Hello All,
I've been digging through archived on portable amp for Er4s and found a lot of information with products that are no longer made.
I've revived my iPod 5.5 classic with a new battery and I am looking for a decent portable amp in 2019.
I have tested the ER4s on my Yamamoto ha02 (around 50ohm output), which I use with my low impedance audio technicas, and they did not sing at all. I then plugged them in to my desktop connect 6 (80ohm output according to the specs) and they sounded much better.
The ER4s are rated at 100ohms so I am guessing that one should get as close as possible to that rating, right?
What if we exceed it? Would that have any sonic impact?
The ones that seem to be easily available are fiio A3 (but it is rated below 100ohms) and A5 (for high impedance headphones) there also the ifi Ivan but there's limited information on synergy between these models.
Has anyone got any current recommendations for these etymotics?
Thanks
Rob
Headphone impedance suggestion on most amp are just rubbish info that serves no real technical purpose. There are there for marketing only, because the actual measurement data that tells you how good an amp is is often too complicated for most to understand, so manufacturers come up with these simple number 'suggestion' system hoping the buyer can make quick and simple (but equally uninformed) choice.
That being said, most half decent headphone amp should be able to driver ER4S well - it is far from the most difficult IEM to drive. What you want it low output impedance (not to be confused with headphone impedance manufacturer is suggesting) and decent enough output power (just a rough idea - you don't want anything less than probably 20mW into 16ohm load, more is better). All of FiiO's and iFi's amp should easily beat those requirement.