Very! I use them all the time now
If you still love Etymotic ER4, this is the thread for you...
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SXero
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"Annoying" is too strong a word; in some situations (maybe ~10%) the XR's response may be more accurate to the intended sound, though in ~70% of cases I'd give that to the SR. In the end that should be enough of an argument to go for the SR - and EQ from there if necessary. However, given that engineers in this forum use the Er4XR professionally, I'd say the difference is audible, but small. Tiny in comparison with competing products.
A cheaper alternative to my suggestions
Er2SE is available (was at some point 120€ in NL). I also asked about clarity of accuracy vs frequency response (FR) in a post yesterday https://www.head-fi.org/threads/if-...is-is-the-thread-for-you.538615/post-16792306
The Apple dongle is apparently not bad. I wager it is the getting-used-to, judging by meaesurements of CrinAcle, I'd say the FR is rather unique in the market - but then again so is the deep insertion needed. Tthe fit is akin jacking in-and-out of the matrix (physically and sonically
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castleofargh
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Is there a crinicle I don't know about, or is it just a trend of misspelling Crinacle? There's a bunch of crinicle posts when searching the forum and I already got mighty confused with the many people discussing the Harman target and writing Harmon repeatedly, so I guessed I should just ask this time. For sanity check.
I'm clinical criminal bionicle!
I'm clinical criminal bionicle!
tinyman392
Be nice to noobs, we were all noobs at one point in our life.
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I think the Crinincle is just a typo.
"Annoying" is too strong a word; in some situations (maybe ~10%) the XR's response may be more accurate to the intended sound, though in ~70% of cases I'd give that to the SR. In the end that should be enough of an argument to go for the SR - and EQ from there if necessary. However, given that engineers in this forum use the Er4XR professionally, I'd say the difference is audible, but small. Tiny in comparison with competing products.
A cheaper alternative to my suggestions
Er2SE is available (was at some point 120€ in NL). I also asked about clarity of accuracy vs frequency response (FR) in a post yesterday https://www.head-fi.org/threads/if-...is-is-the-thread-for-you.538615/post-16792306
The Apple dongle is apparently not bad. I wager it is the getting-used-to, judging by meaesurements of Crinicle, I'd say the FR is rather unique in the market - but then again so is the deep insertion needed. Tthe fit is akin jacking in-and-out of the matrix (physically and sonically
Sorry I should've elaborated, I meant annoying for my use. So I use them for monitoring my Roland V-drums, which adds a fair bit to the boominess that could not be properly compensated for using the onboard equaliser on the drum module. Don't get me wrong, I love the slight increase in the sub-bass region but when I've been producing music I have found that the 4SR helps with monitoring the actual sound of drums more accurately and presents any backing track bass guitars with greater...clarity? Less muddiness."Annoying" is too strong a word; in some situations (maybe ~10%) the XR's response may be more accurate to the intended sound, though in ~70% of cases I'd give that to the SR. In the end that should be enough of an argument to go for the SR - and EQ from there if necessary. However, given that engineers in this forum use the Er4XR professionally, I'd say the difference is audible, but small. Tiny in comparison with competing products.
A cheaper alternative to my suggestions
Er2SE is available (was at some point 120€ in NL). I also asked about clarity of accuracy vs frequency response (FR) in a post yesterday https://www.head-fi.org/threads/if-...is-is-the-thread-for-you.538615/post-16792306
The Apple dongle is apparently not bad. I wager it is the getting-used-to, judging by meaesurements of Crinicle, I'd say the FR is rather unique in the market - but then again so is the deep insertion needed. Tthe fit is akin jacking in-and-out of the matrix (physically and sonically
Please bear in mind I'm using these words within the bubble of ER4 IEMs. When I say muddiness it is only in comparison to 4SR. The 4XR destroy so many other IEMs which I would almost say are objectively muddy haha
So anyways, producing music using the 4SR for drum heavy tracks seems to give me a really nicely tuned output on active monitors and on a set of HD25
Although perhaps I happened to get a slightly higher THD pair of 4XR? Who knows. Don't have any equipment to do my own measurements. The lab sheet that came says 0.85% for left and 0.72% for right
The ER4XR are fantastic for Doom metal, Dopethrone by Electric Wizard doesn't sound like bloated mush from other having too much mid/upper bass(100 ~ 205Hz). The Westone W40, XBA N1, AGK N40, IE 80 I had before getting the ER4 all sounded very bloated. Why have 4db at 100 ~ 250Hz if the sub bass peaks at 6 ~ 10db?.
SXero
100+ Head-Fier
I am not a drummer, but I couldn't agree more.
AryaTwirl
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Hahaha yeah, worth trying. Although I kinda feel bad using it, wants to keep all my Aonic tips unused just in case I sell it (now I'm using my spare shure olives, not the one from the packaging).A cheaper alternative to my suggestions
I have always been curious about the Etymotic, now I am seriously considering the purchase of ER4XR.
Are fit and deep insertion really a problem? How to find them in terms of comfort?
How is the timbre? In addition to technicalities, naturalness is very important to me.
Of the headphones I've had, the Hifiman Ananda have been my favorite overall. For mids and vocals however I like the Sennheiser HD 600 a little more.
Are fit and deep insertion really a problem? How to find them in terms of comfort?
How is the timbre? In addition to technicalities, naturalness is very important to me.
Of the headphones I've had, the Hifiman Ananda have been my favorite overall. For mids and vocals however I like the Sennheiser HD 600 a little more.
AryaTwirl
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Timbre, technicality, and naturalness, I guess buy the SR unless you want extra bass (and SR already has plenty). but can’t compare to hd 600 or Ananda as I have never tried those.
But let me tell you this, nothing can beat Ety in its price range and if you want IEM. That’s it. It’s just that good.
But the fitting…… Ety foams are the most comfortable one for me. They isolate really well, sound really close to triple flange (but treble kinda becomes more tame), and they don’t hurt your ears at all. Although, they deteriorate too quickly, especially the foam being detached from the stem after a month or two.
You can also try out shure olives. Way more durable than ety foams. But i never got a way to make it sound similar to ety tips. They always have this wonky mids and loose bass. And… they isolate a lot less.
Of course, if you really want the original signature sound, wear the triple flange. But I have this issue where more times than not, there’s sound imbalance due to one side not as deep as the other. So if your ears are really wonky…. Forget about triple flange. And of course, they hurt, and you need a lot of time getting used to.
There’s westone star tips foams too, which also seem to be more durable than ety’s. And good news, the sound is still similar to the Ety’s, but from my memory, they kinda don’t fit really well to the IEM, like the bore is a tad smaller in a way?
Well, good luck!
Luis Mad
Headphoneus Supremus
This is all very personal. In my case,unlike, Arya I find the triple flanges excellent. I bought the ER4XR which I absolutely love. Getting used to the deep insertion took a few days but now for me they are supercomfortable. I later changed to comply TX100 that are perfect for me at home. Many people find these easier to wear than the triple flanges. I also have the ER2XR with the bluetooth module for on the go. I use those with the triple flanges. Only thing is these are not adequate if you have to take them out and put them back on all the time. Putting them in and out is not so fast, easy and confortable. Once on, no problem for me.
For me the Etymotic are excellent: detailed fantastic clear sound with the best passive isolation. I use them mainly for classical music. The sound seems very clear to me. My other favorite hps nowadys are the Denon AH-D7200 and the AKG K712pro.
Hope it helps!
SXero
100+ Head-Fier
My transition/swap from Er4XR to Er4SR is documented here, possibly of use to you: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/if-...is-is-the-thread-for-you.538615/post-16788927
Timbre is always an interesting and dangerous point; "naturalness" I suppose needs the Er4SR, uncoloured but also notably no weird sounding toms, high hats (EDIT: also snare drums) or electric guitars for instance (the often DD vs BA discussion is a bit weird when considering that most IEMs have FR way of the unknown ideal). An important point to make is that the SR-target is extremely accurate, while the XR-target is off. Thus SR -> XR is possible through EQ, but otherwise is problematic because you cannot get to the precise Etymotic target.
On average the XR-version had audible artificial bloom/boominess. In addition the SR seems to be less sibilant than the XR as well, which maybe important if you listen to e.g. Muse. More (specific) points are made in the piece above.
Fit can be very comfortable - they are very light and small. Tip selection may be a bit more work/precise than your typical undeep IEM. Reaching this comfort may take days or 2-3 weeks, depending on your use and fanaticism. Yanking the cable with IEMs in is obviously very annoying.
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The DD argument is a non issue since IEM's use under 10mm drivers, It when It comes over heads when DD's start to suffer overall both bass performance & detail. Despite the ER2SE being dynamic based I still pick It over a Sundara/HD800/HD650 any day & It only very slightly less detailed to the ER4XR but only under A/B, But for casual use the ER2SE is endgame worthy for $99.
The XR target still super accurate considering how many bass head/Warm IEM's seem to have no set target. My Ety ER3XR's still sound super clean despite being slightly warmer than the ER4XR, It seems weird how 0.85 ~ 1.5% at 1KHz THD wise is used to diss the 4XR/3XR. Since the ER4XR proof you don't need to be <0.1% at 100db to have Extremely high detail level since the ER3XR I'm using right now blows away HP/IEM's that rated 0.2 ~ 0.5%?.
SXero
100+ Head-Fier
Have you got a source and/or can you elaborate on the DD < 10mm claim?
Cause of the smaller surface area the PET they use if much stiffer than the 40mm DD they use in a HD650, There also IEM's can get away with pushing less air but can rival OE headphones. It been a ER4 stereotype that cause It use a driver with very stiff metal foil it can't reproduce bass like a >10mm IEM & any OE headphone. A better question would be why can DD IEM's can be <0.2% full range while DD OE headphones fail to do so?. Etymotic in a way is selling the Focal Utopia in IEM form for $99 ~ 160.
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