[luisdent]

Interesting post @luisdent, thanks for sharing. The discussion on the comments section is equally interesting: my own experience is summed up nicely by what Don Wilson from Etymotic says in this post:

"The point with Custom fit, is to get a consistent, and comfortable seal. There are some slight frequency response trade offs, but for the most part they are not enough to worry about. You can find big changes in the insertion depth, and sometimes even the eartip used. (...)"

Also interesting is his earlier reply:
"The custom fit earmolds work well for most people who have comfort, or seal issues with eartips. You can find response issues with people who insert the eartips to different depths, use different eartips, or have different ear canals. The curves you posted with the dampers moved look pretty good. The best comparison would be against the diffuse field response, not strictly comparing it to the stock eartip response."

Yea. I think everyone has a different view of what is acceptable. 3db even in boost somewhere is not acceptable to me. But for someone who wants comfort and is willing to sacrifice that, sure, what he says may be true. But the difference I got with my tips was enough that I could have picked another headphone like the pfe112, and it sounded closer to the stock er4 than my customs did. So I could have just used that and called it a day. But thefew db here and there that the er4 corrects in the treble makes them better than the pfe. So dealing with custom tips response seems like a huge waste of time and effort. Not to mention, expensive or not the closest to neutral matters to me.

But like he also said, perhaps some have larger canals. I could definitely see some having better luck getting the nozzle deeper with a custom. But for Rin and I that wasn't the case, as I assume many others it would not be the case either. That's why I said it absolutely could be worthwhile, so long as you are willing to take the risk or have some guarantee to fall back on when it do6esnt go well.

By no means would I ever want to dissuade anyone from customs. In fact I still consider trying another company sometimes. But o just k ow it sucks having these great expectations and then having them all crushed at a high expensive of money and time. I literally wasted multiple trips to an audiologist for molds and hundreds of dollars for the tips I never even got to use. But I digress.

I'm also lucky enough that for the most part i have zero issues with the stock tips now. I whet them slightly and rotate as i insert and i almost always have a comfortable, deep, great sounding fit.

 

[guicnovaes]

I have small ears and perceive Harman as very speaker like sound from my testing with EQ. I think their target is bang on but people have different preferences a lot of the time.

I think that the Harman OE target is more like Speakers in a Room than the Harman IE. I simulated the Harman IE on the Tanchjim Cora and the ER3XR, using equalizer APO and Heavymetal Hallelujah's graphs and I didn't Like the Results: Shouty V-shaped sound.

For me, the ER3XR sounds much more like studio monitors in a room.

 

[luisdent]

I have small ears and perceive Harman as very speaker like sound from my testing with EQ. I think their target is bang on but people have different preferences a lot of the time.

I had a set of earphones that accudio app corrected to harman standard and they sounded awesome. I think mostly it's more low end. But either way it sounded good. But er4sr for me is the cake. Sub bass could be better level but quality is good.

 

[smokecrack]

what's the next step up from the ER4XR? I love the sound, but want more soundstage and a little more bass.

 

[fsi22]

what's the next step up from the ER4XR? I love the sound, but want more soundstage and a little more bass.

Er2 xr has more sub bass. can't say what's better but I am enjoying the added rumble alot.

 

[Trasselkalle]

I have the 4PT, i.e can make the P into an S as the cable is in that kit. Any way other than EQ to make it into a B? I use them when on the move, hence not feasible to EQ well. Mostly just curious, as I am happy with the S otherwise.

 

[491838]

what's the next step up from the ER4XR? I love the sound, but want more soundstage and a little more bass.

That is a mystery. I have not seen any IEM with a similar sound signature. They're either too warm in the bass or too bright, both of which would ruin the coherency that this IEM is known for.

 

[Schwarzschild]

what's the next step up from the ER4XR? I love the sound, but want more soundstage and a little more bass.

Head to the future and bring us back a few pairs of ER5's!

ER2XR has bigger bass and a slightly better soundstage than ER4XR, but still small, and not as much 'quickness' and detail. My next would be a nice set of dynamic open-back headphones like Sennheiser HD700. But at that point you'd be jumping considerably in price.

 

[dr cornelius]

what's the next step up from the ER4XR? I love the sound, but want more soundstage and a little more bass.

Some have said the Empire Ears ESR - it's designed to be neutral. IME it's difficult to jump from the Ety's. I'm always on the lookout for more soundstage and sub-bass, but when I listen to TOTL earphones, they're too V or U shaped. I recently bought a pair of Campfire Andromedas, and they have nice bass, but just don't have the detail and balance of the 4XR's. I've tried others in that $1K price range, but always too much of a trade off - losing proper balance for bass and soundstage.

 

[491838]

Some have said the Empire Ears ESR - it's designed to be neutral. IME it's difficult to jump from the Ety's. I'm always on the lookout for more soundstage and sub-bass, but when I listen to TOTL earphones, they're too V or U shaped. I recently bought a pair of Campfire Andromedas, and they have nice bass, but just don't have the detail and balance of the 4XR's. I've tried others in that $1K price range, but always too much of a trade off - losing proper balance for bass and soundstage.

Andromedas not as detailed as the ER4? Yikes. Apparently they too suffer from the BA timbre weirdness despite having multiple drivers.

BAs are inexpensive and can offer superior impulse response in many cases but they kinda smudge some of the textural detail, especially on full range BAs, leading to a somewhat artificially smooth timbre.

 

[Trasselkalle]

what's the next step up from the ER4XR? I love the sound, but want more soundstage and a little more bass.

I only briefly listened to them, so not a great test. However, the Inear ProPhile-8 is the one that I am personally hoping to listen more to. That could well be the next step up, but I tend to take my time with this so we shall see if I actually pull the trigger on them at any point. And yeah, for the possible times you actually want more bass, there is a switch to them. I never tried that one though as I come from ER4P/S and that may be a bit more than I like.

 

[luisdent]

what's the next step up from the ER4XR? I love the sound, but want more soundstage and a little more bass.

Believe it or not, I find the akg earphones that come with the samsung note 9 are very smooth in response. And while they're definitely more exaggerated bass and treble, they're not really peaky or dippy anywhere in the response. They're just more v shaped. I find if I want more energy and exciting sound they deliver anvery good sound, but usually I find them boosted and always want to go back to the er4. depends on my mood. But they may fit your preference. They aren't horribly bassy or bright.

 

[ClieOS]

I have the 4PT, i.e can make the P into an S as the cable is in that kit. Any way other than EQ to make it into a B? I use them when on the move, hence not feasible to EQ well. Mostly just curious, as I am happy with the S otherwise.

Someone in Korea once built an converter adapter that allows switching between P, S, and B. The other more realistic way is to get a 4B cable.

 

[Pott]

I finally, after years of hesitation, got some ER4. I went with the XR version, and I find the bass satisfying with it. These are not basshead IEMs, and I am not a basshead either. Perfect.

I have a super tiny left-ear canal, which makes fitting UEIMs very problematic. I can ONLY use small-bore IEMs like the ER series and... not sure what else. Westones. Shures. My knowledge stops there though I am not using my old W20s and have never owned Shures before.
I use the big foam tips. I typically do not mind the double-flange either, but this time I just wanted to try the foams and they stuck around.

When you guys want the fit/convenience of the ER4s, but look for a different sound, what's your go-to? Thanks!

 

[mark88888]

what's the next step up from the ER4XR? I love the sound, but want more soundstage and a little more bass.

I'm not going to call it a step up, but I would strongly recommend the BLON 03. You may have noticed the hype about them, the hype is real. I modified them to wear straight down rather than over the ear, new foam tips, new cord on the way. They sound great and I'll definitely be alternating between the ER4XR and the BLON 03. The cost is unbelievable considering how they sound.