[MuEagle05]

Hi. I'm new here. I've had a pair of Grado Sr-80's for about six months now. I was totally blown away by the sound when i got them. I typically only hook up to portable players, like a cd player or occasionally an ipod.

I need something more portable and that won't bother other people close by, so I was looking at the Etymotic ER-4P's. Will the sound be comparable to or better than the Grado's? From all I've read on here, they will.

My next question is between the the P and S models. The P is a low impedance version of the S. Will the sound quality be the same? Can a normal sony cd player not drive the S models? (it drove the Graod's just fine) ALso I read stuff about a P to S or S to P adapter of some sort...can someone point me in the direction of where to get that or explain what it is?

Thanks for all your help as I'm hoping to upgrade soon.

 

[BranMuffins]

Basically my take on Canalphones and specifically the ER-4P/S is that they are wonderful for what they are. Are they going to give you better sound than the Grados, yes, but it will be a different kind of sound due to the isolation and the basic nature of all canalphones, at least the ones I've heard which is the ER-4 and E3c.

As for the whole P/S deal. There is an adaptor cord that raises the impedance of the P version to that of the S and thus the P version becomes and S. Now, will your CD player be able to drive the S version, yes but not all that well, I really believe you need an amp to drive them well, and you would be doing yourself a disservice to get the S version without an amp. The P version sounds great anyways and it can always become a S when or if you decide to get into the world of Amplification.

Also I would recommend browsing around the forums and looking at what other people have said about the sound of the ety's vs. Shure's and so on. Think about what you like to listen too and such and then buy. Everyone is different and so I would recommend strongly what ever you get making sure they have a return policy so if you just hate canalphones you can send them back, cause sometimes they just dont work for some people.

Also some helpful links.

What ER-4 is right for you?

Head Room

Shure e3c

Head-Fi thread
You can look around and find more threads but the above one is a good place to start.

Chris