds or wait until I'm rich and famous(yeah, with my writing career!

) to buy some Sensa 2X-S's or UE10-Pro's, or even Westone ES3's, which oddly enough I never hear about.

I'm a cheapass,
Abe

 

[XBTed]

Mid-States Labs usually does hearing aid molds, so I'm not sure if they actually did a pair of ER-4 molds before this, though I checked with them before and they said they could do it. They were listed on the Etymotic web site as a mold lab, so I called them up and they referred me to an audiologist who could do fit me and everything. I guess as long as a lab has the right dimensions to drill the whole, I can't see why an ear mold lab couldn't make some molds for about any pair of phones, even in Amsterdam. Etymotic has some international labs on their site too, though I can't recall any of them right now.

Quote:

Dang, reading your impressions on the custom pieces makes me want to get some of my own or figure out how to make them myself and use them on my new love, the ER6i.

Sensaphonics has ER-6 molds, and pictures on their site.
http://www.sensaphonics.com/etymotic.html

I like mine better, LOL.

 

[mverscho]

XBTed,

How far would you say the ends of the transducers (filters) are recessed into the opening hole of your molds (ie. are the the phones embedded the maximum amount into the molds)?

Also, do you find occlusion effects (esp. breathing noise) reduced with your custom inserts vs. the triflanges?

 

[The Actual]

Last week I saw a guy on the T with some ear molds for his ER4Ps. He said that he was pretty happy with them, although unfortunately (or something...) he was not an audiophile. I realized this when he said that the custom molds made the headphones "sound better," and when I asked him if the bass was getting better or if the whole sound spectrum was just getting more detailed and pronounced he didn't understand what I meant. Oh well, at least I was able to find another person on the planet with etymotics, as it sounds like most head-fiers have never seen one.

Also: He said that his cost $125, but if you got them for only $80 maybe it would be a remote possibility for me to be able to afford a pair.

 

[XBTed]

I'm going to try to post some more pictures, particularly to answer mverscho's question. I think the transducers go in about as far into the molds as they would into your ear. That being said, there's about 1/4 inch of the black part sticking out of the mold. The main difference is that the phones go into the mold straight; when you stick the mold into your ear it's sortof at an upward angle. It's hard to explain without a photograph, but basically they drill two canals, one that goes straight in and another that's in the upward extending part of the mold, that part that goes past the bend in the ear canal. So when you stick the phone into the mold, it goes in that straight canal, and then the phones shoot noise up that bend in the molds.

They drill the holes to the exact dimensions of the phones so it's a nice tight fit. Anyway, I think in theory the sound should be the same coming out of the molds as the foamies or tri-flange, but I think there's a few factors that have a minor effect on the sound.

First the sound is hitting the walls of that upward bend, instead of having a straight shot onto the ear drum. So there could be attenuation there, but not much with this silicon stuff. The first pair of molds I had were made of a harder material and sounded horrible. My first impression with this pair was enhanced bass due to some decrease in mids and treble, but more about that in a moment.

Second, since the phones go in straight instead of that upward angle, I think the distance is actually a bit larger, so the volume is slightly decreased. I find turning up the volume one or two notches have compensated quite well.

Okay, so I said I had some treble in mid attenuation, and I do get some, but I think I have that figured out too. I read all the posts and it said to have the molds made open mouth, so I did. Well, I have these really nice tight fitting molds, with those custom drilled tiny little Etymotic size sound canal. Well I hadn't really realized that I listen to my music mostly with my mouth closed, and that causes the ear canals to contract, and they squeeze my squishy ear molds and that tiny little canal. I say tiny, it's the same size as the foamy tubes. So basically, the molds are a tad bit big and when I close my mouth it decreases the size of the tube, and limits the amplitude of the sound wave, emphasizing bass by attenuating the treble. Is that right or is my physics messy?
So when I yawn, the sound is nearly perfect.

Even with the closed mouth thing, I think they sound better than the tri-flanges but not quite as good as the foamies, and are alot more comfortable.

Also with the squishy molds I recommend getting some oto-ease if you have sensitive ears. I didn't realize how well these things grip skin and ear hair.

About the occlusion effects, they're about the same, just part of having something blocking your ears. And really it's only bad when I walk and hear the thumping coming up through my body.

 

[XBTed]

Hey seeberg,
do you have a P-S adapter cable yet or are you planning to buy one? You were saying that you're on a tight budget, and I made one ( a close proximity) for about $4.00 in supplies by soldering a couple of 68 ohm resistors (and a ground wire) between a 1/8 inch jack and 1/8 inch plug and heat shrinking the whole thing.

 

[seeberg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by XBTed Hey seeberg, do you have a P-S adapter cable yet or are you planning to buy one? You were saying that you're on a tight budget, and I made one ( a close proximity) for about $4.00 in supplies by soldering a couple of 68 ohm resistors (and a ground wire) between a 1/8 inch jack and 1/8 inch plug and heat shrinking the whole thing.

No P-S adaptor yet- at the next Oregon meet, which is around 2 months down the road, I was going to try the one Remilard has. I'd consider buying one from you if you can make your homemade version for me, though the real thing is the best option-the resistors are top quality, as is the wiring leading to and from it. Really, I just want to see what happens. If it goes good, I'll still have to wait until my amp comes out of JMT's shop to get the most out of it.
Quote:

Originally Posted by XBTed Sensaphonics has ER-6 molds, and pictures on their site. I like mine better, LOL.

Seen the pics, saved them too. But the tube travel technique is what I have trouble with. I know that the opening HAS to be where the tip ends, but the shape of the tunnel inside the mold is what I have questions about.

Great pics you have, by the way.

Representin' tha

crew,
Abe

 

[XBTed]

I'm thinking about making a couple of the nice ones. If I thought I had some buyers, or people willing on going in on buying the components, I'd order the good stuff to do them. It's really easy to build them actually, the hard part for me is spending $6.00 on shipping for $5.00 worth of components. I found some .1% thin film resistors for 55 cents on one of those DIY electronic stuff, so the stuff is affordable, but as I said it's the shipping that's the killer.
Let me see what I can do with what I've got right now, and I'll let ya know.