veenell

I've started using some in-ear monitors, and I'm not sure if they are high resistance or low resistance, but they are very sensitive to volume. The lowest volume setting on my phone is plenty of volume, and three notches is the most that I ever need, I have turned on the volume limiter on my phone but it's still goes up to like 7 out of 10 which is way too much. If the volume is ever inadvertently pressed and held down, it could blow out my ears and the idea of that freaks me out. As far as I can find, there aren't any further options in my phone that would solve the problem, all I get is that limiter which is way too much. It works well for normal headphones and IEMs but not something as sensitive as these are.

With headphone amps as I know that they generally work, the best I can think of is to 3D print a cover that would go around the volume knob so that it cannot be altered unless the cover is removed, but surely there must be something with a built-in locking mechanism like a switch or some such thing that will do this easier than having to create a cover to physically prevent the knob from being able to be turned unless I mean to do it.

If I can lock it in place, then I could turn the volume all the way up on my phone, and then set the amp to the loudest that I would ever want to listen to it, and then permanently lock the volume in place and never touch it again, and then that would be my volume limiter. I could do all of my actual volume adjustment with the phone

I've tried a couple of things and now I am back to square one with my shures with the default silicone tips. Recently I tried a pair of etymotics, and they were so uncomfortable that I could only wear them for about an hour, which sucks because they did have the best isolation of anything that I've ever tried. I know the general consensus among people who like them is that if you just wear them long enough you'll get used to it and you can eventually like it, but I just can't do it. I've tried the default foam tips on my shures but they also make my ear canals very sore, and the outer texture of foam chafes the skin in my ear canals. I tried them for quite a while so they had ample time for me to get used to it, but I never did. I have purchased a pair of custom molded IEMs in the past, and they are I think the most uncomfortable option I've ever tried. I can only wear them for a maximum of 15 to 20 minutes before I have to take them out, and the isolation is also kind of meh compared to other things that I've tried. Another slightly wackier solution that I tried very recently and immediately gave up on because I could feel a pressure in my head, and the headache lasted all of the rest of the day, was foam ear plugs and bone conduction headphones that I got on Amazon. It sounded a lot better than I expected it to sound, but the pressure of something pushing into the bottom of my temples consistently, and the aggressive vibrations on that area, it just didn't work for me. Another thing that I think contributed to this was that where I had to wear them to get the best sound was directly outside of where the ear plugs were inside of my ears, so aside from having foam ear plugs pushing outward inside of my ear canals, I now had something on the outside pushing in against that outward expansion, and it was very unpleasant. Foam ear plugs on their own, without something else affecting it like that, are at least tolerable in the long run. having tried all of these options, I am back to square one with silicone tips. I think this is the only option that I can use consistently with good comfort, not being distracted all the time throughout the day and in pain.

With all of this said, can anybody give me some recommendations for my options? Are there very good single flanged tips that will fit anything, and/or is there a universal fit iem that provides better isolation generally than Shure se425s?

Also, typo in the title. IEMs, not items. I typed the text body with voice to text and there were some typos, which I have corrected as well.

I work in a fabrication shop that is very loud so instead of wearing ear plugs, I wear in ear monitors with good enough isolation so that I can listen to YouTube while I work. A lot of people with a loud workplace probably do this, I assume.

I know that etymotics are divisive because of how deep they fit. I ordered a pair of ER2XR And if they don't work out for me, I can just return them to Amazon, but I figured I'd ask around ahead of time, for anybody who likes this brand and the way that they fit, and finds it comfortable, have you ever tried to wear them for the full length of a normal work shift? What was your experience with it? If it was uncomfortable at first, but you figured out a way to make it work, what did you do that helped? Basically what I'm looking for is any possible tips to help improve comfort to increase the likelihood that I can make them work for me.