How do I know if my IEM seal is tight/deep/good enough?

Nov 15, 2006 at 11:45 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 6

GregBe

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Brand new to IEMs and got a pair of Shure E4c. Obviously there are a lot of different tip options. How do I know if the seal is good enough? How would you describe the sound/ or lack of sound with a good seal and no music playing. Should I be able to hear someone talking to me in a normal voice at all? Should I be able to hear me clapping my hands? Should I be able to hear me snapping my fingers?

Any thoughts would be great
greg
 
Nov 16, 2006 at 12:04 AM Post #2 of 6
Quote:

Originally Posted by GregBe
Brand new to IEMs and got a pair of Shure E4c. Obviously there are a lot of different tip options. How do I know if the seal is good enough? How would you describe the sound/ or lack of sound with a good seal and no music playing. Should I be able to hear someone talking to me in a normal voice at all? Should I be able to hear me clapping my hands? Should I be able to hear me snapping my fingers?

Any thoughts would be great
greg




When i used IEMs i found that once i hit the deepest bass..i was in deep enough. Also...i could not hear a person talking next to me with them in that far. I mean i can tell they talking, but no way i can make it out unless they yell.

Another thing...i noticed this and i think about everyone thats uses IEM notice this. If you walking or lightly jogging you can hear a low thump...Also, once you get a good seal...you should be able to hear when your headphone cord hits something...a light tapping noise can be heard through the phones.

Once you have a good seal you will know what i mean.
 
Jan 18, 2010 at 2:20 AM Post #4 of 6
I'm using the senaphonics frequency test and getting the full rumbling lows, and the high parts too, but I can still hear things.. for example I dropped the toilet flushing ( sorry for TMI) or if I put a glass down on the table. I can still hear the sound, when I take off my IEMs, naturally those sounds are much louder.

The seal I'm getting is just reducing noise not eliminating anything. I can still hear myself typing for example, such distinct noises still come through. Fortunately, the hum of my PC is almost gone, I really have to try to hear to it.

All this is w/o music playing of course, just testing the earphones with the seal.
 
Jan 18, 2010 at 4:06 AM Post #5 of 6
I put it in, twist a bit. Hold your hand 8 inches straight out from your ear, and snap your fingers. You should find the snap muffled into a thib/thub/thud kind of sound. If it still sounds like 'snap', take it out and try again. Often it takes a couple tries.

When it's not sealed, you can't really hear them w/o blasting the music, unless you have a silent listening room. It'll be very tinny, at the least, since you can't expect a tiny driver to fill your room with slammin bass.
 

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