IEMs, hygiene, ear care. Maintenance.

[kami]

Before pulling the trigger in Etymotic IEMs, I was reading some threads. Some people mention the cleaning process of IEMs and the due diligence to stay away from infections in the ear canal.

Is this the case for any IEM or just the deep insertion kind like the Etymotic models? (e.g. Moondrop Starfields)

I am not ready to add yet another maintenance activity in my life, I'd rather try to save money for other headphones that are more portable that the NAD Viso HP50 or the Senn HD-25.

KM

 

[maverickronin]

Before pulling the trigger in Etymotic IEMs, I was reading some threads. Some people mention the cleaning process of IEMs and the due diligence to stay away from infections in the ear canal.

I've used IEM on a regular basis for about 17 years now and have never had any medical side effects, or even heard of them as a possibility until someone mentioned it recently in another thread here on ASR.

IME the only extra "maintenance" required is more of your own normally preferred method of earwax cleaning since sticking things in your ears tends to stimulate it. With silicone tips excessive earwax may affect your seal and just look nasty, but it will ruin foam tips in short order.

I am not ready to add yet another maintenance activity in my life, I'd rather try to save money for other headphones that are more portable that the NAD Viso HP50 or the Senn HD-25.

Those already pretty close to as portable as portable gets without switching to IEMs.

 

[soyabeaner]

My Etymotic ER2XR has the most ear wax on it compared to all of my past IEMs because I use the triple flange eartips that enter deeper in my ear canals. This means more area of the tips are exposed to wax. When I wore stock silicone tips on the other IEMs I didn't have such maintenance issue as they were shallower.

The tool I use to clean my ear tips of the wax is a dental scraper. I used to scrape it and then cleaned the tips with soap and water to be extra sanitary. However, I suspect doing that periodically over 7 months somehow broke the seal or the nubs of the stock triple flange tips in that whenever I would try to remove the IEMs out of my ears, both sides would remain stuck in my ears. I had to buy replacement tips from Amazon that luckily had the same fit. Now I skip the soap & water process and just use the scraper to remove the wax. We'll see how long this eartip pair lasts this time (I bought it in bulk, so I have 4-5 pairs as backup).

 

[AshTheHibernator]

I'm a little of a clean freak, so it's a habit for me to clean the IEM from the cable to the IEM itself after every few use. It really depends, some can live on without ever cleaning it and some need to clean their belongings because it's how they are conditioned.

 

[Tks]

Clean the silicon tips daily (on the days I use IEMs) under some lukewarm water, and that's about it.

Though I think this depends on your biology. I personally have barely any actual wax (most of it forms as nearly a rock), while my brother has basically sludge constantly forming. Anytime he uses IEMs (very rare anymore) they're just covered as if you dropped them in some meal or something. I on the other hand don't have much of anything besides pale dust on the IEM tips from time to time. For him, this means he can never really use foam tips, they just get gunked so hard, it's impossible to clean them.

Now luckily I've moved on from using most of my IEMs to using Airpods Pros. Every IEM maker needs to be whipped for not copying their tip shape (ovular, instead of the idiotic round, of which no one has actually perfectly round canals). Also there is a catch-screen on the tips themselves to prevent any solids from going into the IEM itself (not that this is a problem for me most of the time)

I don't understand how some IEMs exist.. Some of the higher end ones have wide stems (stupidly ergonomic) and drilled holes (like three big holes) with no catch screen. The makers provide some cleaning tool, but I fail to see how this is acceptable, if I wore any of those IEMs, and a little dust gets down into the bore, it's game over, you gotta send the thing in if it's out of reach for the cleaning tool. Such a disaster..

 

[mkawa]

for ear hygiene, the best combination is regular use of murine earwax softener drops and a doctor easy elephant ear care kit

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Doctor+Easy/page/437FD8F5-9056-489D-AD21-3EA461356C25?ref_=ast_bln

i have nasty scaly earwax (asian genes), and have used at least 10 different ear cleaning flushers and softeners. these are the best by a wide margin.

 

[Moonhead]

Clean the silicon tips daily (on the days I use IEMs) under some lukewarm water, and that's about it.

Though I think this depends on your biology. I personally have barely any actual wax (most of it forms as nearly a rock), while my brother has basically sludge constantly forming. Anytime he uses IEMs (very rare anymore) they're just covered as if you dropped them in some meal or something. I on the other hand don't have much of anything besides pale dust on the IEM tips from time to time. For him, this means he can never really use foam tips, they just get gunked so hard, it's impossible to clean them.

Now luckily I've moved on from using most of my IEMs to using Airpods Pros. Every IEM maker needs to be whipped for not copying their tip shape (ovular, instead of the idiotic round, of which no one has actually perfectly round canals). Also there is a catch-screen on the tips themselves to prevent any solids from going into the IEM itself (not that this is a problem for me most of the time)

I don't understand how some IEMs exist.. Some of the higher end ones have wide stems (stupidly ergonomic) and drilled holes (like three big holes) with no catch screen. The makers provide some cleaning tool, but I fail to see how this is acceptable, if I wore any of those IEMs, and a little dust gets down into the bore, it's game over, you gotta send the thing in if it's out of reach for the cleaning tool. Such a disaster..

How does AirPods Pro hold up to etymotic and your other iems?

 

[Tks]

How does AirPods Pro hold up to etymotic and your other iems?

It's becoming annoying to use anything else other than the Pros for more than short bursts. The comfort difference is quite substantial. In terms of sound, they're all good, but they sound too dissimilar to make any meaningful comparison. None distort so that's all I really care for since I EQ them to preference anyway. Airpods are just convenient, but if I want to listen to something critically I opt for Moondrop Kanas Pro's (distortion is is virtually nonexistent). The only problem is, these IEM's aren't being made anymore (and they're also made of metal which my view is stupid from a design perspective, even though they look absolutely gorgeous).

 

[Moonhead]

Thx a bunch Tks, I fancy the idea of IEMs especially Bluetooth for ease of use, but tinnitus makes me unsure.

 

[Tks]

I don't suffer from it. But I imagine with the amount of isolation IEM's provide, it would draw more attention to the tinnitus.

 

[RayDunzl]

Some people mention the cleaning process of IEMs and the due diligence to stay away from infections in the ear canal.

Well, you made me look.

My advice is don't look.

 

[kami]

for ear hygiene, the best combination is regular use of murine earwax softener drops and a doctor easy elephant ear care kit

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Doctor+Easy/page/437FD8F5-9056-489D-AD21-3EA461356C25?ref_=ast_bln

i have nasty scaly earwax (asian genes), and have used at least 10 different ear cleaning flushers and softeners. these are the best by a wide margin.

This is solid advice here, I am still undecided on whether IEMs would be a good idea

I know the deep insertion kind from Etymotic are definitely not what I want to use.

Probably the Audeze iSine 10, because they are the cheapest way to get into planars.

I was thinking about the Moondrop Starfields too.

NAD Viso HP50 and Senn HD-25 are my headphones now. I use them to isolate myself while working from home, mostly during weekdays.

I know the iSine 10 are open, but perhaps that would help to avoid weekend isolation while listening to music in the house.
Considering they are impossible to find at a decent price with the cipher cable (and that lighting port might be a thing of the past soon), so I might match them with the Qudelix 5K like @jhaider did

 

[jameswilson]

Ok, I'm replying to many people here, because my experience has been the opposite. Not that I am right, just my technique after 10+ years of using IEMS. Started with the Etymotic E2s or something like that way back in the day, some of the original consumer-level deep IEMs. I have had many different IEMs since.


First, keep a small spray bottle with hydrogen peroxide in it in your bathroom and when you do clean your silicone tips, just spray them down with a little, wait 5 seconds, rinse off ear wax by spraying with the same bottle. dry them how you wish ( I do not recommend any paper-based towels... takes 20 seconds and you cleaned the wax off in a way that is safe and won't contribute to the breaking down of the silicone.

I clean my ears with q-tips every time I plan to wear IEMs that day... I know, I know. Qtips are bad mmmmmkay?... Just don't stick them into your eardrum and you'll be fine. mmmmmmkay?

I do not clean my tips but maybe every 2 weeks and even that's for certain tips only... Pure silicone tips I clean once every 2 months. Never had a single issue with infections either. mmmmmmkay?

Just how I do things!

 

[kami]

Thanks to everyone who posted their perspective.

I decided, IEMs are not worth the test for me. Some people mentioned that using IEMs increases wax secretion, and that made me remember that during stressful times I get some sort of flakes in the concha and fossa of my outer ears.

Shipping and customs are expensive to my location, so trying out different types of IEMs to see what could work better is not an option either.

Anyhow, considering that I went through all the due diligence after all your comments and a few reviews, the choice would have been:
- Moondrop Starfield (good reviews, paint might chip)
- ikko OH1 (a bit closer to Harman target curve)

This thread is informative if anyone is looking for IEMs that should not require EQ (if you like the Harman target curve)