If you still love Etymotic ER4, this is the thread for you... - Page 12

I'm interested on grab one of these, since a friend is at canada(here is so expensive these IEMs) and the options(for my budget) are only the se425 and the er4p. I don't find that the se425 will be superior to the ck100, the se530 isn't, and for a long time I had interest on listen the er4.

Anyone here knows how they are compared to the ck100?

Which amp can be considered good or excellent for the ER4S?

I find myself listening more and more to these IEMS, and I'm thinking about using them with my main rig (I prefer them to my WA3 + Beyers).

The amp doesn't have to be portable.

 

The best portable amp I tried with ER-4S was XIN Supermicro IV. These two had crazy synergy. I doubt any other amp, incl. stationary amps, would be better. Though I have no a lot of experience with stationary amps.

 

Supermicro was built for Ety and XIN told that he used some trick designing this amp. Unfortunately, he never disclosed how he did that. Supermicro is certainly "voiced" and its voice meets ER-4 perfectly.

IMO, it has good amount of very clean bass.  I think it depends on the fit and bass preference.  To me it fits good enough for sufficient bass, but to other that prefer crazy amound of bass it may disappoint.  I also noticed my fit could be better, it would present the sound with more bass and sound stage.  I pushed my ety deeper and it sounded much better. Maybe I need a little bit more insertion to appreciate it to the max.

 

Once your ears becomes accustomed to clean sound, I don't think anything else can compare to ER4P.  Just recently my ears became accustomed to clean sound outputted by ER4P.  I have great appreciation for such sound now.
 

 

Edited by High_Q - 6/18/11 at 8:30am

ER-4P was my first balanced armature IEMs. I sold it to try another IEMs, such as Shure SE530 or Westone3, ATH-CK100 or Klipsch Image x10. But ER-4P like a first love - you'll never forget it. Soon a realized, that no one of IEM I had, could give me so honest and dry, sharp sound like motics did. Especialy if I listen a metal, where distorted guitars are prevail. I returned to ER-4P and sold other IEMs. Cold, cosmic and detached sound without any gag or prettification - that's what I need :)

It's a really legendary earphones, I'm happy to own them.

People always complain that the ER6i is fragile... I have had mine for almost four years and they still work great!  They actually outlasted the Shure E2c I had before them (those thick Shure cables are very misleading). Those broke after a little over a year.

 

Well, after almost three years, I may finally be getting an ER4! An "extreme" APS balanced version too! I'm super excited.

I have yet to hear a bad-sounding Cmoy. The price tag makes it even better 

 

I think it has to do with the supply voltage. I have listened to FiiO E5, and E7, Arrow, D10.  They do not compare because of their low supply voltage.  Without high enough supply, the headphones will not get good amount of current, and therefore power to be distributed throughout the frequency spectrum more evenly.  CMOY is 9V, and can be increased to 18V.  I also think impedance relationships between, DAP, Amp, and headphones factor for right synergy, but do not know the relationships exactly.  When I do, I can explain it.  My CMOY hisses with sensitive IEMs such as the 1964-T and UM3X.  I really dislike hiss.  Maybe the output impedance of my CMOY is a bit high for the IEMs.  I really need to find out the output impedance of my CMOY.  I need to know what makes amps hiss with sensitive IEMs.  All my best IEMs hiss.  I'm gonna contact JDS designer and see if we can adjust the component values to output less hiss.  
 

 

Edited by High_Q - 6/18/11 at 9:22pm

Just got my second pair of ER-4P's. There's no way I'm ever going to sell them again! 

I am completing the purchase of used ER-4P from a forum member to compare them to my HF5 -- hopefully have them in my ear next week (and more than likely the HF5 will be for sale soon!).

 

My recent acquisition of the SoundMagic A10 amp to replace the iBasso T4 has given the HF5 (and surely the coming ER-4P) a warmer fuller sound -- a great match.

 

I will be using the ER-4P with the Shure Olives to give me agruably the one of the best AND most comfortable sounds possible in a universal.

get a p to s converter, and amped up, you will never go back :)
 

 

I still like my ER4S, and they'll always have a special place as my first high-end gear, but they're somewhat sibilant and shrill compared with JH-13 Pros. That said, an attempt to compare is, of course, not fair; they're in different classes.

I have tried many top end universal IEM out there but I have not heard any that is more detailed and transparent than the ER-4. To me it seems it is the crossovers that are employed in those multi driver IEM affects transparency and detail. Some of them might seem detailed at first however on further listen they all sound kinda plasticky to me, if it made sense at all.

 

I am looking for upgrade but I have not found any universal IEM that I can consider it an upgrade. Now I am looking at customs but I worry that they are pretty much the same thing. There are single driver custom however I am not sure if they will be any better than the ER-4. FWIW among full size cans the best I have heard (to my ears) is the AKG K501 (spacious, airy, natural sounding, lots of texture, well extended high/low, fast, tight bass). Any suggestion will be appreciated.

 

 

ER-4P arrived today and after only about 30 minutes comparing between it and the HF5, I can't believe the HF5 sounds so bad!  Well, not really bad(!), but there is just a perfectness about everything the ER4 does, that now the HF5 sounds a bit grainy, a hair muddy, a tiny bit confused in imaging.

 

Don't have a P->S converter, but do have a decent amp -- might be switching to the new Fiio E11, but the SoundMagic A10 is nice and warm, great combo for the ER4.

Edited by kmhaynes - 6/28/11 at 2:50pm