Hm, exactly the opposite of what should be achieved with custom molds.
You can try a mild body lotion or baby oil.
Well, as I said before, get the best ones you can afford if you want to wear them happily and often. It’s personal preference, but as you just experienced, I definitely prefer soft materials, because those move with your ears and jaw.
Companies like Sensaphonics in the US or Scheinhardt in Germany come from an audiologist’s background and offer custom iems made of soft silicone. Whereas companies like UE, 64Audio, JHAudio and others have their background in the music industy and use hard materials like acrylic.
Yes, it’s disappointing that they aren’t a perfect fit. I have no idea why they didn’t work better for me. It was an expensive disappointment. Softer materials would be the safer bet, but I think my case was the exception.
I live in Southern Oregon and used to live not far from 64Audio’s HQ. If I get the chance, I might visit them to determine what went wrong. I don’t blame them, as they would have just performed their process from the impressions. It is what it is.
But they aren’t unusable either. I wore them for about two and a half hours flying from PDX to Las Vegas yesterday for the CES Show. But it sure felt good to remove them after landing!
Sometimes the finished molds do not fit perfectly, although they were made correctly. If yours are too big for your earcanals, maybe 64Audio can modify them, sand them down a bit or reduce the size in other ways to give you a better fit.
There’s a difference in making the ear impressions. You have either your mouth completely closed or you keep it slightly open or bite on a piece of rubber while the material hardens. If you had your mouth open during the process, your earcanals have been wider and the material could expand more. That means now, when you wearing them with your mouth closed, the earcanals are narrower and the molds seem too big.
Do you remember, how the impressions were taken, mouth open or closed?
A good fit is imperative. When I ordered from 64 Audio they had a list of recommended audiologists near me. I was fitted with a bite block. It’s a perfect fit. Having a well sealed IEM is very important. Bringing the dB level down to comfortable listening volume will preserve hearing. I wish I had these 25 years ago.
For wireless solutions, I have the relatively inexpensive VocoPro IEM-Digital. It’s a decent alternative or backup to the Sennheiser or Shure units.