[OJNeg]

  Haha. Sorry, man. As I said, I'm a noob relative to the average headfier. I apologise for the consistent questions, but do you know of any theoretical answer the question: Do amps actually improve sound quality? Obviously they increase power.

Browse a bit more around this forum and you'll see this subject has been argued to death.
 
As was said before, trust your own ears and take all internet impressions with a grain of salt. That being said I do think the ER4S responds to different amps/sources in a noticeable way. You'll find many who disagreeeven in this thread. If your Etys aren't satisfying you it could be you need a better amp, it could be you need a better source, it could be that you just don't like the Ety sound, or it could just be you're hearing how ****ty your favorite music was recorded/mixed/mastered for the first time. Too many variables to give a blanket fix, although in my experience the electronics can be the culprit.

 

[csglinux]

  What I'm saying, mate, is that exactly. I'm trying to establish the difference between power and sound quality. I'm tempted to think that amps don't improve SQ at all, and only increase power.

They'll improve the sound quality only if you have very hard-to-drive headphones and are clipping with a lower-powered amp. The odds of that happening and you not damaging your hearing are basically zero.
 
As others have hinted at, a DAC is even less likely to color your sound. There's only one unique way of reconstructing an analogue signal (up to Nyquist) from a digital sample. Any modern DAC will be doing the exact same reconstruction.

 

[Happytalk]

Ok, I'll play. While i do prefer an amp (c5 jds labs) with the er4s, i think they do very well with a little bass boost. I think the fiio x3ii can handle that. They are great because they isolate and provide detail at low volumes. A little bass boost on public transportation is often enough. I like to give things a couple months before i decide.

 

[Viciel]

   
My Colorfly C4 is more like a vintage toy or old-school pinball machine, but it sounds excellent  (really does).
 
Depending how much you want to spend you could look at:
 
iBasso DX50
iBasso DX90
FiiO X1
FiiO X3II (this one is a nice sweet spot)
FiiO X5
 
All of those are quite nice sounding units and will drive ER4P really well. 

Thanx a lot h20, it's time for me to go out there and try each of your recommendation, hopefully i will get one soon

 

[H20Fidelity]

.
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

 

[nk126]

Zomg! So cool. I love the style.

.

 

[csglinux]

Those vocals really pop out at you. Great recording there, waterdude.

 

[domino584]

@domino584



Are you looking for a CIEM or UIEM?

The UERM customs as CIEMs are very balanced sounding and excel the Etys in many areas, except for treble evenness and also treble resolution (I feel like the Ety's treble resolution is moderately above the UE's).
Out of the two, I'd also consider the Ety as the more neutral one (the UERM have got a slightly emphasised ground tone area and some recessed lower and mid treble).
However, they sound pretty balanced though and detecting the moderate ground tone emphasis took me some months as it is only about two or three dB, according to the graph I know from an official UE retailer that measured the whole lineup. The peak in the upper treble is on the other hand pretty easy to detect as it is quite steep and comes after a moderate dip in the mid treble - the recording shouldn't have even a bit of too much treble, else it gets somewhat annoying.

I there was an upgraded IEM with the Ety's neutrality (but without the emphasis in the lower treble), I'd love to know, too. But as far as I know, the Ety is the only one coming so close to reference grade neutrality.

:confused_face_2:
Pretty funny it sounds. You're talking about superiority of UERM over Ety and at the same time describing such things like recessed treble. I do doubt there is smth that can beat mids of ER4S. So all is left is the bass and that tiny bit is not enough

Just to clarify: From what I perceive, the UE is superior in terms of resolution (except for the highs), bass impact, dryness and body, soundstage and instrument separation.
All in all, the UE sounds even brighter than the Ety due to the emphasised upper treble and even better treble extension. But yeah, lower treble and mid treble are a bit recessed, compared to the Ety. The UERM still has got more lower treble and mid treble than many other IEMs.

The Ety sounds very coherent and has got a very even and high resolving treble, but the UERM is technically better, though it is a bit less neutral.

I don't know if my decision got harder or easier. But thanks, I'll take a look. Cheers.

 

[sphones19]

My ER4Ss finally arrived last week. I've been running them out of a Benchmark DAC1 USB and also a JDS Labs C5D. I'm really pleased. As someone earlier in the thread wrote, the difference between these and the HF5s is surprisingly significant. 
 
However, I have one question. With some piano music, I hear a quiet but distracting rhythmic sound while the piano is playing. It sounds like a raspy vibration of metal. I don't hear this sound on the same tracks with my circumaurals (Oppo PM-2s). I hear it on both of my dac/amps. I was wondering if I was hearing the pedalling mechanism at work as a consequence of very close miking. The timing suggests that as a possibility. It could be some sort of reverb. Do others hear this with some piano recordings? 
 
That aside, I'm really impressed with their performance across a range of classical genres and with jazz and classic rock. 

 

[H20Fidelity]

  My ER4Ss finally arrived last week. I've been running them out of a Benchmark DAC1 USB and also a JDS Labs C5D. I'm really pleased. As someone earlier in the thread wrote, the difference between these and the HF5s is surprisingly significant. 
 
However, I have one question. With someone piano music, I hear a quiet but distracting rhythmic sound while the piano is playing. It sounds like a raspy vibration of metal. I don't hear this sound on the same tracks with my circumaurals (Oppo PM-2s). I hear it on both of my dac/amps. I was wondering if I was hearing the pedalling mechanism at work as a consequence of very close miking. The timing suggests that as a possibility. It could be some sort of reverb. Do others hear this with some piano recordings? 
 
That aside, I'm really impressed with their performance across a range of classical genres and with jazz and classic rock. 

 
Keep an eye on it however, my thoughts are its in the recording, micro detail you're picking up.
 
May be the simple case of hearing things you haven't heard before.

 

[sphones19]

   
Keep an eye on it however, my thoughts are its in the recording, micro detail you're picking up.
 
May be the simple case of hearing things you haven't heard before.

Thanks for the reply! It could well be newly heard detail. I certainly hear reverb plates used in recordings to a degree that is annoying and which has a similar character. That makes me think that one possibility is that I can hear some sort of resonance from the sounding board or strings. 

 

[H20Fidelity]

Thanks for the reply! It could well be newly heard detail. I certainly hear reverb plates used in recordings to a degree that is annoying and which has a similar character. That makes me think that one possibility is that I can hear some sort of resonance from the sounding board or strings. 

Some tracks I've known for over a year I still hear new things occasionally, then maybe not the next listening session. It's all part of the experience.

 

[HiFiChris]

Most IEMs with BA transducers are higher resolving than IEMs and full-sized cans with dynamic transducers, that's why I think it's very likely that you're hearing the pianist's pedal-work which I by the way hear on many recordings, too.

 

[Happytalk]

These expose everything on a recording. Grunts and all.

 

[HiFiChris]

These expose everything on a recording. Grunts and all.

Yep, best IEMs to discover the magic of Keith Jarrett's piano performance. 

 

PS: has anybody else noticed that the Ety smiley on Head-Fi is wearing them laterally reversed?