[lesale08]

I am just not liking the suction effect that I feel when I'm wearing the 4sr. But the sound is oh so good and the vocals is very open but dry.

 

[Phasedetect]

The ER4S has been my favorite headphone of any kind for 5 years now. I adore the sound of them, and they've become my reference IEM for listening and mixing. However...

I have become VERY particular about getting the left and right earphones to sit in the same place in my ears. If one of them is farther in than the other, the sound is at best lopsided and at worst muffled in one ear. Even worse, sometimes they are inserted the same but one blocks out background noise better, so I've got more ambient sound in one ear. I'm so OCD about it that sometimes now I'll go to put on the ER4s and get so frustrated with seating them in my ears equally that I just give up and grab some over-ear cans. This wasn't a problem for me for my first 2 years of owning them, but for some reason now it's taking over my life. I think having a CIEM where there's only one depth that it can be inserted to would solve this.

My second problem is wanting the cables to go around the back of my ears. I've used the aftermarket adapters to give them westone connectors, and that worked fine enough but was not as ideal as them being built to go behind the ear in the first place. I also am getting to a point in my career as a musician where I could use IEMs for on-stage monitoring, and the the ER4 would be the sound I want but not ideal for stage use. Having a CIEM would solve this.

SO I've convinced myself that a CIEM is the solution to all of these problems. Judging by a lot of word on this forum and others, the UERM is the only one that sounds close enough to be a replacement for me. But of course they discontinued those and replaced them with the UERR before I could buy a pair of my own.

I'm left feeling like a man without an island. I could find a pair of older UERM and re-shell, but that's dicey. I've also heard mixed things about custom silicone tips for the ER4* changing the sound for worse. Ideally, I'd pay to get a pair of brand new ER4SR shelled into a CIEM, but I'm worried that the pristine sound signature will change too drastically and leave me wishing I had just kept the ER4SRs stock.

Does anyone have experience with having these re-shelled? Or having ANY universal re-shelled for that matter? Or getting a CIEM re-shelled? Does it ruin the sound of the IEM? Am I better to give up on the pipedream of a CIEM with the sound of the ER4? Someone help me before I have a full-blown headphone existential crisis.

 

[Taisser Roots]

I've owned the er4sr for a while and very much enjoy them. Most multi Ba designs seem to have crossover issues, the andromeda being one which seems to suffer from it less, but doesn't isolate well.

I just want to make a balanced cabled for them, I have read that he resistors have been moved out of the splitter and wonder if there is still a resistor in the cable. As all the new ones are 45 ohm.

 

[ClieOS]

I just want to make a balanced cabled for them, I have read that he resistors have been moved out of the splitter and wonder if there is still a resistor in the cable. As all the new ones are 45 ohm.

There is no resistors in the SR/XR anymore.

 

[RobinFood]

The ER4S has been my favorite headphone of any kind for 5 years now. I adore the sound of them, and they've become my reference IEM for listening and mixing. However...

I have become VERY particular about getting the left and right earphones to sit in the same place in my ears. If one of them is farther in than the other, the sound is at best lopsided and at worst muffled in one ear. Even worse, sometimes they are inserted the same but one blocks out background noise better, so I've got more ambient sound in one ear. I'm so OCD about it that sometimes now I'll go to put on the ER4s and get so frustrated with seating them in my ears equally that I just give up and grab some over-ear cans. This wasn't a problem for me for my first 2 years of owning them, but for some reason now it's taking over my life. I think having a CIEM where there's only one depth that it can be inserted to would solve this.

My second problem is wanting the cables to go around the back of my ears. I've used the aftermarket adapters to give them westone connectors, and that worked fine enough but was not as ideal as them being built to go behind the ear in the first place. I also am getting to a point in my career as a musician where I could use IEMs for on-stage monitoring, and the the ER4 would be the sound I want but not ideal for stage use. Having a CIEM would solve this.

SO I've convinced myself that a CIEM is the solution to all of these problems. Judging by a lot of word on this forum and others, the UERM is the only one that sounds close enough to be a replacement for me. But of course they discontinued those and replaced them with the UERR before I could buy a pair of my own.

I'm left feeling like a man without an island. I could find a pair of older UERM and re-shell, but that's dicey. I've also heard mixed things about custom silicone tips for the ER4* changing the sound for worse. Ideally, I'd pay to get a pair of brand new ER4SR shelled into a CIEM, but I'm worried that the pristine sound signature will change too drastically and leave me wishing I had just kept the ER4SRs stock.

Does anyone have experience with having these re-shelled? Or having ANY universal re-shelled for that matter? Or getting a CIEM re-shelled? Does it ruin the sound of the IEM? Am I better to give up on the pipedream of a CIEM with the sound of the ER4? Someone help me before I have a full-blown headphone existential crisis.

Why not just get custom ear tips. Was kind of a dream of mine until I found the awesome beige foam ear tips, and I just don't feel that customs will be better than those tips for me...

Anyway, when I was doing some research, the two best options for custom ear tips were Sensaphonics customs...

https://www.sensaphonics.com/for-etymotic-earphonesfor-etymotic-earphones

and Westone style 34...

https://www.earplugstore.com/westone-style34-custom-molds.html

If you don't like it you'll be out by less, and can get an idea of what CIEM sound like.

 

[forestall]

I had the Etymotic ER4P-T for a few years before they fell apart and I had been using the Apple earphones with the Earskinz adapters. I had gotten tired of the wallow-y bass on the EarPods and wanted something more high end.

I received the ER4SR today and immediately they disappointed. There is more detail but the midrange sounds crushed. There is plenty of bass if it's present in the music. I assumed the entire soundstage would be wider but instead every piece of music sounds compressed.

It's hard to believe these are really much different from the ER4Ps which I used and enjoyed for years, so I've probably grown used to the way the EarPods sound. Also I forgot how annoying the Etymotic cable noise is. Perhaps also it's just the limitation of in-ear audio; if the Apple earphones achieve decent isolation with the Earskinz, any alternative is diminishing returns.

 

[carmatic]

Am I the only one who is bothered by the lack of matching in the low frequencies?
go on this site http://www.szynalski.com/tone-generator/ and see if you can spot any difference between how the drivers on either side respond to frequencies below 100hz

 

[Lieon]

I had the Etymotic ER4P-T for a few years before they fell apart and I had been using the Apple earphones with the Earskinz adapters. I had gotten tired of the wallow-y bass on the EarPods and wanted something more high end.

I received the ER4SR today and immediately they disappointed. There is more detail but the midrange sounds crushed. There is plenty of bass if it's present in the music. I assumed the entire soundstage would be wider but instead every piece of music sounds compressed.

It's hard to believe these are really much different from the ER4Ps which I used and enjoyed for years, so I've probably grown used to the way the EarPods sound. Also I forgot how annoying the Etymotic cable noise is. Perhaps also it's just the limitation of in-ear audio; if the Apple earphones achieve decent isolation with the Earskinz, any alternative is diminishing returns.

I find your impressions intriguing. I too own the ER4P-T and the ER4SR is an improvement over it. The bass is tighter and overall clarity is better on the ER4SR. What do you mean by the midrange sounding 'crushed'? If you have been using the EarPods for a while, your ears may need some time to adjust to the ER4 sound as they are vastly different sound signatures. I use the AirPods occasionally but cannot bear their reproduction of bass, it's overly bloated and lacks definition.

 

[YoengJyh]

I had the Etymotic ER4P-T for a few years before they fell apart and I had been using the Apple earphones with the Earskinz adapters. I had gotten tired of the wallow-y bass on the EarPods and wanted something more high end.

I received the ER4SR today and immediately they disappointed. There is more detail but the midrange sounds crushed. There is plenty of bass if it's present in the music. I assumed the entire soundstage would be wider but instead every piece of music sounds compressed.

It's hard to believe these are really much different from the ER4Ps which I used and enjoyed for years, so I've probably grown used to the way the EarPods sound. Also I forgot how annoying the Etymotic cable noise is. Perhaps also it's just the limitation of in-ear audio; if the Apple earphones achieve decent isolation with the Earskinz, any alternative is diminishing returns.

Are you a true music lover? Or you bought a counterfeit Etymotic...?

 

[chinmie]

I had the Etymotic ER4P-T for a few years before they fell apart and I had been using the Apple earphones with the Earskinz adapters. I had gotten tired of the wallow-y bass on the EarPods and wanted something more high end.

I received the ER4SR today and immediately they disappointed. There is more detail but the midrange sounds crushed. There is plenty of bass if it's present in the music. I assumed the entire soundstage would be wider but instead every piece of music sounds compressed.

It's hard to believe these are really much different from the ER4Ps which I used and enjoyed for years, so I've probably grown used to the way the EarPods sound. Also I forgot how annoying the Etymotic cable noise is. Perhaps also it's just the limitation of in-ear audio; if the Apple earphones achieve decent isolation with the Earskinz, any alternative is diminishing returns.

I find your impressions intriguing. I too own the ER4P-T and the ER4SR is an improvement over it. The bass is tighter and overall clarity is better on the ER4SR. What do you mean by the midrange sounding 'crushed'? If you have been using the EarPods for a while, your ears may need some time to adjust to the ER4 sound as they are vastly different sound signatures. I use the AirPods occasionally but cannot bear their reproduction of bass, it's overly bloated and lacks definition.

yup, going from earbuds or airpods type of earphones to IEMs, you will generally find the mids on the IEMs to be thin compared to earbuds. going from using IEMs to earbuds, you will perceive the earbuds mids a bit bloated. give some time for the ears to adjust.

i use both daily and switch between them often, so i use thinner foams on my earbuds to make them sound a bit more uniform

 

[artnoi]

Damn I barely reach for other headpgones during these 1-2 months after owning ER4SRs. They are just so accurate, articulate, precise, and full-sounding! There’re times I wanted more bass, so I guess I’ll get a pair of ER3XRs.

 

[Colors]

Damn I barely reach for other headpgones during these 1-2 months after owning ER4SRs. They are just so accurate, articulate, precise, and full-sounding! There’re times I wanted more bass, so I guess I’ll get a pair of ER3XRs.

I found the mid-bass on the XR overly boosted. I’d stick with the SR.

 

[artnoi]

I found the mid-bass on the XR overly boosted. I’d stick with the SR.

Me too that’s why I chose SR model. When you have both of them at hands for audition then you know how pure the SR is compared to XR. But as I stated, there’re times I needed more bass, so I guess ER3XR is the way to go (half as cheap as ER4 brothers with similar performance to ER4s when I tried them).

 

[Colors]

Me too that’s why I chose SR model. When you have both of them at hands for audition then you know how pure the SR is compared to XR. But as I stated, there’re times I needed more bass, so I guess ER3XR is the way to go (half as cheap as ER4 brothers with similar performance to ER4s when I tried them).

I’d look into the Massdrop Plus too. It’s the XR except warmer and way better executed. Neutral like the ER4 but with just the right amount of bass. Treble is rolled off a tad though.

 

[artnoi]

I found the mid-bass on the XR overly boosted. I’d stick with the SR.

Oh and anyway, before purchasing my ER4SR I’ve tried all four of ER3s and 4s except for ER4 micropro or something. They all sounded really really good.