Etymotic ER4XR and ER4SR Measurement

So the purple line is with the filter removed?

Here are Rinchoi's measurements of the ER4B with filters/dampers of various impedance. I run my ER4Ps with reds for an effective gain in bass response.



rinchoi.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-effect-of-acoustic-dampers-on-iems.html

 

Magenta is without the filter. The metal stem of the new ER4XR/SR series is too tight for Knowles dampers, so you can't use these without risking to do damage to the stems. I wouldn't go higher in Ohms with the XR anyway though, since they are already losing out on the SR with respect to clarity and sparkle due to the elevated bass slightly masking the treble.

 

So what was the verdict in preference between the etys and the orion? Which one sounds more natural overall? say... to be used with the sony wm1a DAP

 

I think the biggest thing people need to consider carefully if considering Etymotic IEMs is whether they can live with the deep insertion fit. It's not for everyone and I do understand why some people hate them just because they really can't take to the fit.

However, if you can take to the deep insertion fit (for what it's worth, I didn't like it but stuck with it for a week or so based on a friend telling me it's one of those humps you get over and it's worth the effort and did end up finding them to be fine) then the ER4 SR is a genuine classic and an IEM I think everyone should try. I don't find them bass lite, I think many are so used to boosted bass now that bass which isn't boosted is considered anaemic when I find it balanced. They're very accurate and revealing, but I also find them musical, yes they are analytical but they're also enjoyable. In today's IEM market they're not that expensive, and for what they do they do it extremely well. When I considered getting something nicer as a present to myself the first stop I found that I thought really offered something better which made me really want to spend the extra was the Campfire Andromeda and Sony IER M9 (I went with the Sony), and I could happily live with the ER4 SR as my only IEM. And as a terrific bonus I find their passive noise isolation better than ANC headphones for flying.

 

Got the ER4XR. Compared to the HD650KISS frequency response wise, you basically get a leaner sound. The mids are slightly more forward, and significantly less warm. Bass is very well extended, but still rolls off around 3-5db between 20 to 30Hz. You almost get that perfect rumble, but not quite. Until 30Hz the extension is excellent though. Treble isn't as linear on it as on the HD650, and thus lacks realism. This is a deal breaker for me. It simply doesn't shimmer as it should. These 3 things are easily visible on FR graphs and are very much audible too (bump in the mids, dips in the treble, minor roll off between 20-30Hz).

Apart from the ever so slightly forward mids (more so than the HD650KISS or regular HD650) this doesn't sound annoying in any way. It lacks stuff, but it doesn't annoy me. I could doze off to the tuning of the ER4XR. Honestly that's really impressive. It's a perfect example of gear that only commits sins of omission (except for those forward mids).

Detail retrieval is really close to the HD650KISS, but not quite there. Definitely on par or maybe even a bit better than the K712 Pro though. The main issue is the bass definition. That single BA driver is really suffering here. I heard 100$ studio oriented headphones that did a better job here (K361, DT770). Also the midrange seems to lack some detail, not sure if that's the distortion profile of the XR model doing its thing, but it sounds a bit odd. Despite the forward mids, they have this odd lack of definition right around the area where they are pushed forward. Treble lacks some detail too, but mainly because of the diffuse field dips it has between 5 and 10Khz. Still, pretty good overall. After listening to the HD650Kiss and going back to this, I am not too bothered by the slight lack of detail. I think that's quite an achievement.

Soundstage... very 2D. Not much depth going on, even the center image seems to be poorly defined. It's less wide than the HD650KISS. In terms of 3D sound, it reminds me a lot of the HD600, but with a worse center image. Meh.

Overall, I think I'll sell it. I am not overly impressed. I mostly feel "meh" about. Meh, is the best way to express my feelings about the ER4XR (good details, non annoying DF based tuning, very 2D soundstage wise).

 

I got rid of the ER4XR. It's just too boring (no slam, BA timbre, 2D soundstage). I got the SBAF™ approved JVCs (HA-FD01). Gonna be modding them in a little while, but even stock all of my issues with the ER4XR are no more. This slams, has depth and sounds normal in terms of detail retrieval. The ER4XR has great detail retrieval, but not in the bass. 0 rumble going on there with those.