I’ve tried a couple of things and now I am back to square one with my shures with the default silicone tips. Recently I tried a pair of etymotics, and they were so uncomfortable that I could only wear them for about an hour, which sucks because they did have the best isolation of anything that I’ve ever tried. I know the general consensus among people who like them is that if you just wear them long enough you’ll get used to it and you can eventually like it, but I just can’t do it. I’ve tried the default foam tips on my shures but they also make my ear canals very sore, and the outer texture of foam chafes the skin in my ear canals. I tried them for quite a while so they had ample time for me to get used to it, but I never did. I have purchased a pair of custom molded IEMs in the past, and they are I think the most uncomfortable option I’ve ever tried. I can only wear them for a maximum of 15 to 20 minutes before I have to take them out, and the isolation is also kind of meh compared to other things that I’ve tried. Another slightly wackier solution that I tried very recently and immediately gave up on because I could feel a pressure in my head, and the headache lasted all of the rest of the day, was foam ear plugs and bone conduction headphones that I got on Amazon. It sounded a lot better than I expected it to sound, but the pressure of something pushing into the bottom of my temples consistently, and the aggressive vibrations on that area, it just didn’t work for me. Another thing that I think contributed to this was that where I had to wear them to get the best sound was directly outside of where the ear plugs were inside of my ears, so aside from having foam ear plugs pushing outward inside of my ear canals, I now had something on the outside pushing in against that outward expansion, and it was very unpleasant. Foam ear plugs on their own, without something else affecting it like that, are at least tolerable in the long run. having tried all of these options, I am back to square one with silicone tips. I think this is the only option that I can use consistently with good comfort, not being distracted all the time throughout the day and in pain.
With all of this said, can anybody give me some recommendations for my options? Are there very good single flanged tips that will fit anything, and/or is there a universal fit iem that provides better isolation generally than Shure se425s?
Also, typo in the title. IEMs, not items. I typed the text body with voice to text and there were some typos, which I have corrected as well.
Did you try FiiO HS18 or Dunu S&S with your IEMs yet? Despite the HS18 collapsing on itself if you wiggle it too much, it’s actually good for noise reduction (though if you’re at a workplace I don’t recommend it since it’s super thin). And yup, you’ll have to constantly reinsert the IEMs if the seal/fit with the FiiO HS18 is altered by your jaw movement and so on.
Dunu S&S’s cylindrical shape can also help with the noise reduction/seal but for me that can get uncomfortable with certain IEMs.
Spinfit CP155 is what I used as its length/height and conical/bullet/etc. shape works well with a deep fit for my ears.
I don’t really have any Shure IEMs anymore but I still do have my MEE audio Pinnacle P1 and those have a similar shape to a lot of the Shure/Westone/etc. IEMs.
Anyway, try the IE 200 instead too. Because unlike with Pinnacle P1/etc. the smaller shape of the IE 200 or maybe its nozzle angle/etc. makes wearing somewhat longer/taller ear tips more comfortable for me.
With the Pinnacle P1, if I use a wide/big/short/etc. ear tip, it will still hurt my ear, but then the smaller ear tips sizes don’t seal/fit as well, so it was cursed, lol.
With the IE 200, I literally used that with a 100dB or so fire alarm recently and it worked like magic. I think I had the FiiO HS18 during that time or maybe it was even just the AZLA SednaEarfit MAX Standard (I doubt it’s the MAX Standard since that one is pretty neutral (not good or bad) for me when it comes to noise reduction, but I mention it since I was using MAX Standard a lot during that time), or say Spinfit W1. But I don’t remember much since I literally got woken up by the damned stupid fire alarm and so my brain just went AFK for the rest of the day, lol.
Using IEMs (like the IE 200) with a random crazy 100+dB fire alarm for noise reduction: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/11szuzw/besides_concerts_what_places_should_we_wear/jch00er/
You can also just get the DIY IE 900 for only $80 or so, it has good noise reduction too. Only thing you’ll need to do is use TRI Clarion in order to hear the vocals (or use parametric EQ) and thankfully TRI Clarion can also be good with noise reduction. Though for me the TRI Clarion makes it easy for moisture/etc. to drip on the nozzle as well, haha, lmao, there’s somehow always a trade-off.
For the Sennheiser IE 200 (try it stock first, then get the new aftermarket ear tips and I guess cable), some general info here: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/17tnn49/crinacle_the_budget_sennheiser_iem_thats_finally/k8y7kke/
More info on the Sennheiser IE 200, DIY IE 900, MMCX to MMCX for N5005, IE 300, IE 600, IE900 adapter/converter, et cetera: https://www.reddit.com/r/HeadphoneAdvice/comments/14vm7ly/sennheiser_ie_600_alternatives/jrfbo45/
But ya, it’s probably your IEMs that you need to change since unfortunately it really is the nozzle length, nozzle angle, etc. that will mess up your comfort levels.
For example, there’s a lot of IEMs that people on Head-Fi/etc. talk about and then I get those IEMs and yup they sound good and all that, but then I can’t also wear them for more than 10 minutes because even if I use my whole ear tips collection, I wouldn’t be able to find a decent one no matter what. Well, I could but then the sound will change too much in order to accommodate the poor comfort/ergonomics/etc.
See for example what I mentioned in your previous post, that Spinfit CP155 mod for Etymotics will change the sound for sure, same thing with the Comply P foam ear tips. Wait, did you try Comply P foam ear tips yet with Etymotics? Or even just the Comply T(x)100 should’ve worked fine too.
Don’t know if you went through the repetitive thread links (lol, that’s on me), but somewhere buried in those threads I mentioned that I can’t use the Shure Olives (this is the black one with the wax guard too) foam ear tips, the yellow Shure foam ear tips (also has wax guards), the stock gray Etymotic foam ear tips, etc.
And so Comply P foam ear tips are super expensive and basically the only option. But if you don’t have the weekly/monthly funds for that (I did the Spinfit CP155 mod since it was super expensive to buy Comply P and oddly enough it was out of stock sometimes too on Amazon), you can just get say Tennmak Ultra Strong on AliExpress for like $5 or so (this has like 12 pieces). And then use the adapters/converters from Spinfit CP100+ or Spinfit CP240, Final Audio E ear tips, AZLA SednaEarfit MAX Standard, et cetera. In order to make the Tennmak Ultra Strong snug on the Etymotic nozzle, it should work, don’t remember if it worked properly or not, been a while since I’ve used my Etymotics.
I feel you fam, I know how frustrating it is to need noise reduction for hearing/mental/etc. health and so it sucks when the options are expensive and also don’t really work as expected.
But ya all I can say is that try other IEMs with the same flush, low profile, etc. shape as the Sennheiser IE 200, MEE audio Pinnacle P1, etc.
Or try bullet style IEMs. I used to use even JVC Spiral Dots ++ with the Final Audio E2000 and so on, and those worked fine. Not as good as Etymotics or non-bullet style IEMs with a traditional shell a la Shure/KZ/et cetera, but it has good comfort as long as you don’t fully shove it in.
Btw, don’t get Spiral Dots ++ as you’ll probably produce a lot of earwax/moisture during work and it’ll clog the nozzle. Same with the E2000, people report bad channel imbalance with the Final E500-E5000 lineup, see RikudouGoku’s graphs and posts about it, and so ya, I’m just giving an example though.
There’s always the bullet style IEMs if you want that hassle-free ergonomics. Only Etymotics and certain boutique/etc. Taobao/AliExpress IEMs go real deep, so it’s easy to use wide/shallow ear tips with the common bullet style IEMs. Personally I still use say the taller Spinfit W1, CP145, and CP155 with bullet style IEMs, it works better for my ears.
There’s now a massive database for bullet style IEMs on Head-Fi: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-bullet-cable-down-iem-database-140-update.964041/page-3
Oh and the hybrid ear tips are also uncomfortable for me, but they might work for you, you never know.
Hybrid ear tips are like Symbio W, SeeAudio x Z Render, etc. ear tips. Those often have pretty hard foam, so it doesn’t compress as much. For my small ears those hybrid ear tips are not really usable as they’re too big/wide/etc.
On Taobao/Chinese sites, there’s also this purple ear tip (foam-silicone hybrid) called EarrBOND Hybrid or something like that. They have dimensions of the EarrBOND ear tips, check MTMTaudio, Taobao, etc.
There’s also the ear tips with gel inside them instead of foam, like Canal Works gel ear tips (these are found on Amazon Japan/etc.).
The L size for CWU-GECL (narrow bore) is supposed to be like 13.2mm.
The L size for CWU-GDECL (wide/bigger bore) is supposed to be like 13.5mm.
More info on the importance of ear tips sizing, dimensions, et cetera: https://www.reddit.com/r/HeadphoneAdvice/comments/11vmvw6/largest_foam_ear_tips_like_comply_p/jcvhfie/
So ya with different IEMs, sometimes you’ll need to use big/shallow ear tips. Other times you’ll need to use small/narrower ear tips.
For wide and shallow ear tips (Penon has those orange ear tips with like 14/15mm width): https://www.reddit.com/r/HeadphoneAdvice/comments/13033j8/tips_for_freakishly_wide_outer_ear_canals/jhurf9b/
See here for a bit more info on smaller ear tips (Final Audio E, Sony EP-EX11, Radius Deep Mount, etc.): https://www.reddit.com/r/HeadphoneAdvice/comments/xdqljz/azla_sednaearfit_max_vs_spinfit_w1_which_one/iod0gkl/