[esc4p3]

Hi, pretty new around here, so bear with me.

My wife bought me a set of in-ear earphones for Christmas and I am having trouble getting the best out of them. As is probably standard, they come with 3 sizes of earbud. For me the smallest is definately out, sound is really tinny, but the other 2 sizes present the biggest challenge.

The large size are great for sitting still, I get a really good seal on them and the sound is really good (with my Creative Zen Mozaic), however when walking the pop out of my ears constantly. The medium size stay in when I am walking but the sound quality is not as good, if I lightly press them into my ears the sound becomes much better. So I need a size between medium and large

Anyone got any suggestions how to get a good seal and good quality sound, other than "buy new ones"

[Steven]

I make a distinction between "canalphones" and "IEMs" (in-ear monitors)

The "in-ear earphones" you see on the high street I term as canalphones because they only sit at the entrance of your ear canal. You typically get 3 standard sizes of tips. If you look across the offerings from Sony, Creative, Sennheiser, Philips, Panasonic, et al they are all the same
If the tips do not fit then you are mostly out of luck. And because they only sit at the entrance of your ears then for me any pace faster than walking mean they fall out. Like you I found that the tips issued were neither here nor there in providing a proper fit. And because of human nature sometimes your ear canals are not 'just so'!

I then upgraded to "IEMs":
Shure - SE Models
Etymotic Research, Inc. - High-fidelity Earphones and Hearing Instrumentation
Find Your Earphones - Ultimate Ears Earphones Headphones Personal Monitors
Universal Fit Earphones :: Westone

My path went from UE Super 5.fi Pro > Shure E4G (black E4C, now discontinued) > Westone UM2 (current)

Superior sound and superior fit. You get a fit kit which contains tips of all shapes, sizes and materials. Think ear plugs. They are not for everyone, either because some do not get on with inserting them or because they ultimately do not match proper full sized headphones in sound quality and sound stage but you have to make a compromise somewhere for portability and isolation, with the best possible sound quality

[esc4p3]

Originally Posted by esc4p3

Anyone got any suggestions how to get a good seal and good quality sound, other than "buy new ones"

Bummer, I just knew that the answer was going to be buy new ones However, thanks a) for moving my post to the correct forum and b) for answering my query...

I think though, bearing in mind the earphones did not cost much, it is a useful introduction to these kind of 'phones. It would have been a bit of a jump to go straight to expensive ones without having experienced the sound improvement even though they are a bit compromised. The sound quality jump for sitting quietly listening is quite amazing, so my wifes £10 was not entirely wasted.

[Steven]

I have owned or tried (courtesy of the brother) about 5, 6 brands of these cheaper in-ear phones that come with the 3 sizes of tips. To be completely truthful they are all just different degrees of boomy bass, okay mids, and tinny highs. The ones that do it better than others are the ones recommended, such as the CX300

I don't want to sound elitist. The Sennheiser PX100 (portable lightweight on-head style) are the one headphone I have not sold when moving on from budget headphones. You can distinctly hear the traits of the Sennhesier house sound in them. Truly a great budget headphone

[esc4p3]

Fair point about the more expensive brands, you have obviously tried and owned many sorts so can tell the difference between good and bad. I guess what I was trying to say was that the difference between having my 'canal-phones' improperly fitted and properly fitted was amazing, I never realised it would make that much difference.

I now have to decide whether I want to allocate some of my hard earned for a sound upgrade or stick with what I have got - and I think it will be the latter as I am in the process of buying a new Guitar Amp. The gadget money my wife allocated to me is running out fast

[leckie]

I think the actual cable protector that comes down from the bottom of the bud actually causes some problems with the 830's fitting pushing them out of the ear at certain times.

Luckily the smallest fits me perfect, I've found with a proper seal these actually sound better than the CX300's.