sheldonkreger
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2012
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Does anybody have a favorite amplifier choice for the HF5? Portable would be nice.
-sheldon
-sheldon
My cables are stuffed at the Y connect or whatever you call it. The point where the one cable splits into two. I have to hold it on a certain angle otherwise 1 ear cuts out
Is there a cheapish way to fix this? I went to one shop and they said at the price it would cost they said just buy a new pair instead
This happened to two pair of mine, the second pair not being in warranty. I still have the broken pair but haven't sent them in to be replaced (it's $75.00 USD I believe). I just don't see any reason to buy another pair if they're going to break again.
The good news is that you can also send in the broken HF5 to upgrade to the ER4 for much less. I think around $140. So, send a check for $140 and your broken HF5 and you have a new pair of ER4. That's what I'm going to do, because the ER4 doesn't seem to have this problem, based on my research.
-sheldon
Just as a note, I own both a modified ER4 (originally P) and a HF3 - or what remains of the HF3. The HF-series' cables may not be the best constructed devices out there - mine developed the breaking at the seams after about 2 years, and my attempts to DIY repair the cables have not worked that well. (I'm currently planning to buy a stock samsung earbud for their galaxy phones and attempt to swap the cable in along with soldering a 100ohm resistor inline to each channel in a manner similar to how some in this thread have suggested)
That said, the ER4 has some serious disadvantages over the HF-series that you may want to keep in mind:
* The cable is definitely more microphonic, and it's a lot harder to wrap the cable around your ears to reduce that (well, it's harder to without modifications)
* There's no inline remote in the cable.
* It's more expensive too.
Honestly, the sound profiles of the two sets is so insanely close, that with adequate resistance added to the HF, I really can't tell the difference sound-wise - both are ludicrously good.
The one major advantage that I see the ER-series having (or used to have) is that the cable is detachable. (at least it is with mine)
I was able to order (through ebay) adapters that make it compatible with Shure cables, and am using 3rd party headphone cables (currently a Fiio cable) along with the custom ear molds (which also work perfectly on the HF-series as well) as well as the official 75ohm adapter. This allows you to fix quite a bit of the downsides to the ER-series... However, if I can successfully hack together a samsung earbuds' cable (along with its inline remote/mic and 100 or 92 ohm resistors), then I'll probably switch back to the HF-again since it's REALLY convenient being able to have some control over my note 2 from an inline remote.
In truth, you really can't go wrong with either option - and even though I may have my issues with the cord construction with the HF-series, I will say that as long as you're in warranty, the company really supports their product well, and will probably just repair the units for no more than the cost of shipping (at least they did in my case). I've been using etymotics products for nearly a decade I believe ever since I first got ER-6 buds, and can't say enough good things over all.
Thanks so much for the detailed response. This is very helpful.
I'll probably go for another pair of HF5 if the sound profile is the same. It's the isolation that's really important to me.
I agree that the in-warranty support is very good. They replaced my HF5 when they broke.
Also, here is the link to the special purchase option (for those with broken ETY's this is the best way to replace them)
http://www.etymotic.com/cs/outwarranty.html
-sheldon
edit: pushed the tip deeper into the headphone. Nevermind what I said about prefering my other headphones. These sound far better now than my other iem