[paulomario77]

Dear all,

My name is Paulo Mario and I live in Brazil. Back on April 11, 2014, I ordered a pair of Shure SE846 Earphones from Earphone Solutions. The items were shipped to a friend of mine, who lives in the US and is here in Brazil for summer vacations. She brought the items with her and delivered them to me yesterday, July 14.

The Shure SE846 box was sealed, and I was the first person to open it. The box contents were not tampered in anyway. The only thing I did yesterday was exchanging the balanced nozzle inserts for the bright ones. Of course, I read the instruction manual first and made sure I knew what I was doing.

I did not test the earphones yesterday. But today I got a surprise: the left side was not working at first! In order to check if the problem was on the cable, I swapped the right and left channels, but the left earphone was mute, even when connected to the right channel. I also tried different audio sources, with no luck. Then I removed the nozzles from both earphones to check for a possible obstruction in the nozzle itself and/or its insert. Once again, everything was fine, I looked through them against a strong light source and the paths were clear.

I reassembled the nozzles and left the earphones playing some music over at my desk. Then, all of a sudden, I noticed that the left earphone started playing. I put them on and noticed that while the left side played fine for a while, it would just interrupt the music as if the problem was a bad contact. Other times, the sound was not completely mute, but attenuated, as if the volume was turned down. As of now the earphones seem to be working, and the sound quality is as expected, with bass, mids and treble fully present. I would say that the sound quality has improved since I started using the earphones about two hours ago. The earphones *seem* to be working now.

Now, I would like to ask you a few questions regarding my problem:

1) Are my earphones defective?

2) Is it possible that the earphones were somehow affected by humidity/moisture, even though they have been kept in their original box for 3 months? Or perhaps it was the change in altitude/temperature because my friend flew with them from the US (spring) to Brazil (autumn)?

3) If the problem is humidity/moisture, what can I do to dry them? Perhaps keep them in a drawer with a closet dehumidifier for a few hours?

4) Any chance that the nozzles and their inserts were not correctly installed by me? I tried to not "overscrew" them, but perhaps I should have applied more force.

The moisture cenario came to my mind after reading this: https://shure.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1410
 
I contacted both Earphone Solutions and Shure. The dealer has not responded yet, but Shure did, and the technician thought was best to send it with my friend who will be returning to the US on July 23. The problem is, the earphones *seem* to be working corretly now, and if I RMA them I'm pretty sure that when Shure sends me back a replacement pair, Brazilian Customs will charge a small fortune on import fees. On the other hand, if Shure sends the replacement unit to my friend in the US, she'll only return to Brazil next year - perhaps.
 
Any thoughts? Pardon for my English.

Regards,
Paulo Mario

 

[spook76]

Dear all,


My name is Paulo Mario and I live in Brazil. Back on April 11, 2014, I ordered a pair of Shure SE846 Earphones from Earphone Solutions. The items were shipped to a friend of mine, who lives in the US and is here in Brazil for summer vacations. She brought the items with her and delivered them to me yesterday, July 14.


The Shure SE846 box was sealed, and I was the first person to open it. The box contents were not tampered in anyway. The only thing I did yesterday was exchanging the balanced nozzle inserts for the bright ones. Of course, I read the instruction manual first and made sure I knew what I was doing.


I did not test the earphones yesterday. But today I got a surprise: the left side was not working at first! In order to check if the problem was on the cable, I swapped the right and left channels, but the left earphone was mute, even when connected to the right channel. I also tried different audio sources, with no luck. Then I removed the nozzles from both earphones to check for a possible obstruction in the nozzle itself and/or its insert. Once again, everything was fine, I looked through them against a strong light source and the paths were clear.


I reassembled the nozzles and left the earphones playing some music over at my desk. Then, all of a sudden, I noticed that the left earphone started playing. I put them on and noticed that while the left side played fine for a while, it would just interrupt the music as if the problem was a bad contact. Other times, the sound was not completely mute, but attenuated, as if the volume was turned down. As of now the earphones seem to be working, and the sound quality is as expected, with bass, mids and treble fully present. I would say that the sound quality has improved since I started using the earphones about two hours ago. The earphones *seem* to be working now.


Now, I would like to ask you a few questions regarding my problem:


1) Are my earphones defective?


2) Is it possible that the earphones were somehow affected by humidity/moisture, even though they have been kept in their original box for 3 months? Or perhaps it was the change in altitude/temperature because my friend flew with them from the US (spring) to Brazil (autumn)?


3) If the problem is humidity/moisture, what can I do to dry them? Perhaps keep them in a drawer with a closet dehumidifier for a few hours?


4) Any chance that the nozzles and their inserts were not correctly installed by me? I tried to not "overscrew" them, but perhaps I should have applied more force.


The moisture cenario came to my mind after reading this: https://shure.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1410

I contacted both Earphone Solutions and Shure. The dealer has not responded yet, but Shure did, and the technician thought was best to send it with my friend who will be returning to the US on July 23. The problem is, the earphones *seem* to be working corretly now, and if I RMA them I'm pretty sure that when Shure sends me back a replacement pair, Brazilian Customs will charge a small fortune on import fees. On the other hand, if Shure sends the replacement unit to my friend in the US, she'll only return to Brazil next year - perhaps.

Any thoughts? Pardon for my English.


Regards,

Paulo Mario

Paulo, I too bought my SE846 from Earphone Solutions in August of 2013. First, both Earphone Solutions and Shure have stellar customer service so if you do have a problem that cannot be solved they are great companies to deal with.

As to your specific problem, my only guess is that the IEM connector is dirty. In reality it is a tiny connection so a small piece of debris can block it.

Here are the steps to try to remedy it. First, get a toothpick some toilet paper and rubbing alcohol or Deoxit (you can buy that off Amazon). Second, put a small pice of tissue on the tip of the toothpick and a light amount of rubbing alcohol and gently insert it into the MMCX connector on both the cables and the IEMs themselves and twist it. Repeat that on all four connectors (cable and IEM). Intermittent failure is usually means a dirty connector. All MMCX (Shure, UE and now Westone) have this problem. I generally clean my connectors every 3 months or so and have never had the problem again.

I hope this helps.

 

[paulomario77]

Paulo, I too bought my SE846 from Earphone Solutions in August of 2013. First, both Earphone Solutions and Shure have stellar customer service so if you do have a problem that cannot be solved they are great companies to deal with.

As to your specific problem, my only guess is that the IEM connector is dirty. In reality it is a tiny connection so a small piece of debris can block it.

Here are the steps to try to remedy it. First, get a toothpick some toilet paper and rubbing alcohol or Deoxit (you can buy that off Amazon). Second, put a small pice of tissue on the tip of the toothpick and a light amount of rubbing alcohol and gently insert it into the MMCX connector on both the cables and the IEMs themselves and twist it. Repeat that on all four connectors (cable and IEM). Intermittent failure is usually means a dirty connector. All MMCX (Shure, UE and now Westone) have this problem. I generally clean my connectors every 3 months or so and have never had the problem again.

I hope this helps.

 
Hi spook76,
 
Is it expected that a BRAND NEW pair of SE846's have dirty connectors right out of the box?
 
Can I use regular alcohol (here in Brazil we have 96% ethanol by volume, readly available in supermarkets)? Or perhaps isopropyl alcohol is best? See, Deoxit is an american product, not available here in Brazil. But in the past I used a regular contact cleaner, I believe the formulation was Cyclohexane. Not sure if it's safe for plastic surfaces, though.
 
Sorry for all the questions, and thanks for your prompt reply.
 
Cheers,
Paulo Mario

 

[spook76]

Hi spook76,

Is it expected that a BRAND NEW pair of SE846's have dirty connectors right out of the box?

Can I use regular alcohol (here in Brazil we have 96% ethanol by volume, readly available in supermarkets)? Or perhaps isopropyl alcohol is best? See, Deoxit is an american product, not available here in Brazil. But in the past I used a regular contact cleaner, I believe the formulation was Cyclohexane. Not sure if it's safe for plastic surfaces, though.

Sorry for all the questions, and thanks for your prompt reply.

Cheers,
Paulo Mario

It is certainly not expected right out of the box. If you were in the US, I would suggest sending them back to a Earphone Solutions (Flavio who owns the company is a first rate person to deal with) but since that is cumbersome this is the next best thing.

96% alcohol you get at the supermarket should be fine. Now be careful not to push through the tissue on the tip of the toothpick as then you will not really clean the connector.

Do not hesitate to send me a message with further questions as to me this is why Head-Fi exists.

Steve aka Spook

 

[paulomario77]

Hi spook76 and all,
 
Just giving you a heads up:
 
Shure exchanged my pair for a new one, which arrived yesterday and I tested today. The old pair was sent to Shure but the technician didn't find any problems and the earphones just played fine for him. He then sent me an email in which he wrote:
 
"There are a few ways that can cause a situation like this to occur. The likely reason is If you have any condensation in your ears before inserting the drivers into your ear canal….. the condensation will normally cause the output to quickly fade out to nothing then come back after some time.  Allowing them to sit out will generally them to dry out which will correct the sound output.  If this occurs, you can remove the nozzles and change the nozzle inserts which will correct the sound output since that option is available with the SE846’s."
 
This was my first supposition anyway. Regardless, the new pair is working perfectly, and certainly louder than the former pair (that is, when the former pair worked). I was surprised that all customs duties were paid by Shure in advance, so didn't spend a dime to receive the new pair here in Brazil. Shure's customer is absolutely impecable!
 
Regards,
Paulo Mario

 

[spook76]

Paulo,

That is great news. I have had nothing but great customer service from Shure as well.

Spook