[elephantman]

good old ety vs shure debate...

 

[akwok]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teerawit You are making it sound like the E4 is bad if you have bad tastes, and that the ER4 is superior if you have the "proper" taste. The E4 is fun-sounding, even unamped from the ipod while on the go, but has a treble roll-off. The ER4 has very nice detail and clarity, but lacks the musicality aspect found in the E4. It's a trade-off; you have to choose which aspect of sound you want to sacrifice. You can't have everything at this price range!

You can't have everything in any pricerange, Teera

.

 

[Mr Iriver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by warpdriver I disagree, if they are sibilant, it's because the recording is sibilant (which is a very common occurance).

That is possible, as I mostly listen to rock, which tends to be recorded to sound edgy. But still that would make the ER4 very prone to sibilance. On the other hand I also think that the E3 needs a lot of improvemrnt in the treble area.

 

[calvinhobs]

Great info from everyone!

I plan on using my phones from a static source almost all of the time. This is actually starting to be a harder choise than I thought It'd be. Sounds like the Shure's have a better bottom end but a little rolled off the top, while the Etymotic's are more accurate and reproduce the music more faithfully.

Which do you all think offers the best bang for the buck?...since they are both about the same price.

Sounds like I truly can't go wrong with either set...if there's any sound or charactoristic that really sticks out between these two sets most what would it be?

 

[warpdriver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Iriver That is possible, as I mostly listen to rock, which tends to be recorded to sound edgy. But still that would make the ER4 very prone to sibilance.

It certainly can be said that the ER4 is not forgiving on source material, which is definitely not a *bad* thing for most people. In fact, it really does give credance to the audiophile philosphy that the source is of utmost importance. The ER4 does reveal all the flaws up and down your chain of components as well as most high end headphones.

 

[warpdriver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by calvinhobs Great info from everyone! I plan on using my phones from a static source almost all of the time. This is actually starting to be a harder choise than I thought It'd be. Sounds like the Shure's have a better bottom end but a little rolled off the top, while the Etymotic's are more accurate and reproduce the music more faithfully. Which do you all think offers the best bang for the buck?...since they are both about the same price.

As much as a fan of the ER4's as I am, I actually would recommend the E4's for most people, as it tends to be more middle of the road sounding. It's neither too bassy nor too bright whereas the ER4's leaner and overall sparkling sound sometimes rubs people the wrong way. Most people would find the E4's to be pleasant. The biggest weakness of the ER4's still has to be the microphonics (although there are things you can do to alleviate that)

If you are willing to amp the ER4's, getting the ER4's with the Xin Supermacro V3 amp (with bass boost switch and impedance boost switches) is absolutely a phenomenal combination. You get the best of both worlds, a nice full bass (the bass boost has the perfect EQ curve for Ety's) along with the signature Ety highs.

 

[calvinhobs]

thanks warpdriver...I was thinking the Shure's would probably be a little more forgiving and proably a more enjoyable experience to listen to. Since most of my listening will be done through a portable cd player and sometimes mp3's my source material obviously won't be as good as it could be. Another reason to get the shure's.

How much detail and music would I be missing with the Shure's rolled off high's everyone's mentioning? It sounds like the lean sounds of the Ety's is barely there so to speak based off of everyone's reviews.

And as for musicl instrument reproduction such as piano...which one of these most faithfully reproduces an accurate sound?

 

[calvinhobs]

and one more thing...how much would the Shure E5's be an improvement over these two choices? I hear they do very well with unamplified sources such as portable cd players? Would the E5's provide good sound staging and imaging or would the Ety's still be the best choice for that?

 

[Mr Iriver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by calvinhobs How much detail and music would I be missing with the Shure's rolled off high's everyone's mentioning? It sounds like the lean sounds of the Ety's is barely there so to speak based off of everyone's reviews. And as for musicl instrument reproduction such as piano...which one of these most faithfully reproduces an accurate sound?

From what I have read the E4c is pretty close. The ER4 has more detail in the treble, but the E4 has more detail in the mids.

As for accuracy, I found the ER4 to have a really nice frequency responce except for the vulnerability to sibilance. Another thing is I found the instruments to sound artificial, yet really nice. The shure E3 on the other hand to me sounded more natural, but lacked the higher treble by comparison, which is needed for some music.

From what I have read I would say the E4 has a more accurate overall sound. Much better timbre, decay, and similar frequency responce characteristics. The etymotics timbre and decay are way off IMO.

 

[warpdriver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by calvinhobs And as for musicl instrument reproduction such as piano...which one of these most faithfully reproduces an accurate sound?

I think the Shure does a reasonably good job of reproducing piano. The Ety shines better for string instruments with far better separation.

 

[warpdriver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by calvinhobs and one more thing...how much would the Shure E5's be an improvement over these two choices? I hear they do very well with unamplified sources such as portable cd players? Would the E5's provide good sound staging and imaging or would the Ety's still be the best choice for that?

The E5's still roll off treble (it's just a Shure trademark sound). Bass wise, they kill the E4's, and present a far warmer sound. One other one to consider is the Westone UM2 (which are Shure E5's but separated at birth). I haven't heard these, but they are supposed to be a better balanced set than the E5's (more prominent treble, but all the bass of the E5)

 

[calvinhobs]

Man, maybe I should just get both and switch those suckers back and forth between the type of music! So are you saying the Shure's do a better job with a natural piano compared to the Ety's? Sorry for all the questions...I'm an amature when it comes to earphones.

 

[Teerawit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by akwok You can't have everything in any pricerange, Teera .

UE-10. Enough said.

 

[Mr Iriver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by calvinhobs and one more thing...how much would the Shure E5's be an improvement over these two choices? I hear they do very well with unamplified sources such as portable cd players? Would the E5's provide good sound staging and imaging or would the Ety's still be the best choice for that?

The soundstage of the ER4, is really small. The shure E3s soundstage is a little bigger IMO, but still not much of a soundstage. From what I have read though the dual driver canalphones (superfi, E5, UM2) can beat the hell of the single drivers for soundstage. For instrument separation however the etymotics are really good. They have really great instrumet separation.


Calvinhobs. Do they have to be portable? I ask this because I found the HD580 to sound much better than either. THe piano in the senns is just beautiful.

 

[warpdriver]

Piano's are actually very hard to reproduce accurately, and honestly I can hear flaws with both of these headphones just listening to piano....but I think the E4's do a reasonably good job.

The ER4's sometimes doesn't convey the weight of the lower octave piano notes just because of their leaner sound (all talking without an amp) but tends convey the attack of the notes better.

So I'm a bit split on which one is better for piano.

I have to echo the iriver's question about portability. With a full sized headphone like the HD595 (the 595's are a bit more lively in the highs and are reasonably easy to drive from a portable), you get nice piano renditions, tight and neutral bass, very good detail at a cost less than either of these canalphones.