"Rain I agree, you can see the edge of the strip of acetate/plastic in the last photo"

"I think the black at least tones it down to focus on the raw forms. For what it's worth on quality I've had their 'ear' model earbuds for over a year now and the sound quality is stellar aside from the mic having trouble managing wind during calls if I'm outside when noise cancellation is on. Been through the wash once and have dropped the case plenty and still trucking, so they didn't lose focus on durability and quality for sake of cool factor."

"A cut channel or a lip on the bottom of each compartment could be a nice way. Might already be there. If the pieces are CNC'd you could have the lip undulate in depth to create notches for your fingers to get some lateral pressure on too without much change in production time?"