How To Maintain Your IEMs & Take Good Care Of Them: IEM Maintenance Guide

In-Ear Monitors, commonly known as IEMs among audio enthusiasts have become a primary source of music enjoyment in portable scenes. The primary reasons behind this are their easy usability, easy drivability, comfortable wearing experience, constant improvements in sound performance, etc. Today, In-Ear Monitors are available in different different types of driver configurations, you get single dynamic, you get multi-driver hybrids, and you get multi-driver balanced armature combinations. Another great thing in the favour of IEMs is their available across different price ranges. You can buy a decent set of IEMs anywhere from 40-50$ to flagship models being offered at 2000-3000$. Well, that’s about their availability and the qualities they offer. But once you get them, there are a lot of things to keep note of while maintaining your IEMs. With this guide, we will discuss some common and easy methods that you should follow to keep your IEMs in perfect working condition as you love them!! So without any further ado, let’s begin.

Clean Your IEMs Regularly:-

Ear Wax, Dust, these two are the biggest enemies of your beloved IEMs. What happens is with usage over time, ear wax starts to build up on the ear nozzle of the IEMs. And when you keep your IEMs out in the open, it also accumulates dust and it also gets collected at the ear nozzle. Usually, ear nozzles have mesh filters that prevent the ear wax or dust to damage the drivers, but since they get collected at the mouth of the nozzles, they affect the sound performance drastically to the extent that you might get channel imbalance in your IEMs.

To counter this, clean your IEMs on a regular basis. Take soft cotton or microfibre cloth and clean your IEMs by simply wiping them with the soft cloth. While cleaning the ear nozzle, do not use cotton buds or anything like that. Use a simple ear nozzle cleaning brush like the one in the image above. Simply wipe off the ear wax or dust from the ear nozzle using this cleaning brush tool. Don’t use hard hands or push the nozzle mouth as that might push the dust or ear wax inside the effect on the drivers. Clean them with soft hands. Clean your IEMs on a regular basis, at least once or twice every week for better longevity of the pair.

Handle Your IEMs Carefully, Don’t Drop Them, Don’t Hit Them Against Hard Surfaces:-

Never, and we repeat again never mishandle your IEMs. Always keep them safe in their carry cases or after-market cases. Most issues with IEMs come after accidental damage like falling on the floor, hitting against a hard surface, or something like that. Always keep your IEMs handled carefully, as such accidents might damage the external shell or the internal driver, Crossover board, and that will just be the end of the pair. Surely you can get them repaired from the brand but that will just cost you money.

MMCX IEMs, Carefully Disconnect The Cable Using Proper Tools:-

As you might have seen many brands have now started including an MMCX connector tool with their MMCX IEMs. This tool helps you in carefully disconnecting the IEM from the cable. Always use this tool to disconnect, when you pull the cable yourself you might damage the connectors on the cable or on the ear shells. Also, don’t pull or push the connectors unnecessarily this results in loosening of the connectors.

Two-Pin IEMs, Take Good Care Of Two-Pin Connectors:-

If you own any IEM with Two-pin connectors, you need to take good care of the Male connectors. The pins are delicate and they are prone to bend with a little force. Always keep the cable in the carry box when not in use. A simple mistake can easily damage the connectors and then you will have to bear the cost of purchasing a new cable. While pulling or pushing the two-pin connectors, don’t push or pull them hard. This again has a tendency to damage the connectors.

For both the MMCX and 2-pin connectors, you should not connect and disconnect them again and again. This loosens the connectors and hence damages the IEMs.

Keep Your IEMs Away From Water, Keep Them Dry:-

Just like Dust, Water is also an enemy of your beloved IEMs. It can damage your IEMs in unimaginable ways. It can peep through the nozzle and damage the drivers making them unresponsive or it can also damage the crossover PCB resulting in distortion, imbalances, and other common issues in IEMs. Not only the IEMs, but their cable, and connectors should also be kept away from water. Always keep a micro-fiber or soft cotton cloth close to you, and wipe off the water or sweat from the shells regularly. 

Ending Words:-

In order to get the best out of our IEMs, we need to keep them in good shape. We are not saying that you want to damage them intentionally but mistakes can happen at anyone’s hands. We should always give them proper care and maintenance so that we can enjoy them for a long long time. After all, we purchase them with so much excitement, we should maintain that excitement in maintaining them too. Although if you face any kind of issues with your IEMs, we have written a guide on the same topic too. You can check it out here. For any other questions or queries, feel free to write to us at support@hifigo.com.