[jpo245]

HI guys, i just got my 4ps recently, and im totally blown away by them. they're the closest thing to my dream of having NOTHING but good music stream to my ears, without any cumbersome things sitting atop of my head.

ideally i'd want a high end source in my brain, outputting music directlly to my ear drums, with a toggle switch on my ear lobe to switch between music, outside sounds, or both.

well right now, my muvo2 and etys come pretty close.

my ipod3g is collecting dust coz of its bulkiness, its non solid state memory, dumb ITUNES software.

anyway im off tangent.
my qn is:

Whats up with the stethoscopic effect of the darn ety4?
What kind of cable do they use anyway? is there a REASON why it has to be microphonic? I was thinking of ripping out the cables, and replacing them with some standard soft flexible sony ones... that would be so cool..

does anyone think this would affect sound quality at all?

 

[elliot]

movement of and contact with the cords vibrates the housing for the drivers. Since the housing is in your ear canal, and because the canal-phones seal off the air between them and your eardrum, movements and vibrations of your headphones, caused by the wires (any kind, i'd guess), compress and expand the air between your headphones and your eardrums. this is why you hear it.

 

[elliot]

more annoying than this phenomenon you're talking about, my heart beat bugs me when I use my shure e2's when exercising. I have mixed feelings about canal phones because of this kind of thing.

 

[halcyon]

I have ER-4P/S with the "new, less microphonic cord". Well, it's _very_ microphonic.

I don't recommend these phones for any activity requiring significant movement, if microphonics bother you. They do bother me. A lot.

If you wrap around the cords around your outer ears, it may help some, but to me it brought no great relief.

This is, imho, the single biggest problem with Etys.

regards,
halcyon

 

[MusicManiac]

My ER-4Ps are coming today. What is the Microphonic effect everyone is talking about? Thanks!

 

[gpalmer]

As elliot mentioned, the Ety's seal off your ear so you have a trapped body of air in between them and your eardrum. When this body of air gets an impact from the cord being hit it transmits it to your ear drum so you hear sound. I find the effect lessened since I normally put my Ety's in get a nice tight seal and then pull them out a bit which lessens the pressure of the air pocket. This in turn both tends to improve bass and lessen the microphonics. Personally they don't bother me, but I also don't excercise with them or move around a lot with them in, I use them when I'm sitting at my desk. I find you get used to it also and don't notice it as much after awhile.

 

[tracyrick]

All Microphonics tips combined (This almost equals complete cord silence; if you run you'll need to do this):

1. Do this easy "ear hugger" mod. If you end up not liking it, you can undo it in about 5 secs. It just involves wrapping either a cable tie or a black twisty thing around the cable.
http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...t=microphonics
The cords should wrap around your ears and then come down the front of your body.

2. Tie another cable tie or just black twisty tie (like you use for garbage bags) around the R and L chord just below your chin.

3. Attach the clip to your shirt tightly (remove slack from the cable).
If you remove all slack from the cable and use lots of twisty ties, no noise. But you'll have to experiment a little because sometimes you need a little slack to turn your head from side to side.

 

[redshifter]

i use the original earhugger mod (mine). i recently got some er4p and the microphonics are all but gone using the clips.