^ You're right it's possible, but I'm pretty sure the driver is sealed against the back of the housing, so I'm pretty confident this won't actually become an issue.
Short summary of my first week with the e-Q5:
I've been using them mostly for commuting and while lying down in bed and overall they've passed the test with flying colours. Wearing the e-Q5 downwards in bed is a breeze, just stick them in and you can comfortably lie on the side with them. Wearing them over-ear while out and about takes a bit of practice, but after a few days becomes equally effortless: stick them in downwards first, then slip the cables over your ears in one swift move - and you're done.
Speaking of the cable, it's without a doubt the best I've seen on MAs so far (shame on you Final Audio), very flexible and it stays that way even in colder weather. Tangling is no big issue, neither is microphonics if you wear it over-ear. Isolation is entirely satisfactory for my needs, slightly better than with the e-Q7 and noticably better than with any of the FADs. I had no problem at all while listening to music during my daily subway rides and ambient noise was kept at a perfectly tolerable level.
Favourable impressions continue as far as audio quality is concerned, to my ears these are extremely good and refined sounding IEMs with jaw dropping transparency. Compared to the e-Q7 (which are still among my very favourite phones) there are much more similarities than differences. If anything the e-Q5 are a tiny bit less mid centric with slightly more highs, but don't expect significant changes vs. the e-Q7. Sibilance is again no issue with the new Ortofon model, the FAD SB and SS are noticably more touchy in this regard. When I got the e-Q7 a year ago it had by far the best bass quality I'd heard and one year later with the e-Q5 nothing much has changed. There are many IEMs (mostly DDs) that hit harder and many (mostly BAs) that are faster, but IMO the combination of both bass precision and texture in MAs is unrivalled.
Of course not everything is perfect with the e-Q5, but so far all I can think of are minor complaints: a chin slider would have been handy, a shirt clip a nice gesture and I would have preferred an L-shaped plug. Oh and there's no case included - no big deal for me, but most likely an annoyance for some.
I hope I'll have the time soon to do these little beauties justice and add them to my
moving armature shootout, but let me just say as a preliminary conclusion that the e-Q5 are winners in my book and worth a wholehearted recommendation. As for the price/performance ratio, of course you won't find any bang-for-buck blockbusters at the $250 level, but nevertheless I've rarely seen such stellar design, great build quality and sonic excellence at a better price.
The Grados taper where the tragus would press against cylindrical units of similar overall diameter if your unlucky about the fit and the gr10 is clearly a different driver than the GR8. Grado claims it's specifics are proprietary and I see no reason to doubt them. I recall KEF made 3 or 4 differend B200 8" woofers in the 70s that all had similar materials and #s but obviously weren't the same. Same supplier is very different from same unit. In this case Grado even claims different materials.
