[fierostetz]

I love the shure olives for my etymotics and other deeper-insertion iems, and have tested them on a variety of headphones and love them.
I also noticed that the olives, with their little mesh thingy, make the etymotic filters last a LOT longer, which is great.

I bought a decidedly low-quality "gaming" headset from monoprice for use at work/phone/etc in noisy environments, but no tips I toss on there are long enough. The body of the headphone is too large to allow the shure olives to go deep enough into my ears to seal, which defeats my use of these in noisy environments at work where I don't want to risk snagging my etymotics on something.

Does anyone have any thoughts on something like the Olives that insert a bit deeper? Their foam is great on my ears, no irritation, and very comfortable in general... just not long enough.

For what its worth, I have a variety of Westone "star" silicone tips on the way in various lengths and sizes, hopefully those work, but Silicone generally makes my ears itchy. Any thoughts appreciated

Here's a link to the headset in question. It sounds about as good as any cheap monoprice headphone, but the included mic is pretty awesome and I prefer having a "boom" mic in noisy environments. https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=38760

I ordered some 3mm silicone tubing and have been experimenting with putting the tubing through comfortable earplugs for a good, deep seal... but its a lot of work for a pair of ear foams that don't last very long. Thanks for any feedback!

Ah, almost forgot - I tried some of the really long westone "foam" tips, but I have consistently had issues with the center plastic tube coming loose from the foam causing some scary moments where I had to have the wife help get the foam tip out of my ear.

 

[assassin10000]

You could try and find a stainless steel, brass or plastic tube or straw that has the right internal diameter to slip onto the IEM and isn't too thick, where the shure tips will still go onto them.

I know my local ace hardware has some stuff like that near the nuts & bolts in their 'metal' selection.


Same thing @Slater did for his blon bl-03 mod.

 

[fierostetz]

You could try and find a stainless steel, brass or plastic tube or straw that has the right internal diameter to slip onto the IEM and isn't too thick, where the shure tips will still go onto them.

I know my local ace hardware has some stuff like that near the nuts & bolts in their 'metal' selection.


Same thing @Slater did for his blon bl-03 mod.

Hm I suppose I could try that.

I *wish* triple-flanges were comfortable for me because cheap amazon triple flanges did the job admirably, but they're so... itchy

 

[soundstige]

I've been using Westone True-Fit Foam ear tips for all my Etymotics and Westones for about 5 years, and have never once had the inner core come unattached from the foam. Are you buying genuine ones? I've seen lots of fakes on eBay and Alieexpress etc.

 

[fierostetz]

I've been using Westone True-Fit Foam ear tips for all my Etymotics and Westones for about 5 years, and have never once had the inner core come unattached from the foam. Are you buying genuine ones? I've seen lots of fakes on eBay and Alieexpress etc.

I ordered a few sizes from Amazon. When you insert them, do you roll them to compress them? It seemed like the rolling caused the glue around the plastic core to loosen a bit. It was a shame because they were *really* comfortable, but... man they just freaked me out a bit having my wife dig around to rescue the foam lol.

 

[soundstige]

I ordered a few sizes from Amazon. When you insert them, do you roll them to compress them? It seemed like the rolling caused the glue around the plastic core to loosen a bit. It was a shame because they were *really* comfortable, but... man they just freaked me out a bit having my wife dig around to rescue the foam lol.

I slowly slide the silicone stem straight down over the IEM stem -- luckily newer Etymotics have stainless steel tubes so there's no worry about damaging those thin stalks. I do not roll or twist them at all, just slowly push. Then, when they're on the IEM stem, I gently compress the tips, insert in my ear, hold them there for 5 seconds until the foam expands, and then enjoy an hour of listening pleasure.

This sounds a lot more sexual than intended, sorry.

And yeah Amazon is where I've gotten my 4 sets in the past 5 years, they've always worked well for me. And I've also had other unrelated tips get "stuck" in my ear before, a toothpick or even the 1/8" plug on a headphone works really well to fish it out.

 

[assassin10000]

I had the foam come apart on one of my westone foam tips as well. Fortunately it didn't come apart in my ear. Glued it back on and it was fine.

__________________


You could also use or make an adapter to a larger I.D. foam.

I did that experimenting with tips on my Westone UM Pro 10's.


Here's some ideas that worked.

#4 nylon bushing:


Same bushing without flange:


Vinyl hose connector/splice:



The nylon bushing I had to fit using a small precision file, it was too tight otherwise.

 

[fierostetz]

I slowly slide the silicone stem straight down over the IEM stem -- luckily newer Etymotics have stainless steel tubes so there's no worry about damaging those thin stalks. I do not roll or twist them at all, just slowly push. Then, when they're on the IEM stem, I gently compress the tips, insert in my ear, hold them there for 5 seconds until the foam expands, and then enjoy an hour of listening pleasure.

This sounds a lot more sexual than intended, sorry.

And yeah Amazon is where I've gotten my 4 sets in the past 5 years, they've always worked well for me. And I've also had other unrelated tips get "stuck" in my ear before, a toothpick or even the 1/8" plug on a headphone works really well to fish it out.

Ah ok - perhaps I was too rough with them. I was putting them onto the etymotics, rolling them like foam earplugs then inserting deep and waiting until they expanded. They were anchored in there pretty good, and I think maybe I was loosening the glue during the rolling. Probably need a smaller size so I can push to insert without rolling them. Thanks!

I'm not much of an audiophile, but I have extreme audio sensory issues so I wear some sort of ear protection or sound filters at almost all times, like day to day I wear etymotic er20xs or eargasm earplugs because normal-level sounds and speech hurt my ears. Weird, I know - but the first time I tried etymotics I almost got emotional, it completely blocked out all the background noise and I could listen to music at a very very low level while working and still have it sound good.

Thanks for the input duders!

 

[davidcotton]

Comply P series?

 

[cheewheol]

P series ^ like he said, or shure's in-box triple flange, but cut the stem shorter

 

[petry]

I ordered a few sizes from Amazon. When you insert them, do you roll them to compress them? It seemed like the rolling caused the glue around the plastic core to loosen a bit. It was a shame because they were *really* comfortable, but... man they just freaked me out a bit having my wife dig around to rescue the foam lol.

If the pictures of your new headphones (from the link you provided) are true, the nozzle is 4-5 mm. Neither Shure nor Westone nor Comply P tips are designed for such nozzel (even if you, somehow, manage to fit them). If you don’t want to be disappointed by the quality of Westone tips (or Sure, or Comply P), try not to use them on the wrong nozzle .
Now, back on topic, I also love Shure olives, but, unfortunately, failed to find something with same quality and comfort that will fit a 4.5 mm nozzle (a reason for me to no longer buy universal IEMs that won’t take Shure olives). So, even if you find something longer that will fit your new headphones, most probably, quality and comfort won’t be on par with Shure olives.

 

[fierostetz]

If the pictures of your new headphones (from the link you provided) are true, the nozzle is 4-5 mm. Neither Shure nor Westone nor Comply P tips are designed for such nozzel (even if you, somehow, manage to fit them). If you don’t want to be disappointed by the quality of Westone tips (or Sure, or Comply P), try not to use them on the wrong nozzle .
Now, back on topic, I also love Shure olives, but, unfortunately, failed to find something with same quality and comfort that will fit a 4.5 mm nozzle (a reason for me to no longer buy universal IEMs that won’t take Shure olives). So, even if you find something longer that will fit your new headphones, most probably, quality and comfort won’t be on par with Shure olives.

I cheated a bit on the olives - I pushed the broad tip of a soldering iron into the shure tip, then turn on the soldering iron - when the plastic is "warm" I pull the tip off and stick it onto the 5mm nozzle and it cools off and "Shrink fits" onto the nozzle and fits really well, just too short. The westone silicone tips stretch right over and they do pretty much reach, but the angle isn't great. I may just mold another set of silicone tips for these.

 

[davidcotton]

I cheated a bit on the olives - I pushed the broad tip of a soldering iron into the shure tip, then turn on the soldering iron - when the plastic is "warm" I pull the tip off and stick it onto the 5mm nozzle and it cools off and "Shrink fits" onto the nozzle and fits really well, just too short. The westone silicone tips stretch right over and they do pretty much reach, but the angle isn't great. I may just mold another set of silicone tips for these.

Try altering the angle you put the iem in at?