[djbaneatwebde]

Wait, what? I have been looking for posts relating to modding my ER4XRs to no avail. I can use the same models Knowles filters that I use for my Shure SE535? Out with the filter tool, put different ones in, diaphragm down? That would be great. I changed the stock Shure filters for greys and the sound came alive for me.

Everythings possible ^^ weill not everything and maybe some things are not reversible. At the beginning i bought knowles filters for my Shure535 and the brown one did it for me. As i noticed the plastic ones in my er4xr i was wondering... didn't fit. so i took some sanding paper, rolled it up tightly and tried to make the bore bigger pulling it out. Took me quite a while because destroying them would have hurt. but yaaah it worked. aluminium dust in the chamber was the next worry but never heard strange sounds so it worked out for me.

for the linum bax cable i had to grind down the notch at the connection-plug. okay, they look a bit silly in the ear but it improved the sound a little bit (at least i like to think that, could well be psychological!?) good sounding tampons for your ear ^^ i put a little white dot on the left side of the cable tie thingy.

The heat-shrinking went of of the connectors a while ago it was like first generation production. !!! I cannot go back to stock connectors because they wobble so be warned !!! The filters have been the bigger improvement.

I won't change filters nor cable on the 2xr though. They will be my new daily drivers for my trainride to work and back, the connectos are sturdy the cable has not so much microphonic problems and they really don't need any more bass. (just change the silicone tips for shure or comply and you'll be fine)

 

[435279]

Everythings possible

Wow those are some serious mods there.

 

[Sunstealer]

If the Knowles don't fit straight off, I don't think I want to take the risk. I'm happy with the sound as is. ClieOS made me a balanced cable and some MMCX converters so I've been able to experiment with the cables from my other IEMs.

 

[djbaneatwebde]

haha it's like a defect in the brain. can't stop "improving" stuff.

 

[sainteb]

Speaking of filters, are there any (cheaper) alternatives to the green wax filters that ship with the ER4-XR/SE?

 

[rbf1138]

Two questions for @WhatToChoose : you mention earlier in this thread a silver cable that gave you better bass response- what is that cable and where can I get it? Secondly, what was the iem you’d gotten for the better bass response you wanted? Do you still own it? Thanks!

 

[JohnYang1997]

haha it's like a defect in the brain. can't stop "improving" stuff.

But this is not improving..... Is messing around at best....speakerphone has measurements of all filters for er4xr. And it's the same for all er4 er3 series. Probably very close to er2 because stock filters are green.
Those filters are from sonion, biggest competitor to knowles. The same color has the same acoustic impedance as knowles(or at least almost the same).

 

[JohnYang1997]

Two questions for @WhatToChoose : you mention earlier in this thread a silver cable that gave you better bass response- what is that cable and where can I get it? Secondly, what was the iem you’d gotten for the better bass response you wanted? Do you still own it? Thanks!

No measurements have shown measurable difference with etymotic iems in frequency response. Probably er3 in some way but not really overall.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Speaking of filters, are there any (cheaper) alternatives to the green wax filters that ship with the ER4-XR/SE?

Don't know if you can buy directly from sonion. But I think if you keep ear canal clean as you should when you use this type of iem you don't need to change out that much or at all.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Wait, what? I have been looking for posts relating to modding my ER4XRs to no avail. I can use the same models Knowles filters that I use for my Shure SE535? Out with the filter tool, put different ones in, diaphragm down? That would be great. I changed the stock Shure filters for greys and the sound came alive for me.

That's because 535 was horrible in the first place. And still not good after mod. Etymotics are tuned optimally, it's not easy to improve especially when you don't have measurements and reference system to compare to.

 

[WhatToChoose]

Two questions for @WhatToChoose : you mention earlier in this thread a silver cable that gave you better bass response- what is that cable and where can I get it? Secondly, what was the iem you’d gotten for the better bass response you wanted? Do you still own it? Thanks!

Always happy to help out!

The cable I use is the Silver Dragon V1, from Moon Audio. I am actually extremely satisfied with the ER4XR bass response with this cable + shallow pressure-normalized insertion (I think I liked XBA N3 for a short while, but it sounded muddy compared to the ER4XRs). I still have the N3s, but I don't really use them anymore since the dark signature was a bit too fatiguing for me.

Plenty of other members in this thread raised valid points about cables potentially not changing anything, and my experience could be entirely placebo. However, as we all know, perception is reality, and indeed, I do perceive a quite noticeable difference. I like to think placebo is not the cause, because silver cable reduced brightness in my case (contrary to typical silver cable reviews repprting increased brightness), but this does not rule out my potential incorrectness on the matter (I have been known to make headass statements before, so proceed with....caution?).

If you do decide to try the Silver Dragons with the ER4XRs, I would be very excited to hear your impressions! It would be great if someone else could confirm that they do change the sound, OR confirm that I am indeed a neanderthal that gets overly enthusiastic about placebo effects.

If you do decide to try them, make sure the pressure is normalized (open your eustachian tubes via yawning, and insert slowly), and I recommend a shallow insertion for a more holographic sound.

Best of luck

 

[rbf1138]

Always happy to help out!

The cable I use is the Silver Dragon V1, from Moon Audio. I am actually extremely satisfied with the ER4XR bass response with this cable + shallow pressure-normalized insertion (I think I liked XBA N3 for a short while, but it sounded muddy compared to the ER4XRs). I still have the N3s, but I don't really use them anymore since the dark signature was a bit too fatiguing for me.

Plenty of other members in this thread raised valid points about cables potentially not changing anything, and my experience could be entirely placebo. However, as we all know, perception is reality, and indeed, I do perceive a quite noticeable difference. I like to think placebo is not the cause, because silver cable reduced brightness in my case (contrary to typical silver cable reviews repprting increased brightness), but this does not rule out my potential incorrectness on the matter (I have been known to make headass statements before, so proceed with....caution?).

If you do decide to try the Silver Dragons with the ER4XRs, I would be very excited to hear your impressions! It would be great if someone else could confirm that they do change the sound, OR confirm that I am indeed a neanderthal that gets overly enthusiastic about placebo effects.

If you do decide to try them, make sure the pressure is normalized (open your eustachian tubes via yawning, and insert slowly), and I recommend a shallow insertion for a more holographic sound.

Best of luck

I am unlikely to ever spend $200 on cables :I

Also, how do these attach to the Etys, I thought aftermarket cables basically don’t work with them.

 

[ClieOS]

Everythings possible ^^ weill not everything and maybe some things are not reversible...

I won't have chose to sand the driver myself and ruined any chance of future warranty claim. It will be much easier to get an Ety compatible mmcx connector to replace the connector on the Linum cable or just build yourself a right-angled adapter.

 

[WhatToChoose]

I am unlikely to ever spend $200 on cables :I

Also, how do these attach to the Etys, I thought aftermarket cables basically don’t work with them.

Yeah, it is a bit much for cables, definitely felt a bit of my soul leave when I hit the purchase button :/ perhaps a different silver cable could be tested?

Aftermarket cables generally don't work with these, but the V1s have a longer MMCX connector that is able to reach and snap in, so I got lucky haha

 

[djbaneatwebde]

Warranty is gone for good, and thats okay with me. I wanted to change the cable because of microphonics and at that point it had to be "now".
If the stock filters are sonion thats a bit sad because green sonion have 1500 impedance and knowles brown are at 1500 so it could have improved nothing hahaha ok well... enjoyed the time tinkering.