[motorbit]

my er4xr arrived some time ago to replace my many years old senn ie8.

my biggest concearn was if the bass would be enough for me. im nowhere a basshead and the bass of the ie8 was always a bit to much an a bit to soft for me. but still had some fear that the ie8 could have spoiled me to much to enjoy the etys.
well they have not. the bass is much less dominant, but also of MUCH higher quality, and just what i hoped for. i realy like the sound of the etys. very detailed and rich over the whole spectrum. i am happy i bought them, even if they are quite expensive and i do have to put a lot of consideration in to what i spend my money on.



a few things i read in reviews i disagree with:



- er4-xx cant be worn with the cable over the ears!

i disagree. my mirror tells me it looks borderline dumb to do so, but the nonexistant microphonics and the wearing comfort tells me to screw the mirror. i guess it was nice if the cable connecor pice was at a slightly steeper angle, but whatever. its comfortable to wear them this way, and the thin and flexible cables never slip over my ear. (this happend a lot with the also awsome but much thicker cables of the ie8)


-the foam tips of the ie4 are crap, uncomfortable and the sound would suffer because its not possible to get the same deep seal as with the triflanges

again i disagree. the foam tips are a bit rough on the outside and are not rounded or shaped much, but that doesnt seem to have a negative impact exept it looks a bit cheap. they do keep their compressed form rather long (important to get them in depp enough before they inflate) and i dont have any problem whatsoever to get them in as deep as the triflanges.
that said, even if i think they are of good quality, they only come in one size witch seems comparable to L sizes of other manufacturers. alas, i need M. they are not unbearable for me, but i felt compelled to order an M sized set of comply t-100.

-the triflanges are awesonium
ok, this is a very personal expirience, but these tips just dont work for me. at all. the smaller version wont give me deep seal and already is borderline to big further out so they hurt a bit. the bigger ones are pure torture. even the smaller triflanges will irritate my skin when i pull them out, just enough so i can not forget im weaing (or wore) headphones.


so bottomline, great sound, great cables, great headphones!
the one grief i do have is that none of tips they ship with is optimal for me. anyway, i can forgive this. i do seem to have funy ears, and, after all they are replacement articles. still, i think it was great if etymotics would offer two sizes of foam tips. this also would make it much more easy to find fitting replacement tips for edge cases like me.

 

[csglinux]

my er4xr arrived some time ago to replace my many years old senn ie8.

my biggest concearn was if the bass would be enough for me. im nowhere a basshead and the bass of the ie8 was always a bit to much an a bit to soft for me. but still had some fear that the ie8 could have spoiled me to much to enjoy the etys.
well they have not. the bass is much less dominant, but also of MUCH higher quality, and just what i hoped for. i realy like the sound of the etys. very detailed and rich over the whole spectrum. i am happy i bought them, even if they are quite expensive and i do have to put a lot of consideration in to what i spend my money on.



a few things i read in reviews i disagree with:



- er4-xx cant be worn with the cable over the ears!

i disagree. my mirror tells me it looks borderline dumb to do so, but the nonexistant microphonics and the wearing comfort tells me to screw the mirror. i guess it was nice if the cable connecor pice was at a slightly steeper angle, but whatever. its comfortable to wear them this way, and the thin and flexible cables never slip over my ear. (this happend a lot with the also awsome but much thicker cables of the ie8)


-the foam tips of the ie4 are crap, uncomfortable and the sound would suffer because its not possible to get the same deep seal as with the triflanges

again i disagree. the foam tips are a bit rough on the outside and are not rounded or shaped much, but that doesnt seem to have a negative impact exept it looks a bit cheap. they do keep their compressed form rather long (important to get them in depp enough before they inflate) and i dont have any problem whatsoever to get them in as deep as the triflanges.
that said, even if i think they are of good quality, they only come in one size witch seems comparable to L sizes of other manufacturers. alas, i need M. they are not unbearable for me, but i felt compelled to order an M sized set of comply t-100.

-the triflanges are awesonium
ok, this is a very personal expirience, but these tips just dont work for me. at all. the smaller version wont give me deep seal and already is borderline to big further out so they hurt a bit. the bigger ones are pure torture. even the smaller triflanges will irritate my skin when i pull them out, just enough so i can not forget im weaing (or wore) headphones.


so bottomline, great sound, great cables, great headphones!
the one grief i do have is that none of tips they ship with is optimal for me. anyway, i can forgive this. i do seem to have funy ears, and, after all they are replacement articles. still, i think it was great if etymotics would offer two sizes of foam tips. this also would make it much more easy to find fitting replacement tips for edge cases like me.

Nice post If you haven't already, you might want to try out Comply P-series foam tips. They work great for me with the ER4XR. Very comfy too.

 

[motorbit]

Nice post If you haven't already, you might want to try out Comply P-series foam tips. They work great for me with the ER4XR. Very comfy too.

i was thinking about these, they are longer and indeed seem like a nice fit. sadly, i could not find them anywhere exept on amazon, and amazon didnt include the size in the product description. so i could not know if they would fit (according to a compatibly list, the p too come in the normal comply 100,200....500 versions)
so in the end i just got blue t-100, just because at 15€ they where by far the cheapest comply that i knew would fit the er4 XD

 

[mw7485]

my er4xr arrived some time ago to replace my many years old senn ie8.

my biggest concearn was if the bass would be enough for me. im nowhere a basshead and the bass of the ie8 was always a bit to much an a bit to soft for me. but still had some fear that the ie8 could have spoiled me to much to enjoy the etys.
well they have not. the bass is much less dominant, but also of MUCH higher quality, and just what i hoped for. i realy like the sound of the etys. very detailed and rich over the whole spectrum. i am happy i bought them, even if they are quite expensive and i do have to put a lot of consideration in to what i spend my money on.

Congrats on the investment (deliberate choice of words there). If you can complete the journey of finding the tips that work for you and get used to the feel, you'll probably never look back. My ER4 are 12 years old - sure, they have been re-cabled, but the bit that does most of the magic is still working just fine.

The Er4Xr is a fine sounding little earphone - not cheap, but its likely that it will reward you with years of pleasure. And once you've tasted the ety elixiar, you'll always return to it as the sound to compare against. Have fun!

 

[motorbit]

The Er4Xr is a fine sounding little earphone - not cheap, but its likely that it will reward you with years of pleasure.

im confident they will!

as for comfort, i think they are comfortable. i need somewhat smaller foams, thats all. its not as if im THAT sensetive in this regard. im quite sure the t-100 M size will do the trick.

 

[castleofargh]

the triple flange can be seen as a torture you accept in exchange of the possible bliss and comfort later on. I tell you right now I usually give up and go back to foam. I go mad with most silicon tips already so triple shot of flange is really hard for me. but the few pairs where I suffered the itchiness and irritation of the beginning, turned out to be some of the most comfortable things I had in my ears. I'd say it was almost a month of torture each time so at least for me it's a real challenge.

 

[charleski]

the triple flange can be seen as a torture you accept in exchange of the possible bliss and comfort later on. I tell you right now I usually give up and go back to foam. I go mad with most silicon tips already so triple shot of flange is really hard for me. but the few pairs where I suffered the itchiness and irritation of the beginning, turned out to be some of the most comfortable things I had in my ears. I'd say it was almost a month of torture each time so at least for me it's a real challenge.

I must admit I long ago chickened out on the triple flanges and bought some double-flange tips that were recommended several hundred pages ago in this thread. I think the main problem (at least for me) is that the triples are slightly too large for my ears and thus bend and form a crease which makes them even more uncomfortable (and I would think this affects the seal as well).

 

[motorbit]

the triple flange can be seen as a torture you accept in exchange of the possible bliss and comfort later on. I tell you right now I usually give up and go back to foam. I go mad with most silicon tips already so triple shot of flange is really hard for me. but the few pairs where I suffered the itchiness and irritation of the beginning, turned out to be some of the most comfortable things I had in my ears. I'd say it was almost a month of torture each time so at least for me it's a real challenge.

as they are to small inside and to large outside, i dont see how they ever can become comfortable for me

I must admit I long ago chickened out on the triple flanges and bought some double-flange tips that were recommended several hundred pages ago in this thread. I think the main problem (at least for me) is that the triples are slightly too large for my ears and thus bend and form a crease which makes them even more uncomfortable (and I would think this affects the seal as well).

hm, these tips seem to exist only in small and large. usually, M fits me best tho. can you say witch of them both would more likely fit M size?

 

[csglinux]

as they are to small inside and to large outside, i dont see how they ever can become comfortable for me

The repeated trauma eventually builds up enough scar tissue

 

[motorbit]

hm, i just removed the thrid flange from the L triflanges, but kept the stem.
ok yes, thats a very deep feeling O.o just for confirmation, i am supposed to stop before i reach my brain?
anyway, seal is nice this way. only issue i have is that i fear the tip remains in my ear when i remove the headphone, or that the vaccum takes along my eardrum.
but whatever. something something yolo.

edit: right. t-100 is so storno XD thanks for making me think about this again guys!

 

[charleski]

hm, these tips seem to exist only in small and large. usually, M fits me best tho. can you say witch of them both would more likely fit M size?

I think the triflanges only come in one size, at least that's all I got. My original ER4s came with two sets of these.

 

[ClieOS]

I think the triflanges only come in one size, at least that's all I got. My original ER4s came with two sets of these.

Etymtic official tri-flanges do come it two different sizes. IIRC, the smaller tri-flanges were introduced along with ER4PT. Here they are:

 

[episiarch]

Some alternative tips that which fit on ER4 series and which I've used are:

• Comply P-series. These were my go-to tips for a while.
• Westone Star Silicone tips - each "color" is a different length/width combination.

 

[motorbit]

thanks for all the tips!
i think im good with the large triflanges cut down to twoflanges now. i get tight seal with them and i can wear them for hours.
still, the westone long singleflanges look interesting. might test them when i need replacement, so thank you for the link

 

[Dougr33]

Shure Olives fit as well, and while a little firmer than Complys (so perhaps not as comfy to some), they last Way Longer. I've always felt the tip offerings are a weak point. I know some people are fine with the tri-flanges, and their quality is good. But the foam tips and those hard gray bulbous things are gruesome! You'd think they could work a deal with Comply to include a S, M, and L for free to elicit replacement business.