Durability, comfort, ease of insertion, and sound quality… sometimes, we have to face the challenge of choosing between these factors with In-Ear Monitors, particularly with the all-important ear tips. We’re all familiar with typical silicone tips; easy to clean, easy to slip in and out of your ears, but they come in a bewildering array of shapes and sizes because they don’t conform to fit the ear canal well, with getting and maintaining a “good seal” being difficult and causing widely variable sound impressions. Many silicone tips also come with molding line seams or “ridges” that can feel like they’re scraping your ear and become highly uncomfortable in less time than it takes to listen to a full album. Foam tips do conform to your ear’s shape and thus usually provide better isolation, bass response, and surface comfort, but they seem to act like sponges, sucking up your ear wax and quickly getting gross, even though IEMs only include a single pair in one size... if you’re lucky enough for them to be included at all. In this first of a three-part series, let's examine the Mercury Bulletz, a 4.9mm bore sized tip that will fit the majority of IEMs on the market. Our reviewer usually uses small or medium-sized tips and is testing with a Sony ZX300 music player and the wonderful and free HDtracks 2020 Hi-Res Sampler album. KZ ZS10 Pro This popular but inexpensive model comes with an attractive cable and enclosure, and four pairs of silicone tip sizes. The stock tips are easy to remove but are fiddly to reattach because their core folds and collapses - the Dekoni Bulletz are much easier to attach onto the enclosure’s stem. No Sanctuary Here (Chris Jones) is a powerful track with rich acoustic guitar and male vocals, with the Bulletz bringing a more snug fit and a tighter seal, resulting in a bit more upper bass and lower midsized emphasis that suits this full-bodied track. Tin HiFi T2 The T2 includes a bewildering array of silicone tips in different width and height options, including what appears to be an all-smoke gray pair of medium tips the same shape as the factory-installed red-core tips, and a single pair of blue foam tips. This is also the only IEM in this roundup that has the dubious distinction of allowing a silicone tip to come off of the enclosure and stay stuck in an ear canal. For a track with female vocals and more air, The Telephone Song (Telefone) sung by Diana Panton is a good demonstration of how foam tips in contrast to silicone can place the listener 2-3 rows back into the center of the audience rather than in the stage pit and make the background a little bit more black and dry. It’s a relatively small change that requires back to back comparison to perceive and may attenuate a touch of glare or sibilance for those who are sensitive; however the room reverb and little details like the microphone tap/bump at 0:15 are still easy to perceive. The Stock foam and Dekoni Bulletz tips are even more similar, however the blue Stock foams are slower to rebound and take longer to resume position out of the way of the bore opening if it bent inward at all (or the bend of an ear canal is pressing on it). Of course, there is only one medium Stock tip (a bit stressful for our reviewer to fit in his ear), while Dekoni Bullets come with either three pairs in three sizes or a pack all in one size once you know which fits best. BLON BL-03 Chrome and sleek, credit is due to BLON for the stock ergonomics and four sizes of silicone tips, but the foam Bulletz will still provide a more customized fit, tighter seal, and better bass extension. Our reviewer was able to insert the Mercury Bulletz to two “depths” of attaching the tips, with the shallower depth being the same as the stock tips’ attachment, with full depth providing an option to bring the IEM driver closer to the eardrum and have deeper insertion (the stock tips “fold” before the bore stretches to go all the way down). Chantal Chamberland’s take on I Put a Spell On You provides a nice intimate-club performance that arrests attention. Whether the Bullets are at the standard or deeper attachment, there is an increase in bass quantity and extension into the sub-bass frequencies compared to the silicone tips (and better isolation from the outside), as well as a bit of extra smoothness and distance in the upper mids and treble, as evident by a smoother and assured finale at the 4:15 time stamp. The full depth attachment offers a more forward presentation and intimacy with a bit more upper mids; there is still plenty of air and the sense of soundstage size, but a touch less than stock. *** Dekoni Bulletz offer unique traits that make them seem like a hybrid of strengths from typical silicone and memory foam tips. The memory foam is soft and consistently offers a good seal, yet it is thinly coated with wax for more durability and can safely be wiped clean with a damp towel. Inserting the tips is simple, with a squeeze and roll on the tip before inserting - some people report they can just push or twist them in, like a silicone tip! As a bonus, the inner core is attached to a firm silicone tube, which gives you something to push on and makes attaching a tip to your IEM a little bit easier. If you’ve read this far, give this post a like! Have you tried Bulletz on any of your IEMs? Part 2 will arrive in about two weeks, when we test the shorter True Wireless tips on models from KZ Acoustics, 1More, and Sennheiser!

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