[random-adam]

Hey all, hope you can help...

My girl got an iPod from her folks for her birthday last year. Good stuff, right? The buds that come with it didn't stay in her ears - to use fancy words I just learned on Wikipedia, her antitragus is either really small or nonexistent, which means there is no intertragic notch to speak of in which an earbud can rest. Her first, then me for comparison:

We were at Borders today and picked up some cheap Sony buds that had clips to wrap around the back of the ear, a la the KSC75. This is what happened:

As you can see, the driver doesn't sit close enough to not fall out, especially with no antitragus (that is such a fun word) to help hold it in. They didn't work even for her walk home from the office this afternoon, let alone the jogging she's into.

She's not particularly interested in going with something that goes over the ear, so the KSC75s are unfortunately out. She'd prefer to stay away from an over-the-head or around-the-neck design as well. She tried my E2Gs but couldn't get the driver even partway into the ear canal - her ear canals are that small.

Anybody have any ideas?

 

[Duggeh]

Custom moulds for iBuds? It wont be UE10PRO quality but itll certainly solve the fit issues.

 

[MASTERTECH]

there are some lightweight headphones with headband that will hold them in place from SONY but I cant recall their model or if it is still available
try a google search and see what happens

 

[Chiliman]

If i recall correctly, the d-jays are really small, maybe you should look into those.

 

[chroot]

MAN your girl has sexy ears.

 

[feh1325]

etymotic er6i
very small canal phones
you can trim off the largest flange of the triflange

if she doesn't want so much isolation for walking home from work or jogging, she may have to go with a supra aural headphone
something like the px100

 

[Cooter]

How about the JVC Marshmallows? The stock foam tips are only about 3/8" diameter uncompressed. My 9 yr old daughter (well, she's 10 now) can wear them comfortably. Plus they're only about $20 and come in several colors.

 

[random-adam]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chroot /img/forum/go_quote.gif MAN your girl has sexy ears.

Oh, I know.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chiliman /img/forum/go_quote.gif If i recall correctly, the d-jays are really small, maybe you should look into those.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cooter /img/forum/go_quote.gif How about the JVC Marshmallows? The stock foam tips are only about 3/8" diameter uncompressed. My 9 yr old daughter (well, she's 10 now) can wear them comfortably. Plus they're only about $20 and come in several colors.

Both of those are intriguing - I've read about 'em, but never looked into them very seriously. I'm leaning more towards the JVCs, simply due to price. She's not particularly interested in sound quality, I hate to say, as much as finding something that fits... and the JVCs are supposed to do okay in both categories. Amazon seems to have a decent hookup; might buy some KSC75s just for fun while we're there.

Thanks for the ideas, y'all!

 

[MaloS]

V-Moda bass freq. I held all of the above headphones in my hands, bass freq is by far the smallest and has a design that should sit tightly in even the smallest ears. On the other hand though, keep in mind, women always look sexier in circum-aurals =]

 

[snejk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chiliman /img/forum/go_quote.gif If i recall correctly, the d-jays are really small, maybe you should look into those.

x2

My girlfriend also has small ears and tiny earcanals. I got her the d-jays and she uses the smallest plug (there's 4 sizes included if I remember correctly) with good results. Well, actually I'm slightly worried that they are too small for her and that she don't get enough isolation but she says it's fine (fit and sound) so who am I to tell otherwise?

 

[LaBreaHead]

Any canal phone or IEM (as opposed to hanging ear buds) should do -- Marshmallows, Creative EP630 with small ear tips, Etymotics ER6i's, etc. The thing is to get a canal phone or IEM, which inserts snugly but gently into the ear canal. I'm sorry to say I've used that terminology more than a few times on Head-Fi, but think about it -- if getting an earphone to stay in place is an issue, then something that fits is the solution, right?

One thing -- maybe with the antitragus issue, an earphone where the wire is intended to go up and over the ear will stay in place more securely (see the Westone UM1, for example ... or have her try wearing canal phones unconventionally, with the wire up and over the ear -- some here on Head-Fi do that).

PS: You had to suspect that, on a headphone forum, a photo of a young woman's ear would get the attention of certain Head-Fi posters.

 

[random-adam]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LaBreaHead /img/forum/go_quote.gif Any canal phone or IEM (as opposed to hanging ear buds) should do...

We've tried my E2Gs already, and those with the small tips are still far too large for anything approaching proper insertion. I guess I was going for advice on the absolute smallest canalphones we could obtain, and that's been given in spades... in that regard, y'all have been killer helpful.
Quote:

PS: You had to suspect that, on a headphone forum, a photo of a young woman's ear would get the attention of certain Head-Fi posters.

Yeah, I know. Given that my other posts mostly happen on a car forum & a straight razor shaving forum, I'm actually slightly disappointed with the offtopic response ratio.

(girl over my shoulder: "my ears are not sexy enough?")

 

[lan]

Extreeeme! but how about... plastic surgery?

 

[DobsOnly]

The Ety ER6 not 6i comes with a Dual flange tip that works very well and is comfortable "To Me". Might be worth trying, not to mention the excellent sound quality. Most IEMs I have seen will also make use of the sponge type tip which can be rolled up or compressed to fairly small size.

Good Luck!

 

[LaBreaHead]

Yeah, I wasn't thinking -- the E2's are huge (but she can do better, anyway).

The Etymotics Er6i, the V-Moda Vibes, the Marshmallows, etc. are much smaller. The Etymotics ER6i's with short Comply foams are very small, and Comply also makes a narrow foam ear tip. And yes, the Etymotic ER6 with the bi-flange is really small.