[tigon_ridge]

The er4 has been compared as very similar to the re0, which I owned. It's been said that the er4 is slightly brighter than the re0, which imo is extremely well balanced. Perhaps the very definition of neutral; and I mean neutral neutral, not warm neutral or bright neutral. The re0's clarity, musicality and lack of sibilance had me aiming for its sound with EQ since the sm3 first arrived. Instrumental separation, imaging, and soundstage between the re0 and er4 has been compared as very similar. That said, after my long quest for a neutral EQ setting with the sm3, I have to say that the sm3eq has bested the re0 in all of those aspects, while also being faster and having superior bass extension and control.

 

[Caldoran]

How'd you ship them to Earsonics? Do you have tracking/proof of receipt? If you have proof they got the package, send that along and follow up with a phonecall. If you don't have proof of tracking and didn't insure the package? It would seem you're out of luck. Best you can do in that case is ask to purchase a pair at manufacturing cost and see if they'll give you some consideration. 

 

Thanks for the responses
I shipped it with the local shipping service, SingPost, with limited tracking (up to leaving the country only). I do have the receipt of sending it to them. I'll try emailing them again some time soon, with a picture of the receipt. Thanks again guys!

 

[average_joe]

 
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Moving from ER4P to SM3 I have to say that while the ER4P has amazing detail, speed and bass texture, the SM3 easily beats it in balance, soundstage, separation, and bass quantity, while maintaining high (not quite like ER4P, but still excellent) detail and being more easy on the ears. Also, comfort-wise, I find the SM3 better - easier to put on, MUCH better cable and almost non-existent microphonics. SM3 is overall the better earphone and bests the ER4P for a wider range of music genres.
 
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I just got Etymotic ER4 guys and I am really sorry to say this, but to my ears it does everything SM3 does + more and is cheaper. SM3 is great and all, but with the ER4 around, it's just not worth the price IMO. Right now, I am seriously questioning the need for multi driver IEMs. ER4 is more accurate and coherent than any multi driver I've heard.

What exactly makes the SM3 more balanced sounding to your ears? I disagree that SM3 has better separation - I think ER4 separates instruments as well or better and also has a wider soundstage with better separation of stereo channels.

You make the ER4 sound like the be-all-end-all in IEMs!  And while it is a very nice IEM, I didn't hear it that way at all.  Is the ER4 better than the DBA, and do you like the DBA better than the SM3?  I know you said the SM3 is better than the UM3X from how musical it sounds even though they are technically the same (which again, isn't how I heard them), but I am wondering how you would rank the IEMs you have heard (and there is a thread for that too).
 
P.S. Maybe you should send JH an email about the your questions regarding multiple drivers 

 (and this is not me saying more is better or worse, I have yet to hear an IEM with more than 4 drivers).

 

[Pianist]

I don't know, maybe I got tin ears. But the way I hear Ety ER4 makes me drool uncontrollably. lol The speed on these things is out of this world as well as timbre accuracy in the mids. I never heard SM3 in this way - speed never impressed me on it and timbre in the mids was a bit too much on the warm side.

 

[dfkt]

 
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You make the ER4 sound like the be-all-end-all in IEMs!

He did a similar thing some time ago with the RE0 vs. the PFE - basically bashing the PFE as "entry level" and "tuned for modern pop music" in comparison. No kidding: here and here.
 
While this is of course amusing when one knows how incredibly subjective such matters are, and that Pianist seems somewhat... off... the usual scale as far as headphone appreciation goes, it is a bit alarming when one takes such highly personal opinions/impressions as fact. While everyone of course is entitled to their opinions, it's the way of presenting that opinion that makes me a bit uncomfortable.

 

[tigon_ridge]

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I don't know, maybe I got tin ears. But the way I hear Ety ER4 makes me drool uncontrollably. lol The speed on these things is out of this world as well as timbre accuracy in the mids. I never heard SM3 in this way - speed never impressed me on it and timbre in the mids was a bit too much on the warm side.

I found that the sm3's bassiness hides its transient speed. When switching from flat preset to my current preset, the very fast attack of percussive instruments becomes more obvious - definitely faster than the re0. And the timbre accuracy becomes more obvious after eq. The amazing thing is, even after attenuating the bass you can still sense the obvious speed (or impact) of percussive bass. In terms of instrument separation and imaging, I would probably say the sm3eq is quite an improvement of the sm3; since you can now hear and more easily locate sounds that were blurred away and hidden by excess bass and low-mids. Micro details reveal themselves. My sm3eq has just a touch more warmth and bass than the re0, I believe. I'm left very confused at why people are not using EQ more. I honestly can't sense any good aspects of my music that was compromised as a result of my EQing. Maybe others out there have had worse luck with EQ?

 

[Pianist]

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You make the ER4 sound like the be-all-end-all in IEMs!

He did a similar thing some time ago with the RE0 vs. the PFE - basically bashing the PFE as "entry level" and "tuned for modern pop music" in comparison. No kidding: here and here.
 
While this is of course amusing when one knows how incredibly subjective such matters are, and that Pianist seems somewhat... off... the usual scale as far as headphone appreciation goes, it is a bit alarming when one takes such highly personal opinions/impressions as fact. While everyone of course is entitled to their opinions, it's the way of presenting that opinion that makes me a bit uncomfortable.

 
I don't quite understand what you mean. I know everything is incredibly subjective and that's why I always use "IMO" and "to my ears" to imply that all that I am saying is just my opinion and should not be taken as a fact.
 
And honestly because my opinion is so different from that of other people, I seriously question my hearing ability. Maybe I am just a bit deaf, I don't know. I did check my hearing last year and the audiologist told me I have excellent hearing, but I am still not sure...

 

[music_4321]

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You make the ER4 sound like the be-all-end-all in IEMs!

He did a similar thing some time ago with the RE0 vs. the PFE - basically bashing the PFE as "entry level" and "tuned for modern pop music" in comparison. No kidding: here and here.
 
While this is of course amusing when one knows how incredibly subjective such matters are, and that Pianist seems somewhat... off... the usual scale as far as headphone appreciation goes, it is a bit alarming when one takes such highly personal opinions/impressions as fact. While everyone of course is entitled to their opinions, it's the way of presenting that opinion that makes me a bit uncomfortable.

Not only that (see bolded text), but Pianist's comments on the SE530 & ES3X were rather curious, too, not always stating it was his opinion, BTW, but more like actual facts on more than one occasion.

 

[tigon_ridge]

We should all just assume, for peace sake, that whenever anyone publicizes their perception of headgear that it is just their own perspective. All the "imo" and "according my ears" etiquette makes discussion less fluid, really. If HPA and others like who frequently post reviews do that all the time, I'd probably get very weary after a while.

 

[Stan91]

Is there anyone that reshelled their SM3 already?

 

[Pianist]

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You make the ER4 sound like the be-all-end-all in IEMs!

He did a similar thing some time ago with the RE0 vs. the PFE - basically bashing the PFE as "entry level" and "tuned for modern pop music" in comparison. No kidding: here and here.
 
While this is of course amusing when one knows how incredibly subjective such matters are, and that Pianist seems somewhat... off... the usual scale as far as headphone appreciation goes, it is a bit alarming when one takes such highly personal opinions/impressions as fact. While everyone of course is entitled to their opinions, it's the way of presenting that opinion that makes me a bit uncomfortable.

Not only that (see bolded text), but Pianist's comments on the SE530 & ES3X were rather curious, too, not always stating it was his opinion, BTW, but more like actual facts on more than one occasion.

Want to prove the facts wrong?

 

[Rodrigoqui]

Uow! These sound great!

They are way better than my Triple.fi in almost every aspect...
The RE0 don't even had a chance!

 

[drhoooon]

mines being delivered today

 

[kingice10]

 
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Uow! These sound great!

They are way better than my Triple.fi in almost every aspect...
The RE0 don't even had a chance!

Right? This is way better than the Triple Fi's IMHO.
 
Right now, I paired them with my new J3, and it sounds amazing!
 

 

[matto]

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Uow! These sound great!

They are way better than my Triple.fi in almost every aspect...
The RE0 don't even had a chance!

Right? This is way better than the Triple Fi's IMHO.
 
Right now, I paired them with my new J3, and it sounds amazing!
 

How would you say the bass of these are compared to the TF10's in terms of both quantity and quality? on a 5 star rating. Thanks.