[pingles]

I've just bought some Etymotic ER4P earphones and am now awaiting delivery (woowoo).

However, I've been reading about people burning in their headphones etc. to get the best sound (and remember a friend doing it with his Grados).

I've never done this with headphones before, what's the best advice? Is there a need to do it with the Etys?

 

[Wodgy]

Yes, burn in is important with Etys. I found that their sound did change noticeably over a week or so. Also, it takes a while for your ears to get used to the Ety sound. Once you do though, you'll love them. You don't need to do anything special to burn them in -- just listen to a lot of music.

 

[JaZZ]

...or (and) play music - relatively loud and with lots of bass - without wearing them to accelerate the process...

 

[Peddler]

Whilst there are some subtle changes to be had breaking in the Ety's - it's not really worth bothering with in my opinion - instead you should be focussing on getting the fit right and adjusting to the in-head sound. Chances are by the time you've mastered this they will be broke in anyway.

Don't feed them with lots of bass - something tells me it's not the best thing for these remarkable headphones.

 

[pingles]

Cool, I was kinda hoping I didn't really have to do anything special -- they're hopefully being dispatched today so should be at home tomorrow. My aim is to then play around a bit to get comfy before wearing them on my daily commute on Friday -- hoping that the isolation will make the London tube more bearable

That and I'm looking forward to getting some awesome fidelity out of them.

I was wondering, the best pair of headphones I've heard before were a pair of Senn HD-600's that a friend of mine had, not sure whether anyone will have any way of answering this, but roughly how would the Ety's compare?

 

[JaZZ]

There are quite a few people here who think the Etys even surpass the HD 600 as to sound quality. But keep in mind that the presentation of the music is quite different from the circumaural, open HD 600, so you first have to adjust your hearing habit to the new soundscape. There's some sort of agreement though that both are definitely in the same class.

Don't worry about loud bass (for break-in); they are built to bear any sort of audio signals in a wide dynamic range - although they look quite delicate. And I think it's worth to apply a dedicated break-in since they take quite a long time to settle down.

 

[uoods]

I think it's worth it to break them in. But there's no reason to avoid listening to them until they've "fully" broken in. It takes quite a long time to break in Ety's, it almost seems like they slowly get better all the time. I'd say you should do an initial burn in of whatever length of time you want, anyway.

 

[gpalmer]

I personally found when i got mine that even after months of play they were rather sterile and uninvolving, they really didn't sound broken in. So I hooked them up to my computer sound card for 24 hours at the maximum volume I could get without distortion and let it run. The change was incredible, it was like a whole new set or earphones. Instead of being cold and flat they were warm. Highly recommended!

 

[davidmiya]

hmm, that's interesting. Perhaps the drivers somehow "settle" back down to where they used to be if you use them for only a few hours at a time. However, if you run them continuously (I might try 48 hours and see what happens), perhaps the acoustic qualities will be more permanent.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[JaZZ]

This may also apply to many other headphones (if not all). They probably won't reach their full potential without having been played with high levels for an extended period, say 24 hours. To maximize the suspension loosening effect with high excursions without overly charging the voice coil it's recommended to use bass-heavy music and maybe even to turn the bass control up.

 

[pingles]

There's no danger of blowing the internals of the Etys? If I turn it up to a level where it's loud for my ears and just leave them going?

 

[JaZZ]

As long as it's not distorting it should be alright.

 

[uoods]

Quote:

Originally posted by davidmiya hmm, that's interesting. Perhaps the drivers somehow "settle" back down to where they used to be if you use them for only a few hours at a time. However, if you run them continuously (I might try 48 hours and see what happens), perhaps the acoustic qualities will be more permanent.

Actually I think they do settle down. My Ety's had gone unused during a period of time where the wire had stripped itself and I was entirely too busy to service them, then I had a conference to attend in California. After I returned and sent them in for service and got them back, they sounded very un-broken in. Of course, I got the cord replaced, so that might have contributed to it.

 

[stuartr]

For what it's worth, I never noticed any signicant change in the sound of my ety's, and I have had them for two years. Then again, I don't really pay attention to that sort of thing...just the music.

 

[squirt]

My ER-4S went through changes as it broke in...it started out sounding tinny and lacked bass response in comparing to my HD600. After a few weeks of use it really started to open up and bass response significantly increased going almost toe to toe with the HD600...i didn't do anything special to break in my ER-4S other than typical listening sessions...
Using my Granite Audio bass test CD my ER-4S goes down to about 23hz compared to my HD600 19hz!! My K1000 goes down to about 33hz.