[minuvera]

Great! I will be getting both pairs in the mail to Rick this weekend. The crackling is present with both pairs though I have not investigated in detail with the replacement pair sent.

And the Note 8 has been used as the source with both DACs using an OTG cable. I notice the sound the most when walking with my phone and dad in my pocket or when I stand up at my desk with the phone and dad laying on the desk.

It occurs with both DACs, directly from the headphone output on my Note 8 and also on my Lenovo laptop at work. The original pair I purchased also seems to have the cracking/popping sounds when not plugged into a source. I noticed the same popping when I unplugged them last night and had the cable swing freely. So, I definitely think we can rule out a source issue.

 

[JohnYang1997]

I apologize for the off-topic but do you have some good suggestion with a budget around ~$100-300 for ER4S and B? I was ready to pull the trigger on the SMSL IDEA but apparently, there are some issues regarding QC and android so it's kinda like a lottery even though the majority are happy with it.

You meant dac/amp for Android right? I would recommend apogee groove. However, personally, I don't think it's that worth it to spend money on portable devices. Desktop setup will be much better. You are not going to hear much difference on the go anyway. But that is only my opinion. Apogee is good as er4s/b is not sensitive to the output impedance.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Great! I will be getting both pairs in the mail to Rick this weekend. The crackling is present with both pairs though I have not investigated in detail with the replacement pair sent.

It occurs with both DACs, directly from the headphone output on my Note 8 and also on my Lenovo laptop at work. The original pair I purchased also seems to have the cracking/popping sounds when not plugged into a source. I noticed the same popping when I unplugged them last night and had the cable swing freely. So, I definitely think we can rule out a source issue.

Oh wait? Did you mean the Stethoscope effect of earphones?

 

[csglinux]

Oh wait? Did you mean the Stethoscope effect of earphones?

Or static electricity discharges through the cable?

 

[thehexagonal]

Hello,

Question:

Who can make cables?
I'd be interested in paying for a pair of them for the ER4SR and ER4PT.

PM me if you can, where you are at (country) and what can you offer.

Thanks,

 

[thehexagonal]

Hello again!

Separate question:

Is there any way of either:

1) Elongating the live of the foam tips?
2) Repairing a foam tip that has separated from the rubber core?

I am going through them a bit too fast and at my pace (about 6-8 pairs a year, depending on whether the core bit fails) I am just adding lots of money ot the cost of keeping up my Etys

Another question would be: are there other tips (third party) that perform as well as the foam ones but that last longer?

Thanks again!

 

[JohnYang1997]

Hello again!

Separate question:

Is there any way of either:

1) Elongating the live of the foam tips?
2) Repairing a foam tip that has separated from the rubber core?

I am going through them a bit too fast and at my pace (about 6-8 pairs a year, depending on whether the core bit fails) I am just adding lots of money ot the cost of keeping up my Etys

Another question would be: are there other tips (third party) that perform as well as the foam ones but that last longer?

Thanks again!

Try shure foam tips.

 

[thehexagonal]

Try shure foam tips.

Thanks! What size would be the one that is close to the standard grey tips?

EDIT: Yellow or black olive looking ones?

EDIT 2: Looks like the olive ones (from the amazon reviews)...gonna see which is the closest size to the grey ety

 

[JohnYang1997]

Thanks! What size would be the one that is close to the standard grey tips?

There are yellow foam tips and olive black foam tips. Yellow tips are a bit wider than olive tips but narrower than etymotic's. You are still going to deep insert anyway, so that shouldn't be any problem. Yellow tips sound a bit warmer but smoother and wider sound stage than grey foam. They are a bit easy to get dirty because yellow is light color. You can wash them if you want to, the foam holds onto the stem very well.
Black foam has brighter and triple flange like highs which is better extended than grey foam. And it's also very durable. Soundstage is more 3d than yellow and grey but not as wide as yellow. Bass is also deeper on these.
Make your own choice. Still triple flange for me tho.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Thanks! What size would be the one that is close to the standard grey tips?

EDIT: Yellow or black olive looking ones?

EDIT 2: Looks like the olive ones (from the amazon reviews)...gonna see which is the closest size to the grey ety

Btw if you want the width there is er6i-14c yellow foam tips that you can buy from etymotic. I didn't try them but looks like the yellow foam tips but thicker.

 

[thehexagonal]

There are yellow foam tips and olive black foam tips. Yellow tips are a bit wider than olive tips but narrower than etymotic's. You are still going to deep insert anyway, so that shouldn't be any problem. Yellow tips sound a bit warmer but smoother and wider sound stage than grey foam. They are a bit easy to get dirty because yellow is light color. You can wash them if you want to, the foam holds onto the stem very well.
Black foam has brighter and triple flange like highs which is better extended than grey foam. And it's also very durable. Soundstage is more 3d than yellow and grey but not as wide as yellow. Bass is also deeper on these.
Make your own choice. Still triple flange for me tho.

Interesting. I find the tripple flange to have worse highs on my ears than the foam tips. This is why I use foam. It looks like the shape of my ear canal affects the way the tripple flange inserts itself.

I thought that maybe the smallest flange bends, hence the darker highs, so I grabbed one of my grey (non transparent) tips and chopped off the smallest flange. Better...but now terrible isolation. So I get the best isolation with the grey foams. When I insert the tripple flange, as well, I seem to create a pressure chamber in the ear and discomfort quickly ensues.

I wonder then if the black olive foam will be the real deal for me. Is size Medium on Shure the same size as the grey foams? From the photos they look a bit smaller.

Thanks again for your help!

 

[minuvera]

Or static electricity discharges through the cable?

It definitely isn't microphonic noise. I have that too. This is definitely a high frequency crackling/popping sound from both drivers. It MAY be static discharge, but I still get this sound when trying to isolate the cable from contacting my clothing or hair. At this point I'm completely lost at what it might be.

I've tried my HF5 and PSB M4U with th me exact same situation and don't really have any issues with them.

We'll see what @EtyDave can figure out when i send them back this weekend. Other than this issue I absolutely love the ER3xr. Just want to eliminate the popping sounds.

 

[AnyDave]

Interesting. I find the tripple flange to have worse highs on my ears than the foam tips. This is why I use foam. It looks like the shape of my ear canal affects the way the tripple flange inserts itself.

I thought that maybe the smallest flange bends, hence the darker highs, so I grabbed one of my grey (non transparent) tips and chopped off the smallest flange. Better...but now terrible isolation. So I get the best isolation with the grey foams. When I insert the tripple flange, as well, I seem to create a pressure chamber in the ear and discomfort quickly ensues.

I wonder then if the black olive foam will be the real deal for me. Is size Medium on Shure the same size as the grey foams? From the photos they look a bit smaller.

Thanks again for your help!

When it comes to eartips, insertion depth makes a significant difference. As others have commented, some folks find that they can't get as deep of a seal with the foam eartips, which will usually have a more notable effect on the frequency response than any differences in the eartips themselves (with the exception of the VERY old ER4 foams, which had a straight center tube and added a bit of a horn effect).

This is why it's so important for users to find out what tips works for them, from both a fit standpoint and sonically. I'm always wary when folks make definitive proclamations about the superiority of one particular eartip when user experiences can and do vary.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Grey foam, from my experience, never sound good. Piercing highs with 0 extension at shallower position. Dark highs with 0.1 extension at correct deep position. The closest foam to triple flange type sound is shure olive foam inserted deep. The newer (post 2015) has a white web thingy in the way, I cut it carefully with nail cutter.
Also even the small triple has bad high extension. Due to it being longer and does not seal with the ear canal with the two smaller flanges. Basically only the largest one does the job correctly.
What I do to my big triple flange is that instead of chopping out the Smallest flange, I cut around the largest one. I did chop off the first one before, it is extended but piercing and fatiguing. Doing it my way, I will have better deep bass, smoother and better extended highs. And I am 100% sure this is how it should sound like especially the provided frequency response graph should sound like. If only use the stock triple flange, there is always a peak in the 10k.It may sound good with xr but not with sr. And it's not as intended.
All of these are also supported by measurements. But the measurements are done long after the initial impressions.

 

[JohnYang1997]

If you can get large yellow foam that is the size of grey foam.
Olive foam wise, get small size only. It's very strong of giving the force in the ear canal. Your ear canal shouldn't be wider than small size olive anyway.