[rggz]

I just got my hands on a pair of er4b. I'm not sure what to say just yet. I used to envision a harsh er4s. They anything but that to my ears. They are like an er4s that had the mud cleared out of the drivers .

To my ears they might be a touch "hot" for most people in the treble, but to me it adds a lot of the presence and depth of space you get with a speaker in a room. It's like an er4s with super hd sound.

It has the same bass as the er4s so it doesn't sound drastically brighter to me, but like all etys I'd prefer more low sub bass. However, with a proper bass eq the er4b sounds phenomenal.

It may not be for everyone, and I'm not saying it will replace my er4s/sr/xr but so far it sounds superb even with no eq. More comments to come.

I really love seeing appreciation posts to ER4B, they deserve all praise. They still my favorite IEM to date using red or orange filters, I really like how close they're to my Genelecs using the orange filter, although the red brings my favorite signature overall.

 

[luisdent]

I really enjoyed my ER-4B for several weeks. I loved the access to fine detail and space that they provided, and like you I did not find them harsh.

But in my case I eventually started to feel that their presentation was for me a form of hyperreality that, interesting as it was, was directing my attention towards those aspects of the music, and reducing my attentiveness to others. I felt my enjoyment of the detail and spaciousness hindered my enjoyment of the gestalt of the performance. (It would certainly be reasonable to recast that as "I'd always heard music one way and failed to get used to hearing it a different way," I know.)

In the end I got them recabled back to ER-4S, which remained my reference sound until the ER4-SR. But if I'd had a spare ER-4S as I do now, I imagine I would have kept them. They certainly provide a very special window into a recording.

I can definitely understand that. It is almost hyper real. In a perfect world I would have an er4srb.

Something in between or slightly improved upon the treble of both models with a sub bass boost like the xr but that doesn't reach into the mid-bass at all... But alas, we don't have that model yet so I usually ultimately resort to gentle eq. I'm currently loving the er4b though. More comments to come.

 

[Francisk]

Finally finished this up - definitely the cleanest looking ER4B cable I have ever built.

I want.........

 

[ClieOS]

A bit of hiccup building this for someone else - putting a 2.5mm TRRS balanced plug and socket into the stock new ER4 cable, so it can be used for both balanced and single-ended source.

Just in case anyone want to mod their stock SR/XR cable, here are a few things to note:

1) There are quite a lot of Kevlar fiber inside, intertwine with the conductor wires as well as surrounding them, making soldering more difficult than usual. You can cut off the Kevlar fiber on the outside, but those intertwine with the wires will require some careful burn off

2) Wires are color coded, and they are:

Red - right(+)
Green - left(+)
Transparent - left(-)
Black - right(-)

If you are modding it for 2.5mm TRRS plug, then it should be [TRRS - black / red / green / transparent]

 

[luisdent]

the er4b continue to blow my mind. the quality of the bass seems better due to the transents of the treble. attacks seem more impactful in each not while not being bassier in level.

the transparency is absolutely insane. there is zero "mud" in the er4s, but the er4b still clears it away

the fit is more critical that the er4s as even a slight seal problem or depth issue could causes too much treble. but with a good fit the results are amazing. i think they may be my favorite er4 at the moment. very few songs are harsh and it's always poorly recorded or mastered music.

classic songs like hotel california (the original cd, not the remaster) sound phenomenal. you can hear into every instrument and the space between them. but to me it never sounds thin. I'm loving it!!!

 

[GreatestUnKnown]

What has been the turnaround time for those who sent in their ER4's for cable repair to Etymotic? I weighed my options and figured a factory replacement of the cable would have been the most cost and time effective but now I am thinking I should have purchased a second pair or even a pair of the ER4SR before sending my only portable listening IEMs...

If this goes on another week I will have to purchase a second set just to retain my sanity.

 

[Francisk]

I'm enjoying my new ER4B cable on my ER4 with red filters, thanks to ClieOS...pure ETY Bliss
Listening to Bubbles by Yosi Horikawa:

 

[rggz]

I'm enjoying my new ER4B cable on my ER4 with red filters, thanks to ClieOS...pure ETY Bliss
Listening to Bubbles by Yosi Horikawa:

Looks nice! I'm not such a cable believer, but is there anything different than the previous silver cable regarding the SQ?

 

[ClieOS]

Looks nice! I'm not such a cable believer, but is there anything different than the previous silver cable regarding the SQ?

Hehe, the cable itself actually costs less than the stock ER4 cable ($50, I believe), so by price along it should have been a downgrade

The original reason for me to build these cable are two folds: (1) I need a cable with better ergonomics and, (2) for those of us who live far away from the U.S., the cost of sending the ER4 back to Etymotic for after-warranty cable replacement and has it shipped back can easily go over $100. So in sum, it is more practical to find a solution myself, given that I do enjoy a bit of DIYing. After that it just becomes somewhat of an obsession to try to refine the design.

------------

On a side note, I just saw these poping up on Taobao: the connector for the new SR/XR series. Already ordered a few to check them out. Will post more picture when I received them.

 

[Francisk]

Looks nice! I'm not such a cable believer, but is there anything different than the previous silver cable regarding the SQ?

I didn't hear any sound quality difference from my previous silver cable by ClieOS but the new OCC cable connectors are definitely way more comfortable with the machine molded cable to the new Ety like connectors. Deep insertion is a breeze now and with the resistor inside the plug, microphonic is very much minimized. I love ClieOS' ER4B cables. For those who has not heard how good the ER4B sound, the most affordable option will be to get ClieOS' OCC cable with the built-in resistor in the plug...add the red filters and you'll be pleasantly surprised

 

[luisdent]

Looks nice! I'm not such a cable believer, but is there anything different than the previous silver cable regarding the SQ?

looks sexy. he knows what he's doing.

 

[GreatestUnKnown]

Just called Etymotic CS to inquire as the status of my ER4 repair and it is currently being evaluated. Those who are CONUS and choose to deal with Etymotic should feel worry free doing so.

 

[luisdent]

Just called Etymotic CS to inquire as the status of my ER4 repair and it is currently being evaluated. Those who are CONUS and choose to deal with Etymotic should feel worry free doing so.

I've had nothing but great experiences dealing with etymotic customer service. they usually do more than they need to...

 

[Riley Beale]

I have a pair of HF3 that the sound is cutting out on one side. I have it put away in a hard to get to place so I can't test it. I see we can now swap anything for the ER4 SR and XR. I am planning to do so when money gets free. Should I go for the XR? I listen to mostly hard rock and metal of all kinds and some electronica and new and old country. Or would I be better off with the SR? I have nowhere to audition them. I am thinking the extra bass would be nice for on the tractor and the atv in the orchards. I might buy one now and one later possibly if they are different enough. For my purposes I might not notice minimal bass bloat and intrusion into the mids and transparency probably won't be a big deal.

Thank you

RIley

 

[ClieOS]

@Riley Beale The kind of music you listened to do seem to me that XR might be a better fit for you.