ND4's Ipod Headphone mod!

[nd4spdbh2]

OK well this isnt exactly original but i decided to do it. The reason for doing this was the fact i wanted to listen to music while riding my motorcycle, but being the cheap *** that i am i refused to spend money on "noise canceling" ear buds....

SO having an insane surplus of earplugs around my house (for use with shotgun shooting... usually shoot skeet 3 times a week) and another surpluss of ipod heaphones (i get them for free) i set off to make some noise canceling inear earbuds out of some stock ipod earbuds. god im so cheap

These are the earplugs i used
http://www.howardleight.com/family/index/1

They are very soft and very comfortable. after a few trial and error runs i finally came up with something that works way too good.

I cut the earplug in half then simply poked about a 3/16in hole in the center of the earplug. Then using a couple drops of crazy glue i attaced the edge of the earplug to the plastic rim of the earbud... all i can say is wow, all bg noise while riding is essientally gone, before i had to have the volume all the way up and would barly be able to hear the music while doing full throttle runs round my neighborhood. Now volume can be half way and i can always hear my music very clearly. Another great side effect from the earplug mod was the fact that there is now actual legit bass from these lil ipod earbuds, and they are very comfortable too.

PICTURES!

Call it ghetto or w/e but seriously if you have an extra set and availibity to some earplugs its worth a damn try... i use them now on my computer and not just for riding.... i had to lower my master volume from 20% down to 7% to have the same percieved volume and listening to music with them i hear things i have never heard before lol!

 

[Diddyu]

If you think that made them sound better, try getting some inner ear monitors and make sure you have high quality songs. You'll hear stuff you didnt even know existed once again. some of them have higher sound isolation than those earplugs as well, as high as 42 dB of isolation.
I will say that I tried something similar before settling on making a custom pair from silicone, all DIY mind you. I just couldnt get the earplugs to stay on the phones without using glue.

 

[nd4spdbh2]

oh ya i could imagine, these work out so good tho... never have i heard stuff like this off my ipod lol.... my upstairs 5.1 tho puts me inside the music so much i can hear every little detail... but these headphones work so perfect now for riding its great, they fit in my helmet no prob and stay in place quite good.!

 

[Diddyu]

Not bad on a budget for sure though, and I am a little overboard with my music, Im about to drop another $7-800 after I get back from vacation.

 

[nd4spdbh2]

Not bad on a budget for sure though, and I am a little overboard with my music, Im about to drop another $7-800 after I get back from vacation.

haha ya audio stuff can cost alot of money thats for sure.

 

[Mpegger]

And I was just thinking about your previous post and was going to ask if you came up with anything yet.

I have the same Howard Leight Max ear plugs too. Definitely one of the best fitting and most comfortable ear plugs. I purchased a whole case (200) of them to last me a few years worth of riding and sleeping (work nights) before I decided upon getting the Eytomic ER6's. So the ear plugs are now just used for work/sleep.

I'm sure that setup works great, but I'd still suggest the Koss with one of those silicone reusable ear plugs I recommended in the other thread. Those Howard Leight Maxs will eventually lose thier "compressability" and you will find it difficult to insert and wear comfortably for extended periods of time. Not to mention they will start to turn a sickly looking color from the ear wax/skin oils.

[Edit] Btw, I also found these you might try in the future if you really have a bunch of regular ear buds sitting around.

http://earplugstore.stores.yahoo.net/slicsound.html

http://www.cyberguys.com/templates/SearchAll.asp?search=whoomp&sort=new

Not expensive, and sould last longer. Dunno about fit, or comfort (maybe too big to wear under a helmet?), but they look like they would seal out ambient noise pretty well. You can also seal the little holes on the back of your ear buds with some epoxy or silicone to further reduce noise (I did that with the Koss), though it will change the sound abit. [/Edit]

 

[nd4spdbh2]

haha ya it took me a while to figure out what i was gonna do bout headphones. Ya eventually the earplugs will wear out but it was sooo easy to make its not gonna be any hassle to make more haha.

Thoes are some cool alternatives though, might look into some of those.

 

[SolidxSnake]

Using iPod buds as IEMs... strange. Great mod I must say, but I can't imagine those buds sound any good.

<3 my cheapie Shure SCL2s (newer model of the E2c).

 

[nd4spdbh2]

Using iPod buds as IEMs... strange. Great mod I must say, but I can't imagine those buds sound any good.

<3 my cheapie Shure SCL2s (newer model of the E2c).

you know they surprisingly sound VERY good, alot better than before without the mod even in low background noise listening. granted they are not going to be the best but they sure do a decent job. dont ask me how that works it just does haha!