delamont
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Nov 13, 2009
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I needed more isolation for stage monitoring while I'm drumming and decided to try Etymotics again. I've used (and loved) them in the past, but the plastic bodies kept breaking for me. I saw that their newer models have metal bodies and detachable cables so ordered a the ER3XR. Plugged them in and... almost no sound on the right side. There was some signal getting through, but it was almost impossible to be sure that it was there without removing the L earphone and listening only to the R side. I've already started the exchange process to get them replaced, but still want to figure out what was going on (and if I should be concerned about reliability longer-term).
I know they can be very sensitive to exactly how they're inserted, so I put the L in my right ear and the R in my left to see if that helped. No luck - the same earpiece, now in my left ear, was now much quieter. Even with both phones out of my ears I could hear a huge difference in the sound coming from one compared to the other.
Time to troubleshoot, then:
But as I continued testing, I noticed that every once in a while, I would get a normal, balanced response from both sides. But if I would unplug from that device and plug into a different one to make sure it was consistent, the R would go back to being almost silent. And to make things even stranger, at one point I got a balanced level in both ears and didn't unplug, but after a short time (maybe a minute? less than two, in any case) the sound in the R earpiece faded from full volume to the very quiet level... a relatively quick fade (3-5 seconds) but distinctly a fade and not just a sudden cut-off.
So... if it didn't work at all on one side it would make sense... break in the cable or something. Quieter on one side... some of the signal isn't getting through for some reason. Even if it was usually quieter on one side and sometimes correctly balanced I could attribute that to an inconsistent connection between the jack and the source. I don't know why it would almost always be quieter from one earpiece, but then sometimes at a matched level for a little while before gradually becoming quieter. To be fair, if someone else told me this I would think they were making it up/crazy, but I was testing carefully and I'm pretty sure that's what I experienced.
Any ideas? And anything I should be watching out for with the next set?
UPDATE: I emailed Etymotic about the problem and they thanked me for informing them but didn't provide any insight into what the problem may have been. In any case, the replacement set came quickly (I ordered from Amazon) and worked as expected... the insertion angle/depth makes a huge difference in both the tone and volume (just the nature of canal phones), but the level is consistently even between L/R. Shocking how much clearer these are than the Audio-Technica ATH-IM70 set that I was using before.
I know they can be very sensitive to exactly how they're inserted, so I put the L in my right ear and the R in my left to see if that helped. No luck - the same earpiece, now in my left ear, was now much quieter. Even with both phones out of my ears I could hear a huge difference in the sound coming from one compared to the other.
Time to troubleshoot, then:
- Tried multiple sources (all the same result)
- Plugged other earphones into those same sources to confirm that the sources were balanced (they were)
- Tried both 1/8" (native) and 1/4" (with an adapter) jacks (no difference)
- Removed earphones from MMCX cable and reversed the sides to see if it was a cable issue; the "quiet" followed the earphone, rather than the cable (so, if I attached the R earphone to the L cable, that was still the much quieter one)
- Since they were brand new and I had cleaned my ears, I knew it couldn't be another common trouble spot for Etys (dirty filter). and since the difference was apparent even without inserting them into my ears it wouldn't be the tips (stock triple flanges) causing the issue, either
But as I continued testing, I noticed that every once in a while, I would get a normal, balanced response from both sides. But if I would unplug from that device and plug into a different one to make sure it was consistent, the R would go back to being almost silent. And to make things even stranger, at one point I got a balanced level in both ears and didn't unplug, but after a short time (maybe a minute? less than two, in any case) the sound in the R earpiece faded from full volume to the very quiet level... a relatively quick fade (3-5 seconds) but distinctly a fade and not just a sudden cut-off.
So... if it didn't work at all on one side it would make sense... break in the cable or something. Quieter on one side... some of the signal isn't getting through for some reason. Even if it was usually quieter on one side and sometimes correctly balanced I could attribute that to an inconsistent connection between the jack and the source. I don't know why it would almost always be quieter from one earpiece, but then sometimes at a matched level for a little while before gradually becoming quieter. To be fair, if someone else told me this I would think they were making it up/crazy, but I was testing carefully and I'm pretty sure that's what I experienced.
Any ideas? And anything I should be watching out for with the next set?
UPDATE: I emailed Etymotic about the problem and they thanked me for informing them but didn't provide any insight into what the problem may have been. In any case, the replacement set came quickly (I ordered from Amazon) and worked as expected... the insertion angle/depth makes a huge difference in both the tone and volume (just the nature of canal phones), but the level is consistently even between L/R. Shocking how much clearer these are than the Audio-Technica ATH-IM70 set that I was using before.
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