[=w=]

The price is off of toddthevinyljunkie.com, but I had heard they were some of the best sounding on the market. And was contemplating spening a little more for them rather than the Ety ER4P's.

 

[cmascatello]

I have both the Er-4Ps and e5c. The e5 is great if you are looking for a less-detailed but more fun sound. The Ety is the King of Detail amongst the canalphones. I use them for different types of music and moods -- the Etys are for more melodic tracks and when I am trying to relax. I love the Shures when I am listening to heavier rock and metal tracks. The dual-driver design of the e5 definitely gives a more immediate and colored sound than the Ety.

Will you be amping either of these phones? The e5 really benefits from an amp and a good source. It sounds great out of portables but will truly reveal its chops when you connect it to higher-end equipment.

If you are seriously considering the e5c, check with Todd on the pricing. I believe he is still offering 10% price reduction on headphone prices for Head-Fi'ers. $50 would be a nice savings right off the bat.

 

[AndyH]

Quote:

Originally posted by cmascatello Will you be amping either of these phones? The e5 really benefits from an amp and a good source. It sounds great out of portables but will truly reveal its chops when you connect it to higher-end equipment.

I too own a the Ety ER-4P's and use them un-amped through my 3G 20GB iPod. While I find the detail and clarity to be outstanding, I'm finding that they sound a bit too "thin" for my taste. So I've been thinking about purchasing the Shure E5's. However, I was not planning on purchasing a headphone amp, as I'd like my iPod to remain as "portable" as possible.

Looking at the impedence specs on these two canalphones, I see...

Ety ER-4P: 27 ohms
Shure E5: 110 ohms
Shure E3: 26 ohms (thrown in for comparisons sake)

Will the E5's sound acceptable un-amped out of my iPod, or would I be wasting my money on them.

Sure, I can order them and audition them myself (I may just do this), but I figured I'd bounce it off of the forum members here to get some additional opinions.

 

[cmascatello]

The impedance comparison does not tell the whole story of the e5s. Their sensitivity is so strong that the 110 ohms is a bit misleading. I have had no problems getting suffiecient volume and sound quality from an iPod. I routinely use them with my 3G iPod w/o any of my amps and the sound is good. But the quality of the e5 will definitely scale upwards with nearly any amp you throw at it under the $2000 price range.

 

[lindrone]

There's no problem using the E5 directly out of the iPod unamped. Hard drive based players actually have much more power than your normal portable CD player, powering anything up to around 100 ohms of impedance is perfectly within iPod's capability.

Also, other than just impedance, you also need to look at the sensitivity ratings.

E5 = Sensitivity (at 1kHz): 122dB SPL/mW

ER-4P = 1 kHz sensitivity: 109 dB SPL for .2 Volt Input; 107 dB SPL at 1mW

ER-4S = 1 kHz sensitivity: 108 dB SPL for 1.0 Volt Input; 98 dB SPL at 1mW

Notice just how much higher the sensitivty of the E5 is. Even though it's got higher impedance, the super high sensitivity makes the E5 extremely easy to drive.

Although, it also makes it much more sensitive to noise levels of certain amps.

You can find the E5 for under $400 at some places now. $500 is the original MSRP.

 

[lindrone]

Oh yeah, to answer the original question in the thread... For me personally, I rank my Shure E5c only second to my Sony CD3000, which is a $400 full size headphone (although I got a really good eal on it).

I haven't found another headphone that I would prefer over the E5c otherwise....

So even if I had to pay $500 for them all over again, yes, they are worth it to me.

 

[mjg]

Hi,
I used ety 4s for about 2 years... before i came to head-fi in fact. Recently, i got back into canal phones with the e5s. I've owned a few sets of cans, but do not liken them to anythign else. Big headphone sound, something the etys dont do. Though very detailed, they are sterile, and I suppose if i could equate anything i've heard to them ,it would be close to AT w1000s in a few characteristics (except the nasal ness of course... e5's could be closer)

E5's present a perception of space (sound stage), bass exists, detail isn't emphasized more so then over allpresentation and conveniance. THey complement my hd600s i keep here at school, and absolutely benefit from my setup (pc->benchmark->prehead) with the ipaq, they do sound good though... Not nearly as good I feel though, the amp really takes them to where i want. At rather high volumes, hearing certain kinds of music, the sound does edge towards bright... This is an ultra anal analysis though, considering i like them very much despite the fact. I can imagine a cd3000 owner enjoying these, as I did for about 4 months.


500? I didn't buy them, i recieved them in trade. I wouldn't really pay 500 for any headphone personally, yet if the money is at hand , and your looking for a unique type of headphone that either replaces big cans, or comes along with you, thes might be the ticket.

 

[AndyH]

Thank you cmascatello and lindrone, you've helped me make up my mind. I'm going to order a set of E5's to audition and compare against my ER-4P's. Based on all of the reading I've done here on Head-Fi, I think the E5's will be a better match for my listening requirements and music.

Thanks again, and I guess what they say about Head-Fi is correct..."Welcome to Head-Fi, and sorry about your wallet". My wallet certainly has taken a hit since first finding this site a month ago.

{UPDATE}: Just ordered the Shure E5's from Microphone Solutions. Yes I know they aren't a forum sponsor, but I couldn't resist their price ($389). I'll let everyone know what I think of them when I receive them.

 

[smeggy]

Look forward to hearing your thoughts. I love mine, 'specially as I just got a new Rio Karma to go with them to replace the old Archos. I was re-ripping all my CD's to high quality ogg format because the old MP3's just weren't cutting it with this combo. I love the sound of the E5, the bass is just fantastic. Solid clean and very deep.

Mmmmmm, tasty ear goodness.

 

[=w=]

Yes, I listen to mostly rock and heavy metal. And I apologize for the lack of feedback, I was out sick today and was resting. But anyways, I was planning on buying a Xin super mini amp to use with my Nomad Zen Xtra. Although it has no line in, would this matter in the use of an amp?

 

[stark23x]

Will pairing e5s with a CMOY work well to show their real power?

 

[lindrone]

CMOY?!.. You may as well just use nothing at all

Hehehehe...

The important thing on using E5 with the iPod, is to go with uncompressed files. E5 will capture all the missing dynamics that disappears with the lossy compression. You'll realize just how crappy MP3's (or any lossy compression) really are once you pair up the E5 with the iPod.

However, using a CMOY to drive them is just a waste of however much money you spent on the CMOY... it doesn't do all that much for it (even a Mint Meta doesn't do much). Not that there isn't a slight improvement, there is.. but it's just not worth spending money on, imo.

Save up the money for something else better.

 

[kloan]

Basswise, how would they be with an iPod? For someone who likes a LOT of bass and electronic music..?

 

[stark23x]

Quote:

Originally posted by lindrone CMOY?!.. You may as well just use nothing at all Hehehehe... The important thing on using E5 with the iPod, is to go with uncompressed files. E5 will capture all the missing dynamics that disappears with the lossy compression. You'll realize just how crappy MP3's (or any lossy compression) really are once you pair up the E5 with the iPod. However, using a CMOY to drive them is just a waste of however much money you spent on the CMOY... it doesn't do all that much for it (even a Mint Meta doesn't do much). Not that there isn't a slight improvement, there is.. but it's just not worth spending money on, imo. Save up the money for something else better.

OK. Knowing that the e5s are going to beat my wallet into submission, what's the low end (pricewise) you would recommend for a *portable* amp?

 

[ataunton]

If you are looking at the E5's you can pick them up for $350. Granted these are the E5 and not the E5c, but there is not really much of a difference from what I have read here.
If you go to this site www.ProAudioSuperStore.com and email them for a price quote they will reply with $349 shipped. I went to my local guitar center and they had a few pairs of the E5's for $499. I printed up the price quote and the page from thier website that said they were an authorized shure retailer and they priced matched them. No waiting and instant gratification.