[AnAnalogSpirit]

Hi Folks,

This time I had the crazy Idea, boy I really really really hate the triple flange silicone tips on my Etymotic ER*4-P IEMs... And so I swapped them out for the foam plugs. Which worked until I remembered that it felt like a cadillac was being crammed into my ear canal. UGH. So I thought, well... ...the Phonak Audeo's come with Comply Foam eartips... I wonder if I can swap the Etymotic foams for those. I had already tried swapping the silicone tips of the Etymotic type with the Phonak Audeo type with no success, so I was a mite skeptical. Not familiar with these techical marvels? Find more info here:

http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er4.aspx

Oddly enough the 'straw' size of the plastic tubes inside the foam tips were nearly identical in size, so I tried them on the stems of the Etymotic ER*4-P's. To my surprise they JUST BARELY FIT.

Now for the test that tells all, will they expand to seal properly inside the ear canal and provide BASS and the Ety sound???

BINGO!!! YEA! They Do!. If anything they are a tiny tiny smidgen louder because all the way in, the filter of the stem is a tad farther in than they would be than with either of the Etymotic tips. I can hear a bit more high pitch twinge of sound instrumentation with them than normal which makes them sound a bit Ety+

The Bass Signature is Just Fine for an ER*4P, and the FEEL is W-O-R-L-D-S more Comfy.

This mod is highly reccomended by yours truly. I might actually keep my Etymotics instead of selling them like I had planned. The BASS sounds great when amplified by either an Auzen Tech X-Meridian (or similar) audio card with swappable OP-AMPs upgraded to Texas Instruments Burr-Brown OPA627AU OP-AMPs which are excellent for classical music, display very good open instrumentation, are quite bassy, with a rich smoothness that drools high end hi-fi stereo quality, and great detail across the broad spectrum, as well as posessing an extremely fluid and MUSICAL quality to them. Now, if you don't have one of these boards, or can't get your mits on one, you CAN get another Auzen Tech board that has upgradeable OP-AMPS such as the X-Plosion, etc...

http://www.auzentech.com/site/produc...ion_cinema.php

OR you can look up HeadRoom at:

http://www.headphone.com

and get an amp and DAC combo that will work for your budget and tastes. They know their audio, and Mike O. really knows his tech. I talk to him frequently. There's cool things available like these OP-AMPs in the amps, and some really nice DACs (Digital Audio Converters) which hook up to USB > Digital CoAxial > TosLink Optical (TosLink being best quality) bypassing the soundcard and processing the digits from your audio stream then feed it to the yummy OP-AMPs in the Amplifier to give you PRISTINE, Beautiful, Audiophile, Stereophonic grade sound from ANY computer. Windows, Mac, Linux... Bring It.

So that covers how I like to mate bass to the Etymotic signature microphonic extreme bright treble detail. They'll basically stay clear and true and soak up whatever bass you throw their way with a balanced proportion, as a good headphone/earphone should in an ideal world!, and let the user customize the sound staging with the setup, aka, amps, dacs, filters, eqs, etc...

So... If you happen to be lucky enough to own the FANTASTICALLY Graciously supported Etymotic In Ear Monitors, be they ER*4-S, ER*4-P, ER*6, etc... (Made in the USA btw) enjoy them better with the OH so COMFY Comply foam ear tips available from Swiss Made Audeo, brought to you by Phonak at:

http://store.audeoworld.com/shared/S...t=products.asp

EDIT: I also very much like the Small Silicone Phonak Audeo Sleeves which seal AMAZINGLY WELL.
ARE COMFORTABLE. AND DONT GUNK UP...