i know what you mean, they disappear, is like a window to the music, but open one, i love my ER4S
Before I got into the audiophile world, I thought good audio equipment simply consisted of good bass and clear highs with minimal distortion. I thought my $80 pair of Sennheiser headphones was about the best there is for audio and spending more would simply be subject to the law of diminishing returns. I mean, it had a rich and full sound that was pleasing to the ear. It had bass. It had treble. It felt balanced.
However, I was still curious about what the next level of sound might be. I came to head-fi and was recommended a pair of the Etymotic ER4P.
The aha! moment that brought me in the world of audiophilia was experiencing transparency for the first time. This is a distinct perception of feeling like you're no longer listening to audio equipment where you merely hear sounds from two speakers in front of you or on the sides of your head, but rather you're *sonically teleported* into the recording. You're in a world where there are distinct instruments coming from their own sound source in various points in the stage in around you. With modern mixing technology, artists intricately layer together various soundscapes from all different acoustical environments, giving you layers of depth and width of sounds.
In contrast, before I went into the world of audiophilia, I listened to the melody, beat, the emotions in the voice, and/or the lyrics. But audiophile brought in this new dimension to music to me, literally, and that's space. Did I really truly enjoy music before being introduced to the audiophile world? Yes. Did I sit for hours completely being immersed into an album? Sure. But as an audiophile, the way I did so was different. What I pay attention to when I listen to music is different. My tastes in music drastically changed. I have an affinity to pieces where the artist really uses the spatial aspect of sound to express worlds of soundscapes. I find myself listening to all kinds of strange things, not necessarily because it's musical, but because it lets me *experience* a truly alien soundscape of sounds that slithers and shimmers all around me.