[DigDub]

Quote:

Originally posted by visia Great! Thanks for the info. I cannot wait for the wax guards from Shure to arrive to try it.

experiment with the amount of sponge to stuff in. too much and the sound will be dark. you will know its the right amount when the 'hollowness' of the sound is gone and replaced by a solid sound with a well-defined and balanced treble, midrange and bass. good luck.

 

[Bolt San]

Are the wax guards these little black circles?
I can't seem to find pics of them anywhere.

 

[DigDub]

Quote:

Originally posted by Bolt San Are the wax guards these little black circles? I can't seem to find pics of them anywhere.

yup. those little black circles are the wax guards. i think only shure makes them for the e2c. but its more for cosmetic purposes. i guess stuffing the sponge in securely will do the trick.

 

[visia]

So, I have tried the mod and I should say it is quite good. I agree with the description of highs, they sound smoother. I have had some trouble with sibilence as well and it is greatly reduced. The clarity is maybe a little less, but not by much. I did not find mids sounding more forward though, as a matter of fact because of more lows they sound to me a little recessed. The major change though I think is bass and it is truly quite increadable. It is now wa-a-ay lower. I have never heard bass guitars being so powerful in a canalphone (of course I never heard E5). I should say change in bass is really quite stunning and overall the phones sound more pleasant and smooth. The size of the sponge pieces is really critical. I got the best results with pieces being just a tad larger them the diameter of the sound channel (about 0.4 or 0.45X0.4 or 0.45) or so.

 

[visia]

Also, it seems like the mod makes the music more forward sounding. It is good for some types of music, but for some very dynamic types, like punk rock, can be fatiguing.

 

[ry_goody]

Ok, I just tried this out and it works very well. I didn't use the shure wax guards or anything, just waded up some foam and stuffed it in there. For me, it really brought out the treble. I can hear cymbols and voices alot better in heavy metal music.

after some more listening, I think the reason this mod works so well is that the little metal screen gets filled up with waxe and fluid over time which causes some distortion and muffling of the trebles. Because I have noticed over the past months I've been continually upping the treble and the volume that I normally listen at. But after this mod I took it back to what I usually had it around when I first got my md33's. So I'd suggest every md33 user get rid of that metal screen and replace it with something that can be replaced once it gets dirty.

 

[visia]

The screen in mine was not dirty at all and in my case I think the change was due to the resonanse dampening. So I would still recommend putting foam in and playing around with size. Getting the right amount in completely eliminated placticy highs and made the bass much better as well.

 

[ry_goody]

I found the perfect amount of foam for my tastes.
I took one of the little round foam earbud slip covers that came with my iRiver iHP-120 stock buds. Cut it into fourths, then put one fourth in each tube of my md33's. I found it best to not 'pack' alot of foam in them because it causes it to be muffled, rather I found it's best to put just enough to loosely and throroughly fill the tube from the top all the way down to the driver. So roll the foam up longways before putting it in the tube.

 

[wctkdman]

could anyone post some pictures of this mod so I can get an idea of what it is supposed to look like?

 

[baies]

I was very reluctant to try this mod because I liked the sound of these earbuds as they were. But enough people have said good things so curiosity got the best of me. The worst that could happen is that I would end up buying a new pair (heck, I've already blown wads of money on earbuds).

When I first tried the mod the sound was muffled. Then I re-read the instructions and realized that I did it wrong. I just stuffed the foam in lengthwise and this was not correct.

The key was to get the foam flush with the opening of the tube. I did this by rolling the foam into a ball, poping it in the tube, and then using a pin to manover it into position. If you have an E2 filter then even better because the foam sticks to it to hold it in position.

This mod does exactly what everyone has been raving about. It make the bass deeper and brings out the highs of the symbols. These earbuds sounded good as is and now they sound even better.

 

[marsupilami]

Hi all,

Here's my first post on head-fi

Sorry about my English, I know it's quite not perfect but I'm trying to do my best. (I'm French)

First of all, thanks to this forum and its great members for helping me in my equipement choices, you guys really know what you're talking about!

I've recently bought the MD33s and I may consider doing this mod. But the problem is that I don't have E2 wax guards and I'm not willing to spend $10 + shipping to buy 10 pieces on shure's website. (what would I do with the 8 remaining pieces?)

So my question is : will the foam stay in place without anything to retain it? I'd worry about it falling out of the tube while being in the pocket or just moved around.

If the wax guards are really necessary, would somebody be willing to sell me a pair for a reasonable price? (I'm staying in the USA until the end of August)

Thank you.

 

[Bolt San]

I think I still have some.
I'll send you a pair for a dollar shipped, just pm me and I'll check later today.

 

[cresny]

Just for the record, I did this mod w/out waxguards and it works perfectly well. the foam stays in place a couple millimeters down the tubes. Well worth doing, even if it looks a little funny.

 

[Madant26x]

I have a question about this mod. I just bought these headphones and they sound awesome, but I agree with everyone that there's a metallic and hollow sound to them, but when I plug them into my JMT Meta42 portable (with 2 9v) this sound completely goes away, and they sound fuller and warmer. Well, I'm going to be using these with the amp at home and travel, but without for working out and running. So I'm thinking that if I do this mod, then it will mess up the sound with the amp. Has anyone tried their modded buds with an amp? What do you guys think?

 

[BowerR64]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DigDub i prefer the modded sharp to the e2c. the e2c had weak treble. but it can't beat the ety though. ety is more transparent. but the sharp's bass is stronger than the ety.

This is weird, everyone says the e2c have no highs. So you take the e2c filter and put them on the MD33s to smooth out the highs. I wonder what the e2c sound like without the filters?