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I was on a trip with my iPod a few months ago and I realized in the car that I was getting a lot of noise coming in with the stock buds. I set out looking for better headphone for portable listening. I didn't know much about canalphones, but knowing that they were "isolating" I decided that would be the best option. I'm not necessarily new to audiophiledom, as I've been using Grados the past few years when I'm at home. I've also had the opportunity to listen to a lot of upper end Sennheisers, so I knew what good headphones could do. I never really looked into good portable headphones though. I was looking for something not too expensive, having just born the brunt of a $400 iPod. After doing a bunch of research, I settled on the Shure E2.
3rd Place: Shure E2
Initially, I really loved the E2. It was the first set of canalphones I'd listened to, and I really liked the isolation effect. They bass was deep and the sensitivity was excellent. Overall, the sound quality really blew away the iPod buds. After a few weeks, though, I started listening more critically and decided I wasn't happy with thm. The bass on the E2 is deep, but it's not at all very tight. This isn't necessarily a big deal, but combined with a very prominent mid-bass and mid-range, it gave the sound a muddiness that really bothered me. The instrument separation was weak, as well. Basically, the E2 really seems to squish the sound into the midrange, where it gets a bit lost. All the instruments are there, but you have to almost reach in and grab them because they come out kind of muffled. This isn't a bad effect if you listen to a lot of rock, but if your music varies a lot and you have a bit of pop, jazz, classical, or acoustic rock, I don't think the E2 is the best choice. Still, it's an enjoyable headphone. It feels durable and I had no problems with comfort.
Still, I抎 started reading a bit on the web and I began lusting after the Etymotic ER-4P. Even though they were $225, I figured I抎 probably save money in the long run by just getting them now, rather than upgrading incrementally.
2nd Place: Etymotic ER4P
It feels wrong putting these headphones in 2nd place, since they really are the best of the bunch in most regards. After reading all the glowing reviews of this phone and seeing how fanatical its fans are, I figured I might as well go for it, knowing that I wouldn't be truly satisfied until I'd heard them. The reviews are justified, because the ER4P are simply amazing. Their sensitivity, accuracy, and clarity are second to none. Most people cite the weak bass as its only shortcoming, but I didn't really find that at all. The bass is incredibly tight and evenly presented. There were times when I would've liked a little bit more oomph to it, but I blame that on the iPod, not the earphones. The highs on the ER4Ps are amazing and the instrument separation is much better than either the E2 or E3. I found the overall sound very similar to my Grado SR-80s, but more intimate, in the sense that you really feel like you're standing on stage with the musicians. The Shures (and to some degree, the Grados) feel more like you're sitting in the audience listening.
Now to the negatives. Quite simply, I found these phones too accurate and too sensitive. I'd never experienced headphone fatigue before, but I felt it with these. As amazed as I was whenever I put them on, I could barely listen to them for an hour. Strangely enough, this seemed to get worse as the days went by. This wasn't related to any comfort issues, either (I'll get to that in a bit.).
See, as good as the sound is, it's really not very natural. This is clearly an audiophile headphone. There's really very little warmth to the sound, and this is especially bad out of the iPod. It is important to note that the ER4P is extremely source-sensitive. If your MP3s aren't at least 192 or high VBR, don't even bother. Almost all of my files are 192 or LAME VBR, and I still felt like a lot of them sounded like crap. The Etys will show you the evils of compression. The Ety sound was noticeably better out of my portable CD player, as the bass was slightly boosted and warmer, and there were no compression artifacts.
Still, the flatness of the sound is odd in the sense that the midrange is much more subdued than most headphones. This is great because the bass feels deeper and the highs feel higher, but overall I found the sound less "musical" than I wanted. The clarity feels almost artificial. There was a review over at Head-Fi where the person mentioned that the Etys sounded like they pulled the notes out of the music. This is how I felt, and the effect was magnified coming from the iPod.
As far as construction goes, the ER4P looks cool in the same way Grados look cool... in other words, they really don't. It's the unusualness that gives them some panache. The braided cord is extremely thin and hangs nicely. The two sides come together into a barrel which (I'm told) houses the resistors, as well. The phones come with a shirt clip that attaches the barrel to the shirt, which is pretty much essential to reduce microphonic noise. Nevertheless, there was more microphonics than the Shure phones, but it didn't really bother me, even when walking around. The triple-flange of the Etys extends far deeper into the ear than the flex sleeves on the Shures. I never found them uncomfortable, but you're definitely not going to forget they're in your ears. I think most users can adjust to them within a few days. The triple-flange isolates far better than the flex sleeves or soft-flex sleeves on the Shures, but still not quite as well as the foamies. I didn't do much listening with the foamies, as I'm really not a big fan of them. In my opinion, the added hassle of putting them in and the cost of replacement don抰 justify their added isolation. The only way I'd use them is if I couldn't get a good seal with any other sleeve.
In the end, I just couldn't justify keeping the Etys. I wasn't enjoying them enough due to the fatigue and the way they revealed the MP3 compression. It was disappointing since I wanted a phone that resembled the Grado sound, and these fit the bill. But when all that detail was sealed into my ear canal, it just didn't work for me.
1st Place: Shure E3
Since I really can抰 justify spending $400 on Shure E5s, the E3 was my next option. I was looking for these to be a happy medium between the E2 and the ER4P and for the most part, they are. The sound is more akin to the E2 sound than the ER4P's sound, but after listening for a while, it's clear that the E3's resolution is very close to that of the ER4P. It just doesn't jump out at you when you first throw them in. My other first impression was that the E3 bass was weaker than that of the ER4P. If you read E3 reviews, you'll see a lot of complaints about lack of bass on the E3. The problem is one of perception, though. When I A/B'd the E3 and the ER4P on the same tracks, it's clear that the E3 actually has slightly more bass than the ER4P. However, the overall sound signature of the E3 emphasizes the midrange far more than the ER4P. I think the effect is that the E3's bass blends in with the mid-bass and midrange, so it sounds a little weaker than it really is. The ER4P's understated midrange leaves the bass more isolated in the lower ranges, and so it stands out a little more, despite being weaker than that of the E3.
The E3's bass is much tighter than the E2's, though I think the E2 had slightly more impact. Nevertheless, I found the strength difference to be minimal, and I prefer the tightness of the E3. The E2's muddiness is gone. More importantly, the E3 seems to bring the upper ranges out from the congested middle where most of the E2's sound was located. The highs aren't as high as the ER4P, but they're pretty close. The midrange, again, is much more emphasized than it is on the ER4P, which gives the E3 that warmer Shure sound. The E3 seems to presents the music as a cohesive unit, rather than a lot of instruments with wide separation. I found I really liked this on the iPod.
From the pictures online, I wasn't too enthusiastic about the look of the E3c (I got the white version). I was afraid they looked too much like your average commercial earbud. When I got them, though, I was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting plastic similar to that of the iPod buds, but it's not like that at all. The plastic appears to be very strong with an unpolished texture that gives it an almost ceramic-like quality. The cords coming from the buds are slightly thinner than those of the E2, but they still have some rigidity to them that I could do without. Still, I won't complain because they're probably a bit more durable this way. I was always freaked out about damaging the thin cords on the Etys. As far as overall comfort, the gray soft-flex sleeves are a noticeable improvement over the clear flex sleeves. To me, the sound seems about the same, although the soft-flex sleeves have slightly poorer isolation than the clear ones. The E3 gives you the option of using a triple flange, as well, although they have to be purchased separately. I haven't ordered them from Shure yet, but the ER4P's triple flange fits on the E3 just fine. Using them improves the isolation, as I would expect, but it also brings down the highs just a bit and warms up the lower ranges. This wasn't what I was expecting, but if you find the E3's to be a little too bright, the triple flange would be the tip to use. I'll probably save them for when I'm going to be listening in high noise environments.
To summarize, the stronger midrange of the E3 seems to make the sound more musical and less sterile. The detail and instrument separation aren't as pronounced as the ER4P even though the E3 resolution is just about equal. In the end, I just find the E3 much easier to listen to from the iPod. Their warmth seems to cover up any issues with MP3 compression, and most LAME VBR files are basically indistinguishable from uncompressed files. The E3 has a similar sound signature to the E2, but it's clearly a better earphone. If it's between the two and you have the money, definitely opt for the E3.
So after spending some time with all of these earphones, I'm sticking with the Shure E3. For my purposes, it's the best of the bunch. |
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发表于 2004-4-1 08:25:46
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