Etymotic ER-4P Portable In-Ear Earphones Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I'm on record with a total rave of Etymotic's ER-6 headphones - but the ER-4P is vastly more satisfying.The difference is bass (the most immediately obvious difference).The ER-4p has phenominal bass for headphones - probably state of the art in this reguard.But what makes the ER-4p really special is its amazing dynamics.The soundstage is huge, and sonic textures leap out of velvet silence.It's hard to characterize superb dynamics.Music sounds "bigger".Quiet passages have more presence - and louder passages have more inner detail.Another strength of the ER-4p is that the extra bass energy allows the vibrant treble detail to sound balanced - not strident or analytical (as the ER-6 can sometimes sound).Between the dynamics and the bass, the ER-4p ends up sounding more musical and alive than the ER-6 (and thus virtually every other earphone).There is a touch of mid-bass ripeness - sometimes deep voices like Mark Knopfler sound a little chesty.There's also a downside the huge dynamics - sometimes a touch of congestion can creep in during crescendo peaks.The flip side of this is that quiet passages can have enormous presence and emotional power.Small scale accoustic stuff and female vocalists shine and have amazing presence.Nora Jones, for example, has never sounded better.Big rock doesn't suffer either.The fantastic treble detail and huge deep bass makes both classical and rock really slam.These really are amazing phones.

There are the usual caveats of an in-ear-canal headphone:Ear-canal type headphones like these must be inserted ALL the way down into the ear canal to get good bass. The better the seal the better the bass. One of my ear canals isn't straight and I sometimes have trouble getting that ear's earphone properly positioned. Once I do - the bass on these phones is amazing. This issue causes problems for some. Some people just can't tolerate something in their ears. My wife uses foam earplugs all the time but she's too squeamish to insert these earphones properly. I know plenty of people with this issue. Be honest with yourself about this before you make the plunge. If ear canal type earphones are not inserted all the way to make a good seal they sound tinny and lightweight with no bass.

Then there's the usual caveat for any high-end audio transducer:it's only worth the money if you've made sure the signal you're feeding it can do it justice.If your source material is great you'll thrill to hear all of it. You'll hear things you never heard before, guaranteed. If your source isn't good - you'll hear that too. I suspect this is the source of many of the complaints. There are a lot of people listening to low grade portable players - or to audio files with too much compression. Check out any peer to peer sharing sites and you'll find lots of audio tracks that sound like they were ripped off a poorly tuned AM radio station. If this is your music collection you should probably stick to cheap earbuds that soften and roll off the music. Etymotics will sound glorious if you are using lossless compression or high-bit rate encoding off good source material.

I'm an audiophile. At home I tweak room accoustics, cable types, speaker placement and the like. My lifestyle dictates I end up doing much of my listening on commuter busses, airplanes, subways, and long walks across the city. The Etymotics and my iPod - filled with losslessly compressed tunes gives me an audiophile experience on the road. I frequently hear things on this rig that I don't hear even on my high-resolution home system. This kind of musical satisfaction at this price is astounding - a total bargain.Part of what makes it work so well for passenger transport use is the excellent isolation.These things are earplugs - plain and simple.They cut out ambient noise exactly like earplugs.Be aware that sonic isolation can be dangerous for pedestrians, bikes, drivers, and motorcyclists.You can't hear the car horn that might save your life.I walk NYC streets all the time with these on, but when I jaywalk I'm extra careful to look both ways.

I've used ER-6s for last 3 1/2 years or so and was deeply in love.I'm probably a good candidate for Sensas, Ultimate Ears, or other expensive exotic phones, but decided to upgrade to the ER-4ps on reputation when the ER-6s began to lose some sonic integrity after years of hard use and rough treatment.(I use the ER-6s at the gym now - where they sound great and stay put during vigorous exercise).At first the ER-4p's bass was over-ripe.They need some burn-in time.After 5 hours or so the bass came into line with the rest of the frequencies.It is still extremely strong - sometimes almost overpowering.I find this a rare and desireable trait for headphones.Most phones - even really great phones like Electrostatics or dynamic phones like Grados or Sennheisers have deficient bass.The bass and dynamic prowess of the ER-4p puts them in a different league than the ER-6 - which can sound a bit hard and analytical at times.The ER-4p sounds almost euphonic by comparison.I don't think it actually is euphonic.I've used them for about 75 hours so far and they reveal the source material.They just do so in a beautiful way.If you care about audio quality, can tolerate ear canal type phones, and can feed them high resolution source material, you'll probably fall as deeply in love with the ER-4p as I have.

A word about ergonomics.Some have criticized the ER-4P's microphonic cord and way they stick out of your ear - making them vulnerable to contact with hats and helmets.There is something to this criticism - especially in winter.The ER-4p sticks out of your ears, secured only by the friction fit of the earpiece itself.This can lead to annoying encounters with hats and scarves.It's not so easy to make these headphones happy inside earmuffs or ear covering hats.Etymotic was one of the first in-ear-canal headphones and the design lacks the ergonomic advances of Shure and others - principally the routing of the cord up and around the ear and a thicker, non-microphonic cord covering.I wish Etymotic would consider incorporating these advances.Etymotics have penetratingly transparent sound - transparency (ultimately, fidelity) that is impossible to match anywhere close to this price.I'll put up with the ergonomic issue (which are really only issues in winter - for me).

Follow-up - Last week I had an hour to kill at the airport and a nice salesman let me do a shootout with Shure E3cs, E4cs, E5cs, and Sennheiser CX-300s versus my beloved Etymotic ER-4Ps.I was able to eliminate the Shure E3c and Sennheiser CX-300 immediately - they sounded unacceptably muffled and congested by comparison.The Shure E4c and E5c were more interesting.The E5c had more powerful bass, but was ultimately less transparent than the Etymotic ER-4P.The E4c, however, really gave the Etymotics a run for their money.Shure's E4c had excellent midrange and treble transparency and strong powerful bass.I had to go back and forth between these and the ER-4Ps many times to get a firm fix.The major difference is EQ balance.The Ety ER-4Ps are flatter; the E4cs more tipped up at each extreme, as if you had turned both the treble and bass knobs up.The E4cs had a seductive sweetness in the treble and rich solidity to the bass that was very seductive.I was tempted to put my credit card down.The Etymotic ER-4Ps are less exciting - but ultimately felt a little truer to the music.I'd say both had about equivalent transparency and apparent fidelity.The E4cs are twice the price of ER-4Ps - underscoring Etymotics excellent value.The Shures had a nice wind-up case and, perhaps, better ergonomics, however.Food for thought.

Yet another follow up:a word about the fact that the new ER-4Ps are black and the old ones were blue and red.I imagine that Etymotic stopped making the blue/red cable boot models because people thought it looked funny.Now that they are all an attractive black some mourn the lost functionality of immediately being able to see which one is left and which right at a glance.There is an easy way to do this with the new black ones (I own the black ones BTW).Hold one out in front of you and look for the shiny circle.If you see the shiny circle, stuff it in the ear it's pointing towards.If not, shove it in the other ear.Perhaps my words are not clear, but try it once and you'll immediately see my logic.Once you learn this move you'll never have any issues about which is right or left - except in total darkness.If spotting the shiny circle isn't easy for you, add a drop of nail polish on the right one and you'll be able to grab the right one that way.

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Product Description:

The ER-4P MicroPro noise-blocking earphones from Etymotic Research offer realistic sound reproduction and noise isolation that far surpasses that of active noise-canceling earphones. The ER-4P earphones--which require no batteries--can be plugged into any audio source. They can be used with portable CD, MP3, DVD, and other players without an additional amplifier.The ER-4P earphones were designed to match the response of the ear, creating nearly perfect sound reproduction. They reduce external sound naturally by sealing your ear canals, without the added weight, bulk, or external power supply required for active noise-canceling. Their external noise exclusion (up to 33 dB using the supplied 3-flange eartips and 41 dB with foam eartips) lets you hear the full dynamic range of recordings without your having to play them at unnaturally high and unsafe levels.What's in the Box
ER-4P MicroPro earphones, a 5-foot cord with 3.5 mm stereo phone plug, a .25-inch stereo phone adapter plug, six 3-flange eartips, 10 foam eartips, a filter-changing tool, 4 replacement filters, a shirt clip, a zippered pouch, a storage box, a user's manual, and warranty information.

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