[EFN]

I know that a great number of ER-4P owners make their own P>S adapter. To date I have made no less than 30 adapters but all the time I have always used the cheapo $0.05 resistors found in most electronic shops.

Recently I met an Electronic guru (an audiophile himself) and he told me that some resistors have the tendency to fluctuate under stress. Meaning that those resistors will not sustain the impedance level which will affect the signal quality.

Now I understood why some of my adapters sounded weird, some exhibit uneven bias etc.

So I went for the kill and found myself an Audiophile grade resistor which cost me $2 each. Those are Kiwame (Japan) carbonized silicone resistors. And GOD how good my ER-4S sound now. Gone are the euphonic moment and the erratical behaviour.

I urge you DIYers to try this. If you can't find Kiwame, TKD will do as well.

 

[Elec]

Wow, $2 a resistor! I made a couple adapters using Vishay-Dale resistors (which are better than the cheapie Radio Shack ones by far), and they sounded just fine to me. They probably averaged out to $2 each though including shipping - even if the resistors are 15 cents each, you'll pay 6 bucks to have a couple grams worth of resistors shipped to you, unfortunately

 

[Aidanael]

Thanks for the info. I gave myself a month to decide which IEM to buy (between the ER4 and the q-JAYS), but didn't want to spend 50 bucks on just a P>S cable... That's no good news, though, as the choice will be a lot harder

.

 

[ClieOS]

Resistor does make a difference.

I have been using some really good Welwyn +0.1~0.5% resistors on my portable amp, really does make my amp sounds better.

 

[yourtoys7]

I own ER-4P and torn, get to P-S adapter, (have someone to modd the adapter in) or to buy the S vertion...

 

[ericj]

Fluctuate under stress?

Read the datasheet for any resistor and it'll tell you what the thermal variance is.

It's a TINY fraction.

You're not feeding the IEMs enough power to heat up the resistor, so, any thermal variance is due to ambient heat.

If you have adapters that sound off, I'd guess bad solder joints before 'stressed' resistors.

 

[EFN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericj /img/forum/go_quote.gif Fluctuate under stress? Read the datasheet for any resistor and it'll tell you what the thermal variance is. It's a TINY fraction. You're not feeding the IEMs enough power to heat up the resistor, so, any thermal variance is due to ambient heat. If you have adapters that sound off, I'd guess bad solder joints before 'stressed' resistors.

Ok, Fluctuate under stress is not the exact word. My bad. If I recall correctly, that friend of mine who did the test mentioned that he has been monitoring some of his gadget resistors using his Fluke device and found that the resistance fluctuate under load (and that does not mean it has to be a heavy load).

Nonetheless, using well build resistors does produce good results for me. I mean trully my ER-4S now does not exhibit that erratic euphonia like it did before.