[highway11]

Are there any musicians using these for IEM live or practice use? I bought the ER4XR last week as an upgrade from CCA C12's I was using. My goal was to hear a better representation of my guitar for practicing at home, as I'm playing through headphones 100% of the time there, with no luxury of playing loud in the room. I was also curious how they'd translate for stage use, and I have to say, I'm very impressed. Last night was my first gig with them and its the clearest mix I've had in my ears yet. They are doing what I'd hoped they'd do for me: Allow me to hear more details in the mix and my guitar, as well as dial in better guitar sounds on my modeling rig at home.

Side note: I read the caveat's of how these are great phones if you can handle the deep insertion, and I thought it would be no big deal. My first evening with them I thought they weren't going to work out for me. My ears were in pain from the deep insertion and I tried several sizes of tips. But after learning the proper way of inserting them by pulling my ear back first, it seems either my ears got used to them or the problem went away, as I can wear them now with no discomfort whatsoever. So my advice to anyone who struggles with this is give it a bit of time, don't make a judgement call on the first couple times you use them as to whether or not you can handle the deep insertion.

 

[kmhaynes]

Hey, highway11, for the most comfortable and relatively long-lasting tips for Ety's, have a look at the Shure Foam tips, EABKF1-10S / M / L . They fit very snug on the Ety tip, provide incredible isolation, and don't require as deep an insertion as the greyish 3-flange Ety rubber tips. They are the best.

 

[dr cornelius]

Are there any musicians using these for IEM live or practice use? I bought the ER4XR last week as an upgrade from CCA C12's I was using. My goal was to hear a better representation of my guitar for practicing at home, as I'm playing through headphones 100% of the time there, with no luxury of playing loud in the room. I was also curious how they'd translate for stage use, and I have to say, I'm very impressed. Last night was my first gig with them and its the clearest mix I've had in my ears yet. They are doing what I'd hoped they'd do for me: Allow me to hear more details in the mix and my guitar, as well as dial in better guitar sounds on my modeling rig at home.

Side note: I read the caveat's of how these are great phones if you can handle the deep insertion, and I thought it would be no big deal. My first evening with them I thought they weren't going to work out for me. My ears were in pain from the deep insertion and I tried several sizes of tips. But after learning the proper way of inserting them by pulling my ear back first, it seems either my ears got used to them or the problem went away, as I can wear them now with no discomfort whatsoever. So my advice to anyone who struggles with this is give it a bit of time, don't make a judgement call on the first couple times you use them as to whether or not you can handle the deep insertion.

Glad to hear that you got comfortable with them. I use XR's in the studio when I'm tracking drums, and when I'm practicing. I'm used to wearing ear plugs, so I'm able to wear them for hours with no problems.

 

[highway11]

Hey, highway11, for the most comfortable and relatively long-lasting tips for Ety's, have a look at the Shure Foam tips, EABKF1-10S / M / L . They fit very snug on the Ety tip, provide incredible isolation, and don't require as deep an insertion as the greyish 3-flange Ety rubber tips. They are the best.

Thanks, I'll check them out. I'm trying to avoid foam as in my previous experience they get very gross and dirty fast, and lose their shape. But I'm willing to give foam a try again. I admit they tend to sound the best in my experience, but I hate how short their life span is compared to rubber.

Glad to hear that you got comfortable with them. I use XR's in the studio when I'm tracking drums, and when I'm practicing. I'm used to wearing ear plugs, so I'm able to wear them for hours with no problems.

Nice! Yeah I was worried they'd block too much stage noise live, but thankfully enough vocal mic bleed came into my mix to not make me feel too disconnected when we were between songs, etc.

 

[kmhaynes]

Thanks, I'll check them out. I'm trying to avoid foam as in my previous experience they get very gross and dirty fast, and lose their shape. But I'm willing to give foam a try again. I admit they tend to sound the best in my experience, but I hate how short their life span is compared to rubber.


Nice! Yeah I was worried they'd block too much stage noise live, but thankfully enough vocal mic bleed came into my mix to not make me feel too disconnected when we were between songs, etc.

Well, the Shure foams are pretty durable because they have a mostly-nonporous rubbery coating -- BUT the isolation is so good, you might get a bit of helpful bleed on stage, but in the studio between songs, you would be pulling them in / out quite a bit.

 

[luisdent]

Are there any musicians using these for IEM live or practice use? I bought the ER4XR last week as an upgrade from CCA C12's I was using. My goal was to hear a better representation of my guitar for practicing at home, as I'm playing through headphones 100% of the time there, with no luxury of playing loud in the room. I was also curious how they'd translate for stage use, and I have to say, I'm very impressed. Last night was my first gig with them and its the clearest mix I've had in my ears yet. They are doing what I'd hoped they'd do for me: Allow me to hear more details in the mix and my guitar, as well as dial in better guitar sounds on my modeling rig at home.

Side note: I read the caveat's of how these are great phones if you can handle the deep insertion, and I thought it would be no big deal. My first evening with them I thought they weren't going to work out for me. My ears were in pain from the deep insertion and I tried several sizes of tips. But after learning the proper way of inserting them by pulling my ear back first, it seems either my ears got used to them or the problem went away, as I can wear them now with no discomfort whatsoever. So my advice to anyone who struggles with this is give it a bit of time, don't make a judgement call on the first couple times you use them as to whether or not you can handle the deep insertion.

i seriously think you build up ear calluses lmao. they don't bother me now nearly as much.a lot of it is how you insert them. and i think i put them deeper than most honestly...

I've also used them practicing in a band as well as recording live music. they have the benefit of isolating enough to hear what you're actually recording whereas most would have a lot of bleed from the real instruments and it makes it hard to guage sometimes. so they can be an invaluable tool as much as a pleasure to listen to....

 

[highway11]

i seriously think you build up ear calluses lmao. they don't bother me now nearly as much.a lot of it is how you insert them. and i think i put them deeper than most honestly...

I've also used them practicing in a band as well as recording live music. they have the benefit of isolating enough to hear what you're actually recording whereas most would have a lot of bleed from the real instruments and it makes it hard to guage sometimes. so they can be an invaluable tool as much as a pleasure to listen to....

Hah, I would believe that. After trying them out the first day I was honestly unsure how I'd continue on. My brain was all "yes, sounds good" but my ears were "nooo, don't put those in there so deep!" lol. My ears were aching the first day. Thankfully, your ears do get used to it, if you give it more of a chance. No more pain or discomfort for me when I use them now, just great sound. I could see how that's a major turnoff for some though. And for live stage use, having them in there so deep has some serious advantages as you can hear things very clearly, despite having a loud stage around you. Now I can have more things in my mix and actually hear all of them while also hearing my guitar playing nuances better.

I do find for me they are very sensitive to how far you have them in for them to sound their best. Unless they're smushed as far in as they possibly can go, and then pressed a bit more for good measure, I'm not getting that rich sound with full bass representation. But when they're in the right spot its glorious. I'm just using the default 3 flange tips right now, but I might experiment more with other tips now that my ears are used to them, and see if I can make it easier to get them to sit and stay in that "glorious" sounding spot. Sometimes I find they've slipped just a hair back and I have to push them against my ear again to regain the complete fullness of sound in bass/low-mids.

 

[InvisibleInk]

Hah, I would believe that. After trying them out the first day I was honestly unsure how I'd continue on. My brain was all "yes, sounds good" but my ears were "nooo, don't put those in there so deep!" lol. My ears were aching the first day. Thankfully, your ears do get used to it, if you give it more of a chance. No more pain or discomfort for me when I use them now, just great sound. I could see how that's a major turnoff for some though. And for live stage use, having them in there so deep has some serious advantages as you can hear things very clearly, despite having a loud stage around you. Now I can have more things in my mix and actually hear all of them while also hearing my guitar playing nuances better.

I do find for me they are very sensitive to how far you have them in for them to sound their best. Unless they're smushed as far in as they possibly can go, and then pressed a bit more for good measure, I'm not getting that rich sound with full bass representation. But when they're in the right spot its glorious. I'm just using the default 3 flange tips right now, but I might experiment more with other tips now that my ears are used to them, and see if I can make it easier to get them to sit and stay in that "glorious" sounding spot. Sometimes I find they've slipped just a hair back and I have to push them against my ear again to regain the complete fullness of sound in bass/low-mids.

Have you tried rolling up and inserting the foamies instead?

 

[highway11]

Have you tried rolling up and inserting the foamies instead?

Yes I did. I think I slightly prefer the rubber flanges right now. One issue I had is the foam gets separated from the plastic/rubber inner ring and then I end up jabbing my inner ear with the small point when inserting them.

 

[InvisibleInk]

Yes I did. I think I slightly prefer the rubber flanges right now. One issue I had is the foam gets separated from the plastic/rubber inner ring and then I end up jabbing my inner ear with the small point when inserting them.

Another idea might be to try the Westone star silicone tips.

 

[mark88888]

Yes I did. I think I slightly prefer the rubber flanges right now. One issue I had is the foam gets separated from the plastic/rubber inner ring and then I end up jabbing my inner ear with the small point when inserting them.

A way to avoid this is to make sure they are tightly rolled before you put them in, put them in quickly, and then twist them as little as possible once they're in. In a narrow ear canal, I think the twisting motion will weaken and then rip the foam from the rubber ring.

 

[carmatic]

Hello everyone, I am thinking of selling my ER4-SR, but I cannot in good conscience let anyone else experience the unbalanced bass response of this pair of IEM's ... Etymotic doesn't match the drivers below 100hz , and it seems the lower the frequency , the more the drivers diverge from each other

truth to be told, I have owned a pair of ER4-XR back when it was new and one of the drivers had a loose armature which crackled when you inserted it in your ear and distorted with bass, I then bought a pair of ER3-XR where one of the drivers has a noticably stronger bass response ... I bought this pair of ER4SR's hoping that lower bass levels also means lower bass imbalance, instead it was no improvement and again I have one driver which sounds bassier than the other....
every single Etymotic driver I have owned has a varied bass response, and I had to build my own passive bass filter to manually balance the bass between the left and right channels to make my ER4-SR acceptable to listen to

 

[mkeroppi]

Hello everyone, I am thinking of selling my ER4-SR, but I cannot in good conscience let anyone else experience the unbalanced bass response of this pair of IEM's ... Etymotic doesn't match the drivers below 100hz , and it seems the lower the frequency , the more the drivers diverge from each other

truth to be told, I have owned a pair of ER4-XR back when it was new and one of the drivers had a loose armature which crackled when you inserted it in your ear and distorted with bass, I then bought a pair of ER3-XR where one of the drivers has a noticably stronger bass response ... I bought this pair of ER4SR's hoping that lower bass levels also means lower bass imbalance, instead it was no improvement and again I have one driver which sounds bassier than the other....
every single Etymotic driver I have owned has a varied bass response, and I had to build my own passive bass filter to manually balance the bass between the left and right channels to make my ER4-SR acceptable to listen to

You should send it back to Etymotic. If it is unbalanced, they will repair/replace. I believe they consider something like 0.1 or 1 db mismatch unbalanced.

 

[InvisibleInk]

Hello everyone, I am thinking of selling my ER4-SR, but I cannot in good conscience let anyone else experience the unbalanced bass response of this pair of IEM's ... Etymotic doesn't match the drivers below 100hz , and it seems the lower the frequency , the more the drivers diverge from each other

truth to be told, I have owned a pair of ER4-XR back when it was new and one of the drivers had a loose armature which crackled when you inserted it in your ear and distorted with bass, I then bought a pair of ER3-XR where one of the drivers has a noticably stronger bass response ... I bought this pair of ER4SR's hoping that lower bass levels also means lower bass imbalance, instead it was no improvement and again I have one driver which sounds bassier than the other....
every single Etymotic driver I have owned has a varied bass response, and I had to build my own passive bass filter to manually balance the bass between the left and right channels to make my ER4-SR acceptable to listen to

Man, it's like you were snake bit.

 

[Knee Deep In Epoxy]

Tried the Drop + Etymotic ERX at CanJam London - Sonically almost identical to ER4XR. The only thing that altered the sound is that I couldn't get as deep a fit with the Evo form factor so the isolation wasn't as good for me.

But... Apparently, perhaps sometime next year, Ety are modifying the Evo shape to have a shorter stem which will allow the eartips to adjust to the shape and angle of ear canals better. It will also have a thicker cable. I think at that point I will consider the Evo as I tried that too and loved the sound. On a very short test, it was basically the ER4XR with amazing Sub-bass.