[RB26DETT]

recieved my E4 yesterday.. quite sad to say that i was not so impressed by the sounds i'm listening..

after listening to them for 2 days, i feel that the music sounded a little hollow.. bass response was weak.. note that i'm listening from a G5 iPod..

tried listening the phones off my MD, and there was a HUGE difference.. the music coming out of the MD was solid-ER, better clarity, bass was also more pronounced..

so i came to a conclusion that the iPod is not a very good source to justify the E4..

can someone please give me some suggestions to what can be done to improve the sound quality on a G5 iPod?

would really appreciate some help..

 

[benjamind]

You really need to get an amplifier. I'd say get a Xin SuperMini-3 which is really the best bang for the buck that you can get. These amps are phenomenal, with great sound quality. They are quite flexible too.

With an amplifier and a Sik Ram Din, your iPod 5G will really come to life through the Shure E4c phones. Believe me when I say that. iPod's headphone-out is not that good at all, in fact I could say that, for any 'phone whose impedance is less than 40 ohms, it is quite thin. Bass is reduced, the sound loses it's body and it's impact and sense of space and air. When you use an amp you don't need the headphone output and instead you use the direct line-out via Sik Ram Din and plug that into your amplifier input and then you put your Shure E4c into the headphone output on the amplifier. You'll be rewarded with much better sound quality.

 

[RB26DETT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by benjamind You really need to get an amplifier. I'd say get a Xin SuperMini-3 which is really the best bang for the buck that you can get. These amps are phenomenal, with great sound quality. They are quite flexible too. With an amplifier and a Sik Ram Din, your iPod 5G will really come to life through the Shure E4c phones. Believe me when I say that. iPod's headphone-out is not that good at all, in fact I could say that, for any 'phone whose impedance is less than 40 ohms, it is quite thin. Bass is reduced, the sound loses it's body and it's impact and sense of space and air. When you use an amp you don't need the headphone output and instead you use the direct line-out via Sik Ram Din and plug that into your amplifier input and then you put your Shure E4c into the headphone output on the amplifier. You'll be rewarded with much better sound quality.

ya.. i heard alot about Xin's amps.. but they are kinda pricy.. what about pa2v2? how does it compare with the SuperMini-3? any other amps with price range of the pa2v2?

when u say much better sound quality, do have reference to how good they are gonna sound like? ie. PCDP quality, MD quality etc etc..

 

[boodi]

ipod's line out is worth investing some bucks on a amp
difference between hp out and line out is not subtle .

 

[vranswer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RB26DETT ya.. i heard alot about Xin's amps.. but they are kinda pricy.. what about pa2v2? how does it compare with the SuperMini-3? any other amps with price range of the pa2v2? when u say much better sound quality, do have reference to how good they are gonna sound like? ie. PCDP quality, MD quality etc etc..

PA2V2 is exactly what you need, if price is a major factor. I use my Hornet almost exclusively now, but the 2V2 does an excellent job of bumping bass and providing a nice, clean sound. If you don't want to go the amp route, just run your files through mp3Gain, thus facilitating use of iPod's EQ. R&B preset has good synergy with E4s.

I thought about selling my PA2V2, but they're so inexpensive to begin with I didn't think I would get anything for it. Better to keep it. But I never use it either.

 

[RB26DETT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by boodi ipod's line out is worth investing some bucks on a amp difference between hp out and line out is not subtle .

thanks for the advise!

 

[RB26DETT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vranswer PA2V2 is exactly what you need, if price is a major factor. I use my Hornet almost exclusively now, but the 2V2 does an excellent job of bumping bass and providing a nice, clean sound. If you don't want to go the amp route, just run your files through mp3Gain, thus facilitating use of iPod's EQ. R&B preset has good synergy with E4s. I thought about selling my PA2V2, but they're so inexpensive to begin with I didn't think I would get anything for it. Better to keep it. But I never use it either.

ya.. i have run thru my files with mp3gain and also using the R&B preset.. sounds the most presentable preset IMO..

how about the go-vibe? how does it compare with the pa2v2?

 

[vranswer]

I haven't heard the GoVibe so can't comment other than what I've read here. It's reported to be more spacious and offers flexibility of opamp rolling.

 

[chrisfromalbany]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RB26DETT recieved my E4 yesterday.. quite sad to say that i was not so impressed by the sounds i'm listening.. after listening to them for 2 days, i feel that the music sounded a little hollow.. bass response was weak.. note that i'm listening from a G5 iPod.. tried listening the phones off my MD, and there was a HUGE difference.. the music coming out of the MD was solid-ER, better clarity, bass was also more pronounced.. so i came to a conclusion that the iPod is not a very good source to justify the E4.. can someone please give me some suggestions to what can be done to improve the sound quality on a G5 iPod? would really appreciate some help..

i would say this is more of issue with e4s then 5 Gen ipod. e4s need to have an amp. The bass out of the UE10s is fine from 5th gen and mostly I don't use an amp because there isnt any improvement. That is different the 4th ipod where I did see a lack in bass. This is also why I suggest the UE.pro5's over the e4 when running without an amp.

 

[xaipemw]

I'd say that it's the E4's also. I have the G5 iPod, and have listened to it through e4c's, e3c's, and (my current choice) UE Super.fi 5 Pro's. With the UE's, the bass is definitely there, no question about it. And I use the headphone out port, unamped. There have been many threads about the E4c's almost needing to be amped vs. the Super.fi's doing fine with out one.

 

[dura]

Quote:

so i came to a conclusion that the iPod is not a very good source to justify the E4..

You're probably right there; yesterday I passed an Apple store, they had a 5G ipod+Senheiser497 on display playing, no amp; so I pulled out my E4 (connected to a Sony NW-HD1) and put on the Sens.
Within a minute I was deeply appalled and shocked by the unpleasantly flat/sharp/basslight sound.
What a pity such a populair player needs an amp to give good sound, after all it's a portable, makes you think how much people really care for SQ.

 

[boltaction]

I like the output of my Zen Xtra, can power hd280 pros clean without an amp.

 

[TheSloth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dura You're probably right there; yesterday I passed an Apple store, they had a 5G ipod+Senheiser497 on display playing, no amp; so I pulled out my E4 (connected to a Sony NW-HD1) and put on the Sens. Within a minute I was deeply appalled and shocked by the unpleasantly flat/sharp/basslight sound. What a pity such a populair player needs an amp to give good sound, after all it's a portable, makes you think how much people really care for SQ.

Come on, that's not much of a test/audition. There is some consensus that the iPod is at worst about on par with the rest of the MP3 players on the market, give or take differences here and there. But right, put a 64k MP3 on it, play it with your high end headphones and then be surprised it sounds like crap.

What files are you using on your iPod? Has anyone considered poor old 'team source first'? Try a lossless file and see if you have the same problem. If you do, then by all means investigate amplification, but don't go spending money until you've got the best out of the money you already spent.

 

[chrisfromalbany]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dura You're probably right there; yesterday I passed an Apple store, they had a 5G ipod+Senheiser497 on display playing, no amp; so I pulled out my E4 (connected to a Sony NW-HD1) and put on the Sens. Within a minute I was deeply appalled and shocked by the unpleasantly flat/sharp/basslight sound. What a pity such a populair player needs an amp to give good sound, after all it's a portable, makes you think how much people really care for SQ.

no i think you are missing the point. The UE10s sound fine out the 5 Gen ipod. It is the fact the e4 need to have an amp to sound there best. I think the e4s should be more efficient. The UE.pro 5 are so unamped I think there are better choice.

 

[bangraman]

What you're hearing is more or less how the E4 is. Amping will help boost the tonal balance to something more agreeable, especially if the amp is capable of changing the sound in some way (e.g. Xin's Supermini).


If amping is not your thing, may I suggest one of these (and I'm not kidding) if you want something that would sound more Sony-like out of the iPod. I am sure that since these phones are also Sony, dura would most certainly approve the selection as being of much better quality.