[Jamnperry]

They look right but can't say for sure. They have different sizes. Those are really expensive too

 

[gannjunior]

if I look them into MOSER, may I save something? MOSER scares me because of too much information!

Now i'm in trouble if buy s846+dumpers mod them or buy at a good price a pair of Beyer Xelento....(in term of price something around 450 for 846 and 650-700 for xelento, of course both second hand..)l
Someone told me for sure Xelento won't fatigate with their ears fit while s846 could be more influenced by the ears shape...

 

[csglinux]

if I look them into MOSER, may I save something? MOSER scares me because of too much information!

Now i'm in trouble if buy s846+dumpers mod them or buy at a good price a pair of Beyer Xelento....(in term of price something around 450 for 846 and 650-700 for xelento, of course both second hand..)l
Someone told me for sure Xelento won't fatigate with their ears fit while s846 could be more influenced by the ears shape...

Mouser can be confusing. These are the links to the dampers you need (don't worry about the images, they're just generic): https://www.head-fi.org/threads/se846-filter-mod.802350/page-2#post-12680283

About those Xelentos... They're very different IEMs. They do have better treble extension than the SE846 (even with damper mods), but they don't do such a great job of the low end, IMHO (a little too much mid-bass bloat). They're also much harder to get a good fit and seal, because they only allow for shallow insertion with their short, stubby nozzles. They're wonderful-sounding IEMs, but they don't isolate as well as the SE846. For sure, it would be cheaper to buy some Knowles' dampers from Mouser

 

[gannjunior]

Thank you @csglinux !!
so, specifically the brown one (since they are the most "universally" approved by everyone they tried): http://www.mouser.com/Search/Produc...00virtualkey66550000virtualkey721-BF-1860-000
correct?
Thank you for your feedback about both IEMs...looking into ebay auction..let's see how it goes and if the price will drive me to the "right" decision

ciao!!

 

[csglinux]

Thank you @csglinux !!
so, specifically the brown one (since they are the most "universally" approved by everyone they tried): http://www.mouser.com/Search/Produc...00virtualkey66550000virtualkey721-BF-1860-000
correct?
Thank you for your feedback about both IEMs...looking into ebay auction..let's see how it goes and if the price will drive me to the "right" decision

ciao!!

Yes, that's brown, but given how cheap they are from Mouser, I'd recommend you at least pick up the green and red too. Good luck

 

[ZappaMan]

Can someone say whether this 2.5mm heat shrink tubing would be the thing for housing the brown knowles filter?

https://www.maplin.co.uk/p/25mm-heat-shrinkable-sleeving-5m-pb22y

 

[ZappaMan]

deleted

 

[csglinux]

After lots of time playing with these dampers, I think I've come to the conclusion that one (or rather, more specifically, me) can do a bit better by a simple tweak to the stock blue filter. All the Knowles' dampers accentuate the main resonance peak, but shift it left slightly (to around 7.5 kHz) and they actually cause a faster roll-off beyond that point. My current favorite tweak is the 'trishd' mod (don't remove the foam - instead, shove all the foam in the blue filter as far as it will go down the filter tube), coupled with a Frankenstein'd hybrid tip that is more comfortable than the Symbios, but gives better treble extension than the SpinFits. More details on these eartips coming soon, I promise...

N.B. Both the stock blue and brown Knowles' damper measurements above were made with Cp800 SpinFits. Basically, the trishd mod carves a little more out of the mid-range, which creates a more pronounced v-shaped signature that tends to help emphasize the treble. The above mod creates a FR that is actually fairly close to the signature of my Xelentos, but obviously with much better isolation and fit (the Xelentos are always fighting to get out of my ear canals). This might be too much for folks that are treble-sensitive, but it's worth considering for those that, even having tried all the other filter mods, still prefer more treble extension.

 

[fritz1234]

Man this thread is awesome!

I own these, and was meh with the filter swap thing (as I just got them recently). But THIS adds a whole new dimension to it. You guys have done some work alright. Maybe if enough of us pestered Shure they would sell custom filters. They could make some money. But I don't actually think it's necessary considering the tools I see here.

My only worry is, if I do the blue filter mod, it's a one way thing. The red/green/brown mods are external swap. But it would sure be nice to just do the blue and like it. Risky. What do the Shure blues cost, and can you even get them?

Any advice?

One OT thought: Everyone wants the upper extension (for obvious reasons). However, IEMs can aggravate tinnitus. Having the uppers rolled off maybe a deliberate thing, although unlikely . Don't know. Anyways, it's good to have options regardless.

 

[csglinux]

My only worry is, if I do the blue filter mod, it's a one way thing.

If you take a small pin and are reasonably careful with it, you can reverse either the regular 'modded blue' tweak (removing the foam completely) or 'trishd' shoving it all down to the other end of the filter tube. If you do the former, just be careful to keep the foam somewhere safe, because the pieces are tiny and could be easily lost.

From all this, I think I've gained a greater appreciation for what Shure were doing with the foam. The foam in the stock blue (or black) filters do an effective job of attenuating that main resonance peak. And not everyone is going to want a stronger v-shaped FR with more treble - a gentle roll-off mimics pretty well what would happen in nature if you were at a live event, some distance away from the artist(s). Higher frequencies attenuate faster over distances because of preferentially stronger viscous damping from the air molecules:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stokes's_law_of_sound_attenuation

But it's nice to have the option to tune these things to your own preferences

P.S. @fritz1234 - I just saw your comment about tinnitus. OSHA's guidelines only mention overall sound-pressure levels and I've never seen any studies on effects of different FR curves, but I'd bet my life you're right that there's a risk here when you're dealing with IEMs like Sennheiser's IE800 or Campfire Audio's Atlas that can have deltas of ~20 dB or more between mid-range and those 11 - 12 kHz resonance peaks. The cilia associated with higher frequencies are always the first to die. Be careful what you wish for...

 

[mjnicoll5]

I just noticed that Full Compass has the blue filters for sale separately. Might be of interest if you're looking to do the 'trishd" mod and want to compare back.

Here's a link if you're interested:

Full Compass Blue Filters

They are currently $23.17 and appear to include free shipping.

I'm not Shure (sorry couldn't help myself) if you can get them cheaper directly from Shure customer service.

 

[csglinux]

As promised, here are the tips used in those previous measurements. FS = Frankensteined silcone These are FLC8S tips with SpinFit 240 cores (the bits you might otherwise throw away if you were using large-bore IEMs). They're super-comfy, just like SpinFits:

The key here is to get from the narrower SE846 nozzle to a wider bore through a gentle flare. Flares, like those on trumpets or old-wax cylinder gramophones don't only direct sound - they actually passively amplify it. Sometimes this is called "impedance matching", but I don't like that name, because it doesn't really explain what the bell-shape does. Horns, flares or bells force the entire, expanding column of air inside the horn to move. This means a wider expanse of air outside the horn gets pushed by the driver. This makes the output sound louder, even if the horn is facing away from you. So the idea here is to move the entire column of air inside your ear canal as efficiently as possible. The flaring wide bore helps with those frequencies that are more susceptible to dissipation - it basically acts to give an effective boost to the upper frequencies.

Now, not everybody's going to like or want this. Many people like the gentle roll-off with the stock blue filters, and given the way higher frequencies naturally dissipate faster over distances anyway in air:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stokes's_law_of_sound_attenuation

the stock blue filters are arguably a more realistic representation of listening to live music in a larger venue. But depending on genres, personal preferences, and individual audiograms, some might like a bit more of a boost around the 10 kHz+ region, which is where the FR with the stock filters or Knowles' dampers has already started rolling off. So, as always, YMMV.

This is still a work in progress. I think a further boost of those treble frequencies is possible. Plus, I'm still looking to find an easier way to source the necessary parts. The SpinFit 240s aren't cheap and the FLC8S tips aren't easy to find (unless you spend $300 on an FLC8S) - these eartips are sold separately by LendMeUrEars, but ordering isn't easy and shipping times can easily run into months. So please let me know if anybody has ideas for cheaper and more easily-available parts...

Happy listening fellow SE846 fans

 

[Jamnperry]

Thanks for sending the pair Paul! I need to dig out those blue filters and look into that other mod.. guess I've fallen a bit off the curve. Sure appreciate them but probably be a bit before I can really listen to them.

 

[Jackomik]

Here is a pic of my modded Shure 846 using the above modifications, using a hybrid tips ( inserts from westone foam tips and silicone regular bore tip which i forgot which brand) Also did the cotton swab stick and green knowles filter mod.

What I added to this mod is a Vent Tube made from syringe needle. What makes it different with the added Vent tube is the sound stage, it's more spacious, airy and instrument separation is better, Clarity and detail also much improved. I switched to Green filter from brown because of the hybrid tips and vent tube adds to the treble peak. (Some may like it, but too much for me) and the most important why I added the vent tube is for comfort and long listening with no ear fatigue from pressure build up inside the ear. With no pressure build up inside the ears, the eardrums can vibrate at its full potential thus hearing the sound much clearly which adds also to the clarity of the sound produced.

In return, because of the vent tube you also loose some of the isolation. Not by much but there is. Noticeably if no music is played, yet if music is played, then it doesn't matter as isolation is still very acceptable without hearing the people talking beside you.

Thank you to the authors who discovered the use of knowles filters with the use of swab stick (stock filter is saved) and to the one who introduced the hybrid tips (frankenstiend as he calls it)

Now I enjoyed my music the way I Liked it.
Cheers and happy listening .

 

[435279]

What I added to this mod is a Vent Tube made from syringe needle.

Good idea, I might have to try that myself, kind of like a 64 Audio Apex module.