Jeff Medin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>ETYMOTIC RESEARCH also makes an ER4P for portables. Check out the
>HEADROOM site for the differences. Major difference is that the "P" has
>a lower impedance (27 ohms VS 100 ohms) than the ER4S. The "S" is
>accurate, but very difficult to drive from most portables, but ER4P can
>be driven from portables without an amp, BUT they will not sound the
>same as the ER4S (less accurate, etc.).
Caveat: the 4P won't sound as good as the 4S *with* a good headphone amp.
*However*, the 4P will definitely sound better than the 4S when used
directly from the headphone jack of a portable. The 4S simply need more
power than you can get from a portable. While the Sharp portables have
more powerful headphone jacks than other brands, they still can't drive
the 4S very well. The 4P may not be as techically "accurate" as the 4S,
but they will sound "better" straight from a MD player.
Someone else asked:
>Thanks for the information on these. Have you had a chance to compare
>these with Sennheiser 580's? I'd like to know what you think. The
>Sennheiser's really don't get much volume out of the portables and are
>fairly large and goofy looking for wearing that way although they work
>well on component equipment.
Like the 4S, the 580s simply can't get enough power from any portable to
sound their best. Even many home amps don't drive them well (the
headphone "amps" built into most amps/receivers are very poor). You
really need a dedicated headphone amp to get the most out of the 580s (or
the Etymotic 4S, for that matter).
If you're going to be driving your 'phones directly from a portable, and
you don't want anything too big and bulky, you're better off with the Ety
4P (for the absolute best sound and for shutting out all noise :-)), or
something like the Grado SR60 (around $60) or the Koss Porta-Pro or KSC
35 ($30 -- same headphones, just different style band/clips). In my
opinion, these are the best three headphones values (sound for the money)
for portables, without question.
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