IEM vacs
Professional musicians, or at least the stage hands that travel with them, have long used more sophisticated tools for cleaning and maintaining their IEMs. After all, the abuse these IEMs take during live stage performances, whether it’s for a solo artist, small band, or entire ensemble, far exceeds the conditions us casual listeners and audiophiles are likely to encounter.
There are always exceptions, like when you use IEMs at the gym or for any sort of exercise, or wear IEMs for prolonged use during the workday, taking them in and out of different bags in different environments.
In both instances, IEM vacs are a great solution for helping you keep those IEMs clean. They’re not going to replace the basic maintenance routine I described above, but rather help you perform a more thorough clean, and also ensure that dirt accumulated over weeks and months is still safely removed before it causes any lasting damage.
IEM vacs are essentially miniature vacuum cleaners, with a suction rate low enough that won’t suck the guts out of your IEMs, but strong enough to wick off dirt and grime.
Initially designed for hearing aids, there are now models you can buy specifically for IEMs. Although some basic vacs sold by dispensaries or online retailers like Amazon (such as the popular Jodi Vac) should work fine, they won’t have the variety of suction nozzles of purpose-made IEM vacs, nor will they have the same suction power for the price.
If you’re someone who needs to regularly clean their IEMs, produce a noticeable amount of ear wax, or has more than just a few IEMs to maintain, consider getting a dedicated IEM vac from the two leading maintenance tool vendors, 64 Audio and FIR Audio (who, as rumour has it, OEM for each other, although I’m not sure who OEMs for whom).
THL Recommends: 64 Audio IEM Vac Pro ($299)
A relatively new entrant on the market, 64 Audio’s IEM Vac Pro (not to be confused with FIR Audio’s namesake below) is a svelte-looking battery-powered cordless IEM vac that, in this reviewer’s opinion, makes all other vacs redundant.
When it comes to portable audio, it makes sense that our maintenance tools are also portable, and so it’s surprising that it actually took this long for someone to come up with a truly portable (i.e., cordless) vac design. What’s more, the 64 Audio IEM Vac Pro betters its AC-powered counterparts in almost every way.
The basics – like accessories – are essentially the same (in fact, almost identical and interchangeable) between the portable IEM Vac Pro and the non-portable vac models, but usability and even build quality are markedly improved. What’s more, the 64 Audio IEM Vac Pro comes standard with its own Pelican-like hard shell waterproof carry case, and because it’s cordless and rechargeable, you can use it more often and in more places.
Made from anodised aluminium and resembling an oversized syringe, the 64 Audio IEM Vac Pro is lightweight but very sturdy, and feels nicely balanced in hand during use. It comes with five interchangeable tips: one set of small and large steel tips, one set of small and large flexible plastic tips, and one large fixed plastic tip, along with a set of small and large pins for cleaning out stubborn dirt from the tips after use.
You might think the tip variety is overkill, but if like me you have a large collection of custom and universal IEMs, you’ll quickly realise there’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to cleaning IEMs.
For customs with long, narrow tubes, for example, the large flexible plastic tip is ideal, while the smaller plastic tip is useful for narrower nozzles. The steel tips are best suited for universal IEMs and customs with metal mesh filters, helping dislodge wax and dirt jammed into these filters (again, a word of caution, be gentle when you clean mesh filters).
The large plastic tip is more of a ‘generalist’, which I often use to clean the openings of all my IEMs without reaching deeper down their nozzles. And believe it or not, having two sizes of pins has come in handy more than once, both for cleaning out the vacuum tips, and for surgically picking out stuck wax from IEM tips and mesh screens.
The two biggest plusses of the 64 Audio IEM Vac Pro, aside from the obvious cordless advantage, is the lack of a cumbersome air hose, and its near-silent operation. All the AC-powered IEM vacs I’ve used to date have larger assemblies with a detachable air hose that flips and flops around during use, and is a pain to pack back into the box afterwards. The relatively powerful motors of the powered vacs are also considerably louder, making me want to rush through the cleaning process just to shut them up.
From the first minute using the 64 Audio IEM Vac Pro I knew my days of using AC-powered vacs were over. Because I wasn’t tied down to one location, or had the wrangle of an air hose to contend with, I could easily and nimbly hold an IEM in one hand, Vac in the other, and get to cleaning. The gentle buzzing of the vac motor is also a welcome change.
Recharging is also a pleasure;, a couple of hours’ charge will get you a rated 80 minutes (I tested it and got 82 minutes) of continuous use. For a small IEM collection, that means you’re probably only going to need to recharge every other month, if that, and the LED indicator will tell you when you’re running low on juice.
Also worth noting is that you can continue to use the IEM Vac Pro while charging, so even if need a top up, you don’t have to stop cleaning.
Performance-wise, don’t expect Hoover-like suction – these are miniature vacs after all – but the suction is just strong enough, and gentle enough, to eke out any loose dirt or dry wax (albeit slightly less powerful than the AC-powered Pro models). Because the tips (the plastic tips in particular) are long and flexible, you can reach much farther down than you could with any other cleaning tool, and because they’re made of soft plastic, chances are you’re not going to do any damage.
Overall, if you’re looking to take the next step in your IEM maintenance routine, 64 Audio’s IEM Vac Pro is the way to go. At $299 it’s by no means cheap, but considering what even average IEMs cost nowadays, it’s a small price to pay for the longevity and peace of mind you’ll get in return.
Notable mention: FIR Audio IEM Vac Pro ($299)
If you’re not concerned about anytime, anywhere portability, and have a fixed station where you’ll be doing all your IEM maintenance, FIR Audio’s excellent IEM Vac Pro (yes, I know, same name, but this one was released first) will do everything the 64 Audio IEM Vac Pro will do.
In fact, the FIR Audio Vac Pro has slightly more suction power, and because it has more space (in the included air hose and dirt canister) for sucked up grime, will need less maintenance of its own less often.
Other than connecting said air hose to the somewhat bulky metal motor, the functions and accessories are the same as described above. There’s more noise when it’s sucking, as I may have mentioned earlier, but you’ll get the same set of tips and needles to fit any type of make of IEM imaginable. And because you’re always powered up, there’s no need to pause when cleaning.
If you have a larger collection of IEMs, the FIR Audio IEM Vac Pro will get through the job faster too; just make sure you’re working on a firm surface as the motor vibrations trend to make it bounce around. But for the same price, and without having to buy the optional IEM Vac case (sold separately for $55), 64 Audio’s IEM Vac Pro is, for me, the smarter option.
Also consider: 64 Audio/FIR Audio IEM Vac ($199)
Very briefly, it’s worth mentioning that both 64 Audio and FIR Audio still sell the ‘regular’ IEM Vac (essentially the same product) for $100 less than the ‘Pro’ versions.
Everything about the regular IEM Vac is the same – accessories, motor noise etc. – but the suction power is slightly reduced (it’s the same as 64 Audio’s IEM Vac Pro at 20 inHG but less than FIR Audio’s IEM Vac Pro at 23 inHG). If you want to save some money without losing any of the benefits or functionality of the Pro versions, the IEM Vac from either company will do the trick.
Continue to other maintenance tools…
