isolation

fitting, are they really *that* good?

Up to now I am disappointed with these earphones.

The first impressions were not good. I've tried the advice from various places about inserting the phones and getting a good seal. When inserted with the white tips the outer flange is just visible on the outside of my ear. That's as far in as I want any object stuck in my ear!

But the sound quality is not reference quality in my view, certainly nowhere near the Sennheiser HD-580s. My perception is the quality is similar to a mid-priced normal headphone: reasonably flat freq response. good dynamic range but not much fine resolution of detail.

For me the ER4S is easily beaten by the Senn. HD-25 and the HD-580/600s are a different class. I'm bewildered by the reviews that place the ER4S as better than HD-600s?!
By the way am using good quality sources plus an X-cans or total airhead amp.

Similar Products Used:

Sennheiser HD-600/580/495/25

Sound, ISOLATION!!!

Skeptical about construction, not very comfortable.

Impressive. I can't believe the sound that comes out of these tiny things... Very even, solid sound.

One of the huge advantages I'm finding- I sometimes have trouble equalizing my ears (like when you have a cold and can't hear well). For some reason, it doesn't make a difference with these 'phones. GREAT!

The sound isolation is absolutely amazing. Given a good monitor mix, I'd wear these on stage for sure.

Worth $269? Hmmmm. If you're going to use these as stage monitors every night (and not go deaf as a result) heck yeah. If you're buying them to get good sound when you ride on airplanes, maybe not.

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You name it... Sony 7506 is one of my favorites.

Strong base, with transparent sound.

Initial comfort, although this is no longer and issue.

These have become my favorite headphones. The isolation offered allows all of the music to come through. I am hearing parts of old favorties that I did not know existed, even after hearing on very good equipment.

Initially, comfort is a factor, due to the phones being in your ears as opposed to over them. I found the discomfort to
disappear after a few uses, however.

Absolutely should be considered by anyone who wants to listen in isolation. I use these travelling, while doing yard work, and at home when I want to tune the rest of the world out.

Highly recommended.

Similar Products Used:

Sennheiser 560, AKG 240DG

I hesitate to call myself an audiophile after looking at some of the reviews on this site and others. I'm not wild about spending tons of money on things that may or may not actually improve sound quality. No $5000 CD player will ever decorate my audio rack.
That said, a few months ago I spent big bucks for a pair of glorified earbuds. Don't get me wrong, I'd carefully researched the purchase. I first heard of these headphones in a review in Stereo Review. The sentence that sticks out in my mind is "the closest thing yet to a direct sonic connection to the brain." Well, after listening to them, all I can say is "Yep." Is is worth it for just anybody. No, probably not. The level of sound quality is not 10 times better than a $30 pair of earbuds. But if you are a hardcore audio enthusiast who wants a new piece of equipment, you'd have to search pretty hard to find a better way to spend your dollars.

The detail you can hear with these headphones (earphones?) is amazing. It is the type of product that will make you go back through your entire music collection listening to everything again to see what you've been missing.

Pay attention to the caveats mentioned in other reviews (must get used to having something inside your ear, transmitted sound through the cable rubbing against stuff, bass is present but different). But don't let those stop you if you want the best sound possible--literally.

Also, I can report that listening with these at home with a powered subwoofer is very pleasing. In fact, I'm doing that right now. Funny how two of the three reviews here were written while listening to the product being reviewed. I can't even hear the clacking of the keyboard...

The cleanest sound I have every heard!!!!!!

Somewhat Fragile...but isn't any real great product fragile.

The only thing you can say about this product is it is beyond belief. If you are any kind of listening freak, this piece of apparatus is just too unbelievable. It's not cheap, but neither is a Mercedes. Forget the technical jargon that people feed you, just go out and get this product and you will get a smile on your face.

Similar Products Used:

Panaconic

Sound. Sound. Sound.

Comfort

This will be brief. These are phenomenal. However, the real reason I'm writing is to counteract the reviews below by people who simply don't understand that the ER4S *REQUIRE* a dedicated headphone amp. Without one, they don't sound very good at all. "Nancy" talked about how awful they sounded out of her CD player -- they SHOULD. They aren't meant to be used directly out of a CD player. With a high-quality, dedicated headphone amp, the ER4S will sound stunning.

If you don't want to buy a headphone amp, you should buy the ER4P, which are made to be used directly out of a portable or component headphone jack.

Please, people, don't criticize a product when you're using it in a way it wasn't meant to be used. Do your homework before you buy.

Similar Products Used:

Most other high-end headphones.

The Etymotics are the best portable headphones on earth! For home listening I would probably opt for the Sennheiser 600s. but for portable listening, these rock! I've had them for about 2 years now. They take a while to get used to--i dont know if it's a break in period or just me getting used to them. The detail is astonishing. i spent over 10k on my main system, and the ety's sound better than my b&ws. if you run from a portable discman w/ over 10mw, you can get by w/o an amp. but the amp is the preferred way to go! I used a headroom cosmic. it is sweet. Traveling will never be the same! would recommend to anyone!

I received my Etymotic ER4-S and Headroom Airhead amp today. Source is their recommended Panasonic SL-SX460 portable cd player. I realize these may require some break-in but I thought I would post my initial impressions.
1.)They completely isolate you. Have someone stand in front of you and talk loudly. You can't hear them. At all.

2.)I feel the complaints about lack of bass are overstated. Without a good seal to the ear canal they sound like they should cost about .79 cents. The white rubber tips happen to work wonderfully for me so I can say that the bass is accurate and flat right down to the lowest tones I was able to listen to.(synthesizer bass and drums) I didn't even really notice the reported perceived lack of 'felt' bass. They do need an amp. Plugging these into the jack of a portable is a disappointing experience. Unless you have an amp for these you should probably look into the newly release ER4-P or a more effecient alternative.

3.) They are pretty much perfect in every way that I can hear except for one flaw which nobody seems to have brought up in all the reviews I have read. They seem to be missing a lot in the higher frequencies. The frequency response here is 20Hz to 16KHz. I frankly didn't even pay attention to the specs before I bought these and only re-read them after I had listened to the ER4-S for about 3 hours. I realize that a major variable here is the condition of my own ears but I immediately noticed a perceived lack of what I think would be higher frequencies which I didn't notice on some other high-end phones I have tried. A hit on a snare drum or cymbals just lacked the sharp definition that I was expecting. Some critics berate .mp3 audio because one of the common techniques for perceptual encoding is removing frequencies which most people don't hear. Most mp3 encoders, among other thing, pretty much remove frequencies above 16KHz. These phones would seem to lop off the top 4KHz from what most people w/ these will listen to, a compact disc. I am somewhat surprised that nobody has brought this up in criticism of the ER4-S. That being said, they are perfection from 20Hz-16KHz.

I bought these for isolation and boy did they deliver. I am almost wondering if I bought too much isolation but all the sealed headphones I tried didn't offer enough. If I flew a lot these things would be mandatory. They do everything they claim to do beautifully but the lack of high frequency response makes me question whether or not I can honestly call them hifi. There is definitely nothing as small as these that sound this good.

The sound quality from these in-ear headphones puts me in awe. I can hear everything there is to hear with these headphones. For sheer quality and accuracy of reproduction the Etymotic ER4-S puts every other headphone I've heard to shame - even Grado. They are totally transparent. In fairness I haven't listened to the Sennheiser 580 or 600 yet, but the ER4-S would be a very tough act to follow.
Right now (literally :) I'm listening to my ER4-S headphones on a Little HeadRoom amp, which improves the sound greatly. I want to try them on a better HeadRoom amp but am currently spending money upgrading my home system.

The ER4-S is a pair of earplugs with tiny sonic transducers inside. Two types of earplugs come with it: foam and rubber. The foam earplugs work much better and yield better bass, though they're a little more of a hastle to deal with and must be replaced rather than cleaned. You can also pay $100 to get an ear mold, which I'm thinking of trying.

Since they are basically earplugs, they completely isolate you from the outside world and you're in your own little Universe. This is great for work and home, but not recommended outside because the acoustic isolation could be dangerous. I personally use them at work. I never realized just how annoying the background noise at work was until I removed the ER4-S from my ears.

Another nice thing is that the acoustic isolation lets you hear fine details in music at very quiet volumes so you don't have to crank it. A big bonus if you don't want hearing damage.

These headphones also seem quite durable. As long as you don't slam them in a car door they'll probably survive for years.

Well, not everything is perfect about these headphones. There are two flaws with the in-ear design itself that I think are appropriate to point out.

1) My biggest complaint is that since the headphone cord is physically coupled to your ear canal via the earplug, you can hear every time the cord brushes against anything. This is really annoying and you have to sit fairly still. There's got to be some way of physically isolating the cord near the ears. Perhaps some sort of little headset, which isn't too different from normal headphones.

2) Since they only interact with your eardrum you cannot feel the bass even though it goes ALL the way down. You only hear the bass, you don't feel it. The best description that I can give is that you can clearly hear the lowest frequencies while being left with the paradoxical impression that there isn't any bass. After a few hours you get used to just hearing bass and not feeling it. It's not even an issue after a few days of listening. It'd be interesting to use a subwoofer with these headphones. I'll have to try it.

In light of these two concerns, why did I give 5 stars to these headphones?
BECAUSE THEY SOUND SO DARN GOOD! :)

Utterly transparent and detailed

I love these headphones (or "canal phones," to be more specific). They offer an extraordinary transparent window on music that brings me closer to the music than I ever thought possible -- and sometimes, with the wrong recording, closer than I want to be! Still, after using the ER-4S, going to back to regular headphones is like listening to a concert from the next room. The tonal balance is extremely neutral, so if you're used to rich sounding headphones or loudspeakers, get ready for a nasty surprise. The 25db of isolation make these phones ideal for subway or airline travel, as well as drowning out unwanted noise from neighbors or family members. The Etymotics come with rubber and foam earpieces, and I definitely prefered the foam from the long-term comfort point-of-view. But custom made silicon earpieces are definitely the way to go here ($150, including the fitting from your local ear specialist).

I use the ER-4S both at home and on the road, and am still experiementing in terms of the perfect way to drive them at home (and yes, they definitely benefit from use with an amp). My guess is that tubes will be the way to go (much like with electrostatic loudspeakers), and am exploring tube rolling with the MF X-Cans V2. For the road, the Headroom Airhead is a terrific (and affordable) way to go.

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Beyer DT-990