Try custom molds for the ER4s. My ER4SRs with customs molds are actually uncomfortably silent when inserted, until the music starts. You hear your pulse, your breathing, and nothing else. My phone can be ringing next to me and I don't hear it.

I just replaced my old ER4Ps, which I used with the S converter cable, with new ER4SRs. My custom molds still fit the SRs. There seems to be a bit more midrange and a tiny but noticeable bit less of the emphasis on the highs with the SRs as compared to the Ss. The SRs sound more accurate to...

  Interesting findings. Who else with T90s loves the A5? And who else with ER4Ss doesn't love it so much?

  I'm not going to be able to get into all that, but I found that a 2db treble boost via the Rockbox option menu on my DAP brought the treble back to where it sounded like I'm used to, based on hearing live music all the time, from my previous Xin amp with 627 opamps, and from my home system...

  I appreciate the advice. No, I didn't run sine waves through the system to see what's up. What I did do was listen to everything with the A5 in the loop, without it, and with my old Xin amp in the loop. Then I did all the same, but running things through my home hifi system. (Focal Utopias...

  Wrong and wrong. This is not my first amp. This is my first amp with sound quality issues.

  Rockboxed iRiver, line out via Cardas cable direct to the A5, then onto Ety ER4Ss. It ain't my gear, or my ears that are the weak link.

  Fair enough, we can disagree on subjective sound. What sounds bright to one person will sound dark or neutral to someone else. I'm going to exaggerate here for effect, but the A5 was rolled off enough that some voices sounded, to me, more like AM radio than hi fi. It wasn't even close. Glad...

  Let's get back to discussing the sound of the A5. Too dark or not? Compressed sound stage or not? I vote yes to both of those questions. Interestingly, instead of addressing my comments, FiiO chose to respond to a complaint about offset stickers, which was posted after my post detailing the...

  I can't justify the $80 price jump for the DIY model. Isn't it LESS work for FiiO to make it? (No soldering OPAMPS or anything...)

  Not too easily, actually, from what I've seen. It's moot anyway, as the A5 is on its way back to FiiO.

Despite my initial enthusiasm for the A5, after a few weeks of listening to it with my Ety ER4Ss, I returned it today. Why? A couple reasons. Primarily a lack of high frequencies. It's dark, or rolled off, up high. There's a lack or air with breathy voices and, for example, violins. The...

Let me take a shot at answering this. I have a Fiio A5 and Ety Er4Ss. Compared to music straight out of the mp3 player, there's definitely a difference. First, the treble. Yeah, there's less treble than listening straight out of my source. But which is accurate? To answer that, I played the...

I just bought an A5 to replace my ancient Xin SuperMacro 3 v.6 with 627 opamps. I use Etymotic ER4Ss with custom molds. I use the high gain mode, and end up having the volume turned up about halfway. That's not crazy loud; it's just loud enough. There's no hiss or distortion at those settings...

Hard to justify the $349 price of the new one, for a potential smallish upgrade in sound quality when I'd only get $75 (or maybe $150 if I sell them myself) for my old ER4P with S cable. To upgrade seems past the point of diminishing returns. Or, to flip the argument and be more positive, a pair...