[patman657]

I haven't visited Head-Fi for a few months, and I'm wondering if the Etymotic ER-4S is still considered the best in-ear canal phone. I noticed an article for the Prophonic headphone, which looks like it probably beats the Ety's out. Anything else?

 

[blessingx]

yep.

 

[jaskin]

Shure E5's another competitor.

 

[Hiker]

At this point there is quite a bit of certainty reguarding which canal phone is currently the best. Each model has its staunch supporters and to the best of my knowledge, the Prophonic has been heard by very few. Therefore, there is currently not enough information to determine which is the best. If only we had more people that had all three to compare them! ($$$$)

Hiker

 

[MusicLover]

Quote:

Originally posted by Hiker At this point there is quite a bit of certainty reguarding which canal phone is currently the best. Each model has its staunch supporters and to the best of my knowledge, the Prophonic has been heard by very few. Therefore, there is currently not enough information to determine which is the best. If only we had more people that had all three to compare them! ($$$$) Hiker

Maybe if the Prophonic wasn't 40 kajillion dollars, someone actually would be able to compare all three!

 

[fractus2]

ER-4S are number 1 in my book (especially with my JMT META42). I have a pair of ER-6 to compare it to. I'm having no problems with cord noise, wear, or anything else. Now if someone could design a pcdp + amp in one. Even a way to "stack" them in your backpack or gym bag for music on the go.

 

[Patrickhat2001]

I'd have to say that the Etys are still king just because very few people have tried the E5s and the Prophonics. Actually, when it comes to the E5s, if you look at the posts it appears to be the same three guys praising the phones and if I remember correctly two of them have under 100 posts. Another thing, I never see the Shure E5s compared to any other phones except for the Etys and usually these reviews aren't very detailed. If we are going to take someone's opinion at all seriously we better make sure that they have a lot of experience with other high quality headphones, especially when the phones they are touting cost $500.

The Etys have been around (at least the ER-4S version, anyway) for something like eight years and have proven themselves by the opinions of many, many people to be easily audiophile quality headphones. These two new challengers will have to be tested by many experienced people until we, the head-fi community, can assess how good they really are.

 

[adhoc]

Patrickhat2001,

what does post count have to do with reliability?


i think the crux of the issue is that there is going to be very ver VERY few people who would criticise their $300-$800 EARPHONES.

 

[Patrickhat2001]

Adhoc--

You are right, post count really does have nothing to do with a how reliable a person's opinions are. But experience does and I was making the erroneous link that post count would be correlated with experience. But I should hope that there would be many, many people who would criticize their $300-800 phones if those criticisms were valid. They should not blindly accept that their new phones must be the best based on the phone's high price and a few reviews. In the headphone world price and quality are correlated, but far from perfectly, so it does not mean that the $400-500 Shure E5 and the $750 Prophonic beat out the $250 Etymotic ER-4S because they are more expensive.

 

[psxguy85]

Although I own the lower model of Shures and love them so much, I still would buy the Ety's if i had the money. Currently, all my money is going towards home-base cans. Maybe I'll also get some Etys afterwards. (First

, and then

. Maybe after that, even

)

 

[shutakagi]

i dont like the very reason why the etymotics are so special: they isolate so well because it goes deep inside the ear, which to me seems (have not tried this yet) very uncomfortable, especially for long listening periods. i don't know, just my opinion.

 

[patman657]

Actually, shutakagi, they completely dissappear, at least in my realtively small ears, in just a minute or so. And for the time that you do notice them, they are really soft and unintrusive. I use the silicone tips. Now this is just me, and the fit differs for everyone. You really have to try them to see if you like them.

 

[MadDog]

Quote:

Originally posted by shutakagi i dont like the very reason why the etymotics are so special: they isolate so well because it goes deep inside the ear, which to me seems (have not tried this yet) very uncomfortable, especially for long listening periods. i don't know, just my opinion.

Yes, I didn't like the ety's way of obtaining a good seal. To me it goes to deep into my ear canal and did not find it comfortable wearing extended period of time. As for Shure E5, the cable's rather too heavy and stiff that I had similar discomfort. Pro2X-s, on the contrary, anchored itself onto entire ear cavity with ultra light and soft silicon earpiece so there was alomst no strain on my ear.

There's no reason for me to belittle ety or e5 just because I no longer have them. I still do believe er-4s is a greatest soudning phone with absolulte clarity/accuracy but to me there's no punch. I enjoy listening to techno, trance, hip-hop, rap, down tempo and other genre needing tremandous low-freq bass response with a substantial impact during the workout, but I felt I was missing out on those with ety. SUBJECTIVELY, that was the most critical drawback of ety which I have failed to overcome (much more serious than microphonics and ergonomic).

 

[Superbaldguy]

The Etys aren't everyone's cup of tea, but, once you get used to them, they are super-comfortable. Sonic quality is in a league by itself, IMHO.

 

[noguilt]

maddog, could you clarify:

did you find the "punch" missing from the etys in the Prophonics only, or also in the Shure E5?

thanx.