[iamitman]

Can ER-4P Pair with Pico portable amp? I like clearity of ER-4P but I want
much more bass. If can't which protable amp can do this?

Thanks for any suggestion.

 

[monolith]

The bass boost on my Supermini gives the ER-4P a thicker bottom end.

Why not use some EQ if you want more bass though?

 

[blessingx]

"much more" is probably not possible with any amp (and still keep the advantages of the Ety sound).

 

[NeObliviscaris]

I am interested of anyones impressions of the ER4P + Pico pair

 

[hellopanda]

My ER-4p and ibasso P2.. good match, drives the etys crazy. the P2 comes with 3 levels of gain control + 3 levels of bass enhancement. So u get all the bass u need.

 

[episiarch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iamitman /img/forum/go_quote.gif Can ER-4P Pair with Pico portable amp? I like clearity of ER-4P but I want much more bass. If can't which protable amp can do this?

Yes, the Pico drives the ER-4P very nicely, so in that sense the two make a good pair. No, the Pico doesn't give the ER-4P much more bass.

You didn't say much more bass compared to what, but for the sake of argument I played a reasonably bassy track (Axelle Red's Blanche Neige) into ER-4P's directly from a reasonably crappy Dell laptop headphone out and then from a Pico in DAC/amp mode. That's a fairly extreme test that should highlight any differences that exist.

Bass was more present and clear with the Pico, and overall SQ was much higher. But it's not "much more" bass. If you are looking for the difference between "I want more bass" and "[size=small]yeah, that's what I'm talking about[size=x-small]" then a Pico alone isn't going to get it done. For that you're going to need EQ or an amp with bass boost....or else a different earphone with a bassier sound signature built in.

So what is ER-4P plus Pico good for? Well, if you like the ER-4P sound pretty much as it is, but want to raise it to a higher level of fidelity, presence, and clarity, the Pico will do very well. And you will perceive some more bass. The Pico does contribute a bit more warmth than an amp like the Mini3, and is a touch less detailed. As an amp alone I would personally pick a Mini3 over a Pico (though that's a matter of taste), but as a tiny portable DAC/amp, the Pico is absolutely awesome.

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[melomaniac]

IMO, the Pico does well with my ER4P, but I decided to also keep my Tomahawk around. The Pico is so much better fed from USB than from an iPod that it's hard to describe, almost like going from listening from outside to stepping inside the room. Or say from the back row to your favorite spot somewhere up front.

But apart from the battery life (yesterday, my Pico ran out of juice: it simply stopped passing along any sound, and I am charging it right now), the Tomahawk seems to be getting other things right too - and for someone who is into bass (and by that I do not mean EQ or boost but simply that I like to listen to a nicely recorded upright or electric bass in jazz or classical music, and that I appreciate the bass in electronica and other music a lot), it seems more punchy. Maybe the Pico is a tad more elegant; it has more subtlety, maybe more body in the middle, but the Tomahawk (which I've had for a long time so I am very attuned to its signature) does not have to shy away from comparisons. That is, again, when either amp is fed from iMod or iPod: the SQ I get from the Pico as USB DAC and amp is way better than what it gets out of the portable rig.

 

[mark_h]

Try the voyager with its contour switch or a Xin supermacro with its b switch if you can find one? both add loads of bass to the ER4P without any sacrifice.

 

[Golden Monkey]

The Ety's aren't exactly what I would go with if I wanted bass in the first place. I mean, it's all there, but they are more neutral and flat than any other earphone I've ever tried (and the S version even more so). You can "hear" all the bass, but you don't get your eardrums bashed in. You get nice controlled sound, accuracy, detail, speed, and clarity with the Etys. That said, I'd go with the amp you want, regardless of how bassy it can be, and try messing around with EQ settings. You don't want to destroy the "Ety Sound" (unless it's not really to your liking in the first place...if so, you made an expensive mistake, lol), but a bit of bottom end oomph from an EQ might help more than a kick-ass amp. If you truly want more bass than what you've got now, try a different phone, like the Sleek SA-6's, which you can tune to your liking.

 

[mark_h]

The etys distort with player eq's and don't with the db boosts form the two amps I mentioned earlier, they preserve everything the etys are loved for but add more bass.

 

[NeObliviscaris]

YUP!

Just got my Pico yesterday and there is a noticable improvment in bass over unamped, and even over the RSA Predator!

 

[melomaniac]

I'm getting wicked bass - but I did so also from my Tomahawk (though the Pico's USB DAC gives me a sound far superior to feeding the Tomahawk with even a schmancy fancy line-out from an iPod; my iMod had to be sent in for repairs, sigh...)