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Etymotic ER4 owners here?

GreatDane

GreatDane

Well-Known Member
I remember one member that had some ER4's, can't remember who.

Anyway, yesterday one of my ER4 drivers developed a problem, slight distortion. I replaced the filters but that didn't help. They are about 8 years old.

I've been using these ER4's for sleep duty for several months after my Westone 3 cables shorted. I never really liked the W3 but wanted to try them so I traded my free pair of Monster Turbine Pro Copper with a Head-Fi member. I thought the Monster was quite a bit better...oh well. I do still have my Ortofon EQ-7 but I like them too much to risk killing the cables which are non-replaceable. For $300 Ortofon should have made them replaceable...ugh.

So, I can send the ER4 back to Etymotic and pay $85 for them to match a new driver. I'll probably do that since they do cost a lot more than that. I'm still impressed that the ER4 has been around since 1991 or so and they still compete with the dozens of brands available today for the price.

Until then I plan to stop by Guitar Center tomorrow and buy a pair of Shure SE215 to use as my sleep IEMs. I like that for $100 they have replaceable cables. For my low-level Classical music listening I think they will do fine.

I'll let you know how they sound. :music-listening:
 
I used Shures for IEMing when i was still in a band. No replaceable cables and I couldn't imagine sleeping in them, but they sounded good.
 
I know that Shure makes great IEMs...just ask Flint what he thinks. I have only owned one Shure IEM and that was the E4Pro that I used for almost 2 years before buying the ER4.

The ER4 is not sleep friendly but I do OK with them. They need to be low profile of course to be comfortable for sleeping with your head on the side. The Westone 3 was ideal for this. I think the Shure SE215 will be sleep friendly.
 
614ASOPaEmL._SY679_.jpg

^^
My sleepers.

Rope
 
I have had my Er-6i for about 9 years.

Use them at least 3 days a week at the gym. Love them!

D
 
I bought a pair of ER-6 a few months after buying the ER-4. My ER-6 only lasted about 3 or 4 years. I used them at the gym also and they would get drenched with sweat...which eventually killed them. They are very small and comfortable and sounded nice for the $80.

I did drive to Guitar Center and they were out of stock for the 215. Another close-by shop was also sold out. I ended up buying online for 10% less...should have them by the weekend.
 
I received my Shure SE215 today. I was initially very impressed with the quality of the cable and overall look of this clear version. They look like more than $100. I'm very happy with the fit and comfort, they have a professional appearance while being worn.

I tried 2 types of foam and 2 types of silicone tips. I settled on my usual medium size silicone type. My initial impression was that they had very nice bass with a slight metallic flavor in the lower treble range. Midrange is pleasant but is somewhat spoiled by the oddity in the treble.

I did a direct comparison to my Ortofon EQ-7 ($300). I realize that this isn't a fair dual(dynamic vs. balanced armature) but the EQ-7 is superior in every way other than cable quality.The superior quality of mids and treble detail is easily evident with EQ-7. For someone who doesn't have a more expensive monitor to compare with, the 215 should satisfy and sound very good with any type of music.
...but, I bought these just for low-volume listening in bed. A good purchase for me.

I went to Headroom to check out graphs to try and figure out what I was hearing. I added two well known to me full size headphones for reference. Graphs don't often tell the entire story.
 

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Silicon tips? Try the foam and give them 5 minutes to settle. Makes a huge difference in the tonality below 500Hz.
 
I do agree that foam tips can sound much different than silicone but my issue with the 215 is up around 5K to 10K. I just like the better (for me) isolation with silicone. Even with the giant black foam tips, they don't block as much as most silicone. I almost always get more bass with silicone due to the better seal vs. foam.
 
Have you had any experience with custom-molded tips? I think they'd be the most comfortable but I'd never thought about foam, being semi-porous, would almost act as a passive-radiator woofer, rather than an "acoustic suspension" style.
 
Botch said:
Have you had any experience with custom-molded tips? I think they'd be the most comfortable but I'd never thought about foam, being semi-porous, would almost act as a passive-radiator woofer, rather than an "acoustic suspension" style.
Click to expand...

I've never had custom molds done. I've most always had very good results from universal fit IEMs. Even after several hours of use, comfort remains and they usually "disappear".

I never thought about it, they way you describe it, acoustic suspension vs a ported sound...although your passive radiator would still be sealed. I would describe the silicone "sound" as being a tighter/ acoustic suspension bass rather than many ported designs that I've heard although as I stated earlier, I simply get more bass due to a tighter seal with silicone.
 
GreatDane said:
I never thought about it, they way you describe it, acoustic suspension vs a ported sound...although your passive radiator would still be sealed.
Click to expand...
"Ported" was what I originally meant, I just had a brain fart and couldn't remember the term.
Passive Radiator is "sealed", in a sense, but I'd bet it actually functions more like a ported design (there is "give" to the exterior atmosphere in both, as opposed to the AS). :geek:
 
Botch said:
GreatDane said:
I never thought about it, they way you describe it, acoustic suspension vs a ported sound...although your passive radiator would still be sealed.
Click to expand...
"Ported" was what I originally meant, I just had a brain fart and couldn't remember the term.
Passive Radiator is "sealed", in a sense, but I'd bet it actually functions more like a ported design (there is "give" to the exterior atmosphere in both, as opposed to the AS). :geek:
Click to expand...

Does anyone even make a Passive Radiator design today?? The last one I remember was one from Radio Shack in the early 80's. :music-rockout:
 
Yes, two popular brands include DefTech and GoldenEar, the PR's are oval-shaped.
(just got my Sound&Vision today, otherwise I'da brainfarted on these brand names too) :oops:
 
Well, everyone is different, but I find the silicon sleeves to not seal at all while the expanding foam sleeves seal perfectly and I get much better sound.
 
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