Etymotic ER-4 Reference In Ear Monitors
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2014-05-07
·
1,509 words · ~7 min read
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for the ultimate no compromises compact gaming PC look no further than the
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obsidian series 250d from Corsair click now to learn more welcome to my second
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premium imem video the edotic er4 PT
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contrasts sharply with the i8s that I
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looked at last time where the i8s are targeted at consumers with their basey
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sound signature great comfort and stylish look the er4s are targeted at
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professionals with emphasis on high accuracy sound and exceptional noise
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isolation that's not to say however that general consumers can't enjoy an
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accurate in your monitor as much as a professional for many purists out there
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hearing the music the way the artist intended for it to be heard is more
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important than pumping up bass or playing around with EQ dials to make it
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sound better so with that in mind here we go inside the plastic hard box that
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has everything inside of it we find an accessory package that really looks more
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like equipment you'd find in an audiologist office than something you'd
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expect to find in a consumer product box uh everything appears to be designed
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with practicality in mind but you do get a lot of stuff with the er4 pts
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including a shirt clip an airline adapter an 8 in to4 in adapter two sets
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of large and one set of small three flange ear tips two sets of glider ear
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tips two sets of medium foam ear tips tips a filter removal tool and four
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filters to help smooth frequency response and prevent wax buildup an er4
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PT to er4s adapter cable that improves
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sound accuracy but also increases impedance so it might not be optimal to
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use with your phone or other MP3 player a user's manual a warning and finally oh
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yeah a carrying case and finally the earphones themselves there is one more
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thing and it's actually a little bit unique this is a signed Channel matching
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compliance graph showing that one of adom modic technicians personally
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checked to ensure that both of the balanced armature acq drivers behaved
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the same way than signed off on it before packaging your product and
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shipping it to you a very nice touch now
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it's time to focus on the earphones themselves they look like a piece of
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equipment and feel like a piece of equipment the rnl indicators are simply
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a red dot for the one that goes in your right ear which is is fine if you're in
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a recording studio but a pain in the butt if you're on a dimly lit bus each
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earphone has a unique uh thin Twisted
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wire lead that goes back to a bulky
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heavy join and then a much thicker heavier 4ot wire well the overall length
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is 4 feet but the the gauge of the wire is much thicker here um it's unfortunate
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that it's so long and heavy because particularly with the three flange tips
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which sounded best for me the weight pulled on my ears in a way that was
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pretty uncomfortable the included clip is an inelegant solution at best and
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instead I opted to wear them upside down and run the wires over my ear like this
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they aren't designed to be worn that way but it worked reasonably well and saved
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me at least once from having the flanges uncomfortably jerked from my ears
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although there was a time when it didn't save me and that was when I decided to wear it that way comfort-wise I'm not
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going to beat around the bush these are the most uncomfortable earphones I've
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ever used your mileage may vary of course
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but when the user's manual simply says moistening eases insertion for the
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flanges that's a pretty strong indicator that edotic is aware of the situation
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Lube up because you ain't going to like it much otherwise uh the foam ear tips
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don't hurt but like all foamier tips they wear out relatively quickly so
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that's not really an option for me I don't want to be ordering new ones all the time and the gliders weren't an
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option for me either because they don't seal as well so their noise isolation
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isn't as good as the others and the base response is not as strong as the
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others okay so thanks Linus they feel
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like a tool rather than a toy and they're uncomfortable so why do they
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have the right to exist do they have any redeeming qualities the answer is yes
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let's start with their passive noise isolation I don't have the equipment to
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validate their 35 to 42 dbel claim so all I can do is describe the experience
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for you once you get them inserted they're so deep that even yawning
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doesn't affect the sound the feeling of your surroundings shifts it's like
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walking from a crowded Ski Lodge out into an empty Forest after a fresh
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snowfall the entire world just has a muffled and subdued feel to it and the
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only thing left is the sound of your own thoughts except instead of it being your
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own thoughts that you hear it's your music without needing to turn up the
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volume to compensate for environmental noise everything sounds as crystal clear
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as if the sounds were being beamed by Magic into your head every instrument is
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easily discernible from the others to agree that I've never experienced before
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the difference in Clarity is noticeable when I compare the er4 pts to the entire
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rest of my stable of headphones which includes several other products in this
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price range and more interestingly the
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difference is noticeable with sources that ranged from listening to music on
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YouTube all the way to uncompressed files of songs that I know very very
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well there are some caveats though with
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accurate sound comes to some people boring sound there is no emphasis on
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bass to speak of and emotic has optimized for isolation rather than
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sound stage one of the things that stood out to me about the ie80s was how
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relatively open they sounded for an IM whoops there goes my phone the er4s
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take me right back to that traditional between your ears sound that is
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characteristic of IEM something else I noticed was that switching between the
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i8s and the er4s felt like Chang in the lights in a room from from a warm glow
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to a a Cool Glow either is fine once I'm
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used to it and after 15 minutes I'm completely adjusted but side by-side
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listening tests were actually a little bit unpleasant because the sound
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signatures of these two products contrast so starkly going from I80 to
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er4 makes the er4 sound Bland and uninteresting while going from the er4
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to the i8s make them sound basey and muddled by comparison
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so what's the takeaway from all of this bottom line they're just not comfortable
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enough for me to use them as my daily drivers during the day the heavy cable
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was a bigger inconvenience for me than I actually expected and when they snag on
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something accidentally they're very painful even with them wrapped around my
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ears and at night uh not being able to tell left from right without turning on
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a flashlight is a pain and then the fact that I normally sleep in my IM IMS which
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is not happening with these is a showstopper as well but they weren't
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designed to be daily drivers for general consumers just look at the website I
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mean it's functional sure you can get replacement parts order custom ear molds
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for 100 bucks which is actually really cool custom ear molds will fit you
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perfectly so Comfort problem goes away and you can learn about the product but
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it looks like a hearing aid store or something they're catering to a
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different crowd and comfort it aside for me they sound amazing I could listen to
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them with zero fatigue for hours and I have so if the objective is not to be
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fashionable but rather to get precise sound delivered to your eardrums with as
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little outside interference as possible then the er4s get a big thumbs up from
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me thank you for watching let me know in the comments or better yet on the lineus
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tech tips Forum which will be linked in the video description if you prefer a
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flat sound signature or a more fun signature knowing that you're not
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getting you know the music delivered to you the way that the artist necessarily
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intended like this video if you like it dislike it if you disliked it guys I'm
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totally open to your feedback and as always don't forget to subscribe to lus
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