Custom IEM's

[Salt Peanuts]

Livewires only has one model, so that's what I ordered. Should be here in about 3 weeks.

Oh, right. I was thinking of FreQ.

[justin]

Do any of the custom IEMs have the vacuum seal of the Ety triple-flange tips?

[Voltron]

Do any of the custom IEMs have the vacuum seal of the Ety triple-flange tips?

With a little epoxy they would.

[n_maher]

Do any of the custom IEMs have the vacuum seal of the Ety triple-flange tips?

I'm not sure that it's possible without a compressible material like the tri-flanges or foamies but in theory the greater degree of insertion in addition to the material outside the ear should yield similar isolation. It'll certainly be one of the things that is very important to me.

[justin]

I'm not sure that it's possible without a compressible material like the tri-flanges or foamies but in theory the greater degree of insertion in addition to the material outside the ear should yield similar isolation. It'll certainly be one of the things that is very important to me.

The Sensaphonics use a softer material so maybe they are worth looking into. I once asked UE about this but they just wanted to give me a list of famous people that use them

[ingwe]

In my experience well-fitted Sensaphonics are superior to the tri-flanges or olive foamies for isolation, comfort, and ease-of-use. They disappear.

I'll try to post some pictures this weekend.

[The Monkey]

The Sensaphonics use a softer material so maybe they are worth looking into. I once asked UE about this but they just wanted to give me a list of famous people that use them

I wish my UE's used a softer material. A lot.

[fierce_freak]

I still wonder which customs might sound the most like the Triple.Fi's (but better, of course, and especially more comfortable). I have hopes that after my wedding I'll be able to build funds up again for a pair.

[n_maher]

So my Livewires arrived today a little over a month after my impressions arrived at their facility. Not too bad for turnaround, just a few days longer then what I was quoted. Initial fit is very good, I can walk and chew gum and not lose the seal. (I know, who would have thought that I possessed such mad skillz??) The left goes in easier then the right, but I'm sure I'll learn how to put them both in efficiently and once seated they are as comfortable as my Ety ER4Ps.

Initial, I had five minutes during lunch, impressions are that they hiss like a bastard out of my Ipod Touch. This was pretty much expected given their insanely high sensitivity and I pretty much assumed that I was going to need to use the PtoS adapter that I have at home with them. For me getting these was not about the ultimate in fidelity. I'll report later once I've had a chance to try the adapter. If they still hiss with that I'll be hard pressed to justify keeping them and this is why I went with Livewires in the first place, 30 no-questions-asked money back warranty.

[Voltron]

Too bad on the hiss, Nate. Do you hear it with music playing or just between songs, etc.?

[justin]

Sounds like he needs a cryo dock and a Pico to remedy that hiss

[n_maher]

Too bad on the hiss, Nate. Do you hear it with music playing or just between songs, etc.?

It would be material dependent. For quiet stuff, like acoustic or classical it would probably be intrusive.

Sounds like he needs a cryo dock and a Pico to remedy that hiss

I'd be happy with the same deal your customer in Korea got. In all seriousness I'd guess that these would hiss even out of a pico on low gain.

And in full fairness to Livewires we discussed the potential hiss issue prior to the purchase. They say they don't have a problem when their product is used with "professional" audio gear and they also offer cables with built in resistors to help with the issue for other users. I'm hopeful that they Ety cable will cure it for critical listening, otherwise when I use these there will generally be 100db or so "ambient" noise so it definitely won't be an issue then.

[elnero]

It would be material dependent. For quiet stuff, like acoustic or classical it would probably be intrusive.

I'd be happy with the same deal your customer in Korea got. In all seriousness I'd guess that these would hiss even out of a pico on low gain.

I wouldn't be so sure, the AE-2 and Pico pretty much cured any hiss issues I've had with various IEM's I've owned or tried. In some cases extreme cases there might still be a bit of underlying noise but it's been low enough that's it's not intrusive in any way. Of course either of those paired with a source that doesn't have an incredible amount of noise like the iPods do then they're pretty much dead quiet.

[GPH]

Nate, if we forget about the hiss, are these a big improvement over your Etys?

[n_maher]

Nate, if we forget about the hiss, are these a big improvement over your Etys?

Lily has a cold so I doubt I'm going to have much time to myself at night this week to really dig into their sound. I had about 2 minutes tonight (off to bed shortly) to test them with the PtoS adapter and they still hissed out of the Touch. Significantly less and perhaps just the noise floor of the Touch. I'll have to compare back to back with the 4Ps at some point to see if I hear anything with them under similar conditions.

And I'm going to try and get a loaner portable amp to try with them to see if that would help with the hiss issues.

[deepak]

Lily has a cold so I doubt I'm going to have much time to myself at night this week to really dig into their sound. I had about 2 minutes tonight (off to bed shortly) to test them with the PtoS adapter and they still hissed out of the Touch. Significantly less and perhaps just the noise floor of the Touch. I'll have to compare back to back with the 4Ps at some point to see if I hear anything with them under similar conditions.

And I'm going to try and get a loaner portable amp to try with them to see if that would help with the hiss issues.

P51 Mustang for you!

[guzziguy]

P51 Mustang for you!

Too much power. He needs a Tomahawk.

[HeadphoneAddict]

The Shure volume attenuator turned 3-4mm down from full volume usually does a good job of taming the hiss with the Touch. It will also make less changes in the sound signature than the PtoS. My iPhone 3G is much quieter and I gave the Touch to my son, but that's another story.

Good luck!

[manaox2]

I usually try to avoid attenuators, they dull the sound too much for me.

[grawk]

there's not a difference between an attenuator and a P->S cable, except that you can dial the impedance of the attenuator

[n_maher]

there's not a difference between an attenuator and a P->S cable, except that you can dial the impedance of the attenuator

I disagree, cheap POS in line attenuators can do a lot more to screw up a signal then a pair of well matched high quality resistors.

[n_maher]

So the livewires experiment has continued. I managed to secure a mini3 from my penguin homeboy, configued with a gain of two knowing that amplification is not the issue here. Booo, hiss say the Livewires.

1. If you were using a LOD like one Mr. Samuels is fond of recommending now you'd be screwed. I get damn near 0 volume adjustment with the Touch's volume control maxed out (LOD simulation mode) so I give a big , and to all the folks on head-fi who said the cure for my pain was an amp.

2. The hiss is still there even without a source attached and with a source attached the hiss gets worse. I've talked with some folks 'in the know' and a mini3 configured as mine is should be about as quiet an amp as you can find.

Now I have in fact found a livable situation with the Livewires but only in the hypothetical sense. It involves an amp that I can only legally refer to as The Project and officially it doesn't even exist. The first rule of the project is we do not talk about the project, but I must. This amp has 100% matched attenuation down to below audible levels with the Live wires, and that's saying something. It also has more nail polish covered secrets than you can shake a stick at. Resistor Ray would be proud. So you custom IEM freaks might want to be on the lookout, you ain't seen nothing like it.

[The Monkey]

Me like Project.

EDIT: Also, Nate, you're getting hiss regardless of source? I ask because isn't the Touch a bit hissy to begin with?

[justin]

Project fact: The Project has more attenuation and better channel matching than an Alps RK50

[HeadphoneAddict]

Project fact: The Project has more attenuation and better channel matching than an Alps RK50

So, this is what you were hinting at in that PM to me the other day. Cool

PS: I do get hiss on Livewires with a 5.5G iPOd video or 1G Touch headphone out, but not with LOD and Pico.