If you still love Etymotic ER4, this is the thread for you...
Mar 17, 2021 at 1:37 PM Post #16,576 of 19,205
Nevermind, I just saw that the S10E are IEMs
Sorry my bad, I meant Samsung Galaxy S10e.

Really, unless there is any noticeable hiss from the MBP with the IEMs you have, there should not be any reasonable reason to get something else.
None whatsoever. Thanks for the input.

I have used my Samsung S10e smartphone to drive the ER3SE and ER3XR. See my impressions here:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ety...ssions-index-in-1st-post.956629/post-16242771
I have seen your impression before. From what I gathered till now, I think I need to try out the tempotec sonata hd pro, and see for myself whether I can hear enough of a difference. As it's not expensive, that should be a good entry.
 
Mar 17, 2021 at 2:15 PM Post #16,577 of 19,205
I have seen your impression before. From what I gathered till now, I think I need to try out the tempotec sonata hd pro, and see for myself whether I can hear enough of a difference. As it's not expensive, that should be a good entry.
I highly recommend, if you have a local store or friend with good DAP, to try out for yourself. Depending on the DAP - difference from your phone or laptop could be quite small or very noticeable. The N3Pro is quite unique because it offers 3 different sound signatures in 1 device! Granted, it is almost $500 so not in everyone's budget (unfortunately).
I do not own the $99 Little Bear amp (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KJ18H75/) - I wonder how that would work with the Etymotic IEMs... :thinking:
 
Mar 17, 2021 at 10:51 PM Post #16,580 of 19,205
I highly recommend, if you have a local store or friend with good DAP, to try out for yourself. Depending on the DAP - difference from your phone or laptop could be quite small or very noticeable. The N3Pro is quite unique because it offers 3 different sound signatures in 1 device! Granted, it is almost $500 so not in everyone's budget (unfortunately).
I do not own the $99 Little Bear amp (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KJ18H75/) - I wonder how that would work with the Etymotic IEMs... :thinking:
I don't know anyone who owns dap/dac/amp, or at least I am unaware of anyone having it close to me. I will still look around to try, and audition any if I can. Do you think I need both amp and dac? Or just one of them would let me see the difference? Maybe I should start with an amp? As you can see I am really out of my wits here. The only rec that I got till now was tempotec sonata hd pro, and that was for hzsound heart mirror (which I plan to buy). If you have any suggestion let me know.
 
Mar 17, 2021 at 11:24 PM Post #16,581 of 19,205
Do you think I need both amp and dac? Or just one of them would let me see the difference? Maybe I should start with an amp?
Standalone DAC would require an amp, so your choices are amp-only or DAC/Amp combo...
The FiiO BTR5 is another very good DAC/Amp combo at $110. Maybe that should be your device of choice. You can buy from amazon and return within 30 days if you don't think it is worth it. I did not try the Etymotic out of the BTR5 (yet) so cannot provide honest opinion on synergy between them, but in general - the BTR5 is very highly regarded!
 
Mar 18, 2021 at 12:39 AM Post #16,583 of 19,205
Standalone DAC would require an amp, so your choices are amp-only or DAC/Amp combo...
The FiiO BTR5 is another very good DAC/Amp combo at $110. Maybe that should be your device of choice. You can buy from amazon and return within 30 days if you don't think it is worth it. I did not try the Etymotic out of the BTR5 (yet) so cannot provide honest opinion on synergy between them, but in general - the BTR5 is very highly regarded!
Yes, but I heard it colors the sound warm. My preference actually leans toward neutral to a tad brighter sound than the other way around. So I am not sure how good of a source it would be to me. A neutral dac/amp would be preferable for me. I will try them out nonetheless. I also heard good things about them.
 
Mar 18, 2021 at 1:09 AM Post #16,584 of 19,205
Yes, but I heard it colors the sound warm. My preference actually leans toward neutral to a tad brighter sound than the other way around. So I am not sure how good of a source it would be to me. A neutral dac/amp would be preferable for me. I will try them out nonetheless. I also heard good things about them.

the Qudelix 5K is more neutral compared to the BTR5, both have comparable sound quality
 
Mar 18, 2021 at 3:52 AM Post #16,585 of 19,205
the Qudelix 5K is more neutral compared to the BTR5, both have comparable sound quality
Thanks, I will look into that.
 
Mar 18, 2021 at 8:09 AM Post #16,587 of 19,205
Mar 18, 2021 at 12:39 PM Post #16,588 of 19,205
Google Pixel 4a (5G) works well for me with the ER2SE, KZ ZAX, and Grado Hemp on ears. Underpowered for my DT770 250 ohms. No noise or hiss that I can hear. No weird EQ that I can tell either. ASR measurements for it were very clean, just not a lot of power but I find it works very well for IEMs. However, not really any built-in EQ options or anything fancy.
 
Mar 19, 2021 at 5:33 PM Post #16,589 of 19,205
So thanks to Adorama and this thread I've had a few weeks now with the SR after having been an owner of the XR for some time. I bet they'll grow on me. If it's a source/track that doesn't present much differently on the XR, I prefer the SR's ever so slightly cleaner presentation and ever so slightly better imaging. The problem is that the XR's low end is just so much more consistent across all genres and recording qualities for me(metal, rock, pop, hip-hop, jazz, electronic). Still, the SR though, when you need it, and the track is well mastered, the bass is very well defined.

If I'm going into a 'sesh knowing what I'll be listening to, and it's well produced: SR
Casual/shuffle/bad recordings: XR

Great pairs.
 
Mar 20, 2021 at 1:06 AM Post #16,590 of 19,205
After reading about the Etymotic filter tuning kit on Audio Discourse, I got excited to see I might be able to add a bit of treble energy to my ER2XR. I love the ER2XR, but it is a bit thick sounding, a tad stuffy. Today I did some filter rolling and measured the results.

er2xr-filters.jpg

Green line = green (stock) filters. The tuning kit comes with two other colors, but they both add warmth rather than subtract, so I haven't bothered trying them. Been listening to the brown filters for the past hour or so, and gotta say I think this is the way.
 

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