Shortbus Audio Anomaly (and more possibly)

IEMs / Other In-Ear Monitors (IEM)
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Hello, I’m Mike from Shortbus Audio (reviews) on youtube and now started a company with the same name focused on making my own IEMs. I’ve made a few DIY ‘mods’ to IEMs such as Letshuoers S12 and S12 Pro, and other various one-offs. Some people enjoy them, and i’m sure some don’t but it’s time to step up to the next level.

I’ve been into audio forever and have a small mixing studio and play guitar and other instruments. I also have a bunch of pro-audio gear, studio monitors, tons of amps and DACs, and am used to studio type of sound.

A few years back I started the review channel on youtube and have tried and rated quite a few IEMs and its pretty fun… until I kind of burned out on reviewing because I want to at least try and make them myself. I figured why not try things that other companies don’t do, whether its just ideas from pro-audio, theater systems, or general audio theory. Why not see what sounds good and works when miniaturized to the size of an IEM?

After spending a ton of money on 3D printer, learning 3D CAD, spending ungodly amounts of time, and buying lots of various things needed to make IEMs, I spent the last year making an IEM called (the) Anomaly. It’s just one DD driver, but packs heat in terms of tech which is why im making this post. Not so much to hype/sell a lot of them (I can’t make a lot or scale up), but to discuss the techs I packed into this IEM.

So here we go:
Final prototype

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3D model
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Graphs:
Stock tuning

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Bass Boost comparison (slide tip backwards)

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Distortion measurement
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Ok with that out of the way, techs:

  1. ABS resin shell, black, tough and feather light at about 4 grams per IEM
  2. 5 or 7 Hemholtz resonators (depending how you count them)
  3. MiM Dark Magician Driver (yes really), 10mm DLC?! DD driver
  4. Ported transmission line subwoofer, back air volume precisely calibrated
  5. 24mm folded transmission line which is larger than the IEM entirely
  6. Extremely low acoustic impedance

I’m pretty proud of the graphs and sound, and I do not use electronics to shape the sound, this is driver direct to the ear. I do not think anyone else has been able to do this kind of graph shape with 1 DD… probably. The sound is pretty over the top in terms of wideness and 3D, indeed it sounds like putting a DSP type effect on the sound or more like a Dolby Theater than an IEM entirely. Of course I’m a studio guy so im biased to that kind of full-mids near field sound which other folks may not enjoy as much. Regardless, its been a heck of a journey and now its time to make some IEMs.

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It’s really good to see you on here, brother. Welcome :+1:

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thank you man!

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Nice looking graphs. My style. What dB is the distortion graph?

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It’s in overall percent of sound, so this is at most 0.5% distortion, which is good.

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Nice to see you here Mike and all your hard work is finally paying off!

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Thanks TDF. I’ve lurked for years but had nothing to contribute till now.

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Not true this forum could have used your honesty! Needs some fresh air.

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Besides multiple killer mods and plenty of listening/comparison experience! I’ve enjoyed your videos, several of your mods, and learning about the Anomaly will be super interesting. Your deep dive into shell shape and airflow probably means you understand a huge amount about tuning without shortcuts. All kinds of knowledge to share!

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Hello Mike. Nice to see that you are back! I am curious about what your thoughts are about paper filters, mesh filters, and foam filters. Personally, I think that paper filters tend to veil the sound. Do you have any thoughts?

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Mesh (Vinyl?) filters/dampers are probably the least bad, and of course you can get them in many densities. I’ve never seen a paper filter. That seems less than optimal since its paper which can absorb moisture. Foams are fine depending on usage. Sony leans on them heavily for instance.

The best is of course no dampers in the sound path but precious few drivers can be tuned that way. The Softears Twilight / Turii are like that and include a tiny bit of foam which does almost nothing to the sound, its more for protection against things getting in the driver.

I have a mod called Nobody which is the 14.2/.3/.8 mm planar driver and has… nothing in the bore. It sounds incredible and Goober owns it.

On the flip end (the rear of the driver). Without using a damper you are going to get a lot of bass, mids and usually not much else so this is best done in a multi driver situation. I did this with Variations → El Vedgero (mod). And so it has no damper in front or back of the DD which I also unhooked from the xover. Then had to drill a hole in the back shell because yeah… its actually open back.

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Thats cuz paper filters are more dense than the other ones. Not a good idea to have them in the nozzle like Mike said (paper = allergic to water) but they are often used in the shell/driver vents.

I follow the Sony bible and thus foam is my favorite. :joy:

Mesh filters are the most varied though and harder to generalize, some barely does anything and you can get custom ones that is VERY dense.

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Hi Mike
All the very best with the Anomaly iem.
Scottnad from Shortbus.

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When and how much, my dude!?

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Wow, looks very similar to my beloved Twilight that I myself once copied from the exterior, but I never got close to fixing the interiors. Yours internal Helholtz resonators sounds like you did impressive job!

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Likely $630 for the first 10, then the price goes up. I know thats kind of extreme but the performance is worth it.

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Yeah, I used Twilight as inspiration because it is relatively easy to build and prototype. I did fix the problems it had, which is the rear being square not circular.

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Congrats dude, wish you the best with this and more in the future!

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I think that’s more than fair.

It’s a hand made, hand built from the ground up IEM by 1 guy. Oh, not to mention, it’s likely taken hundreds if not hours to develop with you dumping your own money into equipment and finding new methods of shell manufacturing and driver tuning.

$630 is definitely a fair price

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That looks interesting. :star_struck:
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