so doing a bit of reading on the internet you tend to always see claims that foam tips make a big difference compared to the ones bundled with your IEM ..... so i was curious to see how much of a difference ..... so i started looking for something suitable that would work with my KZ AS16 IEM - at standard settings on my DAP the IEM was a little thin and slightly sibilant on certain tracks while using the standard Silicone Ear tips which meant i had to use EQ all the time. Now that the DAP allows the Google Play Store it was easy enough to install UAPP (Universal Audio Player Pro) which has a very effective EQ and i was happy enough with the results i was getting ie dropping 8khz and a bit higher too and increasing a few low bass and midbass frequencies to give me a resulting warmer tonality with great bass and much less sibilant treble without affecting/damaging detail and staging and imaging properties too much
But i was assured by people in the know that some foam ear tips would improve things without having to use EQ so i looked at the Comply range which is generally the most popular brand around
https://www.complyfoam.com/products/t-500/
BUT $20 for 3 pairs of foam tips seemed a bit excessive and then there was also the shipping and duties and taxes which made the whole package close to R700 for 3 tips only so this was not really a cost effective option .... so i searched some more
eventually i found these on E-Bay
https://www.ebay.com/itm/EP500-Memory-foam-replacement-earphone-tips-KZ-replacement-ear-tips-KZ-earphones-/263514797536
which seemed to be a generic clone of the Comply tips - and some reading on overseas forums informed me that the foam used was more-or-Less the same stuff that Comply uses and users overseas reported that these are effectively as good as the ones from Comply ie you would be hard pressed to tell the difference so i wanted to get some of these in so i had to find a solution to get them shipped in (i mean at $8 for 6 pairs what could go wrong) ...... Well to cut a long story short a buddy of mine had some stuff on order sent to his MYUS box and i asked him if i could get this stuff shipped over with his lot of stuff that was collecting in his box - he had around 15 items and shipping plus taxes was only totalling $30 at that stage - so he agreed to let me piggyback on that shipping and result is
So now i took a quick listen and boy - what a difference - i can see wy people rave about foam tips - as it was with the EQ applied and just changing the tips it made the sound extremely bassy and somewhat muddled - then i had to switch off the EQ and really now it sounded even better at default settings than it did with the EQ applied on the Silicone tips - the bass was just as strong, imaging and staging even better and now basically the sibilance was naturally gone and the IEMs sounded basically as if it was a much more expensive set of IEMs - just leaving all audio enhancements off and settings at default - and yet the sound was warmer and just as detailed and a bit more open and funnily enough even louder at any particular given volume level so now im listening at a lower volume level
So yep - if you do use IEMs and have a slightly thin sounding IEM which needs beefing up and better fitment in your ears - the foam ear tips are definitely a huge improvement over whatever the manufacturer includes as standard (Silicone ear tips in my instance) - seasoned and veteran IEM users will not be surprised at this as it would not be a revelation to them but my initiation on the subject surprised me as to the extent - so when i do buy a good quality expensive IEM i will also get the original Comply's with and maybe a few of the higher rated better models too since the $8 experiment was such a revelatory success :thumbs:
But i was assured by people in the know that some foam ear tips would improve things without having to use EQ so i looked at the Comply range which is generally the most popular brand around
https://www.complyfoam.com/products/t-500/
BUT $20 for 3 pairs of foam tips seemed a bit excessive and then there was also the shipping and duties and taxes which made the whole package close to R700 for 3 tips only so this was not really a cost effective option .... so i searched some more
eventually i found these on E-Bay
https://www.ebay.com/itm/EP500-Memory-foam-replacement-earphone-tips-KZ-replacement-ear-tips-KZ-earphones-/263514797536
which seemed to be a generic clone of the Comply tips - and some reading on overseas forums informed me that the foam used was more-or-Less the same stuff that Comply uses and users overseas reported that these are effectively as good as the ones from Comply ie you would be hard pressed to tell the difference so i wanted to get some of these in so i had to find a solution to get them shipped in (i mean at $8 for 6 pairs what could go wrong) ...... Well to cut a long story short a buddy of mine had some stuff on order sent to his MYUS box and i asked him if i could get this stuff shipped over with his lot of stuff that was collecting in his box - he had around 15 items and shipping plus taxes was only totalling $30 at that stage - so he agreed to let me piggyback on that shipping and result is
So now i took a quick listen and boy - what a difference - i can see wy people rave about foam tips - as it was with the EQ applied and just changing the tips it made the sound extremely bassy and somewhat muddled - then i had to switch off the EQ and really now it sounded even better at default settings than it did with the EQ applied on the Silicone tips - the bass was just as strong, imaging and staging even better and now basically the sibilance was naturally gone and the IEMs sounded basically as if it was a much more expensive set of IEMs - just leaving all audio enhancements off and settings at default - and yet the sound was warmer and just as detailed and a bit more open and funnily enough even louder at any particular given volume level so now im listening at a lower volume level
So yep - if you do use IEMs and have a slightly thin sounding IEM which needs beefing up and better fitment in your ears - the foam ear tips are definitely a huge improvement over whatever the manufacturer includes as standard (Silicone ear tips in my instance) - seasoned and veteran IEM users will not be surprised at this as it would not be a revelation to them but my initiation on the subject surprised me as to the extent - so when i do buy a good quality expensive IEM i will also get the original Comply's with and maybe a few of the higher rated better models too since the $8 experiment was such a revelatory success :thumbs:
