IEM Ear Tips

[OK1]

Been using some form of earbud, or IEM, for about 3 years, as my primary medium for listening critically. Key reason at this time was neighbours, my current listening room shares an adjoining wall with them.

Until about 10 days ago, all I had ever bothered to use with these were silicone ear tips. Typically I'd use one of the stock ear tips. Over time I then graduated to buying 3rd part tips, the Tri Clarions, and then the Moondrop Spring XLs. The latter which I use on all my IEMs, almost exclusively. Then I did as objective as possible, a test, with a spreadsheet, where I was writing down my impressions, for each ear tip, and went through my small collection of about 14 different ear tips. i.e. ear tip brand/product and the various sizes which were most likely to fit me - typically the medium, large or XL.

These were not measurements, just my own impressions, I had columns for each feature of the ear tip, size, colour, brand name, and columns for my detailed and summary opinion of their end result, on a specific IEM, including things like fit, clarity, bass, mids and treble reproduction, how voices came across, soundstage - i.e width and ability to pinpoint things in the audio in the stereo field - left to right, front to back. Hitherto I had never documented these impressions. What struck me was completely by accident, was the sound of foam tips, which were included as a bonus for one of my KZ IEMs and another which most likely was delivered with the KZ PRX. I really cannot recall which IEM came with which foam tip, cos I never gave them any attention. Until I did this test, cos there is far more discussion of silicone tips, with so many claims and significant variety of examples available, with new ones coming to the market all the time, I assumed that silicone tips were the apex of ear tips, simply because more people spoke about them.

From my notes, there was a common theme, across the few foam ear tips, I auditioned, there was clearly something about the sound, something definitely different, and better, in my opinion, than silicone ear tips. This unexpected impression, I could not ignore, I had never ever thought there was anything special about foam tips, but the evidence was right there in front of me, in my notes.

Here was the very first set of notes on the 1st foam tip I auditioned :

Incredible Vocals, Super Clarity, Separation, Natural, Pin sharp, Good Resolution, Suppressed Low End Is it enough?, Wow, Cohesive Sound, Bright, Alive, Slightly Harsh, Has Depth, Transient Response is so Wow, Very transparent and revealing. Controlled Bass, Vocals are very realistic- Awesome.

With the following summary :

Wow, Super Clear, Is this a reliable seal? Low Bass? Not boomy, Bright but not too harsh, Loud

To cut a long story short, I sincerely wish I had known this years ago. For whatever reason, I did not come across anything that could have steered me towards foam tips, partly also because most earbuds and IEMs, especially in the budget category, are delivered ONLY with silicone ear tips, so one assumes, that must be the best, cos that was what the manufacturer delivered.

The next major frontier was undertaking a bit of a study of what was available in foam tips, and their differentiators, outer diameter, inner bore diameter, quality of memory foam (now there really is no way to determine this from their published specifications), length, colour, and trying to determine what factors contribute to an optimal sonic result.

The obvious one was fit, clearly a proper fit (i.e seal/isolation) in the ear canal seemed obvious, and also comfort. For example while I do use the Moondrop Spring XL silicone ear tips, they are not the most comfortable, but I just put up with the discomfort, as a compromise for their better seal - in comparison to other silicone ear tips I own.

The main issue I needed to solve was size, the outer diameter. The two "stock" or bonus foam ear tips that I had, and tested, were clearly too small, so I ordered 3 more products, and in future posts, I'll hope to share impressions, of ear tips, as I test these 3, and any others I acquire in the future. At this time, based on my own experience, I am sold on the benefits of foam tips, until I discover something better.

 

[OK1]

On the topic, you may also find this video informative.

He discusses Fit, Comfort, Stability, and the Sound, parameters of ear tips. I note that as excellent as this discussion is, there is no mention of any foam ear tips. This is part of the challenge. The "industry" and influencers, do have an impact on newbies, and beginners in these hobbies, and we tend to believe what we are told, since we do not know any better, which illustrates one of my comments in the initial post on this thread.

 

[OK1]

1st Test of one of the foam tips which I ordered deliberately (not one of the ones which were delivered with any of my IEMs.), and a bonus ear tip which the supplier sent, upon my request/feedback on the one I ordered. Details below.

Listening chain : Spotify -> Reaper (DAW, with crossfeed plugins, and an EQ to simulate in-room response of speakers, inserted in the audio path) -> TempoTec Sonata BHD USB Dongle -> Balanced Cable -> ARTTI T10 on Balanced cables -> Sonicfoam S1 Large foam ear tips. (see comments on the S0 Large version below)

All info can be found on sonicfoam.com. I bought via Amazon.co.uk. 10 pairs for £13.99. I think this is exceptional value. Not sure how long they last, we'll see. Sonicfoam comes in variants defined by two parameters, inner bore size and outer bore size. S1 represents a specific inner bore size, which was suggested as the right one to complement the KZ PR1 planar magnetic IEM and a few others. At the time of my order, my priority was testing with the KZ PRX which is a similar nozzle size to the earlier model the PR1. For reasons which I won't go into here, I moved back to the ARTTI T10, which is also a planar magnetic IEM. So that's how I got to order the S1 Large.

Comfort

I must add, it takes a bit of a learning curve to understand how to compress the foam tips, before insertion in the ear canal, further to which they expand to fill the space in the ear canal. For the 1st time ever, I discovered that my ear canals are not exactly the same, one is slightly narrower than the other. With experience comfort gets better. The main thing is to properly compress the tips so they go in unimpeded and expand in the ear.

Definitely Large is the right size for my ear canals.

Stability

If properly inserted, these can stay in the ear all day. And I can eat, drink, without them leaving my ear - caveat. If inserted properly. So user error and lack of experience is a factor here.

While the insertion process gets easier over time, truth is I hate taking them out of my ears, cos it takes about 30 seconds to go through the insertion process, of compress, insert and expand, in both ear canals. When I leave my listening station, I walk around with the IEM and cable !, so I do not have to bother re-inserting the IEM.

Isolation

Best ever that I have experienced. Amazing. They provide an exceptional seal, when inserted properly

Sound

Very clear, vocals especially are super clear. In truth everything is amazingly clear, crisp, and I could live with these forever. No silicon ear tips ever sounded anything like these. With silicone tips, I hear what seems like a phazy, somewhat indistinct, echoey smear, compared with these foams. My hypothesis is, there are some reflections created by silicone eartips, and the ear canal, but of course if silicone tips are all one knows, one is not aware that there is better. Rabbit holes indeed,. how deep do these go? What more does one tweak to hear the optimal result from a listening device?

Soundstage is excellent

Bonus

Sonicfoam has amazing customer service, and requests feedback to check how well the ear tips fitted, and will send a replacement if you got the fit wrong. Furthermore for this feedback, you receive a free pack of your own choosing. Awesome. In my case I had a suspicion that the bore of the ARTTI T10 needed a larger bore, so I requested the S0 (S Zero) Large pack, as my complementary freebie pack - which I just swapped out, replacing one of the S1 Large, with a pair of the S0 Large. The S0 is their product with the largest inner bore.

My suspicion was spot on. From this experience I would recommend one measures the nozzle of one's IEM, and as much as possible make sure that the bore size of the ear tip is matching.

With the swap out to the S0 Large Sonicfoam foam ear tips, the result is is more bass, vocals becomes so natural, soundstage especially vocals is even more lifelike, everything is so much more real, and I had to increase the volume a bit. The shrill high frequencies are gone. Placement in the stereo field is even more precise. The smaller bore S1 Large, emphasized the highs, making certain things more audible, but until I listened with the S0 tips, I did not realise how much better things could sound. The key that lets me know this is right, the S0's for my ARTTI T10's is the vocals, so absolutely natural, human like, and you hear everything else (instruments, reverb, effects, etc) is recalibrated, the harshness with the smaller bore S1's is gone. A truly non fatiguing experience the combination of the T10 and the S0's. Balance is the word that comes to mind, 100% natural and balanced. Yet still super clear, and even more revealing. like a veil has been lifted, and depending on the track, some things are 3D, sounding like they are behind my head, not just extreme side panning.

Since the outer diameter is exactly the same, the comfort and fit of the S0 Large and S1 Large tips are identical. I think I have arrived at my end game IEM and ear tip combination.

It is so contrary to expectations, cos with silicone tips, wider bore implies more high frequencies,. and in my experience across these two foam tips, and some other foam tips, which I will comment on later on, with foam tips, wider/larger inner bore reduces harshness, boosts bass, makes things more natural. That I am definitely sure of. Pretty strange. still thinking of an explanation.

 

[DVDdoug]

Incredible Vocals, Super Clarity, Separation, Natural, Pin sharp, Good Resolution, Suppressed Low End Is it enough?, Wow, Cohesive Sound, Bright, Alive, Slightly Harsh, Has Depth, Transient Response is so Wow, Very transparent and revealing. Controlled Bass, Vocals are very realistic- Awesome.

Perception is "complicated" but probably the only REAL TECHNICAL difference is frequency response.

And frequency response is "complicated" too, because different people's ears are different (different shape which affects sound) and the fit is different which affects the seal and that especially affects the bass.

And on top of that, if in case you don't know this, headphones and in-ears with flat frequency response don't "sound right" and they don't sound like flat speakers in a good room so we have the Harman Curve, and personal preferences on top of that.

To a large extent, frequency response can be tweaked with EQ.

 

[OK1]

Update. I ended up getting three sets of Sonicfoam foam ear tips.

1. SF1 - Large - this was my original order, based on the recommendations of a similar IEM, on their web site. My main IEMs are the ARTTI T10, KZ PRX and 7Hz Zero 2, the T10 should have similar nozzle attributes with the Letshuoer S12, which is listed in their recommendations. The Zero 2 is identical in nozzle size to the Zero OG which is listed on their site, and the PRX is similar to the PR1 which is listed on their site.

For a while I thought it sounded too dull, and not open enough, i.e dulling the high frequencies

2. SF0 - Large - this was my bonus set provided to me by Sonicfoam, in response to my giving them feedback via email, with a photo of the foam tips in 1 above, on my IEM. I ordered this thinking that I needed to match the size of the nozzle(outer diameter) of my IEMs with the inner diameter of the ear tips.

They sounded OK for a while, but the main issue I had was with the fit, my ear canals were bruised, but I think this is a terrible part of a learning curve, learning how to insert them, and most likely also me getting used to exactly how far I need to insert foam tips. So I spent more of my money and ordered the next set

3. SF0 - Mediums - These never really fitted any better than the SF0 Large, but they also made the sound strange, most likely cos they needed to be inserted deeper into the ear canal, and being smaller, they did not create as good a seal as the SF0 - Large.

Extensive testing with the ARTTI T10 and the 7Hz Zero 2, and with silicone tips as a comparison, led me to make the following conclusions :

1. The Sonicfoam web site advice is correct. What needs to be matched ideally is NOT the external nozzle diameter, but the inner nozzle diameter of the IEM (the hole that produces sound), needs to be matched with the bore size. So for the three IEMs I have been using T10, PRX and Zero 2, the correct "model" is the Sonicfoam SF0.

The image clip below is from their Amazon.co.uk web store. And I would agree with them, it does seem about right.

2. Whatever model is matched with any of my IEMs, in my case I need to order the Large size, which is what fits, my ear canal.

3. Over time, I have found a technique that works best for me, so I can insert the foam tips at the right depth. In my experience, foam tips do NOT need to be inserted as deeply, as is the case with silicone tips. They just need to sit comfortably in the widest end of the ear canal. In my case the Medium size was clearly not the right size, cos it caused me to insert it deeper than was optimal, in order to get a best fit.

The normal technique is to go through a process of squeezing the foam tip, inserting it and allowing the foam tip to expand. In my opinion, this is only needed if you are aiming to insert the foam tip deep into the ear canal, where the compression does help, to make the foam tip smaller and able to go deeper. But when the foam tip is deep in the ear, and expands, in the narrow part of the ear canal, it just causes far too much pain. Now I do not bother compressing, rather I just carefully push the foam tip into the canal, just beyond the concha, and without inserting them deeply, they achieve a wonderful fit, with a little bit of a push, and can sit very well for hours, without needing any adjustment.

At this time, I find the comfort, and sonic quality of foams to be superior to silicone tips. I estimate that I may need to change each pair of ear tips, maybe once or twice a year. definitely no more than once every three months. So that's four pairs per year.

A pack of 10 pairs of foam tips costs £13.99 on Amazon.co.uk. So for the IEM I'm using cos I can share the same foam tip across IEMs of a similar nozzle inner (and outer) diameter, and I can only listen to one IEM at a time, A pack of 10 should keep me in ear tips, for at least 2 years, and maybe as long as 4 years. So if this holds true, the argument that foam tips are expensive, will not apply. At this time I see them as a small incremental cost to obtain a really really good fit, and improve the audio quality.

4. Contrary to my earlier assertion, that bore size had a reverse impact on the high frequencies, I am confident that, foams or silicone tips, follow the same rule, bass increases with the narrowing of the bore diameter. And higher frequencies are introduced the more, as bore size increases.

 

[OK1]

While the foam tips improved the sonics of the ARRTI T10, the huge surprise was the Zero 2 - that IEM really benefitted even more from the switch to foams., pretty impressive outcome, brought out the slam and improved the dynamics of this IEM., it became so much more lively, somewhat more lively than the T10, which was a massive shock.

Prior to this transition to foams, I had written off dynamic driver IEMs, cos the largest silicone tips delivered with the Zero 2 (red pair), as well as any other silicone tips I tried to pair it with, simply did not deliver the same kind of clear sound, as foam tips. Huge lessons learned.

Getting the size of foam tips correct for each IEM. In my case outer diameter is same - large - about 13 to 14 mm, and then I can determine what to choose for the inner diameter of the foam tip, based on the nozzle inner diameter, i.e. try to get the inner bore of the ear tip as close as possible to the inner bore size of the IEM. Want a bassier sound, reduce the bore size, want a brighter sound, increase the bore size.

The largest bore IEMs I own match well with the SF1 inner bore size, so I may need to order some SF2 - Large, i.e. the SF2 has an inner bore that is smaller than that of the SF1's, and I order the Large of the SF2's, for any other IEMs, which have smaller nozzles. OR if I need a bassier sound.

It has been a difficult process, cos one does not have a reference of what sounds right. Glad I have made some progress. Relieved.

 

[OK1]

The Sonicfoam SF1 Large matched very well with the KZ PRX, but I suspect based on the nozzle size, which is smaller than the ARTTI and the Zero 2, that possibly an SF2 Large, which has a smaller bore, may help to tame the high end and improve the bass. The foams, highlighted far more clearly a definite imbalance in the audio level between the left and right earpiece, which I did not experience with the ARTTI T10, nor the Zero 2. One side is louder, and it's not my ears. For many months I had experienced some frustration with this imbalance, but having the foams really helped nail this issue, as an anomaly with the PRZ. Sad. It is somewhat correctable with a pan in software, but foams seem to be like truth serum. They are very revealing, of the good, bad and ugly. The PRX does not have the same clarity as some of my other IEMs, in spite of its propensity for enhancement in the higher frequencies, which in spite of some rather aggressive EQ, nothing improves the clarity, the veil in the sound is still there.

But this is about comparisons. Good being not so good, in the presence of better. If the PRX was the only IEM, I could get by, but having listened to the Zero 2 and the ARTTI T10, the shortcomings of the PRX (brightness relative to the others) is more apparent., that bit of fuzziness, and lack of clarity, and that poor matching between left and right, is NOT acceptable.