[crenfro]

I have gotten into the world of high-end IEM's w/ Fearless Audio S8Pro's. And while they sound fantastic after about 30 minutes of wearing the part right above my ear lobe where the underside of the IEM touches my ear really starts hurting. Does this go away?

I can't exactly wear over-the-ear headphones as I can't get a full seal because I wear very thick high prescription glasses (far sighted).

I use a pair of Plantronics voyager focus uc at work that are comfortable for long periods and while the sound quality is not horrible it's a very commercial sounding not-pro-audio level of detail sound. You're not fully immersed in sound like w/ a quality pair of IEM's or over ear headphones. Pretty much to get quality sound into my ears I either have to take my glasses off (which renders me legally blind) or have ears throbbing due to IEM's.

Is there any other option for me? I work at a computer and would like to listen to hifi music all day?

Does your ears get used to the IEM's?

 

[serman005]

Have no personal experience with the Fearless, so I can't say whether your problem is likely to improve with time. Not exactly sure how stiff that cable is. That said, one option would be to swap the cable for something nice and soft like that on the IT01 and see if that ameliorates the issue. Another solution entirely would be to ditch the over-ear design for something like a Campfire Comet, or, if you really want to make an investment, the Atlas. Not sure what your budget would be, though...

 

[crenfro]

Yeah the cable is actually really nice, it's just the size of the IEM itself and the fact that my ears are obnoxiously different sizes haha. My right ear is smaller but has a larger canal so it's very strange indeed. Thanks though I'll look into those other models. Price isn't a huge issue although the atlas probably a little out of my range but I've heard terrific things about Campfire in general.

 

[serman005]

Yeah the cable is actually really nice, it's just the size of the IEM itself and the fact that my ears are obnoxiously different sizes haha. My right ear is smaller but has a larger canal so it's very strange indeed. Thanks though I'll look into those other models. Price isn't a huge issue although the atlas probably a little out of my range but I've heard terrific things about Campfire in general.

You might like the Comet, then.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I have gotten into the world of high-end IEM's w/ Fearless Audio S8Pro's. And while they sound fantastic after about 30 minutes of wearing the part right above my ear lobe where the underside of the IEM touches my ear really starts hurting. Does this go away?

Not really. If it fits badly now it's not like the IEM shell or your ear conch will change shape to accommodate the other.

I can't exactly wear over-the-ear headphones as I can't get a full seal because I wear very thick high prescription glasses (far sighted).

I use a pair of Plantronics voyager focus uc at work that are comfortable for long periods and while the sound quality is not horrible it's a very commercial sounding not-pro-audio level of detail sound. You're not fully immersed in sound like w/ a quality pair of IEM's or over ear headphones. Pretty much to get quality sound into my ears I either have to take my glasses off (which renders me legally blind) or have ears throbbing due to IEM's.

That has more to do with your frame than the lens thickness.

Sure, some frames can't take thick lenses, but I'm using non-dorky frames with my 650(nearsighted)/150(astigmatism) lens (right lens is a bit lower spec) and no problems with earpads.

Is there any other option for me? I work at a computer and would like to listen to hifi music all day?

Does your ears get used to the IEM's?

Custom fit in-ear monitors or get a new frame and try circumaurals.

Custom fits might be the safer choice since you're going to have your ear impressions taken with the glasses on.

 

[PaganDL]

@crenfro,

Apologies for being late to the discussion but as a glasses wearer as well, I suggest trying different ear tips to see if that helps with fit & comfort as well as different size tips in each ear, perhaps a smaller size in the 'problematic ear'.
I would also recommend trying this with no music playing for at least 10 minutes to see whether this alleviates the issue, otherwise as @ProtegeManiac suggested, custom fit or custom ear tips might be the better option for you then..
Changing the cable might also be worth considering as I have found varying comfort levels with different cables so it all depends what helps you, personally more often than not, I pick alternative cables over stock which have more to do with comfort than sound though different sound tuning does help.

I find with Fearless IEMs, I have the S6 Pro, I tend to wear smaller &/or more snug fit ear tips which helps no end for good comfort and sound, hopefully you will find similar.

Also as @ProtegeManiac states, the glasses frame is more the issue for fit and comfort than the actual lens.

Hope you have a great day !

 

[crenfro]

@PaganDL Thank a lot that's pretty close to my experience as well. The comfort issue is actually non-existent anymore. Well I shouldn't say non existent but significantly less noticeable. The issue now is finding a fit and finding tips that don't get stuck in my ears because if they do and I'm out on a bike ride 30 miles away from home without tweezers - I'm screwed!. I have sanded down the tips of the IEM's ever so slightly and that marginally helps the tips-get-stuck-in-ears issue but not 100%.

What works for that issue as well as fit is having comply foam tips (soon to be chinese aliexpress foam tips @ 1/10th the cost) for my right ear and for the left a large size silicon tip. Head-fi'ers would probably balk at this different kind of seal per-ear and yes there is a reasonable difference in each ear - mostly due to the fact that different things cause each ear to lose seal but that has worked best to me to both avoid the ear tip getting stuck in my ear as well as getting a good seal in my differently-sized ear canals.

Also if you have a recommendation on cable please let me know. My cable is already crap; the base already shorted out (well actually open circuit-ed out but you get the idea). I know some people spend almost as much on the cable as the headphones but I am sure something <$30 is fine.

 

[PaganDL]

Hi @crenfro,

See how those aliexpress tips work for you then but I do suggest keep trying others though I would steer away from sanding any tips in future, for health reasons, just keep looking till you find something that works without modding.
Interestingly enough, I have slid away from Comply for some time now though this has more to do with both trying different tips as well as I have several IEMs on bi weekly rotation.
Expanding on my earlier post on getting a good fit & seal with different tips, it is important to note a lot of IEMs have different nozzle diameters though many are standardising so it isn't so bad but it is important to take that into consideration in tip selection as I pointed out in my earlier post what might work on one IEM may not work on another, etc, vice versa...
The nozzle diameter tends to have more to do with why most ear tips get stuck in your ear than others.

As stated, nothing wrong with different size tips in either ear.
Human ear canals aren't symmetrical after all, it's actually very common, just usually most don't bother messing around if said fit is close or custom options are available & in this hobby, there are more worthwhile things to balk at in any case.

I would also suggest looking into Periodic Audio's H or Hydrogen tips, I find them very good, especially the silicones, personally, I have had good experiences with these more than the foam version despite being more partial to foams.
Also the Dekoni Audio Bulletz Mercury should work for you too.

Subjectively & personally, I don't believe in spending too much on cables myself though saying that I rotate my cables around so the cost does balance out.
So far, in terms of value in comfort & sound quality, I have had good success with ISN Audio H 16 which can be found at Penon Audio though if you need a little more bass response C 16 is a good option too.
Both run for $ 50 USD so it's hardly going to break the bank for you so I suggest giving either or both a go, I doubt you be disappointed either way.
So far, I haven't come across anything less than $ 30 USD in cables which does anything comfort or sound tuning wise but these tend to be mostly stock cables from cheap &/or affordable IEMs.

Otherwise, the next comfortable cable I have found which does postive tuning in sound is Penon Official Orbit, might be pricey for you at $ 150 USD but I'm sure would work well with your S8 Pro.

Hope this all works for you, if you don't mind, keep me updated on how things turn out for you.

Hope you have a great day !

 

[crenfro]

@PaganDL

The aliexpress comply knockoffs are quite nice. They don't seem to stick on the nozzle as well but they get a good seal and don't get stuck in my ears. IMHO Comply charging what they do for something that costs pennies to produce is outrageous. $20 for 3 pairs? Come on you should be getting 20+ pairs for that. From what I've seen the comply tips are always great at first but get worn out after a week and then don't seal as well. The alibaba actually gave me about 2x as many tips as what I ordered so for $14 *shipped* I got $400 worth of comply tips. No brainier to me. Even if comply are slightly better I'm not paying 27x as much. Although the popular modus operandi of Head Fi seems to be paying extraordinary amounts of $ for a 0.1% increase in sound quality.

My issue with the tips getting stuck in ears is not so much canal size but more than the S8Pro's (and apparently many high end IEM's) have no rivet to secure the tip in place. It's strange to me high end IEM's rely on nozzle friction alone where the low end ones I've used have always had this feature. Even the tips that came w/ the S8Pro get stuck - in fact those get stuck the most!

$50 for a cable is probably fine. For $150 I can get a really nice set of IEM's or a really nice amp or even a pair of used sennheiser 6xx I've been eyeing. From a physics standpoint, the cable is just a conductor so it doesn't seem prudent to me to drop $ on the the cable as it's not even remotely as impactful on overall sound quality as other components that actually affect the frequency response of the sound. Maybe the higher copper alloy in the $150 cables is truly transferring the signal that much more effectively but I'm not personally convinced. I know people swear they notice a big difference but I am not really sure myself it's not just placebo but I'm also not on the "spend $500 on a DAC" bandwagon haha. It's law of diminishing returns for me.

Plus I'm very active I use the cables everywhere: at home, at work, sitting, standing, walking, driving, biking etc. Therefore even the most solid of cables possible on the market will probably only last 2-3 years for me. If I were to drop $150 the thing would need to withstand a nuclear bomb because I just go through stuff so fast. It's why I'd been going for IEM's like the $50 soundmagic E80 that cut costs on quality of materials to get reasonably good sound for cheap because I have accepted that regardless of quality I'd go through one every couple years. As an example - the stock cable for the S8Pro is very beautiful and looks gorgeous and very durable but for some reason within just weeks of owning the IEM's it's already lost connection at the base I have to rotate it just perfectly to get the signal to go through.

I am, however, happy with the S8Pro's construction and potential durability. Provided I keep myself from putting it through the laundry cycle which was what became of my last several ~$50 IEM's - I am confident it will survive for hopefully a decade and outlive multiple cables.

I'm all trying to get the highest marginal utility - going to the S8Pro's for $300 is a huge improvement in sound quality over the $50 sennheisers and soundmagic and vsonics I've been going through. Even the earstudio DAC/amp I got was a noticeable improvement in sound quality over my laptop's DAC and even a less harsh sound than my focusrite scarlett USB audio interface (although my phone's DAC/amp is surprisingly really good so I'm considering returning the earstudio)

ISN Audio H16 looks about like what I want. If I keep the earstudio it would be nice to be able to see if the 2.5 balanced is tangibly any better. At this point I'm looking for anything that has good connectivity. What I read about it sounds good so far and it's on aliexpress which I enjoy.

 

[Whazzzup]

take off your glasses like i do when listening to HP. Iem work for me so...

 

[crenfro]

What about this guy:
https://www.linsoul.com/collections/accesories/products/trn-bt20s

I can return my earstudio and get this and it pocket the $20 to spend on years worth of aliexpress foam tips. I'm sure a super pure copper or silver plated whatever cable is like 0.5% better but this seems like a great way to get the bluetooth, decent qualcomm dac and then I don't even have to mess with a cable (which is a logistical nightmare and very non-aero while biking)

 

[baskingshark]

I have gotten into the world of high-end IEM's w/ Fearless Audio S8Pro's. And while they sound fantastic after about 30 minutes of wearing the part right above my ear lobe where the underside of the IEM touches my ear really starts hurting. Does this go away?

I can't exactly wear over-the-ear headphones as I can't get a full seal because I wear very thick high prescription glasses (far sighted).

I use a pair of Plantronics voyager focus uc at work that are comfortable for long periods and while the sound quality is not horrible it's a very commercial sounding not-pro-audio level of detail sound. You're not fully immersed in sound like w/ a quality pair of IEM's or over ear headphones. Pretty much to get quality sound into my ears I either have to take my glasses off (which renders me legally blind) or have ears throbbing due to IEM's.

Is there any other option for me? I work at a computer and would like to listen to hifi music all day?

Does your ears get used to the IEM's?

Hi I faced the same issue with some IEMs that have larger shells (like the original KZ ZS10). I found sometimes, the pressure on the ear can be mitigated by using longer nozzle ear tips (eg spinfits), as the longer nozzle elevates the shell away from contacting the ear.
Tips may of course change the sound signature though, but worth a try IMHO. YMMV.

 

[crenfro]

Right yeah exactly. That's why it is frustrating that the fearless nozzle does not have anything beyond friction to hold the tip in place. But either way: my ears seem to have gotten used to them, there is hardly any pain, just a PITA to have to keep shoving them in my ear further to get a seal and getting the tips stuck in my ear (yikes).

Re: cable - I got 2x TRN braided cables - 1 unbalanced and 1 balanced both 2 pin that will work w/ the fearless'es and got one Fiio square braided cable with 8 pieces of OCC silver plated wire. The total for all 3 cables on ebay total was $40.

I'm reading other threads here people saying that $50 is what you'd spend on a low end cable and you really need to spend $80 to get anything good. Like What? I can get a CCA C10 for $40 that's a full well respected IEM that gets a ton of great detailed reviews and it is less than what people tell you you have to spend on even an entry level cable. I could literally buy that and take the cable off and throw the C10s away. By definition it is a < $40 cable so how in the world are people telling others they have to spend at least $80 on a cable when there are dozens of glowing reviews on IEM's that cost less than a cable alone?

Maybe it's a type of thing that if I'm sitting down and no roommates are home and the house is entirely quiet and my seal is perfect I can notice the difference between a $15 and a $50 and a $150 cable.... but that's such a small percentage of my listening time whereas I always notice the quality improvement of the fearless S8Pro's over my $50 pairs of soundmagic or vsonic or sennheiser. The delta there is worth it for me as sound quality and imaging and separation and frequency response is probably 300% as desirable, but it's not worth me spending half the cost of the IEM's themselves to get another 2% on top of that. Could just get an amp for that $ (like I mentioned before).

We'll see - maybe my ears start bleeding because of an inferior cable. In my opinion cables last so shorty that it's better to not invest a ton and just get something that will make a good connection that you won't feel bad about when it breaks. Hell to be honest a lot of the time I just use my Chi-Fi Shure SE-215's when I'm commuting or whatever. They were $20 and are very good for that price. nothing close to the level of detail of the fearless but a fun sound and convenient and solid construction. They're convenient and comfortable. I could buy 7 of these for on-the-go use before I spent $150 on a cable. Okay rant over.

 

[baskingshark]

Right yeah exactly. That's why it is frustrating that the fearless nozzle does not have anything beyond friction to hold the tip in place. But either way: my ears seem to have gotten used to them, there is hardly any pain, just a PITA to have to keep shoving them in my ear further to get a seal and getting the tips stuck in my ear (yikes).

Re: cable - I got 2x TRN braided cables - 1 unbalanced and 1 balanced both 2 pin that will work w/ the fearless'es and got one Fiio square braided cable with 8 pieces of OCC silver plated wire. The total for all 3 cables on ebay total was $40.

I'm reading other threads here people saying that $50 is what you'd spend on a low end cable and you really need to spend $80 to get anything good. Like What? I can get a CCA C10 for $40 that's a full well respected IEM that gets a ton of great detailed reviews and it is less than what people tell you you have to spend on even an entry level cable. I could literally buy that and take the cable off and throw the C10s away. By definition it is a < $40 cable so how in the world are people telling others they have to spend at least $80 on a cable when there are dozens of glowing reviews on IEM's that cost less than a cable alone?

Maybe it's a type of thing that if I'm sitting down and no roommates are home and the house is entirely quiet and my seal is perfect I can notice the difference between a $15 and a $50 and a $150 cable.... but that's such a small percentage of my listening time whereas I always notice the quality improvement of the fearless S8Pro's over my $50 pairs of soundmagic or vsonic or sennheiser. The delta there is worth it for me as sound quality and imaging and separation and frequency response is probably 300% as desirable, but it's not worth me spending half the cost of the IEM's themselves to get another 2% on top of that. Could just get an amp for that $ (like I mentioned before).

We'll see - maybe my ears start bleeding because of an inferior cable. In my opinion cables last so shorty that it's better to not invest a ton and just get something that will make a good connection that you won't feel bad about when it breaks. Hell to be honest a lot of the time I just use my Chi-Fi Shure SE-215's when I'm commuting or whatever. They were $20 and are very good for that price. nothing close to the level of detail of the fearless but a fun sound and convenient and solid construction. They're convenient and comfortable. I could buy 7 of these for on-the-go use before I spent $150 on a cable. Okay rant over.

Well for cables, this is a controversial subject in the audiophile world. There are 2 camps, some say it makes a difference, some don't find a difference and I've seen flame wars start on threads over this cable issue.

I have a audiophile friend who bought a $1000 USD cable, I kid u not. And the cable is way more expensive than his IEM.
Well everyone has the right to spend their money however they please so I think there is no right or wrong and we shouldn't force our opinions on others. If you feel it makes a difference, then good for you; otherwise if it doesn't make a difference, that's fine too, u can save lots of $ from not buying highend cables!

Personally I do feel cables make a difference to the sound, but it is not like light and day difference. More of subtle changes. Like in general I think a copper cable makes the music less harsh and bright, while a silver one enhances the highs.
I feel there will be more difference in sound signature with different ear tips, filters or EQ than a cable.
Myself, I won't spend more than 20 - 30 USD on a cable and I won't pair a more expensive cable than the IEM.
I use 8 core NICEHCK cables (usually $10 USD, can be $7 USD during sales) and am very happy with it. YMMV.

 

[crenfro]

For anyone reading this in the future I purchased this:
TRN 8 Core Knitting Silver Plated OCC Copper IEM 2.5/3.5mm Earphone Audio Cable

For $10 on ebay and it is incredible quality. Might as well buy a couple! As good if not better than the fearless stock cable. To be honest I A/B'ed them probably 7/8 times w/ good seal and a dark room and could not tell any difference. If anything the TRN cable was sharper/crisper but I likely could not tell a difference were I blindfolded.

It came in a very aesthetically pleasing package it felt like I was unboxing an apple product. I could not believe the quality and presentation of this product. I'm going to order a few of the unbalanced ones for future use.

The "Fiio square braided cable with 8 pieces of OCC silver plated wire" was neither 0.78mm or 0.75mm - it was larger than either so the seller kind of ripped me off on this one claiming it was a 0.78mm. Go figure the name brand one didn't work and the generic was great.

tldr;
You don't have to pay $150 or even $50 on a cable to get good quality out of a high-end set of IEMs in my opinion.