[varunku]

Is A900 unamped, better than ER 4 S unamped ? How does the A900 compare to Shure E2 ?
I have a shure E2, and I would like to buy a headphone without amp. I would like to get same sound quality as the shure E2s.

 

[lindrone]

A900 is a lot more exciting than the ER-4S, even when it's unamped. It's easy to drive, and you can get a lot of very punchy sound out of it. It's a very resolved headphone, but it's not quite as clear as the ER-4S. If you're going for unamped, I would definitely recommend A900 over ER-4S, but A900 is far from what I would consider portable.

Even with an amp, I would prefer A900 over ER-4S, but that has more to with the sound signature. It sounds like a little brother to the CD3000, doesn't extend quite as far either in highs nor lows, a little muddier in resolution, but sounds very alike and very close quality wise.

I would consider ER-4S much better than the Shure E2. E2 has a good midrange, but its bass, although forward and apparent, is pretty muddy. In comparison, it doesn't have much of any accuracy in the bass region... but still much better than most earbuds out there. Either the A900 or the ER-4S would beat up the E2, in just about any setting, amped or not. In fact, I don't think amp helps the E2 very much at all... It tightens up the bass a bit, but the earphone itself just lacks high-end extension.

Edit:

Forgot one more thing, I'd still consider the E2 more "warm" than both the A900 and the ER-4S. Personally I feel you'll be happier with the A900... unless you really need portability.

 

[SptsNaz]

I see that most of you favor the shures, but most people dont have $500 to spend. Hell, most can't even manage to dig up the dough for the ety's. As much of an improvement there might be, its definitely not worth $250-300 extra (considering you can buy used ety's for around 160-200). If you have the money, then I guess theres no problem whatsoever, but the fact is most of us don't. I'd rather get the ety's which I love, and the cd3000's. That will be a hell of a combination.

 

[lindrone]

Yeah, but isn't that a little pointless? We all know how much the E5's cost, and we all know about the premium gets higher and higher as you move into higher end audiophile equipments.

How about $3500 for a CD player? Is that 35X better than a $100 CD player? How about a $4000 headphone (Sony R-10)?

We already talked about the value versus performance equation, and it will always favor lower-end headphone that sounds pretty good. CD3000's price and performance ratio is probably below that of A900 (at $200, you get probably 80% of what the CD3000 is... CD3000 is $420 or so brand new).

Yes, Ety ER-4's has better price/performance ratio.... Now I'm going to start a thread that complains that Sony R-10's aren't worth $4000....

 

[SptsNaz]

Well I guess thats true, but just noticing the price of all this equipment is mindblowing. I can't believe the price you'll eventually pay to walk up the ladder. All in all some of you can probably buy half-decent cars for the money you spent!

 

[lindrone]

How true.. how.. very.. true...

You know, when I first got into this thing, I told myself, "I'm never going to get any headphone above $200.. and I'll probably just play it out my computer or an iPod or something."

Looking at all the things I've bought over the past year, I've spent probably close to $1500 now...

 

[lindrone]

Hmm.. got a strange database error when I submitted that last post... weird...

 

[AdamZuf]

Quote:

Originally posted by SptsNaz I see that most of you favor the shures, but most people dont have $500 to spend.

the shures E5 can be had for $370 from eBay
Quote:

I'd rather get the ety's which I love, and the cd3000's. That will be a hell of a combination.

i don't know.. i have both ety's and CD3000.. it's not a hell of a combination.. it's a hell of a waste of money on the ety's.. they just sit in the box, doing nothing (they are out only when i'm listening to chamber, which doesn't happen a lot lately)
my NJBzen ain't here with me to even operate them when portable, but to tell you the truth, i can't see how people like them so much out of portables. the sound sux, to my ears.
MD's are intolerable. i had the MZ-R50, and the ATRAC sonic signature just made me "yuckkk". i tried from both headphones and line-out outputs. all recordings were digital.
this is something that the ety's bring out much more then the CD3000, although that the CD3000 have more resolution (when you test a wide variety of music genres).
ety's have a damn weird frequency response.. you can call it flat, but it's damn weird..

 

[Murasame]

Quote:

Originally posted by AdamZuf i can't see how people like them so much out of portables. the sound sux, to my ears.

yah...i understand your point of view.
i feel the same with E5

seems musical preferences count much more than objective quality of headphones....

 

[AdamZuf]

the thing is, that it's that i don't care so much about the resolution when i'm going portable. i just want damn good sealing headphones - but the ety's just aren't basicly satisfying because you have no real bass.. no punch (yes i got the seal dammit..), only in my home rig
and together with their sterile midrange, they make just a dull experience sometimes. i can get more groove out of the portapros, and that's very sad..

 

[Murasame]

Quote:

Originally posted by AdamZuf but the ety's just aren't basicly satisfying because you have no real bass.. no punch (yes i got the seal dammit..), and together with their sterile midrange, they make just a dull experience sometimes.

"(yes i got the seal dammit..)"

purity or punch that is the question...seems Etys don't love you...let it go, it's useless

 

[AdamZuf]

i'm keeping them because i want to make a long detailed comparative review with the E5.

 

[Murasame]

Quote:

Originally posted by AdamZuf i'm keeping them because i want to make a long detailed comparative review with the E5.

oh my...i can see the review already...

and it doesn't sound good for Etys

 

[AdamZuf]

i don't know. i still have to pick up my shures.. maybe they won't be good for me, who knows.
i am totally aware that everytime i put out a few hundreds of dollars it's a big risk that will lead to money loss later;
so was with the ety's, and it might be so with the shures. you know..i might go back to the portapros in the end

 

[EyEPoD]

If you are looking for strong punch and a huge sound in a portable (basically the opposite of the etys), then the shures are what you want.