[TURBO]

Just checked mine. No cracks at all. Only 2 weeks old. Will check in few weeks from now.

 

[iDesign]

I do suspect that this defect is fairly widespread. Even in considering the level of care I have used with my own example, the issue clearly stems around a design that is simply poor. Until the design or material is changed, I expect that the issue will persist. In this light I am hesitant pursue the repair of the earphones because inevitably the cracks will reappear. In the meantime I do not feel that it impacts the products performance but only poses an issue during filter changes. I am an idolator of perfect workmanship and this small technical error should be addressed as the headphones are intended to be a quality item.

For users inspecting their earpieces it will take very careful inspection because the cracks are extremely difficult see even with proper lighting. The cracks are significantly smaller than the injection mould lines.

 

[RonTheMan]

90-95 percent is a very high figure. I personally don't think that is the case. Having said that, I do believe this problem should be addressed by Etymotic and hopefully a solution can be found.

 

[musicmonkey]

I've had my ety er4-p's for approx 3months now and i use them for 3-4 hrs every day.......... From blastin about offroad singletrack on my mtb to sweaty use in the gym to sittin on my ass in front of the computer

and i've just pulled off my tri-flanges to have a look, and............ mine are fine - even though i have had some major stack's on my mtb when they've been pulled from my ear as i tumble down a hill....... to catching the cable on door handles and ripping them from my ear.

Perhaps it's a moulding problem....... perhaps it's an inherent design fault......... perhaps it's just an unlucky coincidence....... perhaps ety should have a redesign of the earpieces.

I didn't think the cracking of the earpiece moulding was a problem?..... but i'll be checking from now on.....even though i have a two year warranty.

 

[adhoc]

wow.

my ety tubes, till now, have never cracked, and i use foams.

 

[spinrite]

quoting iDesign...

"For users inspecting their earpieces it will take very careful inspection because the cracks are extremely difficult see even with proper lighting. The cracks are significantly smaller than the injection mould lines."

absolutely correct iDesign

I strongly believe if more ER4P owners inspected their tubes under good lighting and with a magnifying glass would yield more defects with this design...the cracks indeed can be difficult to detect if you dont look really hard for it...mine have looked like irregular very fine cracks...if you scan them quickly with your eyes they can be missed.

i just have a feeling alot more er4p owners have this problem...this faultly design has to be of epidemic scale.

again mine were sent in for repair to etymotic evaluted determined to be a defective transducer tube...replaced with new driver housing units ...then tested and certified and checked for quality and shipped back to me with a clean bill of health(supposedly) after a few weeks of use BABIED use...lol i havent even taken them outside yet...and right right side tube has a another crack in it....

SO...what NOW does Etymotic have to say about the issue with their design of these tubes?

huh?

I WONDER....

this is their design....my money...and i refuse to be a sucker to keep spending my dollars in shipping costs to fix their design weakness...i have no confidence in these ..no matter how good these phones sound i'm getting turned off with this problem. i'm seriously thinking off exchanging them from where i bought them plus any extra money for the shures e4c's

etymotic service might be excellent but they dont want to seem to change in light of a simple problem that can be resolved with a redesign of the plastic tubes...with say TITANIUM..problem solved Etymotic are you listening??

 

[walkerboh]

Sorry to dig up this old thread but I also found cracks in my ER4s... And I'm in Korea at the moment so I'm not sure what to do. I bought them about 8 months ago in Korea. I really baby my stuff. I was changing the filters today and I think I saw about 3 cracks in the right piece and 1 in the left... Oh boy, what am I going to do?

 

[slwiser]

People around me tell me that I always say the obvious, but why not send them back to Ety for a fix. You have either a 12 month or 24 month warranty (24 if registered online). I know you do not want to do without them but you need to fix them and Ety needs to be bothered by the fix.

 

[RonTheMan]

Perphas he is worried about the freight charges as he is living in Korea. Not sure if Etymotic will absorb the charges.

 

[spinrite]

since posting about my problem with my etys few weeks back..i sent mine back to discountheadphones.com after owning them for just over two months and having them break twice ...first time sent them back to Etymotic for repair ...they gave me their UPS account # for shipping back for FREE ...that was great of them..i think they realize theres a design flaw or why else would they offer me to send back my ER4Ps back to them not once but twice after complaining about the constant cracking...on the second offer giving me their UPS account # from the service department ..so i wouldnt incurr any shipping charges... i decided i wouldnt give Etymotic a another chance and called my dealer discountheadphones.com (dave in particular) and told me if i'm having this many problems with the tubes cracking that he would offer me a full refund. hows that for customer service?? especially after buying them after 2 months..i thought that was great of him to offer it.

anyways to present date Etymotic lost my business cause of this...the ER4Ps the way they are designed need to be revised with the tubes...until then i cant recommend them no matter how good they sound..

I'm currently waiting my arrival of the black E4Cs

 

[jesse_w]

I've had my ER4s for over a year and no problems. I live in northern Canada and experience some of the widest temperature ranges in the world.

jesse

 

[walkerboh]

I'm not sure what to do. I don't think that the sound has changed but do you think that the cracks will get worse??? I've never actually sent anything overseas before and I don't know how to. So this is really a big hassle since I'm in med school now and I'm having a hard time with tests at the moment. I shouldn't even be spending time writing this, got three re-exams coming up.

Bottom line is should I just leave it or contact etymotics or where I bought them from in Korea (honestly I don't think the dealer here will do anything about it though, and they are authorized dealers, I think)?

Even if I do somehow get to send them to the U.S. that means I won't have my babies for AT LEAST a month...

Edit:

Well I did contact the dealer and hey what do you know he is going to send them back to the US for repairs. He said that the repairs would be for free but that the shipping is going to cost me 30 dollars

. I can't send them now, no time, but the good thing is he said that it would take about 2 weeks.

I hope this doesn't happen too often cause I really don't want to have to spend 30 dollars and wait two weeks everytime this happens.

Well, I'm going to have to get my e3c back from my girlfriend so I have something to listen to while I'm studying...

Re-edit:

What really gets to me is that I was going to spend the 30 dollars on new silicone tips and filters that I needed

 

[JRoyen]

Here's my story: Etymotic was nice enough to replace one broken transducer tube the first time, free of charge... even though my ER-4S were already several years old, and no longer under warranty... very admirable. But almost immediately upon receiving them back from service, a partial fragment cracked off of the tip; I worked around this by placing the filter inside of the silicon tubing. However, eventually, this same tubing developed a stress fracture, it cracked, and is now currently hanging by a thread. I had always treated my ER-4S well, but this replaced transducer was pampered even more so... and yet, still the tube cracked.

If there's a chance, maybe I'll take some pictures with my digital camera, and post them.

Anyway, I'm torn between missing the sound from my ER-4S terribly, and being overall frustrated and disappointed with their fragility. Oh, I am obviously using an inactive e-mail address for Etymotic customer service, as they never responded back to my e-mails at customer-service@etymotic.com. Does anyone have a more current address for them?

 

[Imyourzero]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JRoyen Anyway, I'm torn between missing the sound from my ER-4S terribly, and being overall frustrated and disappointed with their fragility. Oh, I am obviously using an inactive e-mail address for Etymotic customer service, as they never responded back to my e-mails at customer-service@etymotic.com. Does anyone have a more current address for them?

That's the only address listed on their site, so perhaps they're just slow to reply. You'd probably get a quicker response by giving their toll-free number a call...

 

[Masolino]

There has been similar discussions (or complaints if you will) on
the local headphone forums here in Taiwan. A solution that was
offered is to use crazy glue or epoxy.

I don't own er4 p or s but a pair of original er6, which have
metal (?) transducer tubes.