[castleofargh]

er4s when I had it: a few devices couldn't go loud enough with it. otherwise for me it saved several subpar sources thanks to the lower sensitivity and higher impedance. you don't make a race horse with a donkey, but it made many crap sources palatable for me.
er4sr: impedance not too low, sensitivity not to high and not too low, works great for me in almost anything except the horribly hissy sources.
hf5: sensitivity too high so it's ironically the IEM I used almost exclusively with my best gears. just because the rest was hissing too much into it.

other than that, like most people I've had some favorite combos without necessarily knowing why, or knowing but it wasn't about power. I'm certainly not saying that everything sounds the same and all is as good as it will ever get. only that power is a constant victim of audio profiling. something doesn't sound good? oh it must be that lazy thieving power not doing its work and keeping them electrons to itself again! that's just not fair for power and its lovely family.
#respectpower

 

[donunus]

Even if the 4sr is an upgrade, is it worth the cost from the 4s given the bad connectors?

 

[ClieOS]

Even if the 4sr is an upgrade, is it worth the cost from the 4s given the bad connectors?

Kinda confused, what bad connectors are you talking about? I don't personally like MMCX in general, but the one of the new ER4 is pretty solid. I must have unplugged / replugged mine at least 30~40 times now and they're still working perfectly.

 

[donunus]

I was just basing on other people reporting issues with intermittent connections

 

[Colors]

Using @ClieOS ‘s custom ER4 cable for my ER4SR and loving it:



Makes the ER4SR less clinical and more lively while retaining the detail and increasing air, space and dynamics in my opinion.

Courtesy of @castleofargh, my personal editor and assistant:

“I feel like on that one DAP I use, going balanced sounds better than SE with the er4sr. but then again it takes a good deal of time to switch the cables to go from balanced to SE and the difference in loudness makes it even harder to properly evaluate the differences in sound. but if I'm right about the impression of change, I wonder if it could be a matter of power needs for that DAP?”

 

[cathee]

Using @ClieOS ‘s custom ER4 cable for my ER4SR and loving it:



Makes the ER4SR less clinical and more lively while retaining the detail and increasing air, space and dynamics. The ER4SR are pretty power hungry for an IEM so balanced output definitely increases the quality of the sound.

Beautiful set up. Been searching for cable options for my ER4XR for some time now. Does @ClieOS sell these?

 

[Colors]

Beautiful set up. Been searching for cable options for my ER4XR for some time now. Does @ClieOS sell these?

Not 100% sure. Might want to PM.

 

[castleofargh]

... The ER4SR are pretty power hungry for an IEM so balanced output definitely increases the quality of the sound.

it's definitely an objective claim. any objective evidence to back that up or was it an unfortunate typo? like perhaps you meant to write "I feel like on that one DAP I use, going balanced sounds better than SE with the er4sr. but then again it takes a good deal of time to switch the cables to go from balanced to SE and the difference in loudness makes it even harder to properly evaluate the differences in sound. but if I'm right about the impression of change, I wonder if it could be a matter of power needs for that DAP?". and then your cat walked across the keyboard and the result was your post?
just a guess.

 

[FastAndClean]

i need 2.5mm balanced cable for my old ER4S, any suggestions?
also is it difficult to remove the stock cable and replace it?
thanks

 

[Colors]

its definitely an objective claim. any objective evidence to back that up or was it an unfortunate typo? like perhaps you meant to write "I feel like on that one DAP I use, going balanced sounds better than SE with the er4sr. but then again it takes a good deal of time to switch the cables to go from balanced to SE and the difference in loudness makes it even harder to properly evaluate the differences in sound. but if I'm right about the impression of change, I wonder if it could be a matter of power needs for that DAP?". and then your cat walked across the keyboard and the result was your post?
just a guess.

Whoops, that a purely subjective opinion and based on my own musical preferences. Let me copy and paste your quote and edit so that my post can be perfect

 

[chinmie]

Using @ClieOS ‘s custom ER4 cable for my ER4SR and loving it:



Makes the ER4SR less clinical and more lively while retaining the detail and increasing air, space and dynamics in my opinion.

Courtesy of @castleofargh, my personal editor and assistant:

“I feel like on that one DAP I use, going balanced sounds better than SE with the er4sr. but then again it takes a good deal of time to switch the cables to go from balanced to SE and the difference in loudness makes it even harder to properly evaluate the differences in sound. but if I'm right about the impression of change, I wonder if it could be a matter of power needs for that DAP?”

most of the time people say they experienced improvement like better stereo spread and soundstage, it's more because their DAP has a better implementation on their balanced channel compared to their SE (example: my ES100) . if the DAP has the same care from the maker, then it shouldn't sound different other than the difference of volume output between the two (example: my BlueDAC). those gain switches however now those make difference in sound. flip them and see whether you like the sound on low or high gain

 

[Colors]

most of the time people say they experienced improvement like better stereo spread and soundstage, it's more because their DAP has a better implementation on their balanced channel compared to their SE (example: my ES100) . if the DAP has the same care from the maker, then it shouldn't sound different other than the difference of volume output between the two (example: my BlueDAC). those gain switches however now those make difference in sound. flip them and see whether you like the sound on low or high gain

Thanks for explaining it to me clearly

Your post articulated what he meant to say I guess.

Yes, I do have gain switches on my Cayin (low, medium and high) and I find they do affect the sound (varies between IEMs). I find my ER4SR sound better with medium or high gain compared to almost the rest of my IEMs and IEMs I’ve tested which almost always sound better with low gain. It gets more complicated when you add IEMatch which has gain switches of its own.

 

[ClieOS]

I don't make claim that my cable will bring any sonic improvement (*but if you do find it to sound better, all the better). They are only meant to be functional replacement with better ergonomics.

 

[artnoi]

Anyone here knows ER4SR headphone equivalent? I knew that designing a headphone is more difficult than an in-ear earphone or even loudspeaker, since more factors, eg the open ear gain, have to be factored in, but I have not seen any headphones that boasts the most accurate reproduction at the eardrum or claimed to be designed based on human hearing like Etymotic's.

 

[castleofargh]

Whoops, that a purely subjective opinion and based on my own musical preferences. Let me copy and paste your quote and edit so that my post can be perfect

thanks a lot, and thanks again for not being all offended by me being my usual jerk. I know I should just read audio forums and assume that 100% of the objective claims are in fact pure subjective opinions. it would certainly help me keep my sanity. but then I can't help but worry about fellow audiophiles reading the same objective claims and taking them at face value. ending up purchasing any random device with a balanced output because they now believe that the IEM can't possibly sound good without some probably fake balanced output(as manufacturers really use that term in a loose way).

a small change in the way we write can potentially go a long way with other people reading and interpreting what we meant. it's not easy, even more so when we're talking in an informal way between er4 buddies. I mess up all the time and rarely notice it, because it's just easier to see faults in your neighbor.
anyway, you're being a good sport and that's really cool.

most of the time people say they experienced improvement like better stereo spread and soundstage, it's more because their DAP has a better implementation on their balanced channel compared to their SE (example: my ES100) . if the DAP has the same care from the maker, then it shouldn't sound different other than the difference of volume output between the two (example: my BlueDAC). those gain switches however now those make difference in sound. flip them and see whether you like the sound on low or high gain

yes on the device implementation. a good design is good a bad design sucks, no matter if it's single ended or not.
but I have to disagree about gain switch. because they too can be implemented in different ways. on some devices the gain switch is there to better match the input signal(input gain switch). on DAPs that particular design is often irrelevant as the source tends to stay the same and the gain might be no more than a glorified extra volume level setting. or the low gain could be designed specifically to handle low impedance loads, while the high gain might not measure great into 16ohm, but better serve a 150 or 300ohm headphone with lower sensitivity, thanks to the higher voltage gain. often with that in mind the impedance output may change with the gain selected. that of course opens the door to other possible changes in IEMs with non flat impedance response.
so we can range from your point being correct, to having virtually no difference while using the IEM(sometimes not even in noise floor), all depending on the device's own design(again).

also it's a real PITA to properly check for sound differences when the listening level can't be matched. because loudness difference is a sound difference indeed, and our brain is very partial to loudness from a psychoacoustic point of view. so that alone makes testing gain switches and balanced VS single ended by ear, a real tricky challenge.






all right, er4, was that the topic back in the day? ^_^ sorry guys.
I can only say that I use my er4sr all the time. almost exclusively so nowadays while my other IEMs just hang there(literally). just a little bass boost lower and a little less than the xr because I like it better that way, and all is well IMO. I could do with the cable 10cm shorter. but so far it didn't bother me enough to try and get another cable. I really like to complain, but the list is rather short here. I'm just a very satisfied customer.