I’d always like to watch and cheer friends spending good money to get good stuff. I did just that this afternoon.
Say this after me: E-TI-MO-TIC.
My Shure E3c are nice, but this is this much better.
Nice Earphones
September 17th, 2005 · 4 Comments
Tags: Music
4 responses so far ↓
1 James // Sep 18, 2005 at 2:38 am
The ER-4P sure sound excellent. However, I am not convinced that it is better than Stax’ electrostatic in the high end. In the world of speakers, IMO there is nothing better than electrostatic for high end. Speakers from Martin Logan and Quad are 2 very good examples. They have the clarity of ribbon but not the harshness, the power of horn but not the roughness. In fact, looking at the specs alone, the ER-4P is rated at 20-16KHz +/-4 yet the Stax SR-001 MKII is rated at 20-20KHz +/-4. The only problem the Stax may have would be much too flat a low end. I selected the ER-4P for the SR-001 MKII’s lack of any isolation of the outside sound.
BTW, I went back and bought the amp as late in the afternoon for I think I would prefer listening to nice low attenuated sound, which the amp helps quite a lot, than that of high attenuated sound necessary for good sound fidelity when no amp was used with the ER-4P. So the ER-4P is excellent at higher attenuation say around 6/10, but still need an amp for nice low attenuation around 2 to 3/10.
2 tin_the_fatty // Sep 18, 2005 at 7:50 am
One needs the isolation of these earplugs for music nirvana out and about. The ER4’s isolation is better than my Shure E3c.
Check out the Stax spec against the ER4 spec. Are you willing to take only half of the bass for 20-1KHz, in exchange for that 16KHz-20KHz, which our biological aural devices don’t response to that well at our age anyway. And we all know how very important manufacturers’ specs are. Say all about roach vs man, I am just not convinced the Stax portable is worth the trouble for any advantage (if at all) it may have over the top IEMs.
Now you need to get that door bell light, for music at the office.
3 tin_the_fatty // Sep 18, 2005 at 10:10 am
Since writing the above, I realize that the Stax’s 2dB frequency response for 20-1KHz is not half of the Ety’s 4dB. Depending on whether it’s power or voltage that is being measured, it’s either 25% or 60% difference.
4 James // Sep 18, 2005 at 11:56 am
Unfortunately, there is a problem of too much isolation. Even with the rubber (non-foam) plugs rated at -35dB as opposed to the -40dB sound baffling of the foam plugs, I could still hear my own pulse and sound from breathing, along with the thumping sound from the moving cable, that’s a lot of extra noise of its own to have. A quiet listening environment is a must for nice clean sound but shouldn’t be at the expense of new noise.
As for the frequency response between the two, it remains to be tested by audition. The problem with my friend and I is that we are not looking for overly amplified distorted base in any system like most locals do. So a flatter response might suit our tastes better.