[chewy4]

I love how on multiple occasions this thread has turned into a medical advice thread

 
Anyways you shouldn't normally clean your ears. Especially with cu-tips. They clean themselves and trying to clean them generally results in  making them worse.
 
Definitely see your doctor if you have it clogged up bad enough where your hearing is bad in one ear. I wouldn't recommend pouring a bunch of cooking oils in your ear unless you actually know what you're doing. You don't want to turn a simple problem into something worse.

 

[beaver316]

Yeah the drops im using are actually meant to be very effective, so if these dont work then homemade solutions would be quite unlikely to work either. Anyway I'll be booking an audiologist appointment in the morning... i'll keep you guys up to date, not that anyone should have an interest in some random person's left ear from half way round the globe 

 
And now back to HE-400 discussion.

 

[FlySweep]

A fellow Head-Fi'er friend of mine had some serious ear blockage issues, as well.. the ENT he went to gently swabbed his ear with a cutip dipped in mineral oil.. my friend said within moments, his ear was clear.  The ENT suggested doing this once or twice a week.

 

[ninjames]

1. Q-Tips are not meant for cleaning earwax out of your ears. If you say it's worked for you, you're just lucky.
 
2. Alcohol is not what is recommended for use - that would be peroxide. Don't ever go out and buy the earwax removal kits if you hate wasting money (unless you need the dropper) because that stuff is just peroxide. If you are really, really impacted, pour a cap-full of peroxide into your ear, lay on your side and let it sit for at least ten minutes. Drain, irrigate with warm - not hot - water.
 
3. I've found a good middle ground for those who just really want to keep using Q-Tips for some reason. I have a condition regarding my ear wax and we'll leave it at that. I take a Q-Tip, dip it in peroxide, and let it sit in my ear. You do not push anything, you do not insert it deep, you do not forcibly remove any wax, you are simply using the q-tip as a method of delivering peroxide to the wax, which dissolves it on contact. This is the only acceptable method of using a Q-Tip, and should only be done occasionally to keep up with the maintenance, not to clear out an impacted blockage.
 
4. Don't use any of the home remedies, honestly. Vinegar is not a great solution because peroxide will work perfectly. There is no reason to use anything else. My experience on this goes back a few years. I went to the doctor SIX TIMES in 2010 with impacted ear wax (at first thought it was an ear infection due to the pain, but really it was so impacted it was stabbing into my ear drum) and have learned plenty of lessons for it.

 

[jerg]

Quote:

1. Q-Tips are not meant for cleaning earwax out of your ears. If you say it's worked for you, you're just lucky.
 
2. Alcohol is not what is recommended for use - that would be peroxide. Don't ever go out and buy the earwax removal kits if you hate wasting money (unless you need the dropper) because that stuff is just peroxide. If you are really, really impacted, pour a cap-full of peroxide into your ear, lay on your side and let it sit for at least ten minutes. Drain, irrigate with warm - not hot - water.
 
3. I've found a good middle ground for those who just really want to keep using Q-Tips for some reason. I have a condition regarding my ear wax and we'll leave it at that. I take a Q-Tip, dip it in peroxide, and let it sit in my ear. You do not push anything, you do not insert it deep, you do not forcibly remove any wax, you are simply using the q-tip as a method of delivering peroxide to the wax, which dissolves it on contact. This is the only acceptable method of using a Q-Tip, and should only be done occasionally to keep up with the maintenance, not to clear out an impacted blockage.
 
4. Don't use any of the home remedies, honestly. Vinegar is not a great solution because peroxide will work perfectly. There is no reason to use anything else. My experience on this goes back a few years. I went to the doctor SIX TIMES in 2010 with impacted ear wax (at first thought it was an ear infection due to the pain, but really it was so impacted it was stabbing into my ear drum) and have learned plenty of lessons for it.

^ This.
 
I find it disturbing that many here are using these home-brewed methods to clean their ear canals.

 

[Kiont]

With so many ways to misinterpret the proper usage and dangers of Q-tips, I don't understand how it's been able to stay in the market.

 

[jerg]

Quote:

With so many ways to misinterpret the proper usage and dangers of Q-tips, I don't understand how it's been able to stay in the market.

Because if you tell the average joe who knows nothing about medical science or chemistry "here use this chemical solution called hydrogen peroxide and pour it into your ears, I promise you it won't melt through to your brain; alternatively use this cotton on a stick", he/she would probably pick the latter.

 

[Anvil]

Is there an effect on the sound quality if you bend the foam lining inside of the pads out of shape? I got my HE-400s last friday and have been listening to them over the weekend, and today decided to take a peek inside to look at the drivers(they've white fyi). I looked at youtube videos for a guide and managed to take off a pad, though I may have been too forceful and likely caused the chip in the inner housing my right earcup has.
 
Anyways, the real problem was putting them back on, which was a huge unexpected pain in the butt. I looked at the youtube vids again and again and tried replicating their methods, but it didn't work. Along the way I mauled the foam on my pleathers (don't have the velours yet, will probably get them sometime when I have a non-staticy-when-turning-volume-knob amp) as I tried to align the tabs back into place, spent what must have been an hour trying every method I could think of trying to get more than 3 tabs in and pretty much mauling the foam before finally using the credit card method to jam into the final tab to snap it back into place, which took a few experimental tries in of itself. Now that that's done, I have a few spots where the foam is a bit smushed and bunched up from my fingers ramming through them trying to get the tabs back in, was wondering if that would be an issue.
 
I guess I could just go and buy the Velours if it is, though I doubt it.

 

[Sniping]

Quote:

Is there an effect on the sound quality if you bend the foam lining inside of the pads out of shape? I got my HE-400s last friday and have been listening to them over the weekend, and today decided to take a peek inside to look at the drivers(they've white fyi). I looked at youtube videos for a guide and managed to take off a pad, though I may have been too forceful and likely caused the chip in the inner housing my right earcup has.
 
Anyways, the real problem was putting them back on, which was a huge unexpected pain in the butt. I looked at the youtube vids again and again and tried replicating their methods, but it didn't work. Along the way I mauled the foam on my pleathers (don't have the velours yet, will probably get them sometime when I have a non-staticy-when-turning-volume-knob amp) as I tried to align the tabs back into place, spent what must have been an hour trying every method I could think of trying to get more than 3 tabs in and pretty much mauling the foam before finally using the credit card method to jam into the final tab to snap it back into place, which took a few experimental tries in of itself. Now that that's done, I have a few spots where the foam is a bit smushed and bunched up from my fingers ramming through them trying to get the tabs back in, was wondering if that would be an issue.
 
I guess I could just go and buy the Velours if it is, though I doubt it.

I'd take the foam out and try using a credit card to get the tabs of the pads back in.

 

[Anvil]

Quote:

I'd take the foam out and try using a credit card to get the tabs of the pads back in.

 
I actually have reinstalled the pad with the credit card method, just wanted to know if there were any consequences to messing up the foam lining within the pad.

 

[Sniping]

Quote:

 
I actually have reinstalled the pad with the credit card method, just wanted to know if there were any consequences to messing up the foam lining within the pad.

If you're talking about those foam rings they use to raise the pads, I'd just throw them away. The HE-400 sounds better without them. 

 

[beaver316]

Nice writeup ninjames. 
 
1. It's safe to say I'm never going to use Q-tips ever again, I've learned my lesson. But it's quite weird only now I experience this after having used Q-tips my whole life. 
 
2. The drops I'm using don't contain any peroxide at all. I may go and pickup some hydrogen peroxide as a last resort before seeing a doctor, I heard that stuff is quite potent. 

 

[MoreBassPlease]

Quote:
 

Just wanted to pop in and say that my HE400 has, like a fine wine, gotten better with age and use.

 
I'm with etys rule. I use maranz pm5004 amp and my he400 get better in female vocal section. It's really supprised me and make my listening more enjoyable. With age and use, it got more transparant. But I founded, in metal music it's too thin and need more bass impact. Rock is fine but it best for jazz and acoustic.

 

[autoexec]

Just wanna ask if anyone is also removing the cable after use. I use my HE-400 only in weekends and I remove the cables when I know I won't use them for a week. I wonder if anyone does it too and if it's okay, Im very careful removing it/putting it on though.

 

[jerg]

Quote:

Just wanna ask if anyone is also removing the cable after use. I use my HE-400 only in weekends and I remove the cables when I know I won't use them for a week. I wonder if anyone does it too and if it's okay, Im very careful removing it/putting it on though.

I tend to just leave it in; repeated screwing on/off will undoubtedly put some wear-and-tear on the connections.
 
Besides it's convenient not having to do all this extra stuff whenever I want to listen to the headphones, kinda like leaving the shoe laces tied when you don't wear em.