2/ They do actually get a bit louder when I ìpull them back, not a huge change, but still
That sounds like the the bore on the tip is getting pinched near shut when you have them inserted. That's like having someone sing right in front of you but they're wearing a foam hood or something.
Is the output otherwise loud enough for you when you pull them back? If so then just try new tips instead of an amplifier. If not, or the tip swapping doesn't work, I'd sooner try another IEM if they can fit right on their own tips or maybe some tips you tried out, figure out which one has the sound you like, and then if it doesn't have this problem but the output is still relatively weak, that's when you try out an amp.
I plug my earphones into my ASUS laptop
If you were plugging them into a phone or some office miniPC I'd totally suspect that but as much as laptop output power can vary, given the sensitivity and impedance it should still at least just get loud enough to hurt my ears. It can sound like garbage to me, but it should still hurt my ears.
I can't be sure at this point if the laptop just doesn't have enough power, or you just have a different perception of how loud it actually is playing, so right now I'd suspect the more likely culprit being that the bore on the tips gets pinched when you wear them. Try harder tips.
...even the speakers aren't really loud but I don't think that's relevant.
It might be but whether it's actually the hardware sucking or there's some weird software running, it's hard to tell. But you can start looking into the latter...however if you tested them on your phone and the output isn't that much louder it doesn't decisively eliminate whether one of them might just have insufficient power. Though I'd bet on that otherwise, your observation that they get louder when pulled out tells me that it's much more likely the tip bore is getting pinched.
There is however one possible reason for why the output seems weak. Are your laptop and phone both Nanny State market products, ie, you didn't order them from say Asus' Taiwan store or a US store, ditto the phone? Because the EU limits output on devices. It's not a problem if every earphone was a Westone or Shure with way over 110dB/1mW output, but when you're starting out with a phone audio chip that might only have 5mW and a laptop audio chip that may have 15mW but maybe more distortion, then Nanny State gives it the equivalent of making Pavarotti sing in a low oxygen environment to starve his lungs, well...
Do you suggest buying a DAC amp from HP? I might buy one eventually, not right now though since I had to spend quite a bit of money recently.
Do you mean buying some kind of docking station
from Hewlett-
Packard? I wouldn't buy those for audio, just for the additional ports.
If you mean buying a DAC-HPamp
for a
head
phone, given the likelihood that the Nanny State limitation might be one problem, then I'd say it's worth a shot. But note that that "pinching" problem might still be a thing then. It'll be louder sure if you put in enough power but I personally would try other tips first and only go get a DAC-HPamp if I really can't find something else that fits right and doesn't have this problem.
I'd say I like high mids and even treble.
I'd try more tips because that's more of what Etymotic is good at, so at least try to keep the earphone you're more likely to like.
I think my preferences go deeper than that but I'm learning the differences between the ranged just these days I received my new two pairs of earphones. From my understanding it doesn't matter in the software which "column" I'm dealing with, I input the frequency and modify quality and gain according to my likings, right?
it depends on the software. In some cases if it's a parametric EQ with variable bands, each band may not have the same range of frequencies available to be its center freq. if you know anybody using Focal or DLS etc in their car and has a processor, have them show you what that looks like. For example on my Pioneer Premier (yeah it's old) Band 1 is like 30hz, 45hz, 75hz, 90hz, and 120hz.
I know people are throwing a lot of numbers at you, but the Etys should not need an amp. Etymotic itself says so.
Depends. Back in 2014 we held a local show and the Etymotic dealer brought all their stuff. All of them had to have my Snapdragon SGS3 cranked up to around 75% just to match my Aurisonics ASG-1.3 at just two steps up from silence.
Also when it comes to what power a product needs, I'm even more cynical with that after NVidia, Thermaltake, and PCPartPicker said his PSU should be fine for his 9700K and 3080 FTW3 Ultra Hybrid and even when he gets a 12700K...and he still got random shutdowns. He already doesn't use any RGB, only has three case fans (and in this case, two of those also serve as the GPU core fans) plus one CPU fan (just the middle fan on a DRP4), and he kept getting the shut downs. Out of sheer frustration I told him to just listen to GamersNexus and buy a 1200w PSU from EVGA. That actually solved the problem and now I might use his old 850W RGB power supply (I mean, RGB gets you an extra 10% FPS).
I have the Ety 3XR, which is slightly higher sensitivity (102 vs 98) but also higher impedance (22 vs 15), and they can easily blast out of a phone or laptop.
4dB/1mW will have a vastly bigger impact than going from 15ohms to 22ohms.
The first figure will reduce the power (in watts) needed by ~233%. The second at worst may reduce the power output but not by like, half or a quarter. In some cases it may even increase depending on the chip/circuit ie they produce peak power at 32ohm for example then starts reducing output as you go lower.
Since the sound gets louder when you pull back, your recent thought about the tips getting in the way may well be correct. Have you tried them with the gray foam tips? Be careful taking the foams on and off; push on the rubber core and don't twist the foam, because they are annoyingly fragile. But the foams push down all the way to the end of the nozzle so they can't block it, and it would be a useful experiment. Squeeze the foam flat, insert them in your ears, and give the foam a little time to expand to make a seal.
Ultimately, yeah, after what he just posted I suspect the tips a lot more. I'm much more inclined to try out tips on the cheap for one reason: he also sounds like he'd like Etymotic. I like mids and only need the bass to be audible, but in my case what put me off from them wasn't even how hard I had to crank up my phone, but the fit was just...I was too aware they were in my ears since they stuck outwards and can feel them like if my ear was a cliffside cave and some guy was hanging on for dear life there. By contrast other IEMs that I find comfortable are more like having a granite block over a rock hewn tomb entrance ie they just look like they fit in there and Tut can rest in peace (and only have this stuff in a museum instead of outright robbery).
