[honda]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr56k Anybody try these http://earplugstore.stores.yahoo.net/cofotipeco1p.html ??? Thanks

Those are Comply Tips, a pair of which should have come with your ER-6i. The ER-6i has them with a different tube inside though, which works better in that they prevent the foam from holding in and blocking the aperture of your ER-6i or whatever you have them on. This can happen if you stick them into a hard curve in your ear canal, and the foam is jammed up against the wall of your ear canal.

That aside, I personally do not like them because they are too soft and they get even softer when warmed up to body temperature. They are very comfortable but they soften and dampen the sound too much for my liking.

See this thread for a little more on these tips:
http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=189717

 

[mr56k]

Ok so i have been searching through the forums quite abit reading on in ear headphones. Currently Im using the black Etymotic ER6 Isolator series. I like these quite abit but now im wondering how much better it gets as you spend $$ on the iem side. Alot of users were stating on how they preffered the Ety er6 series over the Shure e4's which are quite abit more money. So for me since I really like the sound and isolation of the ety er6's I have, what would be the next best step ? I wanna stay around 200-300$ the lower the better. If im not gona see a nice step up in sound quality Ill prob just stick with my current in ears.

Thanks

 

[episiarch]

mr56k, are you using ER-6, or ER-6i? You've said ER-6 a couple of times but ER-6i in the thread title and your sig, and the foamies you linked to were sized for ER-6i but not ER-6.

I'm just asking that for general purposes to set the record straight. It doesn't affect my answer to your question one way or the other.

If you like the Etymotic sound, then the next step up in my opinion is ER-4S plus an amp (a good amp, which I'll get to in a minute). Truly wonderful sound. Now, there are three pathways to ER4S-ness:
- ER-4P plus converter cable
- ER-4P plus Xin amp with internal converter
- an actual ER-4S

I started with a 4P, later bought a converter cable, later a Xin amp, and later had one of my 4Ps recabled as a 4S. Since buying the converter I have never again listened in 4P mode except for testing/comparison purposes; as I said above, it just sounds out of balance to me.

So if it were me buying at this point, I'd simply go for the 4S. But I think buying a 4P and a converter or a Xin amp is a perfectly good way to hedge your bets. However if you're willing to commit to a less efficient earphone, you can save a few bucks by starting out with the 4S. Since I always listen in 4S mode, for me the P->S converter is just one more thing to carry.

A couple more considerations in deciding between the 4P and 4S:
- the 4P ships with new all-black cabling, while the 4S currently ships with the colored bits shown on Ety's ER-4 page.
- from watching the for-sale forum, I get the feeling that a 4P is easier to resell than a 4S.

[episiarch pauses to put on his flame-retardant suit before continuing]

Now as for amps: now that I have the ER-6i, I have been forced to reconsider my amp collection. Some of my ER4-plus-amp combinations simply turned out - to my horror - not to sound as good to me as an unamped ER-6i. Your mileage may, of course, vary, but this is what I found, and it definitely was not in line with my agenda of feeling good about my portable amp purchases.

I mention this not to hijack this thread and turn it into an amp discussion, but because if you move up from ER-6i to an ER-4S plus an amp, you want to be sure you really are getting a sonic upgrade and to my ears, not all amps accomplish this.

From my collection, the amp+ER4 combinations that exceed the unamped ER-6i:
- Gilmore Lite. My reference sound. Incredible transparency.
- Corda HeadFive. Not as transparent and nuanced as the GLite, but very good.
- Pimeta with OPA627, running on either 24VDC Elpac or 18V from two batteries. Good.

Those that don't:
- RSA SR-71. It shocked me to find I liked an unamped ER-6i better than ER-4S plus SR-71, but I did. The SR-71 is a great little amp for most headphones, but paired with the highly resolving ER-4S, its treble rolloff becomes apparent and robs the Etys of some of the fidelity of which they're capable.
- Pimeta portable with 8620 and 9V. It's a little bright and unnatural with the Etys. I used to really like this combination for its great clarity, but now I just find it a little too tinkly sounding.

What about Xin amps? It is hard to say, because Xin changes them soooo fast. The one I own is a 2004 SuperDual, which was great for its size but a good notch or two below my 8620 Pimeta. The last one I heard was a SuperMacro of Spring 2005 vintage with OPA627 opamps which I thought was almost exactly on par with the 8620 Pimeta (yes, surprisingly). By now his amps have gone through additional generations which have presumably improved them. So they might very well be a good choice but I can't personally vouch for their being a sonic upgrade from the unamped ER-6i.

 

[mr56k]

Wow Thanks episiarch.

Yea I have the Etymotic ER6i's. Reason I didnt state it that way originally is because all it said on the box was Etymotic ER6 Isolators. I didnt no untill I purchased them that there was multiple versions. Also where would be the best deal on the Ety's you mentioned? I really dont wanna get an amp because its for portable use with my laptop and my ipod. One less thing I dont have to carry. Thanks for all the details.

 

[mr56k]

Also how do these http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...073733?ie=UTF8 compare to the other monitors? They look very similar to that of some of the Ety ER4-P I beleive. Are these any better then my current ety's? I think some others were talking about the step up with the inline control "which I dont like" . I also seen a really good deal on the Shure E4C's on ebay for around $140. So many choices lol.

 

[episiarch]

mr56K, the ER-6i is currently my favorite unamped sound* so if you're on a quest for something that sounds better unamped than the 6i does, I'm not one who can advise you. Except to say that folks with Sensa's and UE10's seem to be crazy about them. Otherwise, as far as I can tell you, to get better sound (to the ears of those of us who like the Ety signature), you need to enter the amplified world.

re ER-4 price: no idea who has the best deals now. I've had mine for some time. FWIW I bought my recent ER-6is from iDealSound and was happy with the transaction.

re iM616: I haven't heard it. I have the iM716 and do not think it's better than the ER-6i. I think it's worse. But some people like it, and some people like its boom-boom mode. Maybe you'd like it, but maybe you'd find it nothing more than a sidegrade.

[size=xx-small]*other than perhaps the CD3000, but it's a good deal more scarce, more expensive, and less convenient.[/size]

 

[RollsDownWindowsManually]

I would just stick with the ER-6i if that's what you have.

You are going to have to spend at least 200 to 300 dollars to upgrade to an IEM that May or May not be better sounding, and most of those will need another 100-200 dollar amp to take full advantage.

Now if you have money to blow and you want to experiment with high-end IEM+AMP rigs for fun, I envy you and have at it. To me, that kind of kills the whole concept of portability though.

As an ER6i owner, the other IEM's I would like to try for curiosity's sake are the Ultimate Eares Supre.fi 5Pro, and the shure E4C; from the way they've been described they have a very different sound than they ety's and don't necessarily require an amp either.

I'd also like to hear an ER4P but I'm not willing to spend 300 bucks to do any of this. The one thing I like about the ER6i is that I can stick them and a 512MB memory stick into that little black pouch the etys came with and have about 8 CD's worth of music that takes up less space than my wallet.

 

[mr56k]

Ok thanks guys. Well I decided for the $80 I snagged a pair of the Altec im616 off of Amazon. If I hate them I will see if I can return them if not no biggie. I think Ill stick with my Ety ER6i's for my main use and maybe my Altecs if I like em. Yea its great I can put my shuffle and my in ears in the ety case and I still have extra room

. Yea im still impressed with the er6i's. In the song Alice in Chains: heavan beside you "Live Acoustic" I can hear the schwang from the guitar. Sounds so good. Ill give some im616 impressions when I get them. Thanks again for all the help.

 

[jSatch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr56k Ok thanks guys. Well I decided for the $80 I snagged a pair of the Altec im616 off of Amazon. If I hate them I will see if I can return them if not no biggie. I think Ill stick with my Ety ER6i's for my main use and maybe my Altecs if I like em. Yea its great I can put my shuffle and my in ears in the ety case and I still have extra room . Yea im still impressed with the er6i's. In the song Alice in Chains: heavan beside you "Live Acoustic" I can hear the schwang from the guitar. Sounds so good. Ill give some im616 impressions when I get them. Thanks again for all the help.

Did you get the iM616s or iM716s?

If you like the ER6is, the iM616s could be a good choice. However, I believe it was episiarch who had written in an earlier post (thread), that the fit of the two will be different, and thus may affect the sound. If I remember, he was not able to get a very good, comfortable fit with the Altecs, which do have a larger diameter extrusion tube than the Etys.

Enjoy the new toy!

 

[jSatch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr56k I snagged a pair of the Altec im616 off of Amazon.

PS- The iM616s and iM716 appear to have different drivers. However, neither Altec nor Ety is talking about this (once upon a time) heated topic. May have to do with disclosure agreements between the two.

 

[iluvcans]

i had my er6i's for about three weeks and returned them for the er4's and have been happy ever since.

er6i's vs er4s (i use the "s" adaptor 99% of the time)-- also I find I don't have to have an amp when running these straight from my iriver 120 (but i use a total airhead anyway-- as it improves performance and fatigue issue):

er6i's lack bass impact and overall "warmth"
er6i's are considerably more fatiguing, when listening for extended amounts of time
er6i's lack a "laid back" presentation
er6i's gave a more "sharp" articulation to the notes-- not as soft (er4's are not soft however). maybe better to say er4's are more "natural" or less abrasive, in terms of articulation
er6i's are not very sturdy in construction (in comparison)
er4's have a 2 yr warranty opposed to 1 for er6i's

they both provide excellent isolation. actually-- i felt i could get a bit more from the er6i's as when i had the two flange tips on, the whole mechanism is smaller and easier to fit into my ear canal farther... i enjoyed my er6i's but for the amount of time i use my phones-- i prefer the er4's hands down. i got them for $209 (online) about 6 months ago...

 

[mr56k]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jSatch Did you get the iM616s or iM716s? If you like the ER6is, the iM616s could be a good choice. However, I believe it was episiarch who had written in an earlier post (thread), that the fit of the two will be different, and thus may affect the sound. If I remember, he was not able to get a very good, comfortable fit with the Altecs, which do have a larger diameter extrusion tube than the Etys. Enjoy the new toy!

iM616's... I didnt like the extra adapter piece on the 716's so I figured I would try the im616's. Hopefully they sound good but I will let you no when I get them. Ups says they should be here on wednesday. I ordered extra types of tips to try so here is hoping they are good.

 

[nakedtoes]

why dun go straight to the Er4s.. that would save you some $$$ from upgrading + the P to S cable.. Many who got the P version with the P to S cable listen to the S version most of the time.. and indeed the S version can be easily power by any DAP too..

 

[mr56k]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nakedtoes why dun go straight to the Er4s.. that would save you some $$$ from upgrading + the P to S cable.. Many who got the P version with the P to S cable listen to the S version most of the time.. and indeed the S version can be easily power by any DAP too..

Because at this point if these two iem's dont cover my needs Im going to get some high end "Shure e500, Etc... . I really like my er6i's so Im hoping to keep one in my laptop bag and the other at home.

 

[episiarch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr56k I might buy some diff tips just to test. Anybody try these http://earplugstore.stores.yahoo.net/cofotipeco1p.html ???

My order just came in, and I'm pleased with them. I got the "Slim" size in platinum grey, and I find them to be slimmer than the "ER6I-13E" foam tips that come with the ER-6i and easier to insert, while still being substantial enough to give me a good seal.

They do seem to be the same material as the peach-colored Ety foams, and are subject to the caveats that honda mentioned above. But I like them. Certainly they will replace the stock foamies for my in-the-air-need-max-isolation-use. I am not sure whether they will become my everyday eartips as well or whether I will stick with the familiar tri-flanges.

I've yet to try them on my ER-4S, but will do so this week.