[gael]

What would you suggest looking at a few hundred higher?

Personally I was looking at Dunu x Zeos SA6 Ultra, but never committed.

 

[chi3f]

I've been keeping an eye on the second hand market for the SA6 Ultra - there's been a few floating around. That said, I received my S12 Pros today and I'm absolutely loving them - so much so I felt compelled post this message.

 

[jibberish]

I'm curious if anybody knows of a DIY fix for the "driver flex" type issue with the s12? I regret not sending mine back when I bought them, there was some occasional driver flex "clicking" in the right earpiece, but it wasn't too bad and I didn't feel like sending the unit all the way back to China. Cut to a year later and it's now kind of unusable, just constant clicking/flexing noises anytime I have it in my ear

I just sort of assume I'm out of luck.

 

[baskingshark]

I'm curious if anybody knows of a DIY fix for the "driver flex" type issue with the s12? I regret not sending mine back when I bought them, there was some occasional driver flex "clicking" in the right earpiece, but it wasn't too bad and I didn't feel like sending the unit all the way back to China. Cut to a year later and it's now kind of unusable, just constant clicking/flexing noises anytime I have it in my ear

I just sort of assume I'm out of luck.

Driver flex is partially related to the tips we use and/or our ear anatomy, maybe sometimes it occurs in certain IEM shell designs with insufficient venting. I found a few ways to mitigate it, YMMV:

1) Use foam tips instead of silicone tips. Probably cause the foam is porous and lets air escape thru the foams rather than going into the IEM shell.

2) Sometimes using another silicone tip that has lesser isolation/seal may reduce driver flex, though at the expense of isolation. Try a variety of different ear tips and sizes if you can, some tips give more driver flex than others.

3) Try opening your mouth and pulling up the earlobe before inserting the IEM, this opens the ear canal a bit for more space to insert the eartip, this is the technique ENT specialists use to insert a scope into the ear. Hopefully some air can escape during insertion with the bigger diameter of the ear canal. This technique usually helps me get rid of driver flex 90% of the time.

4) Insert the ear tip slowly or not too deeply initially, and slowly make fine adjustments to push it in. Or insert it at an angle rather than perpendicularly.

 

[jibberish]

Driver flex is partially related to the tips we use and/or our ear anatomy, maybe sometimes it occurs in certain IEM shell designs with insufficient venting. I found a few ways to mitigate it, YMMV:

1) Use foam tips instead of silicone tips. Probably cause the foam is porous and lets air escape thru the foams rather than going into the IEM shell.

2) Sometimes using another silicone tip that has lesser isolation/seal may reduce driver flex, though at the expense of isolation. Try a variety of different ear tips and sizes if you can, some tips give more driver flex than others.

3) Try opening your mouth and pulling up the earlobe before inserting the IEM, this opens the ear canal a bit for more space to insert the eartip, this is the technique ENT specialists use to insert a scope into the ear. Hopefully some air can escape during insertion with the bigger diameter of the ear canal. This technique usually helps me get rid of driver flex 90% of the time.

4) Insert the ear tip slowly or not too deeply initially, and slowly make fine adjustments to push it in. Or insert it at an angle rather than perpendicularly.

Yeah, unfortunately this isn’t like DD driver flex, so no tricks like these make any difference. I probably should just crack it open and poke around since I can’t get much enjoyment from them now anyways.

 

[gael]

I'm curious if anybody knows of a DIY fix for the "driver flex" type issue with the s12? I regret not sending mine back when I bought them, there was some occasional driver flex "clicking" in the right earpiece, but it wasn't too bad and I didn't feel like sending the unit all the way back to China. Cut to a year later and it's now kind of unusable, just constant clicking/flexing noises anytime I have it in my ear

I just sort of assume I'm out of luck.

Sorry to hear that. I had the same issue, but it gradually went away after a month or two.

 

[freemental]

as for QC, I tested my s12 on a tone signal and heard a tapping additional buzz of the speakers at a frequency of about 170Hz. I wrote to LS support with a description of the problem and still have not received a response or clarification of the problem. think that support from Letshuer is very bad.
then I found that this buzzing is present on all my iem, so this is not a problem specifically with the s12. but there were unpleasant impressions from the support of the Letshuer.

 

[redrol]

The s12 takes a crap load of power. I suggest you guys amp your sets up a lot. Im talking around 500mw! HALF A WATT!

 

[redrol]

The S12 driver has no flex btw. It's not a dynamic driver. It cannot 'crinkle'. Also the front vent will in fact vent air, so no pressure build up. This means something else is happening which is not the driver flexing.

 

[jibberish]

The S12 driver has no flex btw. It's not a dynamic driver. It cannot 'crinkle'. Also the front vent will in fact vent air, so no pressure build up. This means something else is happening which is not the driver flexing.

Right, it's definitely not driver flex because it's not a DD, but it's a clicking type sound that sounds a lot like like driver flex, and happens pretty much constantly for me in the one earpiece if I move my head, open my mouth, etc.

In any event I was just wondering if anyone else had experienced it and figured out a fix but it doesn't seem like that is the case.

 

[D00M]

The s12 takes a crap load of power. I suggest you guys amp your sets up a lot. Im talking around 500mw! HALF A WATT!

My desktop amp can output 1.5W at 16 ohm. My Fiio KA3 only output 120mW at 16 ohm. I have no issue running S12 with KA3. And I don't hear any degradation vs desktop.

Can you backup your statement or calculation why 500mW is required?

The S12 driver has no flex btw. It's not a dynamic driver. It cannot 'crinkle'. Also the front vent will in fact vent air, so no pressure build up. This means something else is happening which is not the driver flexing.

Yes, planar magnetic can crinkle. This is from Audeze, which makes planar magnetic headphones. They specifically use the term crinkling:
https://audeze.zendesk.com/hc/en-us...cking-static-sound-when-I-press-on-the-earcup

Pressure difference can be external. On my planar magnetic headphones, table fan blowing toward me (and headphone) can cause crinkling.

In any event I was just wondering if anyone else had experienced it and figured out a fix but it doesn't seem like that is the case.

The other poster provided some suggestions. But if you constant get this crinkling, it is unlikely to fix your problem. You might want to return or exchange the unit.

 

[redrol]

Yeah well I have tried about 20 S12 drivers and zero of them crinkled. Audeze drivers are massive compared to 14.8mm. How did I arrive at this number? Mostly guessing but I have a 2w amp and I can run it about half volume on high gain with the s12. Figure its at least 500mw. Also I can make mine distort with other devices that max out at 100mw.
I think I just relaized whats going on. a table fan blowing on the headphones might be making static electricity and THAT i have heard on the s12 drivers.

 

[D00M]

Yeah well I have tried about 20 S12 drivers and zero of them crinkled. Audeze drivers are massive compared to 14.8mm. How did I arrive at this number? Mostly guessing but I have a 2w amp and I can run it about half volume on high gain with the s12. Figure its at least 500mw. Also I can make mine distort with other devices that max out at 100mw.
I think I just relaized whats going on. a table fan blowing on the headphones might be making static electricity and THAT i have heard on the s12 drivers.

Same argument online all the time. Just because you have not encountered crinkling does not mean this cannot happen. There are defects that occur 1/100, 1/1000, 1/10,000 units, etc. If someone encountered it, then it happened.

So what if headphone planar magnetic is larger than IEM. The same mechanism can occur in headphone or IEM. In fact, it will take less pressure to cause smaller film in IEM to crinkle.

S12 has 102 dB/mW sensitivity and 16 ohm impedance. 20 mW will drive this IEM to 115 dB. 64 mW will drive it to 120 dB. This will cover anyone listening to 85-90 dB RMS/average + additional 30 dB for peak/dynamic range/transient.

https://www.headphonesty.com/headph...iLCJzZW5zaXRpdml0eU1lYXN1cmVtZW50Ijoid2F0dCJ9

 

[listen4joy]

Joined the Club! awesome iems with great bass.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Joined the Club! awesome iems with great bass.

The S12 has real staying power. My original series S12 is always close at hand.