This thread is very rich, but I thought that the more info there is here, the better it goes for people considering these earphones. Also I just saw the notice looking or reviewers. I am not a head-fi’er per se, so I do not feel I qualify for this so I will go ahead and post this. I apologise for the length, as well, if this causes any offense or distress.
I am a photographer but I also work with video and, as we know, audio is very important. Towards the end of last year, I realised that I needed to improve the kit I was using (DT770 Pro + Dragonfly) to something that would give me more neutrality and be better at picking up some details I discovered in other set ups that somewhat slipped away when I was working. After a lot of reading, I ended up with DT 1770 Pro + A20 amp + Meridian director. That combo works really well.
Here's the thing, though: I also love music and I sometimes do some post-work while on the go.
I wanted a portable solution so I could work and enjoy music on the go so I also got a meridian explorer2. To be able to produce short video with good audio on the go is a great thing that today’s tech allows. The Beyers are big boys, though, and they take a lot of space in the bag and for me, space and weight are premium.
After reading much, I thought I'd give the ER4s a try and since the meridians were seen as neutral enough DACs I thought the mating would go well.
Skip to the end. I'm selling one of my DT 1770s (any takers?) And DT 880s. I also got a pair of ER4SRs a couple of weeks ago.
Although the Tesla drivers are really good (DT 1770 being a more revealing headphone than the 880) they are no match for the ER4s. Certainly no match for the new RSs pair. Yes, the new RS does make the 4s sound slightly veiled (I’m going with common wording from here…I imagine it means as if the sound comes from behind some form of curtain as if to diffuse the high freqs somewhat)
These have to be the best there is for work. One thing that, I believe, is much overlooked is the need for silence. You get silence with isolation and the Etys are the best for this. I use the foam tips (more on this below) and they give me the best seal. They are also more comfortable for me than the tri-flange tips. No tri-flange tip gives me any seal, really. Maybe I got weird shaped canals.
I now firmly believe that however good the DT 880 or 1770 or any other headphone is, one needs a reasonable environment to work with them or to enjoy them at their best. Speaker monitor set ups are difficult to do to achieve reasonable resonance in any room. Headphones offer a great deal of flexibility in environments for this reason, but environmental noise is not always well mitigated. For example, the airiness of the 880 cannot be matched with the 1770, but the 1770s isolation allows for better detail extraction in your ears if your environment isn’t silent enough. As we also know, there is a price to pay for closed headphones but that would get too lengthy on this post.
What the ER4s/SR give is a control over external noise that you may never get with over ear headphones WHILE giving you the clarity and lack of reverb from the low frequencies like closed headphones. Their isolation guarantees, combined with the excellent response, the delivery of a sound that you can easily pick up annoyances in recordings (clicks, clacks, etc) which may sound subdued due to external noise filtering through other set ups. Today, I neither have the space nor the money to invest in an appropriate speaker set up. For that, I am very grateful to be able to work with the ER4s/SR.
So, for work, they are absolutely brilliant, if not the very best.
For music, they can be amazing as well as a nightmare.
As discussed in this very thread (which should enlighten anyone looking to enjoy their music more) audio mastering quality appears to have been relegated to an afterthought in much of today’s music production.
I’ve been lucky enough to see classical music production done in a few locations (churches, studios) and see how a well recorded and well mastered record can sound vs some more haphazardly recorded live performances where all instruments appear to sound “in front of you” at the same volume.
On some metal albums, as I wrote before and on another thread, sound can be really bad. It has actually turned my excitement off from some well-known artists. Metallica’s Death Magnetic really needs a mastering process. Through the 1770s, that album was screeching. Through the 4s/SR, the album is painful to the ear. On the other hand, their older albums (black album and before) sound very, very nice. There is a force and attack to Wherever I May Roam that is very beautifully expressed with the 4s/SR. No need for the extra bass on 4s/SR for most metal (I believe) because a well mastered album will give you a sense of accuracy and speed to the low end that I find more enjoyable. Sadly, most metal albums I have bought recently have a serious lack of depth.
On the other hand, and thanks to another thread on another side that I found out about this, Led Zeppelin’s 1990s box set (and set 2) are so well mastered that you really feel you can’t do anything more with the original tapes.
The catch with this sort of earphone is that bad mastered albums will sound bad, really bad. I wish there was more discussion in the mainstream audio industry about this rather than letting the status quo reign in the production phase and bring headphones out that mask the shortcomings of modern music. To me, it feels that this is the way things have gone for a while. I do believe that if people where to be shown the difference, 10/10 times the average individual would choose the better master and, therefore, the better headphone/earphone/speaker that they can afford to enjoy music at its best.
On the tips:
Yes, not everyone is the same. For me, I get the best seal with the foam tips. My 4s foam tips, however, feel a bit more “dry”(?) compared to the new foam tips I got with the SR. I’m talking about new vs new. Did something change in the process of producing these tips? I ordered new tips from Ety UK, though, so I will see if there is a difference. Ordered new tips because I go through the foam tips very quickly. I believe they do deteriorate at a faster pace than the Shure tips, which I had, but if that’s the price (plus the £329) of this type of sound level delivery, so be it. Would very much welcome a more durable tip, though. Especially the glue between the foam and the “rubber shaft” that attaches to the unit. That goes out a bit fast.
I can tell which side is which with the current design. The letters L and R are printed in specific sides on each cable so you are able to orientate yourself without looking at the earphones. R letter is printed on left side if you hold the earphone “like a gun” pointing front. The opposite is true for the L earphone.
The cable is an improvement in the cable noise department. Thank you very much. I wear the cable over the ear so the noise is reduced a bit more like that as well.
The cable tie is also a welcome addition. Thank you very much.
The earphones are easier to drive as well. That being said, they do appear to have a better extension when I plug them to the Beyer A20 than when I have them plugged to the Sansa Clip+ (battle hardened, mind you) That difference was there with the 4s, but I understood this very well because of the 100ohm impedance. So, I wonder if I should either buy another player or if I should bring the Dragonfly back from retirement and use USB OTG with my phone + Neutron. Any opinions on this? I’d prefer a dedicated player with buttons for “in-pocket tactile UI” and also to save precious phone battery.
All in all, well done Etymotic for a great set of earphones. I can so easily recommend them for anyone looking to work on the go. They also work very well to disconnect from the noisy world while commuting on public transport, trains or airplanes. They also keep your ears healthy because you don’t need to turn the volume up to compete with noisy backgrounds. This is very important if you have tinnitus, like me.
They also increase your sense of paranoia if you play CS:GO.
Last but not least, the participation of Etymotic’s staff here is really cool. I’ve read a few of their answers on people’s comments and requests and I find their contributions to be excellent and, in some ways, priceless. It’s great to see this sort of engagement from a company, without the hype and overselling. In the age where every other product launch seeks to mimic the excitement that Steve Jobs put in his fans (twice as fast, three times as good, four times as exciting, etc) to see this sort of down to earth, honest, participation in this community I think is much appreciated (I stand to be corrected if anyone feels otherwise)
Last but not least, I see that this rather long post may seem like the fanboy type of babble. You can take it as you wish. My hope is that I can contribute something to what I see is a great product for working professionals (and consumers too, no doubt) I feel it is warranted because more people ought to pay attention to quality products and not loud marketing. I’m gifting my 4s to a friend who is in the music industry and hasn’t heard of Ety before.
I wish Ety all the best with this new pair. They deserve to sell a ton.
Pictures or it didn’t happen.
