[baskingshark]

Well I'm sure some of us have encountered driver flex before, usually with dynamic driver type IEMs, when pressure builds up and causes the area of least resistance (which would be the dynamic driver) to bend and cause a crinkling sound.
I realize driver flex can be alleviated by pulling the ear up or opening the jaw prior to inserting/removing an IEM. Or sometimes it can be lessened also by not having too tight of a seal with silicone tips or by using foam tips.

Driver flex is irritating no doubt, but I have a few queries:
1) Will it damage the driver in the long run?
I've not seen much conclusive evidence on this. I've seen some headfiers report their IEM died after a bad case of driver flex, though I've also read some manufacturers saying the pressure won't be enough to damage the dynamic driver.

2) Is it a sign of a manufacturing defect?
It seems certain IEMs have more reports of driver flex than others (among dynamic driver type IEMs). In general, would driver flex constitute a valid reason for buyers to return an IEM under the reason of "manufacturing defect"? It is gonna be hard to prove on photos/videos about driver flex, and possibly certain users are more likely to encounter driver flex due to their ear anatomy or type of eartip they use.


TIA for your advise and input! Appreciate any and all advise!

 

[SilverEars]

Never ran into driver flex ever. I have no idea what it is. Am I the lucky one with ears that don't cause driver flex? Then again, I'm very lucky when it comes to reliability. Things don't break on me. I assume this partially has to do with how person handles things. A buddy on the other hand is always concerned about build quality due to bad experiences.

 

[Infoseeker]

No, it is not damaging. As soon as you pull them out it will be undone.


However, as long as pressure is built up, the sound will change for the worse.

Easy workaroundiis to wear the iem not as deep into your ears. Also twisting the iem to fit them in your ears helps. Or tugging on your ear as you put in your iems. This is so you can get them inside your ear canal when it's bigger. Then you let go and your ear canal will close around the iem (without anything getting pushed in) .

Another way to get around it, is to poke a hole into the Silicone tips. A hole big enough to let air pass as you wear them. (this may not be a good solution, this will shift the sound too much)

It is not a manufacturer defect. It could be avoided with a bass air port, but if they wanted to tune the bass a certain way, they may have purposely not put a bigger air hole.


Last point, some rare cases the iem manufacturer tuned the iem with the driver-flex intended to happen. In order to achieve a certain bass profile. A good example of this is the Unique Melody iems.

 

[SilverEars]

No, it is not damaging. As soon as you pull them out it will be undone.


However, as long as pressure is built up, the sound will change for the worse.

Easy workaroundiis to wear the iem not as deep into your ears. Also twisting the iem to fit them in your ears helps. Or tugging on your ear as you put in your iems. This is so you can get them inside your ear canal when it's bigger. Then you let go and your ear canal will close around the iem (without anything getting pushed in) .

Another way to get around it, is to poke a hole into the Silicone tips. A hole big enough to let air pass as you wear them.

It is not a manufacturer defect. It could be avoided with a bass air port, but if they wanted to tune the bass a certain way, you may have purposely not put a bigger air hole.

The thing is, dynamic driver iems have vent holes. You would think that would alleviate it. BA, on the other hand, I don't see drivers being damaged due to the way they are configured.

I could see the sound being not the same as without pressure, especially if pressure restrict driver's movement.

Could driver flex be dependent on person's ear types? I have experienced weird sucksion like effect with LCD headphones only on right side of the headphone, and sound would be totally off on that side. It's weird how only one ear did that.

 

[baskingshark]

The thing is, dynamic driver iems have vent holes. You would think that would alleviate it. BA, on the other hand, I don't see drivers being damaged due to the way they are configured.

Agreed 100%. I'm no audio expert, but most of the driver flex I have encountered so far (and also consistent with reports from other headfiers), is only on dynamic drivers. Maybe the DDs are generally larger than BAs so they have larger surface area to get excess pressure during insertion, and maybe BAs also operate in their own sealed box/unit unlike DDs which operate inside the main IEM shell.

Some DDs only have one vent though (be it rear or front vent). Those I've encountered with driver flex have only one vent, so maybe there's nowhere for excess pressure to equalize unlike double vented DDs.

 

[SilverEars]

Agreed 100%. I'm no audio expert, but most of the driver flex I have encountered so far (and also consistent with reports from other headfiers), is only on dynamic drivers. Maybe the DDs are generally larger than BAs so they have larger surface area to get excess pressure during insertion, and maybe BAs also operate in their own sealed box/unit unlike DDs which operate inside the main IEM shell.

Some DDs only have one vent though (be it rear or front vent). Those I've encountered with driver flex have only one vent, so maybe there's nowhere for excess pressure to equalize unlike double vented DDs.

I would think the point of dynamic driver vent hole is to pull air from outside the ear, and if on the housing, the vent is exposed to exterior of the ear canal for airflow.

 

[Infoseeker]

The vent hole is functional for the tuning. They can't just make it bigger for the sake of avoiding driver flex.

 

[baskingshark]

The vent hole is functional for the tuning. They can't just make it bigger for the sake of avoiding driver flex.

Definitely agree with you guys on your views.

There's actually lots of folks doing bass vent tape mods for IEMs like the Tin HIFI T2 to increase the bass quantity by blocking the vents. No doubt it may do this, but it might increase the chances of driver flex. I'm not sure if the pressure build up with these tape mods are harmful to the human tympanic membrane even?

 

[corgifall]

I wouldn't say its a defect, I've never had any of my iems that have noticeable driver flex to have any problems but the oldest set I own with driver flex is like 2 years old.If it does bug you however get some foam tips and that solves the problem 99 percent of the time.

 

[kukkurovaca]

My understanding is that driver flex is a nuisance issue rather than anything that would impact the functionality of the driver. There might be exceptions to that, but it's certainly not a common failure mode from what I've read, and I haven't encountered any issues in practice.

I only have one set of IEMs where the driver flex is persistent and intense enough to present a real problem, and that is the Empire Ears Bravado. These had extreme driver flex for me and the flex could be triggered by jaw movement while wearing them. Hugely annoying.

I presume the increased tendency to driver flex is due to the fact that the DD is encapsulated, so the flex is a maybe-acceptable tradeoff for the improved subbass extension. I tried pretty much all the silicone tips I had that would fit, and also tried the trick of running a piece of thread between the tip and the nozzle, no luck. I eventually settled on foam tips as per @corgifall which brought the level of driver flex down to normal levels -- i.e., occasional upon insertion and mild. I'm not normally a huge fan of foam tips, but the thin foamies that came with the BQEYZ Spring 1 work very well for me with the Bravado.

 

[MrDelicious]

Didn't a bunch of LCD2's die because air couldn't escape the cup when people put them on?

Never heard of it happening with IEM's though.

 

[corgifall]

Didn't a bunch of LCD2's die because air couldn't escape the cup when people put them on?

Never heard of it happening with IEM's though.

I believe a planar diaphragm is much more sensitive to tearing from pressure than a small dynamic speaker. Keyword being “believe” lol

 

[MarkF786]

Sorry, but from my limited experience, I’d say driver flex can damage an IEM over time.

I had a pair of Xelento that initially had some minor driver flex on one ear. They are DD without any forward vent. Overtime, the driver flex starting happening in both ears, and further still, it started happening not only when inserting them, but whenever there was any change in ear pressure, like moving my jaw. Ultimately, after five months of infrequent use, it got so bad that every time I took a step while walking, there’d be the driver flex crinkling sound. There have been other people reporting the same issue in the Xelento thread.

It makes sense that driver flex would get progressively worse, since each time the driver is flexed, especially beyond the normal travel of the cone, the edge or surround would get broken in, allowing it to more easily flex, until in time it flexes very easily.

Thankfully I haven’t had this problem with any other DD IEMs I own since they have forward vents.

 

[corgifall]

I haven’t heard any crinkles from my hybrids but I have on planars and that’s a sure sign things are being damaged(planars).

 

[DavidS11]

Certain iems will have some driver flex sound due to their design. I would be more worried if they don’t have any sound which could mean those drivers are too rigid and may be more prone to damage.