[Lion Zion]

I will preface this by saying I really like my Grado SR225 and Grado amp set up. I recently purchased an Ipod and quickly discovered the standard Apple buds are poor. My buddy has the Shure e3c loves them. I just received a demo par of the e5c from Todd. (great guy and very trusting). He included a set of tri flange and a pair of foamies for filters. My initial session was quite frustrating as the foamies didn't really cut it and I had to really really struggle to get any kind of fit with the tri flange. The phones do sound amazing once there is a fit, but to get the fit was really difficult and frustrating as I was constantly having to press the phones in quite hard in an attempt to get them deeper into my ear canal in order to obtain a decent seal. Without the seal.. no bass. The memory cable was also kind of a pain. My buddy uses a grey colored rubber filter on his e3's and he just pops them in and away he goes! I want to use them in the gym, and of course everywhere else.. perhaps eventually becoming my cans of choice..but for $400 bucks, I don't want to have to struggle with "installing" them each time. I am not sure that jamming them into my ears is a good thing either. I did read the post about reaching over your head and tugging the ear while inserting. It did help, but still a chore. I will fire them up again this evening and will borrow my pal's e3s for several days for an a/b. I will say that when I was able to obtain a good seal..audio nirvana was reached. Hoping someone can share their experiences with these potentially great, thus far frustrating phones. Thanks in advance to all for any input comments or suggestions!

 

[TenaciousO]

You might want to buy the Westone UM2 or at least try the comfy tips. They should fit the E5, and I found them relatively easy to insert.

 

[bLue_oNioN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lion Zion I will preface this by saying I really like my Grado SR225 and Grado amp set up. I recently purchased an Ipod and quickly discovered the standard Apple buds are poor. My buddy has the Shure e3c loves them. I just received a demo par of the e5c from Todd. (great guy and very trusting). He included a set of tri flange and a pair of foamies for filters. My initial session was quite frustrating as the foamies didn't really cut it and I had to really really struggle to get any kind of fit with the tri flange. The phones do sound amazing once there is a fit, but to get the fit was really difficult and frustrating as I was constantly having to press the phones in quite hard in an attempt to get them deeper into my ear canal in order to obtain a decent seal. Without the seal.. no bass. The memory cable was also kind of a pain. My buddy uses a grey colored rubber filter on his e3's and he just pops them in and away he goes! I want to use them in the gym, and of course everywhere else.. perhaps eventually becoming my cans of choice..but for $400 bucks, I don't want to have to struggle with "installing" them each time. I am not sure that jamming them into my ears is a good thing either. I did read the post about reaching over your head and tugging the ear while inserting. It did help, but still a chore. I will fire them up again this evening and will borrow my pal's e3s for several days for an a/b. I will say that when I was able to obtain a good seal..audio nirvana was reached. Hoping someone can share their experiences with these potentially great, thus far frustrating phones. Thanks in advance to all for any input comments or suggestions!

You are entirely correct. The Shure E5Cs are frustrating. So frustrating I developed a headache the first day I received them. But I stuck with them and I'm now incredibly happy I did.

Let me elaborate.

The memory wires are a bit of a hassle at first mainly because it's hard to orient them correctly. You just need to play with them for a few days and learn how they're supposed to be bent. For me, learning to wear the E5Cs was harder than learning to wear canalphones in the first place. I personally felt that it was a lot harder to get the memory wires worked correctly with the foam and tri-flange tips -- the silicone and grey tips work much better for this purpose, although as I understand, you may not have access to a pair of those at the moment.

Once you get the memory wires oriented correctly, most of your work is done. You may find that you need to make minor adjustments with respect to the way the housing unit rests along your ear, but after half a week or so, the kinks should be worked out.

Over time, you will find that the memory wires allow you to insert the canalphones in one step as opposed to the two or three it took for the E2s/E3s. I greatly appreciate the convenience, although I do feel that they make one-ear listening rather difficult.

In summary, give them time, try not to let the beginning annoyances put you off. The payback will be more than worth your troubles.

Best of luck!

 

[toaster]

quite simply, the stock memory cable length of the e5's is too long.

when i first got my e5's it took me forever to figure out how to get them into my ears. they just kept getting twisted around because the memory wire kept wanting to tug the earphones out of my ear.

so what can you do about this?
there is a modification you can perform to the memory wires on the e5's.

it is quite simple and involves only your fingernail and some patience. what you do, is pick at the memory wire until it begins to peel. you simply peel it away until there is about an inch left (or whatever length you desire) as opposed to the oringinal 3 inches. the memory cable peels away like an orange peel.

i cannot begin to explain how much better the e5's fit, seal...everything is better. they're not annoying anymore. they go right on, and they stay in, without getting pulled out of your ear. and it doesn't take an hour to orient them anymore.

i strongly suggest you consider this. it's really not a big deal.

 

[Lion Zion]

Thank you all so much for your input. As I said, these are a demo pair from Todd TVJ so I can't mod these puppies. Which filters do you e5c people use? Todd just supplied me with the white tri flange and small yellow foamies. My buddy, who has the e3c has smaller ears and didn't seem to mind the foamies. They didn't blow me away and if they have to be tossed every month........ I will try to hang in there and be patient. Of course, I will report back. Canal phones are a whole new ball game for me, and I really want to "get" them. In an attempt to do so, I am trying to go for the best at a price point that I can almost justify!

 

[bLue_oNioN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lion Zion Thank you all so much for your input. As I said, these are a demo pair from Todd TVJ so I can't mod these puppies. Which filters do you e5c people use? Todd just supplied me with the white tri flange and small yellow foamies. My buddy, who has the e3c has smaller ears and didn't seem to mind the foamies. They didn't blow me away and if they have to be tossed every month........ I will try to hang in there and be patient. Of course, I will report back. Canal phones are a whole new ball game for me, and I really want to "get" them. In an attempt to do so, I am trying to go for the best at a price point that I can almost justify!

I find myself most pleased with the foamies, but since our ears are all different, your mileage may vary.

 

[Lion Zion]

"I find myself most pleased with the foamies, but since our ears are all different, your mileage may vary."


Working with just the two filters I have to choose from, the tri flange are much more uncomfortable to the point of pain, while the foamies are ..well benign. Just that the darn tri flange sound way better. (so far any way) Currently I have a decent seal..bass sounds really tight on Augustus Pablo's "King Tubby Meets The Rockers Uptown" (remastered) and a nice presentation on Pat Metheny's "American Garage" track 4 "It's For You". My left ear is fine however, my right ear can't relate to the tri flange..go figure. I hope it gets better, I'm starting to love the way they sound. I really want to try them with my buddies grey colored soft rubber filters he uses on his e3cs.

 

[toaster]

with the triflanges, what you want to do is cut the stalk so that it is FLUSH with the third flange.

the way they come are just huge. i don't know what shure was thinking.

trim the tips and you may find the tri-flanges much more enjoyable.

you could probably do this mod, as i doubt todd wants the tips back.

 

[bLue_oNioN]

Like you, I found that the bass had the greatest presence with the tri-flanges -- however, I felt the overall sonic signature was too muddy. The superb decay I had grown accustomed to didn't make me as giddy with delight as before, and the attack seemed slower. I was able to adjust to the tri-flanges both without trimming the stem, and with a modest trimming, but didn't like the way my ears felt upon removal. With all this in mind, I adbandoned the tri-flanges without remorse.

I personally felt the bass with the foamies, while slightly diminished in comparison to that experienced with the tri-flanges, tight and strong at the same time. To my ears, the highs are what truly shine with the foamies: sparkle, clarity, texture, and detail that I felt was lacking with both the grey tips and the tri-flanges is presented in a very musical, enjoyable manner.

I somehow suspect that your disappointment with the foamies is rooted in a poor seal and overall fit, but it could just be that our ears hear things differently.

 

[Lion Zion]

Thank you so much. I will contact Todd prior to any surgical procdures just so we stay cool. I mean he didn't even request my cc for security. Just shipped me a set of $499.00 retail phones beacuse I am a member of HeadFi, making him my current hero.

I will take a brake from the agony and ecstacy of the tri flange and try revisiting the foamies. However, they are starting to look like Sponge Bob after taking them off and on so many times!

 

[bLue_oNioN]

LOL they do kinda change shape after extensive usage, don't they?

To be honest, I wasn't too pleased about having to resort to the foamies for the sound I wanted. I gave the grey tips as much air time as possible, hoping to be entirely at peace, because they are a big step up in terms of comfort, ease of use, durability, and cost efficiency (the additional costs of switching foamies every few months was something I wanted to avoid). Unfortunately, they just didn't cut it when it came to the upper end of the spectrum. On a good note, my foamies are still bright yellow. Hopefully that means I have clean ears and won't have to replace as often

 

[Jasper994]

I can comfortably use the small clear, medium grey and small grey tips as well as the foamies. As for sound, I go back and forth a bit but ulitmately I think I like the foamies the best. I use them when I'll have the E5's in all day. while on the go, I really like the soft grey tips, although the small clears work almost as well. As Blue Onion pointed out, your milage may vary... With either the grey tips or clear tips, I can put each side on in a quick rotating motion. Putting the E5's on once the cable is untangled takes less than 10 seconds.

As to the memory wire, I am now very glad that I didn't remove it. It's quicker to put on because of the memory wire (once you have it shapped correctly for you) and it keeps the wire from unhinging itself from behind your ears. With the E2's I find that unless I have them down my back with the cinch tight, I can't turn my head. The problem with that is, I'm always in a collard shirt which the y-joint gets caught on... very annoying. The memory wire allows me to wear the e5's with the cinch loose down my front without worrying about the cable coming out from behind my ears. It's very nice.

 

[bangraman]

I use chopped triflanges with one less flange. I kept the big and middle flanges so that a seal could still be formed and cut off the last smallest flange (I had to do it very cleanly with a very sharp knife as leaving any 'bumps' where I cut the flange off resulted in ear irritation). I also cut quite a bit of the stalk off. Duplicating this may not work for you as we all have different ears, but for me this is the result of a couple of months of intensive tip-butchering last year.


I also stick with the full-length memory wire. From my point of view I don't see the problem with the wire. Once bent to the optimum shape, it more or less stays there and supports the earphone very well and keeps the cable out of the way. I can however see it being a problem for people with very small ears, as the wire will probably stick out.

 

[greenhorn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by toaster22 quite simply, the stock memory cable length of the e5's is too long. when i first got my e5's it took me forever to figure out how to get them into my ears. they just kept getting twisted around because the memory wire kept wanting to tug the earphones out of my ear. so what can you do about this? there is a modification you can perform to the memory wires on the e5's. it is quite simple and involves only your fingernail and some patience. what you do, is pick at the memory wire until it begins to peel. you simply peel it away until there is about an inch left (or whatever length you desire) as opposed to the oringinal 3 inches. the memory cable peels away like an orange peel. i cannot begin to explain how much better the e5's fit, seal...everything is better. they're not annoying anymore. they go right on, and they stay in, without getting pulled out of your ear. and it doesn't take an hour to orient them anymore. i strongly suggest you consider this. it's really not a big deal.

Word!

 

[raisin]

If the foamies are not working because your ears are too large, you can try the foamies from the ety er-4's. I had good success using them with my e-5's. They are a bit larger, and fit my irregular right ear quite well. Maybe Todd can mail you a pair?