[Tweeters]

Would it be possible/worth it to sand down the edges of the ZS5 to make it more comfortable?

 

[SomeGuyDude]

So I'm only a few songs in on the OFC cable (for my ZS5 v1) but that spike in energy at 18-20 kHz region (where my hearing is obnoxiously sensitive) is almost excruciatingly fatiguing for me.

Mind you I didn't expect much other than a bit of a level shift perhaps, maybe the very slightest touch of coloration, as I tend pretty strongly towards the analytical side of cables shouldn't matter much unless you've done something well outside of accepted standards.


Bear in mind however that my hearing bias is highly abnormal, so my experiences with regards to HF should probably be largely ignored or at least taken with a grain of salt. My hearing has obviously degraded in the intervening 20+ years, but when I was tested in my youth, my pain threshold at 20kHz was around 90 dB SPL, so I kid you not when I say obnoxiously sensitive (and the bulk of my hearing response is rather average at best, so it stands out that much more in my perception).

I shall try to persist and let brain burn in do its magic, but it's rough going so far... color my expectations shattered.

I think you meant 8-10 because 18-20 is nearly inaudible and these things are barely producing anything at that point.

 

[vector84]

I think you meant 8-10 because 18-20 is nearly inaudible and these things are barely producing anything at that point.

Nope, right at the border of the inaudible my hearing sensitivity sky rockets. OFC cables vs stock sounds panned slightly to the stock side at 10 kHz to me, but I can't say for sure that's not just an artifact of the sound slowly panning and my brain overcompensating. But it spikes wildly like a dagger in my ear over to the OFC side shortly before a 20-20k sweep ends.

Welcome to my world. I used to be able to hear well above 20kHz but age has brought my cutoff into a much more normal range.

 

[Superluc]

Nope, right at the border of the inaudible my hearing sensitivity sky rockets. OFC cables vs stock sounds panned slightly to the stock side at 10 kHz to me, but I can't say for sure that's not just an artifact of the sound slowly panning and my brain overcompensating. But it spikes wildly like a dagger in my ear over to the OFC side shortly before a 20-20k sweep ends.

Is really strange. Are you sure that is not some background hissing, coming from the source with which you have test them ?

 

[vector84]

Is really strange. Are you sure that is not some background hissing, coming from the source with which you have test them ?

It's very strange indeed, but nah it's not noise. I'm well acquainted with my HF sensitivity. I've been told by several ENTs that I'm incredibly lucky to have gotten away with only this form of hearing damage likely largely related to some pretty incredibly severe ear infections as a toddler.

Like I said, best not to read too much into to my perceptions of things near the border of the inaudible, but I can't help but describe them at times as they color my perceptions considerably

 

[snip3r77]

Using my zs5v1 over the weekend instead of my ciem . Pretty happy with it .

In before zs6 replaces with zs5v1 innard.

I’m sorry that I’m giving you guys poisonous ideas

 

[jaydm99]

Would it be possible/worth it to sand down the edges of the ZS5 to make it more comfortable?

Like this one? It's not mine but I'm planning to do it too once I get my ZS5

 

[Tanker0921]

Would it be possible/worth it to sand down the edges of the ZS5 to make it more comfortable?

Yeah, people in my local group already did that to reduce the sharp angles

 

[jaydm99]

Yeah, people in my local group already did that to reduce the sharp angles

The picture I posted was from HEEP

 

[Tanker0921]

The picture I posted was from HEEP

I only stalk that page for the trades. they are a firm beliver that cables change the sound quality a lot.

 

[maxxevv]

Like this one? It's not mine but I'm planning to do it too once I get my ZS5

Just remember to seal the edges with the vents before starting any sanding. And also, the shells are pretty thin, would suggest being less ambitious about the amount of sanding to be attempted.

And note too that shell wall thickness can change the sound dynamics of IEMs.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

I feel like sanding the shells is a bad idea. Just for the potential of ****ing up the acoustics.

 

[maxxevv]

I would suggest building up the edges with either epoxy glue or modeler's putty and then sand the edges round instead. At leas that way, if things don't work out well in terms of acoustics, it can be mostly reversed.

 

[jaydm99]

Will painting it with Plasti Dip or similar rubberized paint affect the sound as well?

 

[Fahim Foysal]

That's a difficult question to answer accurately.

An IEC compliant coupler and calibrated microphone is the standards compliant stand-in for an ear canal - so as a direct answer they already are. So in basic terms the standards would be to then compensate with an equal loudness contour.

But I think you mean compared to what you hear from a set of speakers where standards have been defined much longer and against which other things are measured. And that's harder to say because by their very nature speakers interacting with your ear is an intensely directional interaction whereas you are always at the phantom center when listening to an IEM and additionally only a very small portion of your personal HRTF is actually being applied (as opposed to all of it for speakers and more of it for headphones).

And because at least as far as research I've seen, speakers and headphones are both well studied in this regards, whereas IEMs had long been assumed to not need study due to bypassing your HRTF. There's currently ongoing research into that issue and from what I've read, the problem with those older ideas is the bypass itself is a weird mechanism - even if pressure levels are identical (which should relate to volume), you compare it to what you've heard before, which makes ignoring those aspects an insufficient answer.


salient = important / noticeable (in this case also useful)

Why would you need research on speakers and headphones (on frequency response) which emit sound from outside the ear canal. As far as I understand a flat frequency response on a speaker/ headphone equals to a reference sound since the sound bounces through the ear canal just as it would if you were standing in a live performance. So the way I see it, iems need more research since a flat fr doesn't mean reference sound. When it comes to iems, the sound is directed at the eardrum bypassing the reflection and absorption of sound waves by the ear canal so a flat frequency response means the sound we would hear is inaccurate.

The thing I am asking is the fr response of zs6 in this thread; is it the fr after correcting the raw fr for the lack of a ear canal or is it the raw fr directly out of the iems?
Secondly what is an ideal raw fr graph that would sound like a true reference recording.