[Turner_Brown]

Quote:

Originally Posted by honda Hi Turner_Brown, The foam tips will allow a lot of the low frequencies from your new E4s to come through, but if what you mean by "more punch" is faster and stronger attack, you need to try the tri-flange tips (cut to the proper length to suit your taste and comfort). The foam tips dampens out a lot of the punch, softening the sound, and sometimes some foam gets in front of the opening of the sound bore and takes out a bit more sound there. Also you need to let the E4s burn in just a bit, and your ears to adjust to the armature sound. Give them at least 2 weeks of listening everyday before you write them off. It took me months to get use to the ER-6i, my first armature drivers.

I tried the tri-flanges. The lowest of lows completely disappeared. I agree that I should give them more time...but I will have to admit, my expectations were probably too high. For the limited amount of time that I HAVE to wear iems (biking, commuting to work/school), I think I can settle for a much cheaper fun sounding cx300. I leave my sr-60's at work and my rs-1s at home...so I guess I was wrong to think a pair of iems would/could replace either of them.

 

[Harun]

I think the E4c's is capable of producing some great bass. When i use the them with my portable rig (5g Ipod) there is like no bass at all. But if i connect them to my stereo system and set the eq on rock i'm getting a LOT of bass which is also very tight and controlled. I was amazed at how great the e4c's can sound. I think it all comes down to the fact that most of the portable audio players can't produce that amount of bass with the e4's. I also tried it with a portable amp but nada.

 

[Habakkuk]

Turner,

Have you tried adjusting EQ on your H120? I get enough bass to satisfy a basshead out of my EQed H120->e4. Try to do it and leave your SR-71 out of the chain.

 

[honda]

Tri-flange tips are very tricky to fit properly at first. I had the exact same experience as you when I got my first set of armature IEMs, the ER-6i. I kept on shoving and shoving them into my ear until they started to hurt, and then I shoved some more. Nothing did it, they sounded thin and shrill, no bass at all. But as time went by and I read more about how to properly insert them, and my ears adjusting to not only the sound of armatures but began to get along with the tri-flange tips better, that was when I truly began to appreciate armature drivers. 2 of the tricks that helped most are to moisten the tips before insertion and to pull up and out on the tops of your ears as you insert them. Since you are already used to foam tips being in your ears, maybe you can try listening for about a week or so on the pair of grey tips that fit and sound best for you. Let your ears grow around them for a week or so. Bass will seem to come out of nowhere all of a sudden. As for the tri-flanges, I would get a bag of 3 to 5 pairs, and experiment with lengths and the cutting of the smallest flange. I like the tri-flanges now, but usually when I listen to Shures, I use Etymotic tri-flange tips with the smallest flange cut off. that gives you a more open sound and makes them easier to put on.

Another thing you can try, which might work for you, I have done this for a few people whom all like the fit and bass of Sony EX71/EX51, and CX300: cut off about 1/3 inch of the stems off your tri-flange tips, stick those cut off pieces onto your E4s, then slip your CX300/MD33/Sony EX71 tips over those pieces and try it out. Also try out the tri-flange tips again after they have been shortened that way. Did I word that properly? Let me know if that was comprehensible, if not, I will try to post photos.

 

[Zephyron]

You have to remember that the E4 wasn't built for head-slamming bass, that's not their purpose

You want big heavy bass, you could go for the UE SuperFi 5EB.

 

[honda]

By the way, are you running your cables up around your ears or straight down? If you run them straight down, the Shure stem angle is backwards and will probably be difficult or even impossible to fit properly. I strongly recommend running them around the ears so the stem angle aligns better with your ear canals (for most people anyway).

 

[Turner_Brown]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Habakkuk Turner, Have you tried adjusting EQ on your H120? I get enough bass to satisfy a basshead out of my EQed H120->e4. Try to do it and leave your SR-71 out of the chain.

Yes....they do sound really great out of the h120 (rockbox) with the bass +10db. If the h120 was my everyday player I would probably keep them. But I have a 5G ipod that I have 30GBs of 192kbs+ encoded music that I use for everyday listening. I tried using the bass boost option on the ipod and the result was almost laughable. I agree though: E4>EQ'd H120 = awesomeness. It does bother me, though, that I have to mess with the EQ to get them to sound good. I'm not one to fiddle with the EQ.

 

[Turner_Brown]

Quote:

Originally Posted by honda By the way, are you running your cables up around your ears or straight down? If you run them straight down, the Shure stem angle is backwards and will probably be difficult or even impossible to fit properly. I strongly recommend running them around the ears so the stem angle aligns better with your ear canals (for most people anyway).

I am wearing them properly.

 

[Habakkuk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turner_Brown Yes....they do sound really great out of the h120 (rockbox) with the bass +10db. If the h120 was my everyday player I would probably keep them. But I have a 5G ipod that I have 30GBs of 192kbs+ encoded music that I use for everyday listening.

Turner, are you hezitant to switch to your H120 due to space constraints? Keep in mind that 40GB single platter Toshiba drive will be available later on this year. Personally, I'd switch from 5g and keep the H120 as a primary portable. Apple is simply not up to snuff as is evidenced by a simple experiment. I prefer my 3 year old H120 to a new X5. Those iRivers H1xx are simply the best portables out there. EQing your headphones shouldn't be an issue as long as you are happy with the outcome. I found my H120 drives any low impedance headphones beautifully with an appropriate EQ setting.

 

[Turner_Brown]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Habakkuk Turner, are you hezitant to switch to your H120 due to space constraints? Keep in mind that 40GB single platter Toshiba drive will be available later on this year. Personally, I'd switch from 5g and keep the H120 as a primary portable. Apple is simply not up to snuff as is evidenced by a simple experiment. I prefer my 3 year old H120 to a new X5. Those iRivers H1xx are simply the best portables out there. EQing your headphones shouldn't be an issue as long as you are happy with the outcome. I found my H120 drives any low impedance headphones beautifully with an appropriate EQ setting.

I agree that the h1xx series is still better than any other player to date. The bigger problem is that I've really learned the hard way that I'm not gonna find the sound I'm happy with in an iem. I mean, the $70 sr-60's are walking all over the $200 e4's IMO. I think I'll just limit my iem use to outdoors and be happy with the full size cans I currently own. Those $40 md-33's with foam tips made me grin ear to ear.

 

[Zoide]

You can also try installing Rockbox on your 5g ipod.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turner_Brown Yes....they do sound really great out of the h120 (rockbox) with the bass +10db. If the h120 was my everyday player I would probably keep them. But I have a 5G ipod that I have 30GBs of 192kbs+ encoded music that I use for everyday listening. I tried using the bass boost option on the ipod and the result was almost laughable. I agree though: E4>EQ'd H120 = awesomeness. It does bother me, though, that I have to mess with the EQ to get them to sound good. I'm not one to fiddle with the EQ.

 

[Turner_Brown]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zoide You can also try installing Rockbox on your 5g ipod.

What are the benefits? I don't wanna bother with FLAC on it since the battery is such garbage. I don't use iTunes...so getting music too and fro isn't an issue for me (Anapod).

 

[Zoide]

Well, you said the bass boost on the 5g is a joke, while you do like the Rockbox bass boost on the h120. So maybe you would like the Rockbox bass boost on the 5g?