Quantom 0 Report post Posted February 4, 2009 (edited) Hey all, I'm a new member to this forum, and it seems to be lacking threads with reviews of IEMs that all of us each own. Pardon me if this existed in the past though, since I didn't really look that hard into the past threads. Feel free to contribute to this thread with your own reviews of your favourite IEMs too! To kick start things, I'll just do a simple review about my latest acquisition, the ER4p. ER4P In all honesty, I would probably rate myself as a slightly less enthusiastic audiophile (that's an oxymoron for you) as compared to what I've seen in the headfi forums and elsewhere, where people start hearing cable changes and describe audio beyond terms that I'd deem tangible. Embellishing products above what they're worth isn't my cup of tea, so I'll describe the ER4P as succinctly as possible. I bought these 2nd hand from the headfi forums, and these are by far some of the cheapest "flagship" model IEMs I have even heard of. As I previously owned a pair of bassy earphones, I cringed hard when I listened to a song on the ER4p. They were simply too sharp and bass-lacking relative to what I'm used to hearing. I couldn't bear with them for more than 10 seconds that time. The next day, I decided to give these guys a shot again. I then thorougly realised that it was my fault for listening too long on my previous IEMs, which made me overly used to their sonic characteristics. In fact, when I tried out the ER4p again, I realised how very precise and clear they were. I did a little digging on the Etymotics website, and it showed tonnes of research backed by papers drenched in technical details. One particular phrase still lingers in my mind, and it talks about how the ER4p tries to come as close as possible to how we humans hear things with our "open ears". Indeed, "open" is the word to describe these earphones. Wearing them and listening to your music makes you wonder if such clarity is even possible when your ears are so tightly sealed shut. They may lack bass, but the euphoria that comes along from the clarity makes up for it. A little EQ also handles the bass well. "Texturing", if I may, is very prominent on these IEMs as well. It takes you on a ride on every nuance and bump your music has. Speaking of seal, when paired up with a pair of Shure olives, (Just when I thought shure couldn't make something good) these phones are just as good as a pair of earplugs, in terms of comfort and isolation. While testing them at home one night while helping my mother procure some songs from the net, (listening softly I might add) my mother opened the door, shut it, and stood beside me, watching and probably commenting on what I had gotten that far. I wasn't even the slightest bit aware of her prescence, till I turned my head slightly to stretch out a few kinks. Was that a shocker. Microphonics is probably a major issue with these phones, as even sitting next to my fan adds a bit of unwanted noise. I have tried winding them behind my ears, but this doesn't seem to help much. I think that this is an issue with the length of the IEM - it protrudes too much. Practically speaking though, microphonics is not such a big issue when I'm moving about with them, since there I will definitely have less focus on the music anyway. A little bit of a compromise for one of the clearest IEMs I have ever heard. That's sufficient for me. Besides, they are way cheaper than any of the triple/double balanced armature IEMs out there. So much for the term, "flagship". Edited February 9, 2009 by Quantom Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
peanutbutterjam 0 Report post Posted February 5, 2009 [attachmentid=4067] ER-4 FTW. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
