[ClieOS]

Wow sorry to hear that. It definitely seems outside the norm. I've never had a pair break on me in about 4 years, and I wear mine to the gym about 4-5 times a week. Not at all careful with them. But, I'm also using the stock cable.

The aftermarket adapters are 99% likely the cause imo. How do the pins look when you take off the adapter? Are the pins separating? Are they missing any piece of the metal tip on the end of the pin? Does the issue persist if you reinstall the stock cable?

If you get another pair I would highly recommend using the stock cable and cinching it for easy over-the-ear wear. Completely eliminates microphonics for me. They are the best running pair of earphones I've ever had.

 
Really doubt that, given I have build some adapter myself and there isn't much that can go wrong with those things.
 
If I were in the same shoe, I'll check for DC offset on the source first.

 

[VladTheImpala]

Thank you gnarlsagan, I will check out your suggestions thoroughly and report back. I do admit I almost never use the stock cable. The awwan adapters are kind of flimsy, one of them broke already and needed soldering. The pins are not as tight of a fit as the stock cable, but they fit well. It's the way the connections work inside the adapter that could be the culprit. Instead of a direct connection made with wires, they use a small microchip board that the signal path runs through.

I checked with the stock cable and there is indeed an improvement, but I can't tell if the weird buzzing is totally gone. The stock cable is noticeably different sounding because it's for an ER4S and the awwan adpaters are for ER4B, and the aftermarket cable itself is a bit more transparent sounding because it's silver plated copper. It's crazy how transparent the sound is when you use a B-adapter with a silver-plated cable, maybe the combination just pushes it too hard and creates problems that would never arise with the stock cable? Going back to the stock cable feels totally different, I can't tell if the buzzing is there but I can't hear it as well, or if it's not there at all. Either way it has made an improvement. I need to do some critical listening and go through all the songs that I remember being affected and report back.

Got my fingers crossed that the adapter has been the problem the whole time. Who knows, maybe ALL the earpieces I thought were broken are totally fine. Wouldn't that be great! Although when the first one went, I remember doing thorough tests and noticing that the noise moves with the earphone when the earphone is moved to the other side, and using multiple cables to confirm. I was pretty sure I confirmed that it was the earpiece, but with this newest problem it seems that it might be the adapter. I'll test all of them thoroughly and report back.

It's definitely not the source because it happens with multiple sources.

 

[luisdent]

It sounds to me like the driver may be blowing due to certain frequencies being too loud.

If a rip was done (vinyl rip) where the levels were at the very threshold and/or slight clipping is occuring that is very bad for speakers. Sine sweeps at loud volumes (pure tones) are also very bad. Is it possible you've had any of these things playing through each of your er4s?

Perhaps you take them off sometimes while audio is still playing at an already loud level, and then a song comes on that is even louder? It still seems unlikly that that would hurt them, as they are capable of a lot of output...

Also, is there any chance they are in a moist environment?

Lastly, power spikes are very bad for drivers. Do you have a device or amp that makes an audible "blip" in the er4s when you power it on/off? That can damage things if it's bad enough.

 

[Silverprout]

Hello,
Are you using a bass boost ?
Is your amp pariculary well known to have a good bass rendering ?

 

[VladTheImpala]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

The vinyl rips I am playing are a possible culprit, but I really hope that's not the case. There is no problem playing the same rips on other headphones and on my home speakers, so there is some hope that it's not the rips, but I can't rule it out.
 
The gear I am using with the 3 pairs that broke is Fiio X3 Gen 1, Fiio X3 Gen 2, Fiio X5 Gen 1, Resonessence Labs Concero HP. I don't think there's any kind of power surge issue with any of those.

My environment is very dry actually, I live in Alberta, but I do use a humidifier in my home for controlling static electricity for playing vinyl records.

I'm going to do some thorough listening today and report back. I still think there is a chance the earpieces are fine - going back to the stock cable has helped the buzzing, but I'm not sure if the aftermarket adapters were causing the buzzing and the earpiece is fine, or if the earpiece has been crippled, but the stock cable just hides the injury by never reaching the frequencies that cause the buzzing. I have a list of songs that are affected, I'll listen carefully - might have to be over the course of a couple of days - and report back.

Thanks guys!

 

[luisdent]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.


The vinyl rips I am playing are a possible culprit, but I really hope that's not the case. There is no problem playing the same rips on other headphones and on my home speakers, so there is some hope that it's not the rips, but I can't rule it out.

The gear I am using with the 3 pairs that broke is Fiio X3 Gen 1, Fiio X3 Gen 2, Fiio X5 Gen 1, Resonessence Labs Concero HP. I don't think there's any kind of power surge issue with any of those.


My environment is very dry actually, I live in Alberta, but I do use a humidifier in my home for controlling static electricity for playing vinyl records.


I'm going to do some thorough listening today and report back. I still think there is a chance the earpieces are fine - going back to the stock cable has helped the buzzing, but I'm not sure if the aftermarket adapters were causing the buzzing and the earpiece is fine, or if the earpiece has been crippled, but the stock cable just hides the injury by never reaching the frequencies that cause the buzzing. I have a list of songs that are affected, I'll listen carefully - might have to be over the course of a couple of days - and report back.


Thanks guys!

Is the aftermarket connector tight? Could bass resonance be rattling the metal pins in the barrel? Seems very unlikely, but I'm just trying to think of things...

 

[luisdent]

And where is the new er4s model?!?!

Maybe that will solve all your issues...

 

[Silverprout]

  Thanks for the suggestions guys.

The vinyl rips I am playing are a possible culprit, but I really hope that's not the case. There is no problem playing the same rips on other headphones and on my home speakers, so there is some hope that it's not the rips, but I can't rule it out.
 
The gear I am using with the 3 pairs that broke is Fiio X3 Gen 1, Fiio X3 Gen 2, Fiio X5 Gen 1, Resonessence Labs Concero HP. I don't think there's any kind of power surge issue with any of those.

My environment is very dry actually, I live in Alberta, but I do use a humidifier in my home for controlling static electricity for playing vinyl records.

I'm going to do some thorough listening today and report back. I still think there is a chance the earpieces are fine - going back to the stock cable has helped the buzzing, but I'm not sure if the aftermarket adapters were causing the buzzing and the earpiece is fine, or if the earpiece has been crippled, but the stock cable just hides the injury by never reaching the frequencies that cause the buzzing. I have a list of songs that are affected, I'll listen carefully - might have to be over the course of a couple of days - and report back.

Thanks guys!

Fiio... it is a great brand.
BUT you should measure the DC offset of your DAPS ASAP.
I've got a DC issue in the past that kill one of my CIEM armature...

 

[gnarlsagan]

  Thanks for the suggestions guys.

The vinyl rips I am playing are a possible culprit, but I really hope that's not the case. There is no problem playing the same rips on other headphones and on my home speakers, so there is some hope that it's not the rips, but I can't rule it out.

 
 
I've been playing vinyl rips for years on my ER4S. Doesn't seem likely to me unless you were maxing out the volume for whatever reason. 
 
Since you don't seem to be hearing the issue on the stock cable, we may have found the likely culprit. 

 

[VladTheImpala]

That's good to hear about vinyl rips, gnarlsagan. I do max out the volume all the time, actually. The rips I listen to are not normalized, so they are significantly quieter than regular audio files. I max out the volume all the way up to 120 on my Fiio, but that makes it like listening to a regular mp3 on 90 or 100.

Silverprout, how would I measure the DC offset on my DAP?

Hopefully we will be able to get to the bottom of exactly what's causing it. There are so many variables that it's hard to pin down exactly what - it could be the adapter, could be the audio signal, could be the fact that the cable is more transparent combined with the loudness, or could be a combination. I hope it isn't being caused by them being pushed too hard with a more open-sounding cable, because the new versions will come with properly detachable cables, and even the Ety rep in this thread said that you won't be limited to Ety cables, so I hope there won't be a risk of blowing the driver for those people who are interested in getting a custom OCC or silver-plated OFC cable for the new version of the ER4S.

 

[Silverprout]

  That's good to hear about vinyl rips, gnarlsagan. I do max out the volume all the time, actually. The rips I listen to are not normalized, so they are significantly quieter than regular audio files. I max out the volume all the way up to 120 on my Fiio, but that makes it like listening to a regular mp3 on 90 or 100.

Silverprout, how would I measure the DC offset on my DAP?

Hopefully we will be able to get to the bottom of exactly what's causing it. There are so many variables that it's hard to pin down exactly what - it could be the adapter, could be the audio signal, could be the fact that the cable is more transparent combined with the loudness, or could be a combination. I hope it isn't being caused by them being pushed too hard with a more open-sounding cable, because the new versions will come with properly detachable cables, and even the Ety rep in this thread said that you won't be limited to Ety cables, so I hope there won't be a risk of blowing the driver for those people who are interested in getting a custom OCC or silver-plated OFC cable for the new version of the ER4S.

 
Put multimeter on the 2V DC caliber at the jack output connector of your DAP.

 

[AnyDave]

Wow Vlad, sorry to hear about the issues you are having.  I'm hoping that the stock cable works out better for you.  If not, please send me a PM; I'd like to measure/dissect the rejects.
 
There have been some good suggestions from others in this thread.
 
1.)  A DC offset from an amplifier can certainly damage if gone undetected.  It goes beyond earphones, too;  I have a friend that lost the woofer in his Martin Logans due to a DC offset issue in an amp he had.
 
2.)  Physical shock is the usual cause for distortion like this.  I'm not saying that yours were dropped or anything, just that it's something to watch out for.  Balanced armatures are wonderful drivers, but they are a bit sensitive to that.
 
3.)  I would be incredibly surprised if your vinyl rips had anything to do with the issues you are seeing.  As gnarlsagan said (great name, btw), it would be more likely because the driver was overdriven, not the fact that the source of the audio originally was vinyl.
 
Please update the thread or message me with the results of your testing.  I'm very curious about this one.

 

[AnyDave]

And where is the new er4s model?!?!

Maybe that will solve all your issues...

 
It's looking like we will start shipping next week.  We're getting production spooled up and locking things down.

 

[Silverprout]

  3.)  I would be incredibly surprised if your vinyl rips had anything to do with the issues you are seeing.  As gnarlsagan said (great name, btw), it would be more likely because the driver was overdriven, not the fact that the source of the audio originally was vinyl.

 
Yes, you should also verify the DC offset of your vinyl rips.
 
http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/dc_offset.html

 

[VladTheImpala]

Thanks EtyDave, I will definitely keep you updated. Currently at work so can't give an update until later this weekend.

Thanks for all your help, you guys are the best.