[GordonHo]

hi marcus,

dont bother to much about the audiologist, if your really worried id suggest to talk with ue directly, i bet theyve most experience how to enhance the seal, or if they need new impressions.
as said, for mine they want a second try to 'refit' them before they want new impressions.
for the seal, i expect for sure a better seal than on my shure, and id say they should seal better than the ety's too.
they are supposed to have a 26db seal, that's alot more than shure or ety's are providing. and they are designed to fit and seal for acting musicians, now these musicians do not stand still on the stage with closed mouth.. you know what i mean .)
and for the price of the ue-10 as well that they are a custom made product, i expect customer care, so if you are curious about something just ask them (and let us know .))

dont lower your expectations.

regards gordon

 

[JMcMasterJ]

I placed my order today! Hopefully black swirled w/ Carolina blue will look cool

 

[GordonHo]

grats!

post some pictures when you receive yours (and tell us the serial..)

regards gordon

 

[MarcusH]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GordonHo hi marcus, dont bother to much about the audiologist, if your really worried id suggest to talk with ue directly, i bet theyve most experience how to enhance the seal, or if they need new impressions. as said, for mine they want a second try to 'refit' them before they want new impressions. for the seal, i expect for sure a better seal than on my shure, and id say they should seal better than the ety's too. they are supposed to have a 26db seal, that's alot more than shure or ety's are providing. and they are designed to fit and seal for acting musicians, now these musicians do not stand still on the stage with closed mouth.. you know what i mean .) and for the price of the ue-10 as well that they are a custom made product, i expect customer care, so if you are curious about something just ask them (and let us know .)) dont lower your expectations. regards gordon

Hi Gordon,

on the Etymotic page it says: "Noise Isolation: 35-42 dB"
So the Etys should provide you with a better seal, but I would be more than satisfied if I get the same isolation as I got with my Shures. In comparison the Etys indeed were better isolating than the E2c, but the Shures weren't bad either. Unfortunately Shure's page doesn't give any numbers on the E2C actual isolation, but I found a forum post where someone stated they should be around 20-25 dB.
I talked to Fischer Amps, who were very kind and told me that the thickening of the stem should do the trick. So I'm a bit more optimistic now, let's see how the refit works

)

Hehe good luck JMcMasterJ! I don't have the slightest clue what "Carolina blue" might look like (google will tell me soon *g*), but I guess it should look funky

Yeah, you're obliged to post some pics!

Ciao,
Marcus

 

[root]

Hello Marcus,

As Gordon said I'd talk with UE directly. I hope the thickening of the stem will bring optimal results. I said it plethora of times and it's true that perfect molds=perfect seal (way better than e.g. my Shure E3) and perfect seal=perfect IEM's. It's a must here (especially for such a dough

). Some audiologists (it seems that most of them to tell the truth) apparently are not skilled enough to take good ear impressions (other than those for hearing aids). And we are talking now about impressions for HARD acrylic phones- c'mon, these are more or less like regular hearing aids type used nowadays.
.................
It is WAY better (I mean much more comfortable) and requires less time to work with harder materials than with softer ones (like Sensaphonics). Sensaphonics being the sole one ever to use soft silicone knows that using such materials can enhance the whole spectrum of music. It is simply a different story when you just swap the materials <and they did use hard & soft acrylic in the past just as e.g. UE nowadays>. Strangely enough, it is the owners of "hard IEM'S" that have the most problems with fit/refit (apart from digihead with his initial fit problems <both Sensaphonics & UE> and the recent Spaghetti's one I don't recall anyone from here who have had fit problems with Sensaphonics). Let's hope these problems end

as there seem to be no more (time will tell though). <just to add some fuel to the fire

>

best,
Greg

 

[MarcusH]

Hehe thanks, you guys are great! Good to know that I'm not the only one who went through this trouble. It's relieving to say the least (I just ignore the part of "hard IEMs" and "refit problems" *g*).
I know how crucial a good fit for IEMs is - that's why I was worried and a bit disappointed at first. But now I guess I'll just happily wait for my UE10s to return home

Ciao,
Marcus

 

[Welly Wu]

I still don't understand why so many Head-Fi members in particular can not get the correct ear impressions made for them. Mine still fit perfectly and I only had one visit with an audiologist -- I have never needed a re-fit whatsoever. Plus, I was the first one on Head-Fi who got the Ue-10 PRO. I'm not trying to sound unsympathetic, but UE said that Head-Fi customers usually request refits. What's going on here?

 

[LBC]

Well, my UE-10's are on their way back for a re-fit: the right-hand side earpiece was quite painful to remove. Went in fine, really hurt to take out. It must be hooking on something in the ear canal. I can't seem to take it out in reverse of how it went in - and believe me, I tried and tried. This was not a problem with the seal, but obviously something I couldn't live with...

 

[solvexyz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Welly Wu I still don't understand why so many Head-Fi members in particular can not get the correct ear impressions made for them. Mine still fit perfectly and I only had one visit with an audiologist -- I have never needed a re-fit whatsoever. Plus, I was the first one on Head-Fi who got the Ue-10 PRO. I'm not trying to sound unsympathetic, but UE said that Head-Fi customers usually request refits. What's going on here?

Well, I am from Canada, and when I was talking to local audiologists, all of them were confused on why do I need just an open mouth ear impressions. Most of them only do closed mouth impression and it is part of the cost for making the hearing aid, so the pricing of the ear impressions are decided on whim as well.

The Sonus audiologist was surprised when they hear about their partnership with UE, and charged me way cheapper than the promised $50 from UE. Well, anyway, she told me that the day I phoned them, she actually had to figure out about the kind of ear impressions UE wanted, and decided to follow the procedure exactly.

My point is that there is definitely a lot of procedures in making a good ear impressions, but there is relatively less experienced audiologist with this particular procedure. I think something can easily go wrong.

 

[BRBJackson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by solvexyz I know there are few groups buy around the world that will place the order starting November. I think this year UE is ganna be happy.

Elaborate, please! Where are you finding these 'group buys'?

 

[digihead]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarcusH UPDATE: I've been to the audiologist today (Wessling). They immediatly said it can't be their fault that the UE10 don't fit, it has to be UEs error. Well, after discussing the situation with them for about an hour we came to the decisision that it might be the best to send the UE10s to UE and let them thicken the stem (the part of the phone which is actually inside my ear canal) instead of getting new impressions done. Well, when I returned home I talked to Fischer Amps and they agreed that it might be the best option at the moment. I was relieved to hear that my worries about shrinking, 3 weeks old impressions were unfounded because UE scans the impressions as soon as they get them. I don't know how they do it, but WOW! *g* So far so good, to make a long story short, I'll send them to Fischer Amps today with the request to thicken the stem in order to get a better fit. It's hard to let them go. EDIT: Hmmm, well, I'm pondering about the "perfect fit" at the moment.... I know that many Head-Fiers had more than just one re-fit, but I'm seriously worried at the moment. When I explained the situation to my audiologist she seemed to become a bit "bitchy" when I asked her if it might be their and not UEs fault that they don't fit all that well (due to the way the impressions were taken). She even accused me of being a bit delicate about a good isolation because due to the hard material and usual movement of the ear canal when speaking or walking, there will always be the problem that I won't get a good enough seal. Hell, I know I won't get the isolation of the Ety ER4, but through my experiences with Shure and Etymotic phones I believe I do know when I've got a bad seal. With my current fit of the UE10 I could barely walk through the inner city and listen to my music, I could barely even enjoy the music due the constantly broken seal and leaking outside noises. The isolation wasn't even close to my older E2Cs, and I don't have a tight fit, so I hope that thickening the stem will help. The promised 26 dB of isolation should be at least as good as the Shures or even better. Ciao, Marcus

Marcus,
I was in the same boat as you with my very first attempt(s) with UE. The pair they made me had such a small canal (I have very large, fairly straight ear canals) that I could hear virtually everything going on around me when I had them in my ears. I could hear people talking around me while I had music playing. I hate to say it, but UE recommended I send them in to have more material applied to the stems. With the pair I had, I could have sent them in for 50 coats of material and still not had a pair that fit.

I had to get another set of impressions done and spoke directly with UE. I'd recommend going to a different audiologist. Start over. Find someone that will work with you and do the impressions the way you want them done, according to UE's instructions. Don't settle for anything less. You will drive yourself crazy and spend a lot of time and money trying to get a good fit.

Getting a great set of impressions is the key to getting an IEM that really fits. For me, I ended up challenging my audiologist to see if I could be the person that she used the most silicone impression material on, ever. I told her to use twice as much as she normally would and to see just how much impression material she could actually fit into my ears. I got a huge set of impressions made and that ultimately helped me.

In my case I had the Westone Etymotic custom ear piece that I was able to send in to UE to indicate just how far off they were from getting me a good fit.

I wish you the best of luck.

 

[solvexyz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BRBJackson Elaborate, please! Where are you finding these 'group buys'?

From forums of other countries, however, I do not feel they are cheaper though, just that it is cheaper if you are from those countries. It might save some on the currency exchange, but that is about it.

The cheapest you can do is be a head-fi contributor, and order from headroom to get your 10% off.

 

[Jasper994]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Welly Wu I still don't understand why so many Head-Fi members in particular can not get the correct ear impressions made for them. Mine still fit perfectly and I only had one visit with an audiologist -- I have never needed a re-fit whatsoever. Plus, I was the first one on Head-Fi who got the Ue-10 PRO. I'm not trying to sound unsympathetic, but UE said that Head-Fi customers usually request refits. What's going on here?

You may have gotten lucky or have ears of steel....

I think the reason there's a higher incidence of head-fi'ers getting refits is that we tend to have these things in for much longer periods of time. I could have easily lived with the initial fitting if I was only wearing them for 1-2 hours for a show. Since I have them in for 2-6 hours in a sitting I needed mine to be much more comfortable than that. I'm still debating whether or not I want them to shave them down a little more since they become uncomfortable after 2-3 hours. After 4-6 hours my ears really ache.

 

[solvexyz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jasper994 You may have gotten lucky or have ears of steel.... I think the reason there's a higher incidence of head-fi'ers getting refits is that we tend to have these things in for much longer periods of time. I could have easily lived with the initial fitting if I was only wearing them for 1-2 hours for a show. Since I have them in for 2-6 hours in a sitting I needed mine to be much more comfortable than that. I'm still debating whether or not I want them to shave them down a little more since they become uncomfortable after 2-3 hours. After 4-6 hours my ears really ache.

I heard some people saying they are able to wear that for the entire 8 hour flight, and also saying once they put it in, they forgot it is there. I think you should definitely let UE know about that.

 

[GordonHo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Welly Wu I still don't understand why so many Head-Fi members in particular can not get the correct ear impressions made for them. Mine still fit perfectly and I only had one visit with an audiologist -- I have never needed a re-fit whatsoever. Plus, I was the first one on Head-Fi who got the Ue-10 PRO. I'm not trying to sound unsympathetic, but UE said that Head-Fi customers usually request refits. What's going on here?

hi welly, actually i cannot say why so many head-fi'ers need a refit, but i'd expect that it is not a head-fi problem. wouldnt you get a refit if your plugs are sealing bad, hurting etc.?

for sure it is nothing that i like, i mean it is weeks without the ue10!

regards gordon