[Jasper994]

Quote:

Originally Posted by drarthurwells Well it sounded like harmonic distortion. Turned out to be spiders in my ears - a nest of them in each ear. A nurse friend took them out. Etys sound good again.

Yeah, but don't forget, she left some medicated cotton swabs in there to help keep those nasty spiders from nesting in there again. Too bad the cotton swaps also damp the trebles... Oh wait, no, you have Ety's... Good thing she left those cotton swabs in there!

 

[drarthurwells]

One factor is age and sex.

Your treble hearing ability slowly delclines, beginning as early as in the twenties. When you reach the fifties you have some definite treble hearing loss.

Females seem more sensitive to treble notes than men.

Older men (like myself) may prefer Etymotics, the younger people, particlualry females, may be turned off by the Etymotics' treble peaks and prefer the Shure's treble roll off.

 

[elephantman]

hmm, talk about thin girly sound.

 

[SiBurning]

Listened to both of these. The first thing is they both sound like I'm listening to music through a tube. I chose the ety's because the shures seemed worse here. The other difference can be fixed. The shures are more comfortable, but people say you can put those little plastic jammies on the ety. As for the rest, I could go either way and be happy.

Oh, and the spiders prefer the tri-flange on the ety's.

 

[GiMione]

question,

I already own the E4c and I was thinking the er4p would be a good second pair of phones. Would the sound stray from the sound of the e4cs’ enough to appreciate the different sound signatures? In other words, is it worth getting the pair of ety’s also?

 

[drarthurwells]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GiMione question, I already own the E4c and I was thinking the er4p would be a good second pair of phones. Would the sound stray from the sound of the e4cs’ enough to appreciate the different sound signatures? In other words, is it worth getting the pair of ety’s also?

It would be different.

Not sure you would like it better.

 

[Jasper994]

Quote:

Originally Posted by drarthurwells One factor is age and sex. Your treble hearing ability slowly delclines, beginning as early as in the twenties. When you reach the fifties you have some definite treble hearing loss. Females seem more sensitive to treble notes than men. Older men (like myself) may prefer Etymotics, the younger people, particlualry females, may be turned off by the Etymotics' treble peaks and prefer the Shure's treble roll off.

Well yes, those things, and how much you've abused your hearing also plays a very large roll...

I can still hear 19kHz... The Ety's are shrill IMO.

 

[setmenu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jasper994 Well yes, those things, and how much you've abused your hearing also plays a very large roll... I can still hear 19kHz... The Ety's are shrill IMO.

That shrillness some people can have problems with is more related to
frequencies around 2-2.5k than anything around 19k!
In my view the reason for this potential to sound shrill is also partly related to high treble roll off.
When I boosted my high trebles plus cutting a bit of the 2.5k, the sound
became more natural [to my ears] and smooth.
I also enjoy a bit of bass boost with the ER4, it especially helps with outdoor listening.

 

[warpdriver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jasper994 Well yes, those things, and how much you've abused your hearing also plays a very large roll... I can still hear 19kHz... The Ety's are shrill IMO.

I can hear out to about 18Khz, and the Ety's are not shrill to me.

Secondly, if you can really hear out to 19Khz, you'll also probably notice that the E4's really roll off about 10 Khz, and the Ety's start to roll off around 15Khz, so hearing out to 19Khz has nothing to do with anything.

If anything, I have to wonder if there is something peculiar about some people's ears that are finding headphones like E4's to be bright where objective measurements seem to indicate otherwise.

 

[VicAjax]

the etys are hot snot on a silver platter.
the shures are cold boogers on a paper plate.

 

[elephantman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VicAjax the etys are hot snot on a silver platter. the shures are cold boogers on a paper plate.

and ur the hair on the booger.

 

[Jmmmmm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by warpdriver If anything, I have to wonder if there is something peculiar about some people's ears that are finding headphones like E4's to be bright where objective measurements seem to indicate otherwise.

Where are these objective measurements? I'm interested in seeing and e4 graph.

 

[episiarch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by calvinhobs I'm looking into getting of of these sets and need some good advice/information on the two of them... I will primarily be doing my listening from a portable cd player at work

I got into this thread late, and want to add a response focused on the original post rather than on the more recent followups.

Personally I don't really like the ER-4P. To me the tonal balance just plain sounds wrong. I keep wanting to fiddle with EQ, sometimes differently for each song.

The ER-4S, however (or ER-4P with P->S cable), I *love*. Super range, super clarity, and balance that to my ears is just about perfect. But most portables don't drive the ER-4S all that well: often they have to be turned up rather close to full volume, and even at that they are not showing all the potential of the earphone. To really get the most out of it, you need an amp.

The Shure E4 is an amazingly good earphone unamped. When I'm listening to it, my attention is never drawn to what (relatively little) it may lack in comparison to other units. It just sounds extremely good, all the time.

Listening to the ER-4S and the E4 side by side, the ER-4S has more clarity and more extended treble. But not as much more as I expected, and it also has microphonics, and really likes to be amped. When I'm looking for the very best sound quality, I go with ER-4S amped. But if I don't want the extra gear, or want to be able to move around, I very happily wear the E4 and have no complaints about it.

I keep an amp at work in order to have the choice of a wide range of headphones. But if I were going to rely solely on a PCDP and just one model of earphone, I believe I'd go with the Shure.

 

[Jasper994]

Quote:

Originally Posted by setmenu That shrillness some people can have problems with is more related to frequencies around 2-2.5k than anything around 19k! In my view the reason for this potential to sound shrill is also partly related to high treble roll off. When I boosted my high trebles plus cutting a bit of the 2.5k, the sound became more natural [to my ears] and smooth. I also enjoy a bit of bass boost with the ER4, it especially helps with outdoor listening.

That's not exactly what I was getting at. Yes I know the boosted treble on the Etys is more around 2.5k. What I was getting at is that most people that I've come in contact with that have hearing loss struggle to hear mids and lower to mid treble along with having lost the ability to hear the highest highs. This being the case, they would likely appreciate the treble boost of the Etys.

 

[Jasper994]

Quote:

Originally Posted by episiarch The Shure E4 is an amazingly good earphone unamped. When I'm listening to it, my attention is never drawn to what (relatively little) it may lack in comparison to other units. It just sounds extremely good, all the time. Listening to the ER-4S and the E4 side by side, the ER-4S has more clarity and more extended treble. But not as much more as I expected, and it also has microphonics, and really likes to be amped. When I'm looking for the very best sound quality, I go with ER-4S amped. But if I don't want the extra gear, or want to be able to move around, I very happily wear the E4 and have no complaints about it. I keep an amp at work in order to have the choice of a wide range of headphones. But if I were going to rely solely on a PCDP and just one model of earphone, I believe I'd go with the Shure.

You make a very good point, even for those who do love the Etymotic sound, carrying around the extra gear to get the best out of them can be a real pain. The Shure line as well as Ultimate Ears and from what I understand, Westone and Sensaphonics all work very well without all the added gear.