[TaffyGuy]

Okay, so I haven't let on to you all yet, but I decided to take the plunge and invest in some ER4's. I ordered a pair of ER4S, and after some thought I realized that maybe I should have gotten the P's, since i'm in the process of joining the DIY crowd and if i wanted that 4S sound I could always just stick 70 ohms resistance at the output of my amp and presto chango, they'd "be" S's. So i decided, hey so I'm not haunted by curiosity, and since I dig the idea of having more bass response in my etys anyway, I ordered up some 4P's from headroom as well, planning on taking advantage of their trial money back guarentee (yay headroom...)

So.. the thing is that I notice some pretty obvious differences between the 2 phones, and not just the impedance. I did hear that headroom was "out" of P's recently, therefore the ones I got must be a new batch, and the cord is completely different, and there also seems to be a different sort of coating on the driver, which are really supposed to be the same on both pairs, so I'm wondering what happened.

At first I was excited, thinking I lucked out and got some sort of upgraded pair of ety's, and my curiosity of the 4Ps paid off. The cable on my 4S's is shiney and you can see the L/R wires twisted underneath the sheath. The cable on my 4P's is like rubber, and noticably more stiff (feels like a normal cable thats been streched out) and it seems to have made the microphonic effect on the phones even more pronounced, to the point of being downright obnoxious. at least with the shiney cable, once the cord reaches the resistor pack and the shirt clip, I can't hear noises from movement beyond that point, but now it seems even more sensitive, etc.

Did the 2 phones always have different cables? which cable do you your ER4's have? just curious if there are any more thoughts about this...

maybe Sr. Wilson will chime in with his eyes rolling at yet another head-fier obsessing over the smallest details of his marvelous phones...

As for the sound, I don't want to make any claims. All I know is that the number one complaint from head-fiers about my HD600's are that they're too transparent and neutral and require the best source equip, but i swear these ety's make my senn's sound like grados... (wow too many company generalizations/references for one sentence) so I need to hold off 'till I get a good working amp before I really try and nail the differences/qualities (havn't finished building my first amp yet... or started... but i have the parts now!)

Once again breathless, gasping for air, I reach for the surface...

 

[joelongwood]

Quote:

Did the 2 phones always have different cables? which cable do you your ER4's have?

The cables on my ER4S and ER4P are indeed different, and just as you describe. I've had them for awhile now, so I think it has always been so.
As for the ETY4S making your Senns "sound like Grados," I would say two words may be responsible for this: AMP and SEAL.

 

[TaffyGuy]

yeah... perhaps that was an ambiguous statement. my seal is fine, and my amp is not, more clearly than ever, like say as clear as it would be on my HD600s in a situation where it might slide on a pair of grados....

what i mean is that the ety's are so articulate that they make my senn's sound colored. not that it isnt still a good color =) Love my Senn's and starting to love my ety's as well... have some time to decide which one to keep. wonder why the cable is so different? i guess i understand these 4P owners complaining so badly about the microphonic effects, or perhaps its all in my head and they're both about the same... well time will tell. and tonight i attempt to build my first simple amp!

 

[Joe Bloggs]

So what happened to that talk about the cable on the 4P being supposed to reduce microphonics?

 

[Moonwalker]

Hi, Joe!

Yes, I've heard about P's cord being less microphonic too!

now it seems it's just vice versa!

Please, bring some light into this issue, anybody!

Your
Moonwalker

 

[MacDEF]

The ER-4P cable does reduce microphonics in some ways... but increases them in other ways.

ER-4S cable: stiff and smooth; bad "tap/bump" microphonics

ER-4P cable: more flexible but rougher; better "tap/bump" microphonics, but worse "scuff/scrape" microphonics.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

I can't imagine the 4S cable being stiffer than the 4P??? I think it's the other way around.

 

[MacDEF]

Quote:

Originally posted by Joe Bloggs I can't imagine the 4S cable being stiffer than the 4P??? I think it's the other way around.

Trust me, I've owned both

The 4S cable is like stiff, shiny vinyl, whereas the 4P cable is like thick, rough rubber. The 4S cable is much stiffer.

But the main message I was trying to convey is the difference in microphonics between the two cables. The 4S cable is much more prone to bump/tap microphonics, whereas the 4P cable is much more prone to scrape/scuff microphonics.

 

[TaffyGuy]

its not stiffer, its thinner-seeming and plasticy... so far i have to admit that i like the 4S cable more, and am leaning toward keeping those phones because of it.

finished half my amp last night, got about an hour left on it. hope it turns out well! (its kind of a variation cmoy) see if i can get sonic differences out of it. but... seems like it'll be tough, considering many headphone amp specs have resistors at the output already for low impedance phones, sort of nullifying the difference between the 4S and 4P... probably the best way to choose would just to pick the cable you like best!

I'll let you know if I come upon any revelations on the matter...

 

[joelongwood]

Quote:

what i mean is that the ety's are so articulate that they make my senn's sound colored.

Etys have a nasty habit of doing this to most other headphones, not just Senns. That's why I had to wean myself off the Etys so that I could enjoy what my other 'phones have to offer.

 

[dstedman]

After reading all of the discussion about cord differences, I just have to chime in with my recommendation. Go to http://www.fixup.net/tips/ety/ety.htm and order a new cord.

This simple upgrade will have you muttering "Oh My God!" for days! The cord is that good. I can now turn my head this way and that and neither hear nor feel any cord information whatsoever. It's as if my Ety's are suspended in mid-air. There is no doubt in my mind that their are a bunch of engineers at Etymotic thinking "How did we miss this?".

No affiliation, just very, very satisfied -
dan

 

[TaffyGuy]

well... in further speculation... it was probably a bunch of engineers at etymotic saying "how can we ensure the highest possible sound quality and design a cord that won't bust after 10 years of solid use?" which are a couple of things that may have been traded for comfort/convenience in the fixup cord.

On the other hand I am interested in playing with modifications of my ety's once i've burned them in so to speak... (in general, not necessarily those little bitty drivers)

oh and to maybe be more specific on the 4S/4P cord difference/stiffness issue, I'd say that MacDEF isn't necessarily wrong, and for the most part I'd say the 4P cord is less stiff, but up at the top where it splits I'd say it's most definately more stiff, even to the point where it resists me rotating the bud 180 degrees to stick it in my ear. for the most part after the split/resistor pack/shirt clip area, the cord doesnt matter as much. but for the record, it seems to matter less in 4S than 4P where i can still hear some tapping and rubbing down past the split.