Heir Audio 4.Ai - Appreciation/Impression/Review Thread - Page 21

Now that is service

Received my shipment tracking number!

Thank you Heir Audio for the wonderful service provided.

Very prompt reply from them and they were very helpful in every single way.

Thumbs Up!

I placed my order on the 12th, but due to a problem with Paypal I didn't pay until the 14th. I haven't received any notifications yet but that may be because I'm in Canada which likely requires a different shipping method.

My opinion on 4ai vs er4s in short:

conclusion first: 4ai is a better all rounder than er4s. i think a lot of people will find it easy to like them. as allways it's a matter of taste. these are comparable, both good iems, but i prefer er4s by far.

4ai is not as detailed as er4s in the top end. also it misses the sense of airyness and openness, that the er4s has. in comparison i found the 4ai to sound a bit congested and closed. i feel the er4s let's me get very close to what is recorded. and it sound very natural to my ears. it's not so much the level of detail, as the presentation itself, that makes me like er4s more. it's the sense of air/space between instruments and especially vocals that makes them sound very accurate to my ears. while i find 4ai to sound good, and especially the low end, they just don't sound very natural to my ears. they are "over-doing it" in some way... i'm a real er4s fan here, and if you like er4s, but find them a tiny bit too "thin" sounding and needs more presence in the low end, then the 4ai might do it for you.

4ai has more presence in the lower frequenzies, but for classical music i find it to be too much. it may add a dramatic quality to some music, but mostly i find it to lack the refinement of the er4s in complex passages. single notes (especially cello) sound good and very "fleshed out" on 4ai, but presenting more that one note at the time, say a big chord on piano, it begins to sound a bit muddy/muffled to me.

with some jazz i find 4ai good, for instance with  jazz from the 1960's like dexter gordon on blue note. it creates a "club-like" feeling due to it's "closed in" sound. (not closed in compared to most other iems, but compared to er4s, yes)

er4s has a very special sound, not suitable for everyone - or every genre. i don't listen to reggae with er4s. the 4ai are much better for that. (need the extra bass and low end presence). but i won't have to choose just one iem, and i have another one, the klipsch x10, for reggae. x10 can't compare to 4ai technically, but it has a certain quality to them, that i just like - and prefer over the 4ai.

i think that sort of sums it all up. i know this is an appriciation thread, but someone pointed me in this direction as the question about er4s pupped up.

Thanks for sharing!

And before anyone starts acusing Librarian for not having heard the 4.Ai: He borrowed mine, just like Audiocrack did 

Very well articulated impressions librarian. Having heard the Ety's previously you gave me a much better idea of what to expect from the 4.Ai.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swimsonny 
Oh and I may be the OP and it is labelled the appreciation thread among other things BUT as long as you have heard the 4.Ai I will happily let you write anything negative if that's how you feel. I will not be happy if people have not heard them and want to bash them though so don't worry about what you wrote.

I think the thread should allow for all impressions of the 4.Ai, to best inform potential buyers of what they can expect. A die-hard ER4 fan like Librarian might not find what he's looking for with the 4.Ai and to others they may very well be the best universals ever made. At this point I think it's a matter of personal preference more than which is technically "best" 

How does 4.AI measure up against Sennheiser IE80? 

I'm kinda eager to get IE80 soon. But wanna check out other brands first. 

I understand that 4AI has BA while IE80 has dynamic. I personally had a bad experience with BA drivers (bought xba-1, was horrible). Does the 4 BA drivers match the amount of bass in the IE80s? Other than bass, does the 4AI also match IE80's soundstage etc? 

Thanks! 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swimsonny 


I have only heard the IE8 and the two are tiers apart. The IE80 is meant to be better but no one I know has said the difference is night and day between the two.
The IE8 has a bigger soundstage, in the joint top three IEM soundstage I have heard. It is a bit distant though. Bass is more quantiful but not near in quality and then every other aspect the 4.Ai is far better in, howeve the IE80s are meant to improve on a few things like the IE8s dreadful mids.
If you want fun and bass quantity the IE80 maybe for you but if that's no big deal to for the 4.Ai

Damn. That's hard to make a choice. 

What did u mean by the 'joint top three IEM'? What top 3 IEMs? I can think of a few, W4R, UE TF10, DX1000, SE535? 

4.AI still isn't available in my country yet. Only able to pre-order. Wished I could compare it side by side now. :( 

Thanks for the insightful comparison between them ^^

Also, since the 4AI is running BA, will the ''feel" (lack of a better term) of bass be significantly less than IE80 which is on dynamic? 

Quote:

Originally Posted by tang63 

 

Damn. That's hard to make a choice. 

 

What did u mean by the 'joint top three IEM'? What top 3 IEMs? I can think of a few, W4R, UE TF10, DX1000, SE535? 

 

4.AI still isn't available in my country yet. Only able to pre-order. Wished I could compare it side by side now. :( 

 

Thanks for the insightful comparison between them ^^

 

Also, since the 4AI is running BA, will the ''feel" (lack of a better term) of bass be significantly less than IE80 which is on dynamic? 

Sony EX1000, JVC FX700 and Sennheiser IE80s are noted to have the biggest sound stages for universal IEMs generally. But there are also other good IEMs out there with big sound stages such as EX600, MDR-7550, FX500, Sennheiser IE7, etc. But those 3 are noted as being the best in those regards. The IE80s are a noticeable improvement IMO and fell exactly into my sound preferences. The IE8s fell short with way too much mid bass which required me to use EQ to get enjoyment out of them. I don't use EQ with my IE80s and am very happy with them. I'm not sure how it would compare to the 4As though. I'm positive the 4As are more detailed but not sure if I would say they are more of a fun and non-fatiguing IEM as the IE80s are. YMWV.