[Duncan]

I've stopped looking for tips now, settling on InAirs tips, memory foam version of Comply, seem to isolate better, and mitigate most of the treble peaks, win win

 

[kms108]

I've stopped looking for tips now, settling on InAirs tips, memory foam version of Comply, seem to isolate better, and mitigate most of the treble peaks, win win

I like using Spinfit.

 

[james444]

  Finally purchased a pair of MDR-EX1000 and upon my first listen, jaw dropped to the floor. 
 
This is da bomb! 
 
I have been searching forever for this kind of sound signature & I am shocked to have found it from the Sony.
 
Somewhat uneven treble and low isolation is only weakness I can find so far, but damn.. that mids & bass are pure perfection!     

 
Looks like we're exactly on the same page.

 
That said, I might as well quote my recent post from the-other-forum-that-shall-not-be-named here...
 

Thought I'd share this here, since quite a few others seem to be in a similar dilemma as myself when it comes to the EX1000. On the one hand, these offer some of the best qualities I've ever heard in dynamic driver based IEMs, particularly in the lower half of the frequency range. On the other hand, they have obvious weaknesses, like a somewhat uneven high range, tricky ergonomics, wind noise and subpar isolation, which ultimately make me use them less often than I'd want to.

So, if you'd ask me how I'd imagine my ideal DD-based IEMs, I'd reply without hesitation, they ought to be just like the EX1000 in bass and lower mids, however with slightly smoother and more restrained upper mids and treble. And while I'm at it making wishes, I'd love for them to fit more comfortably and stay in place, as well as offer a little more isolation.

Enter the Fostex TE-02n, an amazing pair of budget IEMs even in stock form, with better ergonomics and isolation than the Sonys. As a pastime, I've been trying to mod these over the last couple of months, in order to squeeze the subjectively best sound quality out of them (and gather a little more experience on how DD IEMs work in the process). This yielded many hours of tinkering fun, interesting discussions with friends and several mod versions with different signatures. However, none of them left me completely satisfied.

So, at some point, I just grabbed my EX1000 for a lengthy A/B session and simply tried to get the Fostex' bass and low-mids timbre as close as possible. With that achieved, I tried to dampen their upper-mids and treble to fall somewhere in between the EX1000 and MDR7550... and that was about it.

Now for the first time, I felt entirely happy about the result, so I decided to call this mod "final". Soon afterwards, I handed both my Sonys and the Fostex to a good friend, and yesterday found this feedback in my inbox:

"Listening notes... I have to say, the Fostex is a stunner, really smooth and at the same time detailed. It's definitely a tad smoother and more detailed than the Sonys (N.B. EX1000 and MDR7550). The slight sharpness in vocals I heard with the older mod is completely gone. However, tips are also important, and fit with the older mod wasn't perfect. Now I realize how good the bass really is.

Still, for soundstage and bass I'd give a slight nod to the Sonys, it's just their effortlessness and timbre in bass that I haven't heard in any other IEM. The Sonys are also more dynamic and sound "bigger", that's surely because of their 16mm drivers. Moreover, the Fostex needs a lot more juice, so it doesn't sound best from a smartphone... but from my Mojo, it's a stunner. Vocals are by all means better than on the Sonys, no treble harshness whatsoever, yet still very detailed. I actually prefer the Fostex over the Sonys from my Mojo, whereas I prefer the Sonys from my smartphone.

Anyway, you nailed the Sony sound signature pretty well, in fact I'd say it's a bit closer to the 7550 than the EX1000, the latter being less neutral than the other two."

With that said, please regard this post as some kind of interest check. If there's enough demand, I can write a step-by-step tutorial on how to perform that mod. And since it's a bit complex and requires good eyesight and nerves, I could also offer to send out a few modded units to genuinely interested parties. For clarification, the Fostex with their much smaller 9mm drivers are not claimed to and cannot be a carbon copy of the EX1000. But I think they're close enough in signature and sound quality to be potentially interesting for those who love the Sonys and have been on a similar quest regarding their ideal DD-based IEMs.

Feel free to let me know your thoughts...

 

[Duncan]

I truly don't recommend this, but - I seem to have inadvertently cleared up the treble sharpness on my EX1000 - I turned on my Mojo, not realising that I'd activated line out mode, hit play, took me a few seconds to back the volume down to sane levels...

Ouch!

But, definitely smoother now haha...

Am almost tempted to buy one of the NOS pairs you see floating around to do an A/B...

Edit, I take that back, I think it was actually my ears that were somewhat caught off guard for a while, still there! Has to be said, I'm surprised as to the power these old drivers can handle!

 

[chillaxing]

Anyone else find those mmcx adapters?

 

[kms108]

Anyone else find those mmcx adapters?

Taobao has them, they are pretty expensive, I had the resin one, they don't last long, you have a hard time pulling out the cable if they have a strong fit, so mine has gone out of shape, they have what is called a a brass or copper one, but not sure if it's metal or just colour, more expensive, but i'm still considering.

 

[chillaxing]

 
Taobao has them, they are pretty expensive, I had the resin one, they don't last long, you have a hard time pulling out the cable if they have a strong fit, so mine has gone out of shape, they have what is called a a brass or copper one, but not sure if it's metal or just colour, more expensive, but i'm still considering.

 
can you provide a link?  I'm having a hard time searching for it on that site.

 

[kms108]

 

 
Taobao has them, they are pretty expensive, I had the resin one, they don't last long, you have a hard time pulling out the cable if they have a strong fit, so mine has gone out of shape, they have what is called a a brass or copper one, but not sure if it's metal or just colour, more expensive, but i'm still considering.

 
can you provide a link?  I'm having a hard time searching for it on that site.

Even If I provide a link, he dosn't ship outside of china, I had to create a address in china and have it shipped, I got a brass one cheaper as I told him my resin one is broken, i'll post back with the actual it then you can decide if you still want one.

 

[Ziadax]

There are taobao agent services that can be used to ship stuff from China to other locations

 

[kms108]

  There are taobao agent services that can be used to ship stuff from China to other locations

I know, it's expensive, the seller has shipped these before to Hong Kong, even in the link it says will ship to Hong Kong, but once you click in, Taobao doesn't allow it.
 
The seller asked me to add a new China address and link it to my Hong Kong address, then QQ or something like than send the full address and invoice number.

 

[TAREKFOUAD1]

Are the Spiral Dot Earpiece will fit with EX1000?
Thanks,

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Q2I15F8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[awayeah]

  Are the Spiral Dot Earpiece will fit with EX1000?
Thanks,

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Q2I15F8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 
No, too big.
For me these are by far the best with EX1000/EX800 - https://www.amazon.com/Multi-Size-Replacement-Headphones-Headphone/dp/B00F4LEULU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1486382054&sr=8-2&keywords=klipsch+tips
Especially double flange

 

[TAREKFOUAD1]

Thanks for your fast reply, what abut SpinFit? and what models support?

 

[Ziadax]

Spinfit CP100 works with the ex1000

 

[awayeah]

For me Spinfits are one of the worse tips for any IEM. I've tried them with around 20 different in-ears and the effect was always poor to say the least. Several of my friends share the same opinion. Don't know what the hype is all about.