[luisdent]

Yep. I will try my best to compare all three models asap this weekend...

Congrats on getting a crazy good pair as far as measurements go, especially for being back-to-back serial numbers. Mine aren't back-to-back and don't test nearly that well.

I almost wish they didn't come with the performance certificate XD Ignorance is bliss sometimes.

I know what you mean. But just remember that small deviations between pairs are going to be practically inaudible... I don't think most people would hear a 1db difference in channels. Just my opinion, but most etys are well within the tolerance of being sonically identical relatively speaking.

 

[moseboy]

I know what you mean. But just remember that small deviations between pairs are going to be practically inaudible... I don't think most people would hear a 1db difference in channels. Just my opinion, but most etys are well within the tolerance of being sonically identical relatively speaking.

 
Yeah, I know. It's just above 10k they're off by as much as 5 dB in some spots.... Oh well.

 

[Hutnicks]

I know what you mean. But just remember that small deviations between pairs are going to be practically inaudible... I don't think most people would hear a 1db difference in channels. Just my opinion, but most etys are well within the tolerance of being sonically identical relatively speaking.

Most peoples ears differ by significantly more than 1db so variances in IEM's have a wide field to play on.

 

[luisdent]

Ok I've put together a playlist of songs of various genres and listened to the er4s with new filters for a while. Popped the er4sr in, and while it is a relatively small difference they are definitely more crispy and less nasaly... You almost wouldn't notice a difference until certain instruments start playing and you think "wow, that just stands out much more crisply".

So i can say with certainty that my er4sr is slightly more crispy than my er4s and has a bitt less upper mid coolness for lack of better words.

If i had to describe them this way, I'd say they sound more like the mids and treble of a dynamic iem from my experience. In that they are a bit more dry sounding. Only the signature is etymotic which is amazing.

I literally hear more bass and treble grit (in a good way) that makes everything sound more distinct. I can also say for sure now that while you may hear the same instruments with both, every single insteument i hear stands out more on the er4s, especially things in the back of a mix like vocal harmonies, guitars, etc. you hear the individuality of the instruments more. Very awesome in that regard.

I haven't even tried the er4xr yet. But there is no way they can touch the er4sr the way they sound now to me. At least for accuracy and studio quality. but I'm really curious.

The overall impression as a whole to me is that the er4sr lets you hear more transparently. I've always thought the er4s was the best treble of any iem ever. but i immediately thought the er4sr was better trebble. But i wasn't sure if the change in mids/mid treble was worth that improvement. But the more i hear and compare the less i think that. The honkiness some people find the er4s to have is a bit improved. That, combined with the improved treble clarity up high and bass perception makes these overall sound more "correct" as to what i would expect to hear on a studio monitor speaker or just in real life. The small delicate crispness of intruments is captured better. Guitar strings have a more metallic breath to them. Vocals with rasp sound more raspy, basses with amp grit sound more gritty. Small electronic and creative "sounds" that are all over the stereo field just plain sound more distinct.

The distinctness is winning me over. There is nothing you can't hear in a mix. It's damn impressive...

 

[luisdent]

I know what you mean. But just remember that small deviations between pairs are going to be practically inaudible... I don't think most people would hear a 1db difference in channels. Just my opinion, but most etys are well within the tolerance of being sonically identical relatively speaking.

Yeah, I know. It's just above 10k they're off by as much as 5 dB in some spots.... Oh well.

Your pair is? Can you post the graph? That seems a bit much. Even my er4xr isn't off by 1db.

 

[luisdent]

I also want to be very clear. I don't want to sound boastful at all, but I do want to say that as an enginner i'm used to listening to very small variances in sound and switching between things very minute.

In that regard, the differences I hear between the er4s and er4sr are very minute. I'm talking probably not much more than 1-1.5db in frequency changes in certain areas.

I'm just throwing this out there as a vague impression, but i'd say my er4s is perhaps 1db less between the upper mids, say 2-4khz and maby 1db or so raised in the 10khz plus region. Very small, but to me they make a noticeable change. And there may be other sonic factors in play. Not sure.

 

[moseboy]

Your pair is? Can you post the graph? That seems a bit much. Even my er4xr isn't off by 1db.

 

 
 
I understand that 13-14k is pretty high, but I mean, that's a bit off.
 
EDIT: Your XRs don't hit 1 dB off either? Man, I got super unlucky DX

 

[luisdent]

Your pair is? Can you post the graph? That seems a bit much. Even my er4xr isn't off by 1db.

I understand that 13-14k is pretty high, but I mean, that's a bit off.

EDIT: Your XRs don't hit 1 dB off either? Man, I got super unlucky DX

Based on the scale of the graph i'm guessing that is closer to 15-16khz and is probably going to be a small audible difference if any for "most" people. I understand you're dissapointment, but I would ignore it completely and just use them for a while and see if you notice any difference. Just try not to think of the graph and just listen to music for a while. There is always expectation bias, so you may hear something because you think it's there. Which is one bad aspect of having a graph. But Everyone is different, so I would see how it goes first...

 

[moseboy]

So was I. Mine do hit 1 dB off. Minus, and almost positive between 100 and 10k, and clearly more than that beyond 10k. But it is technically within spec.

 

[vapman]

  So was I. Mine do hit 1 dB off. Minus, and almost positive between 100 and 10k, and clearly more than that beyond 10k. But it is technically within spec.

Please don't let the graphs ruin your enjoyment. They are more to prove the individuality of every ER4 than anything else. I can say with near certainty you couldn't tell the difference between it and another ER4 if you never saw the graphs.
 
If it bothers you still, well, you know how to PM me

 

[luisdent]

Oh my... Er4xr... I like this. it may not be as reference, but it an excellent bass curve adjustment. I think many people will like this a LOT.

It captures the overall sound of the er4s extremely faithfully, while give a bit more thump and bass thickness. There is a small amount of "transparency" lost as the thicker sound doesn'tbreath as much. But relative to other headphones these things are still reference overall.

I will listen to these for a while and report back.

 

[luisdent]

Your pair is? Can you post the graph? That seems a bit much. Even my er4xr isn't off by 1db.

I understand that 13-14k is pretty high, but I mean, that's a bit off.

EDIT: Your XRs don't hit 1 dB off either? Man, I got super unlucky DX

Based on the scale of the graph i'm guessing that is closer to 15-16khz and is probably going to be a small audible difference if any for "most" people. I understand you're dissapointment, but I would ignore it completely and just use them for a while and see if you notice any difference. Just try not to think of the graph and just listen to music for a while. There is always expectation bias, so you may hear something because you think it's there. Which is one bad aspect of having a graph. But Everyone is different, so I would see how it goes first...

Etydave has gone silent haha perhaps he could tell us pecisely what frequency thagh high peak is that has the variance?

 

[vapman]

Oh my... Er4xr... I like this. it may not be as reference, but it an excellent bass curve adjustment. I think many people will like this a LOT.

It captures the overall sound of the er4s extremely faithfully, while give a bit more thump and bass thickness. There is a small amount of "transparency" lost as the thicker sound doesn'tbreath as much. But relative to other headphones these things are still reference overall.

I will listen to these for a while and report back.

Please let me know when you've got more reference listening in on them! I heard both the XR and SR and STILL don't know which I want.
 
Of course I want it for reference but the bass boost on the XR isn't too heavy. Just enough that you can barely slightly feel it. as opposed to just know it's there (ER4P/S/SR)

 

[luisdent]

Oh my... Er4xr... I like this. it may not be as reference, but it an excellent bass curve adjustment. I think many people will like this a LOT.


It captures the overall sound of the er4s extremely faithfully, while give a bit more thump and bass thickness. There is a small amount of "transparency" lost as the thicker sound doesn'tbreath as much. But relative to other headphones these things are still reference overall.


I will listen to these for a while and report back.

Please let me know when you've got more reference listening in on them! I heard both the XR and SR and STILL don't know which I want.

Of course I want it for reference but the bass boost on the XR isn't too heavy. Just enough that you can barely slightly feel it. as opposed to just know it's there (ER4P/S/SR)

Yeah, honestly I'm surprised that the bass boost isn't greater. Which in my opinion is a good thing. I really would have preferred a boost only below 100hz at the most, as the xr doesn't really add much in terms of bass accuracy or even tightness or impact. It more just warms up the er4sr a touch and gives it a bit more total whoomp in the low end. But i'd call it more subtle than i expected.

I would have definitely noticed the difference if you hadn't told me it was a different model, but it's not drastic. Certain songs so far sound a bit more mid bass masked, meaning the treble details aren't as vibrant and transparent. They don't jump out as much as the er4sr and they sound softer due to the shift in bass. However, surprisingly, most songs, if there isn't much low bass booming, don't seem too much affected in the overall sound.. Acoustic guitars for example sound great and while slightly warmer, don't really sacrifice much at all elsewhere.

But then some songs it seems a bit more like the bass is having a small effect. Always, the effect is not that great though. You could switch to any other earphone and the bass would be noticeably more apparent... But i'll give them much more listening time before a detailed comparison.

At this point I love them both. I don't think i could give up the reference model for these. But these might rock in enviroments where there is more noise causing masking. Like a more out and about pair...

 

[castleofargh]

  So was I. Mine do hit 1 dB off. Minus, and almost positive between 100 and 10k, and clearly more than that beyond 10k. But it is technically within spec.

IDK what tolerance they accept,  but it's kind of rare not to have a 2db or more variation in the upper mid of ... most IEMs or headphones of most brands. and trebles are more luck than anything else, just measuring them accurately is a challenge, and they often need smoothing to stop looking like a mess of ups and downs. the reason IMO why people don't revolt when they buy headphones is that they don't notice left/right differences unless they're huge or over a really wide area that may change the center image position. maybe because there are already so much that isn't balanced starting with our ears? or how it's a challenge to place the IEMs exactly at the same eardrum distance on both ears? IDK, but the reality is that a +/- 1db variation in the mid/upper mid range is already something to celebrate based on my personal measures of a few IEMs. if you had somebody measure your other IEMs you may feel a lot less disappointed.
 
now if you still want to find where luisdent lives and kidnap his pair, that would be fair, but maybe your country's law system doesn't see this as ok.