isolation - biflange vs foam/triflange? especially er4 users comments please

[shinew]

The Foam tips have been my fav for few years now, but they just loose expasion & get dirty too quickly, and costs add up...
I just ran out of my last foam & tried the Bi-Flange mod. I like the comfort and the isolation/sound is definitely better than my used foam tips. My question for those of you who have switched to Biflange from whatever tips you had used before is - does the isolation decrease or increase?

comments are appreciated!

 

[bellsprout]

i can't stand flanges. foams are more comfortable, isolate better and sound better. the prices u pay for premade tips is daylight robbery. so start making your own. all u need is order the earplugs trial pack from earplugstore.com, leatherwork hole punch, and a bit of tubing ripped out of an existing foamy (tubes can be reused). earplugs, just like ears come in all shapes and sizes. find the one best for u. then next time, u can order like 50 of same ones for $10. my favourite right now is e-a-r earsoft fx and howard leight max. they sound much better to me than even comply tips which some people here swear by.

 

[shinew]

I see the tubes are glued to the foam tips. What kind of glue should I use? Or how else did you resolve that?

 

[3X0]

Bi-flanges converted from tri-flanges killed sound (muffled highs) and isolation (could hear almost everything) for me. Isolation for tri-flanges were about the same as foams. The Shure Soft Flex is an interesting middle ground; it has the superior sound quality of foams (IMO) with an isolation in between foams and bi-flanges, while maintaining fantastic longevity.

 

[shinew]

interesting...
To me Foam tips offer both the highest isolation & comfort, then Bi-flange, then tri-flange.
If it were not for the costs, I will not even consider custom earmold tips.

 

[niknik]

Custom molds?

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showth...ight=ety+molds