luisdent
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2012
- Posts
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I wonder what Etymotic could do in the way of pricing on a group order........
I don't know. Do they do that?
I wonder what Etymotic could do in the way of pricing on a group order........
Now I'm curious. Can someone who has a new set of er4s take a photo of the filters in the earphone? I think I'm putting them in the correct direction based on online photos...
Now I'm curious. Can someone who has a new set of er4s take a photo of the filters in the earphone? I think I'm putting them in the correct direction based on online photos...
The Ety green (plastic) replacement filters that I have in possession look *almost* the same to me from either end. Instructions that came with them didn't specify which end has to go in first, so I don't believe they are uni-directional.
That said... in the interests of research, I just removed the original filters from my ER4. The mesh/cloth that's nearer the filter edge is on the side of the eartip, just like the way you inserted yours.
Update: Ok, I've been squinting into the little bugger for the last one hour and my tired old eyes aren't sure anymore if it's asymmetrical. If there's a difference, it's got to be a millimetre or less.
Just letting you guys know the ER4S and iBasso DX50 pair together overly well, plenty of driving power on medium gain, setting. it's still a little buggy at the moment, but keep your ears open, as it sounds really rich in detail and accurate in timbre.
Mine are definitely closer on one side. Photos from a google search show the filter material closer to the eardrum than the driver. If my stock tips were the other way (I don't think they were) then the sound is the same either way...
Just a friendly reminder --- make sure you balance the digital attenuation to make sure you're getting the maximum amount of dynamic range on the DX50. At low gain, the DX50 outputs 1.2 Vrms, which is plenty of juice for the ER4S (or any BA IEM for that matter, no matter how high the impedance is; a single BA like the ER4 especially has less input headroom before distortion). Juicing the ER4S to 1.7 Vrms is not really necessary, especially when it only gains 3 dB in dynamic range, from 103 to 106. Digitally attenuating the volume to acceptable levels in medium gain mode would lower dynamic range to way lower levels. It's not like the DX50 uses a Sabre DAC, where you can take advantage of the 32-bit digital volume control inside. The DX50's digital volume control throws away a lot more than just the least significant bits, the more you attenuate away from full scale. By -30 dB, you're losing a ton of dynamic range. Thus, you're better off using low gain and cranking the volume a little higher. A lot of people think higher gain "sounds better", but it's not necessarily true, especially when your IEM doesn't need the power. In this case, you're actually losing sound quality because the absolute dynamic range delivered is lower because you've had to digitally attenuate the music level to a point where you're listening to essentially 9-bit, 10-bit music.
Just a friendly reminder --- make sure you balance the digital attenuation to make sure you're getting the maximum amount of dynamic range on the DX50. At low gain, the DX50 outputs 1.2 Vrms, which is plenty of juice for the ER4S (or any BA IEM for that matter, no matter how high the impedance is; a single BA like the ER4 especially has less input headroom before distortion). Juicing the ER4S to 1.7 Vrms is not really necessary, especially when it only gains 3 dB in dynamic range, from 103 to 106. Digitally attenuating the volume to acceptable levels in medium gain mode would lower dynamic range to way lower levels. It's not like the DX50 uses a Sabre DAC, where you can take advantage of the 32-bit digital volume control inside. The DX50's digital volume control throws away a lot more than just the least significant bits, the more you attenuate away from full scale. By -30 dB, you're losing a ton of dynamic range. Thus, you're better off using low gain and cranking the volume a little higher. A lot of people think higher gain "sounds better", but it's not necessarily true, especially when your IEM doesn't need the power. In this case, you're actually losing sound quality because the absolute dynamic range delivered is lower because you've had to digitally attenuate the music level to a point where you're listening to essentially 9-bit, 10-bit music.
Ok, I just plonked in the red filters, cloth side up.
Bass has more presence, sweeeet! ... but this has come at the expense of some of that Ety treble magic. It's still delivering heaps of details yes, but a nice chunk has become less discernible.
Still too early to say which one I like better, but there is definitely a noticeable difference between the green and red filters.