[Francisk]

 

Yep, best IEMs to discover the magic of Keith Jarrett's piano performance. 

 

PS: has anybody else noticed that the Ety smiley on Head-Fi is wearing them laterally reversed?

I love Keith Jarrett's The Köln Concert

 

[uchihaitachi]

My ER4Ss finally arrived last week. I've been running them out of a Benchmark DAC1 USB and also a JDS Labs C5D. I'm really pleased. As someone earlier in the thread wrote, the difference between these and the HF5s is surprisingly significant. 

However, I have one question. With some piano music, I hear a quiet but distracting rhythmic sound while the piano is playing. It sounds like a raspy vibration of metal. I don't hear this sound on the same tracks with my circumaurals (Oppo PM-2s). I hear it on both of my dac/amps. I was wondering if I was hearing the pedalling mechanism at work as a consequence of very close miking. The timing suggests that as a possibility. It could be some sort of reverb. Do others hear this with some piano recordings? 

That aside, I'm really impressed with their performance across a range of classical genres and with jazz and classic rock. 

Raspy vibration of metal? It sounds like you are hearing the pedalling mechanism. Makes sense if it is rhythmic

 

[HiFiChris]

 

 

Yep, best IEMs to discover the magic of Keith Jarrett's piano performance. 

 

PS: has anybody else noticed that the Ety smiley on Head-Fi is wearing them laterally reversed?

I love Keith Jarrett's The Köln Concert

 
I love this guy's performance as well, regardless which of his concerts. You can really feel his passion and love in every single note, grunt, buzz and scrape, that's his magic - though, I know some people that find this annoying, while I find it unique.

 

[sphones19]

Thanks to everyone for the replies. I think that must be it. I can't hear anything like it on other earphones, which I imagine speaks to the revealing nature of the ER4Ss. After doing some experimentation, the sound only seems to crop up on piano recordings that are (or sound to me to be) close miked. It's a shame. While I don't favour close miked recordings in general, the two to which I was listening are nice performance. I'll have to listen them on less revealing headphones. 
 
Just as a side point, while many things sound good on the ER4Ss, they have a particularly nice rendering of high quality recordings (of good performances) with brass instruments. I have a couple of good trumpet-oriented albums and a couple of good French horn oriented albums, both of which sound very close to live on the ER4Ss.

 

[H20Fidelity]

I've retired the ER4S / Colorfly C4 combo, not that it sounds bad. I still feel ER4S could use a little more power than C4 provides without giving it's internal amp a hard time so I'll keep searching. And when I paired my Grado 325e with C4 this afternoon it was all over for ER4S / C4.

On a mission, that synergy mission.

 

[Francisk]

   
I love this guy's performance as well, regardless which of his concerts. You can really feel his passion and love in every single note, grunt, buzz and scrape, that's his magic - though, I know some people that find this annoying, while I find it unique.

Yes I totally agree with you HiFiChris, Keith Jarrett's performance is so passionate that he truly gives his all including his moans and all without any reservation. 

 

[uchihaitachi]

  Thanks to everyone for the replies. I think that must be it. I can't hear anything like it on other earphones, which I imagine speaks to the revealing nature of the ER4Ss. After doing some experimentation, the sound only seems to crop up on piano recordings that are (or sound to me to be) close miked. It's a shame. While I don't favour close miked recordings in general, the two to which I was listening are nice performance. I'll have to listen them on less revealing headphones. 
 
Just as a side point, while many things sound good on the ER4Ss, they have a particularly nice rendering of high quality recordings (of good performances) with brass instruments. I have a couple of good trumpet-oriented albums and a couple of good French horn oriented albums, both of which sound very close to live on the ER4Ss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CF-xSm9tOk
 
If you hear that here at the beginning, the weird noise, it is definitely the pedalling.

 

[nk126]

Curious as to how many of you switch between ER4 and over- or on-ear cans, and how many of you stick primarily to the ER4s (or even swap between them and other IEMs)?
 
I bought a set of PSB M4U-1 about a month and a half ago to use at work. I really liked them when I first started using them. Then I got my ER4s. And the PSBs are getting significantly less play. The PSBs present what seems like a bigger and airier sound overall (good, in my book), but then reveal sloppier, boomier bass as compared to the ER4s (ER4-PT with the S adapter in use). And I miss the overall feeling of the music just being injected into my brain! The PSBs sound a little louder without purpose, whereas the ER4s are crisp and defined with bass that speaks and then goes away, as opposed to muddying the soundstage. 
 
So I'm wondering if I'm just a fan of the Ety sound and IEM design, or if I picked the wrong pair of cans considering what I like my music to sound like.
 
Finding this across a range of music, but right now some old Miles Davis (Nefertiti) on which the bass bleed/muddy effect is really noticeable on the PSBs, but the same music/source is delightfully crisp and more sparkly on the ER4s. 

 

[Happytalk]

I like having contrasting headphones. Iem's and headphones are different.. One can do things that the other can't. If you want something similar, i would look into AKg or Beyerdynamic. I have some hd600's. I chose them (over thebhd650's) because they contrast the er4s. I also have some dt1350's and they remind of a warmer er4s with a nice clear, subtle bass boost. I do like my bass clear. Especially if it's Ron Carter

 

[sphones19]

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CF-xSm9tOk
 
If you hear that here at the beginning, the weird noise, it is definitely the pedalling.

Thank you for the link. I'll check tomorrow. 

 

[Cosimojack]

Just picked up a pair of Er4P --->
 
These things are great + I understand now why people consider them a reference headphone.
Had Stax in the past and they were better, but not “that” much better imo.
 
Bought the massdrop 02 amp too and once I receive will be using the Er4 as Er4s (75 ohm connector).
 
I was tempted by many of the other newer options on the market, but glad I went with these old school classics…
20 year old technology and still hard to imagine a better headphone for the money.

 

[Hutnicks]

I like having contrasting headphones. Iem's and headphones are different.. One can do things that the other can't. If you want something similar, i would look into AKg or Beyerdynamic. I have some hd600's. I chose them (over thebhd650's) because they contrast the er4s. I also have some dt1350's and they remind of a warmer er4s with a nice clear, subtle bass boost. I do like my bass clear. Especially if it's Ron Carter

If you double entry cable those DT1350's and play around with the ports up top where the old cabling went, they get even better. A little sharper in the bass.
 
Love the headphones, the build quality and fit leaves something to be desired though.

 

[Happytalk]

I considered letting them go, but i just can't, based on the sound. The er4s have always been a mainstay though.

 

[nk126]

I like having contrasting headphones. Iem's and headphones are different.. One can do things that the other can't. If you want something similar, i would look into AKg or Beyerdynamic. I have some hd600's. I chose them (over thebhd650's) because they contrast the er4s. I also have some dt1350's and they remind of a warmer er4s with a nice clear, subtle bass boost. I do like my bass clear. Especially if it's Ron Carter

 

I do like my bass clear. Especially if it's Ron Carter

 
Indeed!
 
So the 1350s huh? Will check them out.
 
Any recs on AKG? Need closed back for use in my (open) office environment. 

 

[nk126]

Running ER4-s from a laptop, anyone have thoughts on getting a DAC vs Amp in the $150 or less range?
 
Looking at the Audioquest Dragonfly. Wondering if it's worth the money, vs just running unamped. 
 
Something that could work with both my laptop and my iDevices would be even better. Like a Fiio?