Etymotic ER-4S's - The Different in-ear-Tip Varieties

[EFN]

For my ear, the stock Ety Black foamies give the best seal with the best sound presentation. The only problem is foamies usage require lotsa practice to get them inserted properly to achieve that seal.

Once I am familar with using them, it's a breeze and they are comfy enough to allow me to have them plugged in for over 5 to 6 hours straight

 

[jack pulp]

Personally, I think the tri-flanges are great. They're easy to insert properly, easy to clean, and reasonably comfortable, considering what you're sticking in your ear. I guess I mean that I'm capable of forgetting about them. I haven't been able to get a seal with the black foamies, so I can't really compare.

Seems like I'm the only one backing etymotic's decision to include them as standard...

 

[episiarch]

By all means try the tri-flanges first; they're already fitted anyway.

I think I prefer the sound of the tri-flanges by a small margin, but *only* when I get the seal juust right - deeply sealed on both ears, with no air pressure difference between the two. In practice that doesn't always quite happen for me, or it happens but the perfect fit doesn't last as one tip or the other shifts slightly.

So the Complys are what I usually roll with. I can always get a pretty ideal seal with them, and they transmit a lot less cord microphonics than the tri-flanges. Big plus, that.

To me the Comply sound is just a smidge less perfect than with a perfect tri-flange fit, but since the latter is sometimes elusive, the Complys generally deliver the most overall satisfaction for me, unless I'm in the mood for lots of fiddling around with fit.

I'm looking forward to trying out the new Shure black olive foamies...hoping for the best of both worlds.

 

[episiarch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ghoti /img/forum/go_quote.gif My quest to make these things comfortable enough to listen to is basically never-ending.

ghoti, have you tried using a little Oto-Ease to lube up your tips before insertion? Makes a huge difference in comfort, IMO.

 

[ghoti]

Quote:

Originally Posted by episiarch /img/forum/go_quote.gif ghoti, have you tried using a little Oto-Ease to lube up your tips before insertion? Makes a huge difference in comfort, IMO.

I've read that, but still haven't tried.

Heck, for four bucks it's certainly worth finding out.

Is there a store that carries this stuff or alternate brands?

I don't want to pay shipping for one item if I can avoid it.

 

[feh1325]

tri or biflange

 

[episiarch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ghoti /img/forum/go_quote.gif Is there a store that carries this stuff or alternate brands? I don't want to pay shipping for one item if I can avoid it.

I'm not aware of one. But this same place carries Comply tips* so now you've got two worthwhile comfort-improvement products to spread your shipping costs over.

*note the trial pack - one of each size.

 

[tnmike1]

I'm with Jackpulp. Love the triflanges, hated the foamies and for some reason the Comply tips simply won't fit on my Etys, altho mine are about four years old and are Ety 4p, not 4s so that may be the difference. However, am gonna write Ety to check out the biflanges. I'm also convinced I have tiny ear canals/openings so that could be a reason why I feel they're comfortable.

 

[crazyface]

Hello!

I try to use the foamies, but a little tubular piece of plastic inside of them prevents me from inserting the ER-4's barrel.

Must I remove this?

 

[crazyface]

Nevermind, I pressed harder and the tubes yielded to the barrels.

Also - do the Ety's benefit from break-in like dynamic phones? I have put them on pink noise for now.

Also, how far into my ear-holes should I press the tips?

until the entire tip is within the canal, so that nothing is showing on the outside?

 

[crazyface]

My ear canals are very strange.

They're super wide, but there's very little space between the opening and a sharp upturn - and then they narrow considerably. All attempts to get past that curve have been painful - there's very little room between the opening and that curve... I've tried with foamies and tris so far. I'll try cutting off the small flange and see if that helps, and if that doesn't work I'll order complys.

 

[crazyface]

hello

Well cutting them into biflanges didn't seem to help much, even when inserting upwards. So I'll get some complys. Thanks for all the suggestions!

 

[ghoti]

Quote:

Originally Posted by episiarch /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm not aware of one. But this same place carries Comply tips* so now you've got two worthwhile comfort-improvement products to spread your shipping costs over. *note the trial pack - one of each size.

Well, comply tips were my next move anyway, so why not?

One day I will tame you Etys!

 

[Dubzilla]

Disclaimer: I use the ER-4S unamped and generally with my ipod.

I've used my Etys heavily and exclusively for about 3 years, I reckon. Here's what I've found with regards to sound quality:

1. Foamies have better bass response than flange tips
2. Some yellow foamies I bought off ebay advertised as "etymotic tips" definitely had better bass response than the Etymotic foamies. Unfortunately, I didn't have an opportunity to A/B the tips, so I'm not sure if the yellow foamies matched the hi-freq response of the black ones. But I am 100% sure about the bass difference. One thing I noticed about the yellow foamies are that they are much shorter than the Ety tips. The filter sits flush with the tips plastic tube.

The bass on the yellow tips is so much better than the other tips that I almost feel OK running the ER-4S unamped. YMMV, of course.

 

[crazyface]

Thank you!
Until the Complys get here, I'll keep experimenting...
When I use the tri-flange, should all three flanges be within my ear canal? The furthest I seem to be able to go has the biggest, third flange hanging about halfway outside of my ear, in the "bowl" of my ear, so that only its narrow portion is in the canal.
Should the black "barrels" underneath the slimmer black barrels (over which go the tips) be inside of my ear canal at all? I can't get them to even start going in.
I seem to be able to get the triflanges in further than the foamies. The foamies "open up" again really soon after compressing them, before I can get them far in.
It's hard to tell whether I'm getting a good seal when I'm listening to them without an amp. My onboard sound has a rudimentary amp when you select "headphone out", but I'm sure it's completely insufficient. But basically, if you've done some work in sound editing/effects/music, you know how most compressor software offers a preset "telephone/old-time-radio" filter?, well that's kind of how the ER-4S sound right now. The trebles are pretty clear, but everything from the mid-range down is very "sparse" and "diffuse". It kind of sounds like you're "not really" listening to it - like it's in another room or something.
Not blaming the ER-4S, just describing what a no-amp & possible-bad-seal sounds like. :B