I normally go every 6 months, but my appointment got pushed back, so it's been 7 months now. I just didn't think it affected sound that much aside from volume alone. Just thought it was a volume dampener and a source of ear pain, not an alteration of sound quality.

I do have some devices left with a headphone jack...very few, but I'll get some music playing on those and see if I can't swap it back and forth fast enough to determine if it's really an issue. Annoying, on my phone, plugging in headphones to the dongle triggers Google Assistant, which pauses the music.

Alright, I'll have to give it a shot the next time I'm in a city with an Apple store. Nearest one is almost 5 hours from me. Or I could ship it. I'm still worried about them falling apart, as Apple's track record with cords has been the most pathetic thing I've ever seen.

I was more talking about wax buildup within my ear canal. I normally go and get it vacuumed out every six months, as it takes about 5 months for me to build a 100% blockage. I'm at 7 months right now, and my appointment is in two weeks, so maybe that'll fix it. I'm just surprised that it sounded so much worse all of a sudden.

You might be right though, it might be time to look for alternative IEMs. I checked out Crinacle's list for both IEMs and headphones, and they get surprisingly expensive. I didn't even know some of those price points existed. I did see some Etymotics for about $110 that I think would be pretty good, and they would still fit under the giant ear protection headphones I wear. Thanks for the tips!