I've never seen this mod anywhere, so I apologize if someone has thought of it before.
We've all flipped the outside of our tips up to make it easier to put on an IEM nozzle, and then popped it back down once it's securely on the nozzle, right?
Well, that got me thinking: what happens if a tip is turned inside out? I'm talking
100% inside out.
Is it even possible? How easy is it to do? What will it look like? Are there any advantages?
Well, let's take a look and see.
Let's start with a KZ Starline. Why? Because I have a billion of them and if I destroy one in the process it's no big deal.
BTW, excuse the focus. I only had my macro lens with me, with has a razor thin FoV. So some of the pics are slightly out of focus.
Totally stock, unmodified KZ Starline tip (fresh out of the baggie):
I tried to turn it inside out a few different ways, and the best (and only way) I found was to hold the outside portion of the tip with 1 hand, and take the index finger of the other hand and push upwards a little at a time. It's not easy though. It's incredibly difficult. You must be patient. If you push too hard, you will tear the core away from the edge of the tip. Eventually, the core will begin to turn inside out:
Now you'll want to alternate between pushing the core from the bottom like in the previous step, and picking at the top edge of the core with your fingernail (ie where that little folded over/pinched looking part is at the top of the photo).
Update: User @hakuzen found the best, fastest, and most fool-proof way to turn the core inside out. It literally takes 5 seconds. His method is here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/flip-tips-prepare-to-have-your-mind-blown.906357/page-2#post-14947444
Eventually you will succeed in turning the whole core inside out!
Now just turn the tip over and flip the outside 'mushroom' part of the eartip back down around the core, like this:
Viola, mind blown!
So let's see what it looks like compared to a stock tip...
Well, for one the core is longer (ie the part sticking out of the bottom of the tip). This will be extremely useful on IEMs with short stubby nozzles. Normally, you'd need a tip with a long core like a SpinFit to work with those IEMs. Not any more!
OK, what else? Well, the shape is obviously different. The tip is actually wider by about 1mm now (believe it or not). What happened was the shape changed, with the mushroom part becoming wider and shorter very much like a wide bore tip. And speaking of the shape, see how there's a bulge in the center? This will be good for giving a tighter seal.
And finally, going back to the change in tip shape, the top edge doesn't come to a sharp angle anymore, but more of a rounded flange (like the bell of a brass horned instrument). You can really see the difference in this side by side photo here:
Be aware that not all eartips will change their shape the same ad the Starline did above. It depends on the design, shape, material, and structure of each individual tip. You'll just have to try it with a tip and see for yourself.
The last thing I noticed was that the material was very grippy and 'sticky'. This is true of most silicone tips. If you flip the mushroom part of most eartips up, you'll see that the underside (or inside) of the eartip has a totally different feeling than the outside. Why that is I don't know. Maybe to make the silicone tip easier to release from the mold, that surface of the mold has a high polished finish on it? The point is that in our 'flip tips', the surface of the tip that used to be on the outside (ie the surface against the skin of your ear canal) is now on the inside, and the surface of the tip that used to be on the inside (ie the surface NOT against the skin of your ear canal) is now on the outside. The tip (at least the Starline) feels exactly like the Sony Hybrid material (ie it has that grippy/sticky feel).
So we turned a tip totally inside out, but will it work on an IEM? After all, the core of a tip has an extra ring of material on the inside, that helps lock into the groove of IEM nozzles that have a nozzle lip. And now that the core is turned totally inside out, that extra ring is no longer there. You can see the ring I'm talking about here:
Because of this, you may want to only use them in IEMs where they fit very tightly and securely over the nozzle, otherwise they could slide off.
OK, so now that we have it flipped inside out, let's try it on an actual IEM (in this case a KZ ZS10 Pro). Yup, looks like it fits just fine:
And in comparison, the stock Starline tips:
Here you can see the radius (like the bell of a horn) I was talking about earlier:
Thanks to
@neo_styles for this great comparison photo of a Medium Flip Tip Starline next to a stock Large Starline. It's a completely different tip now:
The end reminds me of how the end of Comply foam tips are.
So is the tip comfortable to wear? Absolutely. It has a great seal and just like Sony Hybrid tips, the material grips the ear and stays in place. In fact, it doesn't need to be inserted as deeply as a regular Starline to get the same tight seal. Because of this, the flip tips should increase the max time you can comfortably wear your IEM.
What about the flip tip's effect on the sound?
Well, I haven't really had a lot of time to do critical listening on numerous IEMs to be able to confidently say it changes this or that. As I have time to do some comparisons, I will update this thread with my findings though.
Any sound change is going to vary from IEM to IEM, so I will leave that up to you to try for yourself. I will say that I liked them so much, I'm keeping them like this on the ZS10 Pro (for now). I also made a few extra sets of flip tips to keep with my normal tip rolling inventory.
Finally, let's see if this flip tip process works with an eartip other than Starlines. Well, I found some random generic tips I had laying around in my tip rolling box, and did the same inside-out process. This tip had a smaller core (3mm instead of the 4mm core of the Starline), so it took a little bit more persuasion to get the core inside out. But it eventually worked.
Here's the results:
And the orange flip tips on the ZS10 Pro:
And in comparison, the normal tips (ie not flipped inside out):
That's about it. Good luck,
be patient, and let me know if this 'flip tip' process works for you, how you like it, what eartips tips you used, etc.
Also, I don't know the answer to "will this work for tip XYZ?" I don't know. You'll have to try it and let me know. I do know for a fact it works on KZ Starline tips and the generic orange tips I show above. So if it worked with 100% success rate on those 2 tips, I don't see why it won't work on other tips! I can say it will NOT work on KZ or Tennmak Turbo/Whirlwind tips, due to the little 'turbo blades' underneath the eartip. But other than that, I don't see why the Flip Tip process won't work on many other tips.
Current Update!!
A fellow HeadFier made a nice YouTube video showing the easiest technique to flip the tip inside out (ie using the head of a screw or nail). Thanks to hakuzen for the idea of using a screw/nail, and to KopiOKaya for the awesome video showing the technique!!
