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| Etymotic Research ER6 Isolator In-Ear Earphones (Black) | 
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| Brand: Etymotic Research
Category: CE
List Price: $99.99
Buy New: $69.99
You Save: $30.00 (30%)
New (38) Used (3)
Avg. Customer Rating:  147 reviews
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 2 x 11 x 6
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
MPN: ER6-P
Model: ER6-P
UPC: 898234000602
EAN: 0898234000640
ASIN: B0007WTHLY
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Really darn good January 18, 2008
This is my second pair after the first eventually died after 4 years of constant use. This included sleeping in them (one benefit, they go deep enough in my ears to allow me to lay on my side with them!). Can't recommend enough if you're comfortable enough with the idea of in-ear headphones.
 No Bass January 9, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I purchased these after watching DTV on Tivo & the rave reviews. Personally I say they are they are OK the noise reduction is minimal in comparison the noise cancelling headphones from Sharper Image & I worked in a production setting with very loud machines. These also cancel all BASS via my Sony Walkman SRF-M85V; I'm not a Bass Junkie however a little would be nice. For the $$ try them before you buy them. If you like all Treble you'll be fine.
 Not for the casual listener January 3, 2008
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
I have just got an ipod and decided to get a more tolerable set of earbuds. After a disappointing run with a pair of Sennheiser CX-300, I did more research and moved up to a pair of Er6. The result has been very interesting, to say the least.
I tested this using mostly portable gear, or stuff that most people would probably use this with: ipod Nano 3rd Gen, Laptop, Desktop PC, an old sony CD player, and for reference a Meridian 508.24 paired with an old amp. I have heard higher end phones such as HD-650 and the RS-1 with proper equipment, so I know what is possible. However, I do not expect that level of performance from a pair of earbuds, as that would be unfair.
When I eagerly put this on and fired up the iPod, I was very disappointed. It sounded very thin and bright, and I nudged it in further to make sure it sealed properly. I was almost ready to initiate the return right there.
However, I quickly discovered a few things: this thing is of the analytical sort of headphones. Not to dress it up, but these are VERY revealing ear buds, in the sense that you do hear EVERYTHING. The source material mattered tremendously. So much so in a compilation of music from different artists, each had their own discernible complex sound signature and recording artifacts. This is certainly unexpected from a pair of ear buds, where it usually would be good enough to get a balanced frequency response.
Another thing I noticed is that ER6 is apparently difficult to drive. I need to change the safe volume to nearly 90% of the capability of the iPod to get to a decent loudness for some tracks; and no I am not a loudness freak and wish not to risk hearing loss for any music. This surely will shorten battery life a bit. Further testament to this maybe that any adjustment in the equalizer resulted in distortions for me, and certain loud orchestral passages (rather demanding on power) also resulted in some distortion. I left the EQ off, as it really would give a more accurate representation of the headphone and a true test to its accuracy for the music played.
In surprisingly many ways this resembles the characteristics of Magneplaner panel speakers (which I love), with all its faults and fortes: difficult to drive, ruthlessly revealing of the source (very in your face, that you kinda wished those recording artists had used them to tune the records better), extremely fast dynamics and transients, a degree of transparency difficult to achieve with dynamic drivers, wonderful vocal ranges, perfect for classical and jazz, very fast tight accurate bass that's deep but not exaggerated (which most people like better however).
Some more notes on the bass: I really don't think with a pair of IEMs that you can get the kind of bass you expect from subwoofers (which has acoustics of the room and physical objects to contribute to a sum of "perceived" bass that you cannot really do in a ear canal without seriously hurting your ears or maybe even your brain) without sacrificing accuracy. You can certainly juice up the frequency response of the bass ranges, but that's not what Etymotic did, nor is it what ER6 is about. There's ER6i for that, among many many other less accurate and recklessly pounding dynamic driver ear-canal-sealing earbuds.
With that said, the bass response of the ER6 is NOT lacking, but you will need to feed it a well recorded source. What goes in comes straight out of these buds, and that first song on the ipod turned out to be crap of a mastering job. Feed it something good (e.g. on hand a track of With Every Heartbeat featuring Kleerup , Tong and Wonderland remix, encoded in FLAC lossless), and your cranium will be POUNDED, without any equilization MSG added. Really.
What ER6 demonstrated is the relentlessness in its revelation. We are not talking about a flood of treble or artificially boosted mid ranges. It's about the piano dampers lifting off the steel wires, the pedal mechanism engaging, the fingers touching the guitar strings (not plucking), creaking of the chairs, the breathing, pianist's nails hitting the keys, the double bass's string humming and buzzing near the fingerboard with each pizzicado. The responses are very fast and accurate, across the entire frequency spectrum. It is not undeserving to be marketed as a monitor.
There are several caveats: 1. your source material matters a lot and many of them will probably sound bad (can't emphasize this enough); 2. I suspect most portable devices really don't have enough juice to drive this properly. It sounds more "liquid", with meatier lows and mids and less dry in the upper registers if you drive it with a headphone amp; otherwise it *may* sound bright and maybe even thin to many, even with a proper seal. This may especially be true if you like your music loud, as the power demand is greater.
Nevertheless ER6 has a distinction of sounding great at lower volumes (on my ipod), with well defined clarity so that you won't feel like having to blast your ear drums to hear the details.
I think very few of us are willing to carry a headphone amp around with our portable players (yes there are fanatics who do that), and there are better over-the-ear headphones for in home/studio use. I suspect the enhanced sensitivity as well as slightly higher bass response and somewhat dampened details of the ER6i would really suit portable players such as iPods better, fixing the "problems" as mentioned above, which is exactly what they are made for.
Other notes: The packaging is unflattering, and no mentioning of where the buds are made. The cords are thin like everyone observed, but not as thin as I imagined (really just about average). The cable is rather long, at least a foot longer than the Sennheiser CX300. The cable is in Y shaped, with gold plated L-shaped plugs. The cable has a smooth finish unlike many other rubberized cables so commonplace lately. The advantage is that it won't be dragged by your clothes if you wear anything over the wires, a problem I long had with those other rubberized wires (I don't see the advantage of rubberizing portable headphone wires). It only comes with one flanged tip, so no size selections with that option. It luckily fits me fine without being uncomfortable, though I imagine the foam tips will fit more people better. The wires going into the buds has no visible reinforcement (all they did was tie a knot inside the enclosure to prevent it from tugging on the driver), and I worry about its durability. I can pull the buds out of my ears without tugging on the wires, but there may be unexpected events that may seriously hurt the wires or even the driver given its design.
There's surprisingly little noise from the wires due to movement, despite the good seal, and the wire clip when used properly should nearly eliminate that problem. You do hear your jaw moving and all the other inevitable movement sound effects from plugging your ears. One should probably not walk around (forget jogging or cycling on the road) with this level of sound isolation for it may be unsafe, and the instruction advises so.
This is a specialized set of earbuds, that when used properly will strip all your musical sources completely naked before your ears. However, these days of often poor music re-encoding and remastering, particularly for portable players, there are certainly good reasons not to hear everything in its stark nakedness. There after all, can be a point where it's just too much detail that we rather not hear. :) Yet if you like things raw and can get them fresh, this will not add or remove much from its original flavor, as long as you know what you are doing. I suspect that will be very difficult to find in any ear bud, and that makes this one special.
Best ear buds I've used December 26, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
After I started commuting on my motorcycle 4 years ago I started looking for an audio solution. Naturally I went to the local electronics store and purchased a set generic earbuds. That was failure one. then I stepped up to a set of Koss earbuds, great soft foam for your ear, but with daily use I had gone through all foam pieces and had to make my own after about 3 months. Next I went to the Sony earbuds, they worked ok. they were loose fitting and prone to falling out (with a helmet on). I also ran into the problem of my ears needing a break from these units quite often. Next, I stepped up to the ER6 earbuds. I have no regrets. I have had these units in ear on motorcycle trips lasting 4 days without any ear irritation. On top of all of that, the sound suppression is excellent and the sound quality superb. Yes, the other buds had more bass, but I much prefer sound quality to simple noise. I am on my second set of these earbuds in 4 years and they still work great. My first set wore from the constant helmet-on-off, but I re-soldered the cable and gave them to my father to use on his travels.
Bottom line, these are the best quality earbuds I have ever used and I recommend them wholeheartedly for those interested in great sound quality. I realize that people's impression of sound quality is somewhat dependent on the type of music listened to, so I don't recommend these for users who listen only to the Billboard top 40. I myself listen to everything from old Eddy Arnold to classical to Jazz to RB to Rap. The price now being roughly 40% less than when I first purchased them doesn't hurt either.
Colleague-proof sound-blocking! November 8, 2007
This product successfully blocks out my noisy colleagues. Awesome! My ears are a bit sore though... Takes some getting used to for the seal to be right and sound quality to be correct.
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