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Portable amp for Etymotic ER4S?

post #1 of 46
9/11/10 at 9:02pm
Thread Starter 

Hi Folks.

 

I am currently really enjoying my new ER4S's through Gary's PA2V2. Plenty of power for the Ety's. I also have a Nuforce icon mobile but have found it not powerful enough to drive them well.

 

I am considering an upgrade of amp and wanting suggestions as to what would be a good portable amp for these phones. My source is an ipod classic with silvercab LOD and lossless files.

 

I can go up to $200-$220

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

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Gear mentioned in this thread:

Etymotic Research ER4S MicroPro Reference Earphones
Etymotic Research ER4B MicroPro Binaural In-Ear Earphones
Etymotic ER-4P Portable In-Ear Earphones
post #2 of 46
9/12/10 at 9:38am

I've just ordered a Stepdance from Meier Audio. Was fairly happy with my Headsix driving the ER-4 but wanted an upgrade. The Stepdance is over your budget, though. You could always consider Meier's Corda 3Move amp, very well reviewed. Jan's customer service is excellent as well.

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post #3 of 46
9/12/10 at 9:54am

Second that. 3MOVE drives ER4S really well. With Stepdance on the market, you should be able to find cheap 3MOVE in the for sale forum easily.

Quote:
Originally Posted by lazure View Post

I've just ordered a Stepdance from Meier Audio. Was fairly happy with my Headsix driving the ER-4 but wanted an upgrade. The Stepdance is over your budget, though. You could always consider Meier's Corda 3Move amp, very well reviewed. Jan's customer service is excellent as well.

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post #4 of 46
9/12/10 at 9:59am

or you can get an RSA tomahawk, very long battery life, very good for IEMs. great combo with ER4S

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post #5 of 46
9/12/10 at 11:11am

The Arrow is good with ER4S, it has bass boost, impedance and gain switches, and excellent form factor. The wait sucks though.

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post #6 of 46
9/12/10 at 12:14pm

If you can find one used, the Xin amps are good. FWIR, the Minibox E+ has awesome synergy with the ER-4S. It was made with the ER-4S in mind. However, it is a older design...

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post #7 of 46
9/12/10 at 2:26pm
Thread Starter 

Thanks so much for all your suggestions folks, now the fun part, exploring all of them!

 

I have always been tempted by RSA Audio, seems like a good firm, it is above my budget but I could stretch!

 

The mini box sounds very interesting and i have no problem buying used, will do some more research on them.

Thanks again guys, what a great forum this is!

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post #8 of 46
9/12/10 at 2:29pm
Thread Starter 

Actually just did a google on the minibox and see the ES version is now for sale, does this one have the same synergy and design base for the ETY's?

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post #9 of 46
9/12/10 at 2:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ianmedium View Post

Actually just did a google on the minibox and see the ES version is now for sale, does this one have the same synergy and design base for the ETY's?


I haven't heard that much about the ES Version. If you look on Head-Direct's website you see information about the Minibox ES. But as far as I can see, all the information (and pictures) for the ES version are identical to the information (and pictures) for the old E+ Version.

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post #10 of 46
9/12/10 at 4:23pm

Just a word of advise on the Minibox E+. The ER4S is a relatively high impedance IEM so it matches well with the E+. However if you get a lower impedance IEM in the future, you can only use the E+ volume control a little bit up and it gets very loud quickly. It doesn't have a gain switch. And you might also hear some channel imbalance.

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post #11 of 46
9/13/10 at 6:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by melomaniac View Post

or you can get an RSA tomahawk, very long battery life, very good for IEMs. great combo with ER4S


totally agree: the Tomahawk is wonderful with the ER4 either P or S variety.  Had the Minibox E+ but found it to be a bit "quirky" and broke twice and had to send back to Fang.  Just prefer Samuels' amps for design and construction.

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post #12 of 46
9/13/10 at 5:43pm

The MiniBox-E+ (old version w/ the flip switches) is fantastic with the ER4P/S.

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post #13 of 46
9/13/10 at 6:35pm

How does the minibox-d sound with the ER4s?

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post #14 of 46
9/13/10 at 8:32pm

Comparing my Arrow against my Tommy on my ER4S, Arrow is warmer and has plenty of bass (bass boost at I, gain at II, impedance at 0).

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post #15 of 46
9/13/10 at 8:37pm
Thread Starter 

I really appreciate all the advice. I am looking at all the options now, this is the fun bit!

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Gear mentioned in this thread:

Etymotic Research ER4S MicroPro Reference Earphones
Etymotic Research ER4B MicroPro Binaural In-Ear Earphones
Etymotic ER-4P Portable In-Ear Earphones
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