[cytoSiN]

  Just got them.
 
Fantastic clarity and imaging. Wow. The "in-ear HD800" people weren't kidding. The closest I've heard to the HD800 in clarity so far. Separation, control, everything "technical" about these is remarkably well refined. Midrange tone is dead-on accurate and extremely smooth. Bass drops off sooner than I'd like, but not to the point where it's problematic. 
 
Same balance issue I had with the K1000 and Q701 in the upper ranges. I don't know what it is, but something sounds "off" -- not too bright, the opposite. Like the upper ranges aren't fleshed out properly. It seems to make things sound dead, uninteresting, non-engaging. In order of decreasing prominence, it goes K1000, Q701, ER-4S. It's only minor with the ER-4, to the point where I'm sure I could get over it, but the K1000 and Q701 were another story. Neither of those ever sounded right to me. It was like my music was trying to bore me to death, and in the case of the Qs, also stab me to death with sharp 2kHz distortion.
 
Compared to my Sansui SS-100, these are slightly more detailed and duller sounding. The Sansui's are more enjoyable and sound more natural to me. Conversely, the ER-4 slaughters pretty much all of the other headphones I have. 
 
In terms of actual problematic issues, oh my god, **** these microphonics with a rake. The shirt clip helps a bit, but I am genuinely afraid of whats gonna happen when I try to use these while moving around in the soda cooler at work. Fit was also a bit annoying; there was a "sweet spot" I had to spend a bit of time trying to find, and I'm still not finding them particularly comfortable. But I was never an IEM guy.
 
This is with the S adapter. Without it, they sound pretty damn awful. Also, I'm using with the smallest triflange tips, the clear ones that come on the IEM out of the box. The other two pairs of triflanges are way too large and hurt my ears. The round/"glide" tips hurt too, and don't have enough bass. The foams are pretty comfortable but they're extremely bassy, not necessary a bad thing always... but still not accurate. The frost triflanges sound the best to me.
 
All of these impressions are from my home rig. I'm scared to plug these into a portable player... probably gonna sound dreadful.
 
TL;DR: Good. Cleanliness and clarity to rival high end headphones. Bass extension isn't the best, and the upper ranges sound a bit dull for my preferences. I like them, but they did not dethrone anything I currently own.

 
FWIW, they sound amazing using an Ipod Classic 5.5G, no amp.  I commute with them up to 3 hours round trip every day (mostly sitting on a train, some walking).  As long as I use the shirt clip and keep the cord inside my top layer so it's not swinging all over the place, the microphonics aren't an issue for me.  I use the medium gray flange tips, after years using the smaller ones.  The slightly larger ones took some getting used to but give me a better fit.  Long live ER4s!

 

[gnarlsagan]

Just got them.

Fantastic clarity and imaging. Wow. The "in-ear HD800" people weren't kidding. The closest I've heard to the HD800 in clarity so far. Separation, control, everything "technical" about these is remarkably well refined. Midrange tone is dead-on accurate and extremely smooth. Bass drops off sooner than I'd like, but not to the point where it's problematic. 

Same balance issue I had with the K1000 and Q701 in the upper ranges. I don't know what it is, but something sounds "off" -- not too bright, the opposite. Like the upper ranges aren't fleshed out properly. It seems to make things sound dead, uninteresting, non-engaging. In order of decreasing prominence, it goes K1000, Q701, ER-4S. It's only minor with the ER-4, to the point where I'm sure I could get over it, but the K1000 and Q701 were another story. Neither of those ever sounded right to me. It was like my music was trying to bore me to death, and in the case of the Qs, also stab me to death with sharp 2kHz distortion.

Compared to my Sansui SS-100, these are slightly more detailed and duller sounding. The Sansui's are more enjoyable and sound more natural to me. Conversely, the ER-4 slaughters pretty much all of the other headphones I have. 

In terms of actual problematic issues, oh my god, **** these microphonics with a rake. The shirt clip helps a bit, but I am genuinely afraid of whats gonna happen when I try to use these while moving around in the soda cooler at work. Fit was also a bit annoying; there was a "sweet spot" I had to spend a bit of time trying to find, and I'm still not finding them particularly comfortable. But I was never an IEM guy.

This is with the S adapter. Without it, they sound pretty damn awful. Also, I'm using with the smallest triflange tips, the clear ones that come on the IEM out of the box. The other two pairs of triflanges are way too large and hurt my ears. The round/"glide" tips hurt too, and don't have enough bass. The foams are pretty comfortable but they're extremely bassy, not necessary a bad thing always... but still not accurate. The frost triflanges sound the best to me.

All of these impressions are from my home rig. I'm scared to plug these into a portable player... probably gonna sound dreadful.

TL;DR: Good. Cleanliness and clarity to rival high end headphones. Bass extension isn't the best, and the upper ranges sound a bit dull for my preferences. I like them, but they did not dethrone anything I currently own.

Great impressions! Crazy that these old things so get so much love after all these years. If you're able to use the smallest stock tri-flange tips I'd recommend trying the klipsch biflange ovals. They tend to run small and might offer superior comfort.

As for microphonics, there are a number of ways to route the cable over the ear and eliminate the issue. Here's how I do it, with a plastic twisty tie:

 

[luisdent]

What is that red thing?

 

[castleofargh]

What is that red thing?

 
 
best bang for your buck!

 

[uchihaitachi]

best bang for your buck!

What is that gun thing!!!!! I remember having that as a kid but can't find it anywhere nor can I recall the name!

 

[gnarlsagan]

What is that red thing?

Spacer to put on the barrel under the biflange tip so that the tip stays on tighter.

 

[luisdent]

What is that red thing?

Spacer to put on the barrel under the biflange tip so that the tip stays on tighter.

Ah. I thought it was a funky red filter

 

[polyrhythm]

So a short while back I found the Dunu 75ohm adapter as a direct alternative to my ER-4pt to ER-4s adapter (which very occasionally causes dropouts when cable is bent near plug end)
 
So it has just turned up in the post........
 
Did a careful A B test for differences and suprisingly the DUNU was clearly quieter on same volume settings.
 
Got out the digi multi meter and set it to test the Ohm resistance.
 
Stuck an unused Neutrik 3.5mm jack in each Adapter to enable testing and here were the results: (i made a mistake first time I took measurements by not taking into account the resistance of the neutrik jack, this being 1 Ohm)
 
Etymotic 75ohm adpater:
 
tip= 82.1ohms
ring= 82.1 ohms
 
 
 
Dunu 75ohm adapter
 
tip=75.0 Ohm
ring= 75.0 Ohm
 
 
referance
the stock ER-4s spec is 100 Ohms
 
the stock 4PT spec is 27 Ohms
 
so after measuring the adapters :
 
Etymotic Adapter combined with ER-4pt = 109 Ohms
Dunu combined with ER-4pt = 102 Ohms
 
Dunu adapter gives a closer resistance to the ER-4s than the Etymotic adapter.
 
 
here are the sensitivity specs given by Etymotic for each version of IEM:
 
4B (90 dB) 4S (90 dB) 4PT (102 dB)
 
 
Did not expect this, just assumed my Ety Adapter was always correctyl 75Ohms
 
Any one else wnat to test theirs?

 

[castleofargh]

tried to estimate the change out of curiosity with your numbers(can't help but being a curious cat ^_^), with a made up 1ohm source outputting 1V, I end up with about 0.14db higher at 15khz on the 82.1ohm cable(after matching 1khz).
didn't double check anything so maybe don't trust me on the exact value. but that's still goes toward what's expected with such numbers, it doesn't really matter. the same way you can use your er4s with a 0.5ohm source or a 4ohm source and not feel any massive change. it's the same kind of magnitude.

 

[imackler]

I don't want to crap on the the thread, but I purchased a pair of ER4S and sold my ER4PT... Figured there was no sense messing with the P to S cable if I would always listen to it with the cable. Long story short, my overear headphones have not sold, so my switch back to iems has more or less failed. Not eager to sell them, but something has to go: http://www.head-fi.org/t/771112/sealed-etymotic-er4s . They haven't been opened yet. 

 

[thecrow]

Ok. A few weeks ago on a semi whim I decided to buy some decent IEMs. A bit of research and being led by the thread with the extensive comparison of a bucket load of IEM's led me to the er4s. Conveniently on special through headroom at the time. Synchronicity.

They arrived today. Been sussing out the ear tips.

Now I know I can go back and look through this entire thread and most likely have my question answered but forgive me and my keenness to "get it on" with them.

I have initially found that the best seal and sound is coming from the larger compression tips. The two sizes of the flanged tips seem to not quite isolate and deliver as well.

Is there are a trap for young players that I'm missing on that one? When they are inserted I can just feel the end of the third flange with my fingers if I try to touch them. And I don't feel that they can or should go further.

Your experienced views are much appreciated.

Cheers
Peter

 

[H20Fidelity]

Ok. A few weeks ago on a semi whim I decided to buy some decent IEMs. A bit of research and being led by the thread with the extensive comparison of a bucket load of IEM's led me to the er4s. Conveniently on special through headroom at the time. Synchronicity.

They arrived today. Been sussing out the ear tips.

Now I know I can go back and look through this entire thread and most likely have my question answered but forgive me and my keenness to "get it on" with them.

I have initially found that the best seal and sound is coming from the larger compression tips. The two sizes of the flanged tips seem to not quite isolate and deliver as well.

Is there are a trap for young players that I'm missing on that one? When they are inserted I can just feel the end of the third flange with my fingers if I try to touch them. And I don't feel that they can or should go further.

Your experienced views are much appreciated.

Cheers
Peter

 
ER4S require deep insertion, much deeper than your standard IEM.
 
There's a section inside your canal called the '2nd bend' this is where the nozzle should sit.
 

 
 
I don't like advising people on this subject because its a touchy one. I can tell you when I first purchased ER4S I had no idea about the required depth and just plopped them in my ear like a standard tip, they sounded like an average earbud, there was channel imbalance / not much worth talking about at all. 
 
When I first found the second bend of my ear canal it was almost painful like breaking some circumcision skin or something I'd rather not continue about. Now the entrance is located I have no problem finding this area. Wetting a triple flange tip and pushing / wiggling / turning may find this region.
 
I'll let someone else explain better than me, but if I had a dollar for every new ER4S owner who showed up with the same questions I'd buy us all a happy meal and its not your fault. Once you find the second bend you'll be hearing what we all rave about. But please let someone advise you.

 

[headdict]

If you can touch the third flange with your fingers, it is not where it should be. Unless your ear canals are ultra-short. That you didn't mention any pain is another hint that you are not going deep enough.

 

[thecrow]

When I first found the second bend of my ear canal it was almost painful like breaking some circumcision skin or something I'd rather not continue about.

Thanks for stopping there. Too many painful memories before things were rectified.

When I first found the second bend of my ear canal it was almost painful like breaking some circumcision skin or something I'd rather not continue about. Now the entry is open I have no problem finding this area. Wetting a triple flange tip and pushing / wiggling / turning may find this region.

Could I perhaps have got there with just the end of the 3rd flange being the only thing I could touch? Or is it likely needed to go deeper? (This is kinda freaking me out).

As mentioned the larger compression ear tip went in well, quite snuggly fit and sounded good and isolated well.

So I may be okay without further penetration. But slightly curious.

This is freaking me out!!!! I should have bought some audezes.

 

[thecrow]

If you can touch the third flange with your fingers, it is not where it should be. Unless your ear canals are ultra-short. That you didn't mention any pain is another hint that you are not going deep enough.

I appreciate your replies.
I did try pushing the er4s further in but didn't go overly hard at it as I was a little cautious.

If the other ear tips are getting a good seal am I right in assuming Im not missing out on anything?