Bought high quality IEMs for the first time, turns out my own ears are low quality

Submitted by JohnnyJohnnJohn t3_zv5cug in headphones

TL;DR: >!Discovered my right ear may be partially deaf to high frequencies (or I just need to get them cleaned lol) which made me believe my Arias were defective because for the first time I had buds good enough to create those high frequencies.!<

I got some Moondrop Arias this Christmas morning but my dreams were crushed when I realized the left one had buzz when higher frequencies were played, I was so upset I was ready to request a refund, but because of my history with troubleshooting custom PCs, I was obsessed with pinpointing the exact reason and was determined to figure out what caused it

So I began by playing some of my favorite songs, identifying when the buzzing happens and played with the EQ values till it sounded normal, as it turns out 12,500hz+ values cause the buzzing, and lowering it to -13.5db makes it sound fairly normal

So I got some friends and asked them to try it on and they all told me they had no idea what I was talking about when I played the parts which sounded the worst, even when I boosted those frequencies by 15db they couldn't tell the difference, I thought I was going insane so I continued my testing until I tried separately testing each side with szynalski's tone generator

I made sure 1000hz sounded comfortable and pushed forwards

6000 sounded good

I thought 10,000 sounded good

And stopped at 17,000 when I could no longer hear anything

Then I touched the audio balance, at 17k all the way to the left bud I could still hear it, but when I moved it to the right, I couldn't hear anything, so I began lowering until I could barely begin hearing on the right at 6k

"How could that be? Is it the right one that's broken instead?" I thought

Then I had an idea, I put the right earbud in my left ear, the left in the right and eureka! The exact same results!

It's my hearing which is bad! Not the Arias!

These IEMs are so high quality that they changed what I thought I knew about audio and learned something about myself, I also discovered the root cause of one of my lifelong tics being caused by me thinking my right ear was clogged when in reality it was just slightly deaf compared to my left and now I think back to everytime I incessantly cleaned my earbuds.

Thank you Moondrop and the headphone community for helping choose these.

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Comments

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PolarBearSequence t1_j1n6q2a wrote

It’s actually quite possible that your ear could be clogged. I’d advise you to get it looked at by an appropriate doctor, it might just be earwax buildup.

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JohnnyJohnnJohn OP t1_j1n6yn6 wrote

I will, then I'll confirm

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PolarBearSequence t1_j1n7d6s wrote

I had a similar issue about two years ago, and my hearing improved enormously after getting my ears cleaned. Otherwise, you’ll know that the damage might be permanent. I hope you can get it resolved easily!

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JohnnyJohnnJohn OP t1_j1n85lt wrote

It will be so embarrassing if that's actually the case, but it's in my best interest to hope that it is lol

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-Strahd-von-Zarovich t1_j1q9k02 wrote

I've told 2 people so far to get their ears flushed by the GP - and it made them go HOLY FUCK MY SOUNDSTAGE IS WIDE AGAIN!
They're both IEM junkies so theyve been pushing the earwax inside their ears for years now .
Hope you get some resolution and can enjoy your iems to the fullest my man!

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Avieshek t1_j1pw57j wrote

If it's permanent then try the SoundID app.

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TheResearcher99 t1_j1n7vd0 wrote

I recommend this too, my ears were clogged for so long that I forgot that the wind made a sound because of how clogged my ears were. After getting my ears cleaned everything sounded overbearingly loud and more detailed, I was astonished by the sound of the wind.

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jordylee18 t1_j1ntioi wrote

This is a common statement on this thread but I would start with getting your ears cleaned. There is something wrong with my left ear tubes and and I will get the buzzing in it when I have a wax buildup.

I use warm water while I'm in the shower. You'd be surprised what that can work loose. I'll couple that with hydrogen peroxide (diluted!!!!!!) if they feel really dirty and then rinse out with warm water. Doctors say not to to stick anything in your ears but I always follow up with twisted up paper towels to finish up.

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SteatopygousGoblin t1_j1pudny wrote

You can also pour a little bit of olive oil into your ears (preferably not straight from the bottle) and let it soak in a little, like 2-5min per ear while your head is tilted. It softens up the ear wax and makes it easier to flush out. Press a paper towel against the ear pointing at the ground when doing the second ear. Then have a shower and flood and rinse your ears repeatedly.

You can also use sesame oil or white oil if you have any but olive oil is fine.

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thatcarolguy t1_j1nboth wrote

The Arias have a gigantic peak around 12k for me that needs a 15dB cut in order to sound decent. Maybe we are kindred spirits.

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JohnnyJohnnJohn OP t1_j1oreh1 wrote

I can tolerate shitty earphones but what really drives me insane is asymmetry, if getting my ears cleaned doesn't help that might be my only option though

Did find another thread where someone said the Arias have "piercing treble" and that might be an apt description

Maybe I'll feel the same about them when I get mine cleaned

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josephtule t1_j1pjlz9 wrote

I feel you there. I spent hours readjusting my sound system at home just to find out my left ear was a little less sensitive partially due to clogging partially due to hearing loss I think. Had to sit there and readjust my brain haha

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thatcarolguy t1_j1pslyc wrote

For me piercing is an understatement. All cymbals and even speaking voices in youtube videos have extreme metallic ringing.

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bubblejohns t1_j1oinns wrote

Different thing Happening here.

But yeah I agree they make my ears ring. Arias aren’t pleasant at all. They’ve now fallen out of favour everywhere except reddit, their time is over

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