[snuffed]

About keeping your mouth open during the ear impression making process, is it really necessary for a perfect seal even if you don't plan to sing/talk with your earphones on?

 

[pyp007]

Quote:

Originally Posted by snuffed /img/forum/go_quote.gif About keeping your mouth open during the ear impression making process, is it really necessary for a perfect seal even if you don't plan to sing/talk with your earphones on?

According to my audiologist, another purpose of bite block is to keep your mouth steady. Movement of your mouth will affect the opening of your ear canals.

 

[mistertomlinson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ice9mike /img/forum/go_quote.gif I would agree. Case in point. I had my ears cleaned out at my doctor's office. They were 90% clogged with wax (gross I know, but I have never had an ear infection). Afterward my ears were clean as a whistle, and I could not believe the amount of high frequencies I had been missing. In fact things like crinkling paper and rustling of clothes was way too loud to the point of being annoying. So what happened. I really think my brain adapted to the clogged ears and boosted the frequencies it was not receiving. When the ears were clean those frequencies returned in full and were dominating what I was hearing. It took about two days for everything to return to normal, but it taught me a valuable lesson about hearing. Moral of the story....your brain is amazing and will adapt to the frequencies you are hearing (within reason of course). So if you don't like those IEM's you sent to Fisher, or UM, give them a week and see how you like them. just my 2 cents.

... and I thought I was just imagining it. I got my ears cleaned out the first time I got impressions and high frequencies were such a nuisance, I never thought I'd get used to it. Things like running water from a faucet actually seemed SIBILANT, it drove me crazy. I can't remember some of the other sounds, but there were a couple more that irritated the hell outta my ears.

 

[Paradoxus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kobayashi /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sounds like you need to start sending them back to Fisher. Don't stop until they get it right and make sure that they pay for the return shipping. They forget to do that sometimes.

-EDITED-

Oh and has anyone else reshelled any Custom UEs, ES3s, JHs? How did they turn out? I realised my UE11s sound really bad. Like i've consulted a number of people who have UE11s and i'm quite sure that i'm not hearing what i should be hearing. If i'm not wrong, UE does tuning of the drivers. So would reshelling something mean that the tuning of the drivers would cause the reshelled monitors to sound worse than they should sound?

EDIT: I just gave them a call and they are ever so helpful. Excellent customer service I might say. They are 100% willing to help me rectify the problem. I am really pleased right now.

 

[mnagali]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pyp007 /img/forum/go_quote.gif According to my audiologist, another purpose of bite block is to keep your mouth steady. Movement of your mouth will affect the opening of your ear canals.

will using an open-mouth bite block cause them to be any less comfortable if i only plan on using these pretty much just while quietly studying w/o any singing or talking?

***extended use comfort being my #1 motivation for wanting to reshell my TF10s in the first place

 

[pyp007]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mnagali /img/forum/go_quote.gif will using an open-mouth bite block cause them to be any less comfortable if i only plan on using these pretty much just while quietly studying w/o any singing or talking? ***extended use comfort being my #1 motivation for wanting to reshell my TF10s in the first place

I don't sing or open my mouth very often when I use custom TF10 and I don't experience any discomfort, unless I completely bite down my jaws (i.e. upper teeth are contacting lower teeth). When I close my mouth, my upper and lower jaws are slightly separated unless I consciously bite down my jaws, which will result in some pressure and slight discomfort from TF10 against my ear canals.

 

[Paradoxus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mnagali /img/forum/go_quote.gif will using an open-mouth bite block cause them to be any less comfortable if i only plan on using these pretty much just while quietly studying w/o any singing or talking? ***extended use comfort being my #1 motivation for wanting to reshell my TF10s in the first place

I did an open mouth impressions. My first pair of customs, my Livewires turned out to be a perfect fit. They do not cause any comfort issues.

I used my Livewires as a mould for which i reshelled UE11s. And the UE11s turned out perfectly as well. No discomfort for me.

 

[dj nellie]

Just got my reshelled TF10s today. Aesthetically, I couldn't be happier--I don't notice any air bubbles or obvious imperfections. The trans-blue color looks great with my clear Westone cable--I'll post pics later.

The fit on my left side seems perfect, but I can't get the right earpiece to fit flush with my ear. I also hear a slight crackling noise when I walk around, which seems to indicate that the earpieces are moving around a bit. The seal breaks fairly easily if I open my jaw or look up.

So with the aforementioned disclaimers about the non-perfect fit, here are my initial thoughts on the sound after about an hour of listening through the headphone out of my iPod Touch and amped through my D4. The overall sound seems very thin and congested, both compared to what I remember of my stock TF10s and definitely compared to my Westone 3 + UM-56 tip combination. The sub-bass presence and impact just isn't quite there compared to my Westones, and the W3s are much clearer and more detailed (although the stock TF10s also couldn't compare with the W3s for me in these areas either).

The only obvious advantage I've noticed so far is that the acrylic material of the tips doesn't seem to irritate my ears as much as the silicone of my UM-56. The itchiness of my UM-56 and their slipperiness are really their only drawbacks, although these can be pretty significant since I have to yank them out of my ears because of irritation or go looking for them on the floor when they fall off the nozzles.

Overall, I'm somewhat disappointed with the sound quality, although I'll probably send the right piece back for a refit. To be fair, I've always had more problems fitting tips into my right ear--I had to send my UM-56 tips back 3-4 times to be refitted on that side. I'll give it some more time, although I'll probably just save up for JH13s.

For anyone that is considering getting TF10s and then reshelling them, I'd say it's overall a good deal. But for a little more, I feel like the W3+UM-56 combo beats custom or stock TF10s in every way, and is probably the best value in IEMs under $450: You get the ease of insertion and removal of stock tips with sound quality that (I'm confident) is comparable to or better than customs around the same price.

 

[intoflatlines]

Definitely sounds like you need a refit. Send it back.

 

[ice9mike]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mistertomlinson /img/forum/go_quote.gif ... and I thought I was just imagining it. I got my ears cleaned out the first time I got impressions and high frequencies were such a nuisance, I never thought I'd get used to it. Things like running water from a faucet actually seemed SIBILANT, it drove me crazy. I can't remember some of the other sounds, but there were a couple more that irritated the hell outta my ears.

I think sibilance is the word I was looking for. Running water was almost painful for the first day.

Anyhow, back on topic. I have sent my Westone UM3x to Fisher for custom molding. I will definitely report my findings with pictures. I have not seen a UM3x remold in this thread yet. It was a leap of faith sending them for refit, but I just can't stand any foamies, comply, tri-flanges, etc. in my ears for long periods of time and UM56 was more than custom IEMs.

 

[HEARDATBEAT]

Has anyone had their ER4P or ER4S remolded i'm on the tipping point of doing it but wanted to know if anyone as already tried it with these 'phone

 

[kobayashi]

Remember that sound quality is highly dependent on the skill of the person doing the remold. If the sound isn't what you want, just keep sending them back until they get them right. It may take a lot of tries but just be patient.

 

[Lil' Fish]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kobayashi /img/forum/go_quote.gif Remember that sound quality is highly dependent on the skill of the person doing the remold. If the sound isn't what you want, just keep sending them back until they get them right. It may take a lot of tries but just be patient.

This is Kaysen, So I'm guessing we finally got yours right?

 

[teds headfood]

welcome back to the land of the unbanned!whooo hooo!

 

[kobayashi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lil' Fish /img/forum/go_quote.gif This is Kaysen, So I'm guessing we finally got yours right?

Yes and no. The sound is balanced between the two sides now. It's still too congested and needs a lot of EQing to fix the muddiness that wasn't present in the non-reshelled IEMs. Don't know if it's a problem with the filters, the orientation of the sound bores (very different between the two sides), or the vent ports.

I've got a set of TF18s being made for me by Unique Melody so I'll be one of the only people to have both Fisher and UM reshells and will be able to directly compare the two.