[kwitel]

Apparently, the er6i is the best bang for your buck.
Although, im scared of too much isolation, comfort issues and blowing my ear drums out.
I know this has been discussed many times before, but im desperate for some finality in my "gym, crappy ipod bud" replacement search.

How could shoving a tiny device deep into your ear canal NOT be bad for your hearing???

Im down to the AKG k14p
Sony Fontopias
Ety er6is
Sony 888's

Does a decent "bud" exist that actually has bass?
Ive had the Senn mx500 and my cell phone has more bass...
Some advice, please!

 

[MaGG]

Super.fi 5 EB's are the ones that have good bass for an IEM. I believe the EB even stands for "extra bass", someone correct me if I'm wrong.

As far as "shoving" them in your ear, you don't push it in so it actually touches your ear drum. It just goes in far enough so it makes a good isolation. This way, you don't have to turn it up too loud, so less volume = less damage to the eardrums.

 

[parrot5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwitel How could shoving a tiny device deep into your ear canal NOT be bad for your hearing???

distance vs. volume. The closer the bud is, lower volume is needed in order for you to hear everything clearly. The farther a source is, higher volume is needed for you to hear the same detail. So I think it's an equal game.

 

[swt61]

They can actually help you keep your hearing if you listen at a decent volume. I'm a carpenter and my Ety ER4's are the best hearing protection i've ever owned. The isolation is incredible.

 

[Ref]

what matters is SPL @ eardrum...
it doesn't matter whether you play 140 dB SPL through loudspeakers 30 feet away or 140 dB SPL through IEMs 1/8" away... it is still 140 dB SPL

 

[Kenny12]

took me about a week

 

[wolfen68]

After 3-4 days...I was cool with my first (E2's).

 

[909]

I got the Shure E3. After a few days of wearing them for about an hour each day, I almost could completely forget they were inserted in my ear canal. I do believe my ear canal has gotten ever so slightly bigger because of inserting those things in my ears. I do find them to be comfortable, but different manufacturers and designs do vary as do comfort levels. And of course, everyone’s ear canal and tolerance level is slightly different.

With respect to possibly damaging your hearing, if you listen to anything too loud and for too long you have the potential to cause some hearing problems. But with good isolation dependent upon making sure you have a good seal, you reduce the need to listen at louder levels.

The only problem that I’ve experience is getting and maintaining a good seal. But after some experience it’s becomes easier. And second, may be a handful of times in the past two years one of the canal tips (soft flex sleeves) have come off in my ear canal when I was taking them out. I’ve always been able to remove the flex sleeve, thank goodness, but it does create a small bit of worry. I think even a little bit of ear wax acts as sort of a lubricant. So it is important to kept everything really clean and replace them when necessary.

I don’t think the E3 provide great bass, but have read the UM2 do.

I also think that the er6i isn't a bad choice, but don't know how much bass impact they have. But in general, IEMs aren't known for delivering great bass, unless of course, you have an amp and get into the more expensive IEMs.

 

[kwitel]

I was thinking about getting the "plug" (koss) just to see if i could get used to them and then go for a better IEM.
Are they really that bad?
They can be had for about $10 on Ebay...
Any recommendations for earbuds??
Thanx guys.

 

[loopsider]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ref what matters is SPL @ eardrum... it doesn't matter whether you play 140 dB SPL through loudspeakers 30 feet away or 140 dB SPL through IEMs 1/8" away... it is still 140 dB SPL

I don't think that is true...inverse square law?

Distance makes a huge difference! 140 db SPL at 30 ft loses intensity over those 30 ft. 1/8th'' pretty much retains 100% intensity.

Lets do the math (please correct me if I am wrong, because I most likely am...I have percieved from articles that the dB decrease is a linear function while the distance is exponential):

1/8''=140 db (which is, by the way, EXTREMELY loud)

1/4'' = 134 db

1/2'' = 128 db and so forth, until we achieve 30 ft...

------------------

21 1/3 ' = 74

32 ' = 71 db?

This is possibly correct, please say if I am not.

Whatever the case, it stands that sound reduces intensity through distance.

 

[Turbo7MN]

I'd reccomend the Panasonic RP-HJE70.

I got accustomed to IEMs right away. Some tips work better for different people. Just today I had used a tri-flange tip (like the ones on the ER6i) for the first time and I was thoroughly disappointed, compared to the regular short black ones that came with the Panas. I don't mind things going into my ears, but not quite that far.

 

[ghoti]

Took about two weeks to get used to my ER-4P with the tri-flanges.

Any of those earbuds hurt my ears like crazy.

 

[reynman]

It took me about a week to feel "normal" with my Sensa 2XS, my first foray into customized IEMs.

 

[Jasper994]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwitel Apparently, the er6i is the best bang for your buck. Although, im scared of too much isolation, comfort issues and blowing my ear drums out. I know this has been discussed many times before, but im desperate for some finality in my "gym, crappy ipod bud" replacement search. How could shoving a tiny device deep into your ear canal NOT be bad for your hearing??? Im down to the AKG k14p Sony Fontopias Ety er6is Sony 888's Does a decent "bud" exist that actually has bass? Ive had the Senn mx500 and my cell phone has more bass... Some advice, please!

If you want bass, definately don't get the ER6i or anything else by Etymotic Research. I don't think anyone on this board would call an Etymotic IEM bassy by any stretch of the imagination. They are balanced at best, with a large number of us feeling they are very thin and bright sounding.

Are you using your MX500's with foamies or without? Without foamies, they are indeed NOT bassy. With a pair of Radioshack foamies the bass is much improved, even over the stock foam.

If you are using Radioshack foam and you still find the MX500 to be lacking in the bass department, then I think the only IEM that may even come close to having enough bass to suit you while still providing quality would be the Super.Fi 5 EB.

To answer the title question, it took me about two days to get used to the E2, and about a week to get used to the E5 due to the memory wire. I have very sensitive earlobes and until I shaped it correctly and got accustomed to having something there for several hours at a time, they would press out on the tops of my earlobes causing discomfort. After about a week the memory wire had taken a shape I was comfortable with and I became used to having them there.

 

[catscratch]

Took about... 30 seconds to get used to the feel of the ER-4P. They were very comfortable with the foams. The UM2 was even more comfortable.

However, it took a few days before I got a good seal with the ER-4P, and it was even longer than that before I learned how to insert/remove them quickly. Inserting the UM2's was a whole lot easier.

I think that the whole canalphone safety thing is, to some extent, overblown, but I've never been traumatized by a tri-flange stuck up my ear for a few hours. With the UM2, the danger of tips stuck up the ear is pretty small, since these IEM's don't go so far into your ear that the tip is under a lot of pressure when you pull it out. With the Ety's, though, it is a different story. In terms of comfort: shove your fingers up your ears. That's it. Not any worse than that, and most likely a good deal better. The UM2's are more comfortable than any other phone in my possession except the SR-404.