I've been curious about Comply's oval tips since they came out and decided to give them a try since I was going to be gig testing my latest universals. In purchasing, I had some thoughts and questions that I just figured I'd get the answer to from trying. Comply's medium foam tips work for me (depending on the nozzle, small may or may not seal and large can work but can become uncomfortable after some time). But I wondered with oval and a smaller nozzle size if there might be rationale leading to a different best size, so I ordered the s/m/l pack. Small "worked", but the seal was weak. Medium, I don't know because the pair of mediums were regular round ones, so that left large, which turned out be pretty ideal. It's hard to imagine that the mediums would have somehow been better, although I suppose they might have been completely satisfactory as well. I guess it would be easy enough to let them know about the mixup but I'm not inclined to bother at the moment.
I wore them them for 3 sets last night and they did just fine...great seal and no discomfort despite being the large size. Better that round in some way? I really don't know what to say...I suppose with the oval, the large was better filling the height without the width being too wide, so since I'd not normally want large in for that length of time, they are different.
The huge question I had going in was what angle to put the tips on. I think with ear canals, height is simply used to refer to the larger dimension and width to the small, not that the oval of ear canals is or tends to be vertical. What is the best amount of compression for the foam? Halfway between fully uncompressed and completely compressed? Only slightly?
Fortunately, I have molds so I can see, by holding the CIEMs level about where they would be fully inserted, that mine are roughly a 45 degree angle downward front to back and somewhere in the ballpark of 11 x 8 mm. My ear canals twist as they sweep upward, which this exercise has really shown how far off the nozzle angle is for every universal I've seen. And I can't know but I really don't think my ears are on the margins in any way...the audiologist who did my mold comment that they had a nice sweep, but she may have just been hitting on me
. Also it's be pointed out that Alclair CIEMs don't tend to be made as deep as many other brands, so the end of my customs isn't that far off of the depth of many universals.
The conclusion for me is that they are good and tangibly different, but there isn't a night and day difference or some kind of wow! in ithere for me. I'll certainly continue to use them. If you don't have molds of your ears, I really don't see how you'd know what angle to put the oval on, and treating it as a WAG, you might (could very easily) end up having the height and width dimensions reversed AND having them still work acceptably, just unkown to you, as far from optimal as they could.
Next to my customs for comparison
I wore them them for 3 sets last night and they did just fine...great seal and no discomfort despite being the large size. Better that round in some way? I really don't know what to say...I suppose with the oval, the large was better filling the height without the width being too wide, so since I'd not normally want large in for that length of time, they are different.
The huge question I had going in was what angle to put the tips on. I think with ear canals, height is simply used to refer to the larger dimension and width to the small, not that the oval of ear canals is or tends to be vertical. What is the best amount of compression for the foam? Halfway between fully uncompressed and completely compressed? Only slightly?
Fortunately, I have molds so I can see, by holding the CIEMs level about where they would be fully inserted, that mine are roughly a 45 degree angle downward front to back and somewhere in the ballpark of 11 x 8 mm. My ear canals twist as they sweep upward, which this exercise has really shown how far off the nozzle angle is for every universal I've seen. And I can't know but I really don't think my ears are on the margins in any way...the audiologist who did my mold comment that they had a nice sweep, but she may have just been hitting on me
. Also it's be pointed out that Alclair CIEMs don't tend to be made as deep as many other brands, so the end of my customs isn't that far off of the depth of many universals.The conclusion for me is that they are good and tangibly different, but there isn't a night and day difference or some kind of wow! in ithere for me. I'll certainly continue to use them. If you don't have molds of your ears, I really don't see how you'd know what angle to put the oval on, and treating it as a WAG, you might (could very easily) end up having the height and width dimensions reversed AND having them still work acceptably, just unkown to you, as far from optimal as they could.
Next to my customs for comparison
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