[luisdent]

Ok thank you.. That's what I thought too.. The ones on etymotic are expensive for what you get.. But like you said you have piece of mind when buying from them..

I do think it's overpriced. I don't understand why companies do that. It can't be more than a ten dollar part. But who knows. Maybe they don't sell enough so the price is high? I'd probably get the ety myself just because I feel like I know I'd be getting the exact sound quality I should be getting.

And I'm the sort if person who buys $10 hdmi cables and generic speaker wire for my multi thousand dollar home theatre setup. Ha. (Seriously)

I doubt there's any quality difference, but that's just me.

 

[luisdent]

I have one question.  Does anyone else get jaw pain after listening to these for a while.  It doesn't matter how deep they are either.  But if I listen to them for more than say 20 minutes my just slowly starts to ache and then it hurts a while afterwards.  I'm not 100% sure it's the earphones or something else, so I thought I'd ask.  I did have a tooth filling recently, but it's not just near that tooth that hurts it's my whole jaw.  And it seems to correspond with my listening times... :-/

 

[ianmedium]

Hmm, I have not experienced that myself but considering these go deep and are pressing and widening the ear canal slightly I guess if your prone to sensitivity there it could make that happen, just press your finger lightly on the front part of your ear and you can easily feel the joint move.

As an experiment try the foam tips that come with it. That might ease the pressure and so not create the problem, let us know what happens.

Oh, and another thought just comes to mind, these make a pretty much air tight seal so it could be the build up of pressure caused by that rather than the actual physical aspect, again, the foam would allow a little more air through as it is porous.

 

[gnarlsagan]

Never had that problem luis.

 

[luisdent]

Quote:

Hmm, I have not experienced that myself but considering these go deep and are pressing and widening the ear canal slightly I guess if your prone to sensitivity there it could make that happen, just press your finger lightly on the front part of your ear and you can easily feel the joint move.

As an experiment try the foam tips that come with it. That might ease the pressure and so not create the problem, let us know what happens.

Oh, and another thought just comes to mind, these make a pretty much air tight seal so it could be the build up of pressure caused by that rather than the actual physical aspect, again, the foam would allow a little more air through as it is porous.

 
I use the foam a lot and they are actually the worse.  I put them in deep, and I think they expand more at the tip than the triple flange perhaps causing more pressure.  I'm also very conscious of the air pressure and reseat them if I feel them causing any real suction.  I'm going to say it might just be my filling making my gums sensitive, which makes anything in that vicinity aggravate the gums.  I'm not sure.  I guess I'll see if it goes away in a week or two.  Even thought it seems to correspond to my listening, it doesn't always happen.  Who knows.  I ordered the custom tips.  I'm hoping maybe those will help if it is a permanent issue.

 

[pacman46]

I do think it's overpriced. I don't understand why companies do that. It can't be more than a ten dollar part. But who knows. Maybe they don't sell enough so the price is high? I'd probably get the ety myself just because I feel like I know I'd be getting the exact sound quality I should be getting.

And I'm the sort if person who buys $10 hdmi cables and generic speaker wire for my multi thousand dollar home theatre setup. Ha. (Seriously)

I doubt there's any quality difference, but that's just me.

I'm not sure why it costs more either.. When buying there headphones too it's cheaper to buy them from someone else.. They say they don't want to over price company's that sell them.. I kinda understand that but what about the customer lol

 

[pacman46]

I have one question.  Does anyone else get jaw pain after listening to these for a while.  It doesn't matter how deep they are either.  But if I listen to them for more than say 20 minutes my just slowly starts to ache and then it hurts a while afterwards.  I'm not 100% sure it's the earphones or something else, so I thought I'd ask.  I did have a tooth filling recently, but it's not just near that tooth that hurts it's my whole jaw.  And it seems to correspond with my listening times... :-/

My jaw don't hurt but cause I put them really deep my ear way deep inside will really hurt after a while.. I use the large tri tips cause they are the only ones that give me the best sound.. The complies fit nice but I find that they don't sound as nice..

 

[ianmedium]

Hmm, I am going to get personal here! Do you all make sure your ears are clean before using the ety's? With these more than anything else hygiene is of utmost importance as it reduces discomfort and irritation.

When I shower in the mornings I make sure to clean my ears by letting some of the soapy water in my ear then massaging with my finger behind my ear, this seems to clean out my ears, then flush with clean water and after use a tissue to damp out any moisture. I find I have no irritation issues doing that. Judging by the number of times I have lent fellow headfiers my pair to listen to ( after cleaning the flanges with alcohol ) a great many do not clean their ears !

Also, when inserting the tips it is my habit to moisten them slightly with my saliva! This sounds gross I know but A. it eases insertion, B. it is your bodies natural lubricant therefore will not react with your body and C. Saliva is a natural disinfectant ( When I was in the RAF we were trained that if we cut ourselves and had no medical bag then spit on the wound as a temporary measure!).

 

[Deadlovestory]

Baby oil and, uh, personal lubricant works wonder when applied to ER-4's tips before insertion. 

 

[ianmedium]

Oh dear... What have I started! :confused_face_2:

 

[markanini]

Regarding ER4 HF5 differences:


 

Practically non existant! Yet my subjective impression was that the my ER4P brought a noticable improvement in clarity, especially on this difficult track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHDaKtx6bGY Placebo? Who knows!

 

[markanini]

Stop everything, Udauda made a HF5 review. http://rinchoi.blogspot.com/2013/04/etymotic-research-hf-3-er-4-equivalent.html

 

[ianmedium]

Markanini, I certainly do not think it placebo! Those on the SS forum who simply cannot think or feel outside of the box will argue black is blue that it is.

There is so much more to HiFi than measurements and remember those measurements are fallable and can be manipulated. Measurements for me are just a base line. I have heard so many things measured by Hertsens that show up as wonderful but sound truly boring or awful. I don't know what it is with the blind following of this fellow who has stated on many occasions that if it does not measure well it's crap. Total nonsense and completely ignoring the human aspect which is not quantifiable no matter how the science brigade try to make it so so that they can feel safe and secure in their tiny minded boxes!

Sorry for the rant but I am fed up with that lot being the bottom line around here. If what you personally hear sounds good then it is good and no amount of measurements will alter that unless of course the measurement placebo is in place which bends one by pressure of the masses to believe in the measurements above personal perception!

Go outside of Tyll hertsens and the headfi usual suspects and you will see the majority of long standing HiFi reviewers and makers of really great sounding equipment treat measurements as only a starting place!

End of rant

 

[brunk]

Quote:

Sorry for the rant but I am fed up with that lot being the bottom line around here. If what you personally hear sounds good then it is good and no amount of measurements will alter that unless of course the measurement placebo is in place which bends one by pressure of the masses to believe in the measurements above personal perception!

End of rant

+1 well said

 

[Deadlovestory]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but since when does frequency response graph have anything to do with clarity?
 
No matter how similar ER-4 and HF-5 are FR chart-wise, I'm sure as heck ER-4 still wins in terms of clarity over HF-5, especially during complex, fast passages.