Eartips: the cheapest upgrade your IEMs will ever get

An in-ear monitor (IEM) can only play the bass its speaker makes if the sound cannot leak backwards around the tip. Seal is bass: lose the seal and the low end is the first thing to go. That is why "my new IEM has no bass" is almost always a tip problem, not a driver problem¹².

Sizing: bigger than comfortable is usually correct

Most people wear tips one size too small, because the snug size feels right in the shop and leaks silently a day later. The working routine: fit the largest size that goes in comfortably and holds suction when you press the earphone in - a proper seal audibly swells the bass and blocks more outside noise¹³. Try every size in the box, and try both ears separately: your two ear canals are not identical twins².

Foam vs silicone

Neither wins outright. Silicone is the honest default; foam is the fix when no silicone size suits your canals, or when blocking noise matters more than the last bit of treble¹⁴.

How deep they sit also changes the sound

The same tips sound different at different insertion depths. Seated deeper, there is less air left in your ear canal, which most people hear as more bass; seated shallow, the treble can roll off early - fade before the highest notes - or spike, and it varies per ear⁶⁷. Tip rolling - swapping tips until the sound and comfort click - is a normal, cheap part of owning in-ears, not a fussy hobby ritual⁸⁹.

Bore and geometry: the part nobody reads

Two tips of the same size can sound different because of the bore - the hole down the middle. A wide bore generally opens up the treble and air (an open, breathy quality in the highest notes); a narrow bore tends to warm things up and add bass body. Aftermarket sets exist purely to let you tune this - wide-bores like the TANGZU Sancai for a more open top end, soft silicone like Kiwi Ears Flex when stock tips fight your canals⁵¹⁰. Everything in the eartips section carries the same tracked price history as every product here, because a tip upgrade should cost hundreds of rupees, not thousands.

The ten-minute tip-finding routine

1. Pick any bass-heavy track you know by heart.
2. Fit the largest comfortable silicone size; press and hold a second - does the bass lock in? If not, go up a size.
3. Repeat per ear. Mixed sizes are a legitimate answer.
4. Only then try foam, redoing the same check - expect slightly more bass and slightly softer treble¹.
5. Write down what won. Future you will not remember.

Once the seal is right, the IEM's own tuning becomes readable - which is exactly what the graph pages and the EQ presets (equalisation - software that lifts or lowers individual pitches) are for.