Customer Reviews

Etymotic Research ER6 Isolator In-Ear Earphones (Black)

5 star:		(67)
4 star:		(49)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

I've been using these for about 3 years - since I start using an IPod. I listen to huge range of music, all classical styles - from renaissance to atonal, all rock styles, jazz, funk and R&B, rap, brit pop, punk etc. I rarely walk out of the door with my fully loaded 40gig IPod, and these are what goes with them.

Sound Quality is superb, much better than Sony funtopias, and Bose noise cancelling (and don't get me started on the virtually useless Apple headphones). I haven't tried the Shures, so no comment on them. Not as good as my Sennheiser HD 600, but that's to be expected.
They are extremely clear, and revealing, and have great frequency balance across the range. Some complain that the bass is not good enough, and it could be better, but at least it's accurate, this may not matter to some, but flabby artificial bass just annoys me and just becomes fatiguing. The quality is so good its easy to get use to them, but when I temporarily started using the Sony's (having stepped on and broken the ER6s) and then came back to these I realised how good they are. No going back again for me!

Noise isolation is amazing, when I'm on the subway without them I get to (sadly) remember how noisy the subway is, I just don't notice it with these headphones on. I use them when I'm flying, and I did a back-to-back with the Bose and the ER6s blew them away, in both quality and noise isolation. I even get to sleep. Using this style of 'phones when flying or travelling on subways is a must.

Points to note: You do have to put these into the ear canal to use them effectively, and this takes some getting use to. There is some microphony from the cable which may be intrusive especially during very quiet music. Filters may need changing fairly often. I just scrap of the muck off the filter and they last much longer. I know it sound disgusting but it does work. They don't appear to be that well made, but mine (2nd pair) are still going and I don't treat them well at all (see previous)

If you want to go better, try the ER4Ps, they give even better bass and isolation (for twice the money), possibly the Shure equivalents or top end 'phones like the HD 600, but no noise isolation from these beauties!

I bought these phones approximately 18 months ago when they cost 20% more than do today, and I never regretted the purchase. My upgrade path took me from the standard Sennheiser earbuds that were (at the time) bundled with various MP3 players including ones manufactured by MPIO, Rio, and Apple; then to a set of Sony in-ear headphones; then these Etymotics. I like the cheaper Sony's price and sound isolation, but not the asymmetric headphone cable or the boomy bass. The Etymotics brought even better sound isolation, smoother sound (with ample, if not accentuated bass) and better detail. For my buck, these headphones inhabit the sweet spot where improved sound quality/isolation begin to encounter the law of diminishing returns. I.e., the ER6 are a lot more of an improvement over the Sony in-ear phones, or stock earbuds, than the Etymotic ER4 or Shure E4c/5c are over the ER6's.

Sound isolation with the ER6 is extremly good -- I use mine daily on Chicago's mass transit system (buses and subways) and routinely for airplane flights. Notwithstanding the soundproof fit, they are comfortable to wear. I haven't experienced sore or uncomfortable ears using the Etymotics, even on long transatlantic flights.

These are not the best choice for working out because the cables rub against your clothes and transmit vibrations as sound right into your ear. In practice, when walking or commuting you can easily drape the cables in a way where this doesn't occur. But running around, leaning up and down, and changing positions frequently, I don't think you could escape the issue entirely. In that case, I'd hypothesize you might want in-ear headphones that drape over the back of the earlobe, which might prevent this from happening.

I couldn't help noticing that a small number of people have suddenly posted strongly negative reviews of these headphones, making implausibly strong claims about how bad they allegedly sound, lacking bass, or falling out of their ears despite the reviewer's claim that s/he inserted the according to directions. These reviews are so far against the manifest weight of numerous other reviews (and, more importantly, my personal experience) that I simply cannot fathom how any of these 1-star reviews have a basis in reality. The ER6 is not hard to use, not hard to insert, and does not produce bad sound, as tons of independent reviewers agree. Maybe, despite their belief to the contrary, these reviewers aren't doing as good a job reading the instructions as they think they are?

My last comment relates to a few people out there who seem to think that you need an external portable headphone amplifier to make these things really sound good. To that, I have a three word reply: "hogwash" and "snake oil". I tried a popular external amp with these phones, and after extensive testing (and single-blind testing with my wife to ensure I hadn't suddenly gone deaf) concluded that they make no audible difference, on any genre of music I own from classical to hip hop to alternative, on any bitrates from 160 to lossless. So save your money, save some space, and just jack the Etymotics right into your portable player. If you want more than that, go buy a higher model headphone; don't think that an amp will make any difference beyond the placebo effect.

Over the past three years, I've owned several pairs of Etymotic ER-6s.

I won't try to sway you on their sound quality; some people love them, others don't. I've never had a complaint in that regard. The customer service I've received from the company has been consistently exemplary.

They do have one fatal flaw, and it's the reason I've stopped using them. Unlike the more expensive ER-4s, they're too small to remove from your ear without pulling a bit on the cable.

If you use your ER-6s daily, this cable strain will destroy them within a year or so. In effect, you're not buying a set of earphones, but a subscription that you'll have to renew almost annually with an expensive replacement pair. Unlike Shure, Etymotic charges nearly the full retail price (about $80) for an out-of-warranty replacement.

So, as much as I've enjoyed my ER-6s, I'm afraid I can't recommend them here until Etymotic fixes this design flaw.

After checking with the vendors that these headphones were returnable after being opened, I proceeded to test Etymotic Research's more economically accessible earphones - the ER6 and ER6i headphones - to more objectively make a comparison between the two. I compared their respective power usage, bass response, clarity, connection to the iPod, convenience, and sound isolation capabilities. The overall winner: ER6 Isolation Earphones. The report is below (*note this was not a scientific study but I did try to control whatever I could)

iPod Battery Life Winner: ER6i
The battery life of iPods isn't particularly great, and can be affected by a number of sources such as if EQ settings are on, if the iPod is on "hold", the song-encoded bit rate, whether or not the screen light is on, or in this case, what type of headphone is being used. I tested the battery life of the iPod using the ER6i and ER6 earphones by playing the "All Songs" function which plays every song in the library continuously until the power runs out. By starting it from the first song in the library using both earphones, I was able to factor out the bit rate in determining which earphone lasted longer. Of course, the earphones that lasted longer would be subjected to songs with bit rates that might have been much larger (say 824kbs using the Apple Lossless Encoder instead of the default 128kbs ACC encoder) or much smaller than the earphones that ran out quicker. Therefore, if the longer-lasting earphones hit a string of large bit-rate songs, the battery would run out faster than if there were lower encoded bit-rate songs. Therefore, the times that I will report should not be compared as absolute ratios. I kept the volume exactly the same for both trials and I never touched the screen so the light was never enabled. The results: the ER6 ran the battery out in 6hrs:23min while the ER6i ran it out in 9hrs.26mins. Winner: ER6i

Connection to the iPod Winner: ER6i
Because the ER6is were specifically designed for the iPod, the headphone jack connection was perfect and not as sensitive as the ER6 connection. When a headphone is disconnected from the iPod, it pauses the music automatically. Twisting the headphone jack while the iPod is in use has no effect when using the ER6i but the more tenuous connection established between the ER6 and the iPod renders the music to stop when doing this. (There is definitely some flexibility, but running with these or ascending stairs will continuously stop the music and become quite a nuisance.) Winner: ER6i

Bass Response Winner: TIE
Almost any criticism of these headphones in other product reviews always comes back to the bass response. Admittedly, for the price tag, I think the bass could be better on both models, but the major criticism of the iPod ALSO is bass response. In order to hear the bass response well, I set the iPod EQ setting to "R&B" which GREATLY enhances the bass with any headphone. I found that the ER6i lived up to its advertised enhanced bass response. However, the bass was much boomier and subsequently less accurate than that of the ER6s. In addition, the enhanced bass sacrificed mid and upper frequencies rendering a much more immature sound, and frankly, merely as impressive as my Sony Fontopia headphones that were $60 cheaper. Even though the ER6 bass response is a little thinner than that of the ER6i, it's HIGHLY accurate. I can hear each note with remarkable clarity exposing how succinct the notes truly were when they were recorded. For example, check out the beginning of Dave Matthew's Band "Crush"; you can hear his finger strike the string and the transition from each note to the other omitting that muddled "fake bass" that Sennheiser can produce. Any R&B song will really expose the accuracy. However, having that full bass response that the ER6i offers is an important basement for listening to music. Just for fun, I hooked up the ER6s to my Sony Discman and the bass was AMAZING, absolutely the BEST bass I've ever heard; highly accurate with some serious depth. Therefore, I'm convinced that the lack of bass with the ER6 is only a function of the iPod's notoriously thin low frequency output. Both earphones have something to offer; therefore they tie in this category, but I'm leaning towards the ER6.

Musical Clarity and Realism Winner: ER6
If you go to Etymotic's website you can see how they measure sonic response accuracy. The higher the accuracy score, the closer the earphone-produced sound is to live music. The ER6 is 90% accurate whereas the ER6i is 81% accurate and boy is this noticeably different. The ER6i doesn't have the same near-live sound that the ER6 can produce. High frequencies are fuzzier, substantially muted, and not as accurate rendering the ER6is incapable of producing the near-live musical experience of the ER6s. Singers' voices aren't as exposed, sounding more distant and washed out by the bass. The ER6s are just plain amazing in this category. You can hear the decay of each note as if you were standing in a concert hall (as long as the recording is high quality), and I have heard at least 5 to 10 seconds of additional sound at the beginning and ending of each song, especially during fade outs. It's also fun to hear musician's comments after the song, especially on Dave Matthews Band and Ben Folds Five/Ben Folds recordings. Cymbals are bright, crisp, and crystal clear; singers' enunciations are quite clear, trumpets sound fantastic, etc. - virtually any high frequency is the best I've ever heard. The mid-ranges are unbelievable as well and overall balance of sound is impeccable. I can hear layers of songs with the ER6s I didn't hear before. Therefore, the ER6 CLEARLY wins.

Noise Isolation Winner: TIE
When you spend over $100 dollars for earphones, you think that they better sound like they were a gift from God. For me, the reason that these earphones are this expensive is because the noise isolation is flat out incredible. I have tried the famous Bose Noise Canceling Headphones and both of the Etymotic Research earphones cancel sound BETTER (and they're HALF the price with MORE convenience i.e. not as bulky). Don't run, bike, or drive with these in your ears; you will die. I am a drummer and I've been using earplugs since I was 7, trying to find ways to completely isolate sound. Well these earphones do just that. When I walked down the street outside my apartment along a very busy road, I could not hear ANY ambient noise, literally (*the volume was half up). Along my walk I could not hear a backhoe dropping building rubble 15 feet away which I could usually hear from my apartment two blocks away! This feature alone makes these products complete steals in my mind. Winner: Tie, both World Class

Convenience Winner: ER6
By convenience I mean for removing and inserting them into your ear canals... The ER6is are smaller than the ER6s and are harder to grasp when pulling them out of your ears. I can quickly pull the ER6s out of my ears but it takes longer to inch the ER6is out of my ears. Winner: ER6

Overall Winner: ER6

Both of these products are WAY better than conventional headphones, but choosing between them will depend on your priorities. Do you want more bass and longer battery life with the ER6i? Or do you want clearer, more accurate bass with more convenience offered by the ER6s? Maybe you're a runner, and the thought of constantly adjusting the headphone jack sounds too cumbersome and distracting....go with the ER6is. Like in life, you have to sacrifice something to gain something with these headphones....unless you're Bill Gates in which case you could buy the premier ER4 model headphones which have the best of both worlds but require a second mortgage to purchase (list: $330!!!!!). For me, the clarity of a headphone determines its maturity and quality which really put the ER6 over the top even though it sucks in the iPod battery department. Any way you slice it, these headphones will improve sound, period. And the sound isolation is not hyped...it's real.

After trying many portable headphones for the last ten years, I've finally settled two: the Sennheiser PX100 (with the Koss Porta Pro a close runner up) and these Etymotic phones. The Sennheiser's are great for where you need a little sound to infiltrate the headphones, such as bike riding (not something I'd recomend to inexperienced bicyclists). But at the gym, where the machines are noisy, the spin cyclist class plays god-awful music at top volume and people talk (more on that later), these are the best. With the Sennheiser I had to turn the volume up so high that the batteries were quickly drained, not to mention the damage to my already fragile hearing.

A few pointers. I almost returned them after the first listen. But then I remembered that headphones need to be "broken in" by playing them for awhile. I hooked them up to my stereo and played CD's all night. Big difference the next day. Also, try the different ear plugs. The plastic ones were absolutely horrible for my ears. The grey foam pads worked better. On the Etymotic website they have white ones that are smaller than the grey ones. These worked best for me (narrow ear canals I guess). Order extra filters. I had one plug up on me fairly quickly. Finally, don't wear these where you need to speak with people. You can't hear people talk with these in your ears and music playing. You can barely hear people with the music off. Pulling them in and out is a pain (and people probably don't want to see your ear wax).

Oh, almost forgot. The sound. Great. With no outside noise, the sound comes through wonderfully. They may lack a bit on the bass, but compared to regular headphones at the gym, the improvement is astounding.

I come to my Etymotic ER-6i's after running the gamut of the so-called ear-canal headphones. In general this type of headphone provides great sound and superb isolation while maintaining a small form factor; although they are admittedly a little hard to insert properly at first and some people just don't like them at all. I have been a fan of Shure for a while having had both the E2C and E3C which I find are both superb in many ways. I also owned a pair of Sony's which was great for the price.

After owning my E3C's for about 6 months, I was not entirely happy with the ergonomics of my the Shure E3C. After reading the reviews of the ER6i I decided to plop down a little of my extra cash and see what all the fuss was about. I must say I am quite pleased with the results! IMO the ER6i really shines in the arena of ergonomics. Here's what I love about my new 6i's:

1) Cord Clip! Oh my god, just the thing I've been wanting for all my other headphones! I've been using a variety of paper clips for my Shure's and feeling like total geek. When will the rest of the world get a clue (Shure are you listening?)... Bravo Etymotic.

2) Lightweight cord that is easy to tuck under and around shirts and doesn't pull the earpieces out (this is a problem with the Shures!)

3) Nice little earpieces that snuggle up nicely into my ears so they don't fall out and are easy to put in (as ear-canal headsets go anyway!).

4) A variety of flanged sleeves included, very comfortable and provide exceptional isolation.

5) Great value, these are so much cheaper than my Shure E3C's and the sound is almost as good.

What's not to like? My only complaint is that the sound is perhaps a little too flat for my rock'n'roll sensibilities; but hey, thats what the bass boost on my iPod is for right?

P.S. I'm noticing that all these negative reviews are written by people who have written no other reviews... curious ain't it?

These are hands down the best earphones for the price - coming within shouting distance of the very best. The resolution of these things are astounding and will show you every detail of your music source with x-ray precision. They provide excellent accoustic isolation - as good as a decent set of earplugs. This makes listening in noisy places possible. It makes operating a car dangerous too. The location inside the ear canal makes them stay put too - allowing you to use them for skiing, hiking, and other activities that challenge regular earphones. Unlike regular earphones, the sound here doesn't have to compete with ambient noise. There are some major caveats associated with this:

1) 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 the ER-6 is tuneful, tight and deep. This bass has pitch definition and pace. It has no chest feel like real bass in a room of course - but it has great resolution. This issue is probably the source of most of the negative reviews. 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.

2) The etymotic's treble detail is ruthless. 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 most of the rest 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 line. My lifestyle dictates I end up doing much of my listening on commuter busses, 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 (although the home system is smoother and more pleasing in other ways). This kind of musical satisfaction at this price is astounding.

Other caveats:
1) I much prefer the foam plugs to the silicon ones - both for comfort and audio quality.
2) The comment about not needing a separate external headphone amp is right on the money for the iPod (I can't comment about other sources). I have some excellent portable headphone amps I use with other headphones. The Etymotics are more transparent and play adequately loudly without a headphone amp.
3) The comments about the cords being microphonic (you hear it when the wires rub on things) is true. Best results when you immobilize the cord with the included clip - or tuck it under clothing. This isn't an issue most of the time - but it is with skiing for some reason.
4) These smoked my Koss Electrostatics that cost more than 5 times the price BTW...

First things first. So you will have the answer before you even ask the question: So what does "Etymotic" mean? The answer is that it is a term derived from the Greek word meaning "true to the ear".

Etymotic research has been producing numerous professional grade mic's and earphones for years, and believe me when I say that they know their stuff when it comes to audio.

Enter the age of the IPOD, and other various adaptations of the MP3 players.
The IPOD is now so ubiquitous that if you see anyone wearing white earphones, you immediately assume that they are listening to an IPOD.

As with any audio system, there are several important steps that everyone must take to insure quality output. Good quality original audio, good quality output amplification, and good quality speakers, or headphones. So with that in mind, I opted to test these earphones on my IPod, my stereo system, my computer, and my portable CD player.

I started out field testing the white 6i Isolator model. This model is designed to have a higher sensitivity, and profile compatibility with personal digital music players. It is also designed to produce a higher base response.

So out into the real world I trekked. I took them skiing, driving, and even through a strenuous 2 hour workout in the gym. Now, I know that it is not recommended to use these while driving, but I only did so while on some of Alaska's back roads. I wore these for hours, and hours, and even a few tumbles on the ski hill. I have yet to find anything about them that I do not like. They are very small, and extremely lightweight. And I am just thrilled about the fact that once inserted they stay put. They are not designed to produce a white noise to counter external noise, so I was not expecting that they would screen out external noises as gracefully as they did. They are designed to screen out external noises by blocking their entry in the ear canal. That is why they are designed like well fitting ear plugs, and not like a conventional "over the ears" headset.

I also tested them side by side with the Apple supplied ear buds, and feel that the truer sound is produced by the 6i Isolator . And since I have never been able to stop the Apple ear buds from falling out of my ears unless I was sitting perfectly motionless, I was delighted by how perfectly the 6i Isolator ear phones stayed put. I also tested these the 6i set against a pair of fairly inexpensive Sony over the ear headphones, and the difference was night and day. The 6i maintained a much truer tonal separation at both the high and low ranges, and the Sony's tended to give me slight headache after about an hour of constant wear.

On to the Black ER*6 Isolator model.
This model of the Etymotic designed earphones was designed for travel, and personal listening conditions. It has a very high noise isolation functionality, and is only second in sound accuracy to the Etymotic model ER*4 top of the line standard for studio musicians.

I street tested these as well under similar conditions to the way that I tested the 6i model.

Everyone knows that cars can be very noisy environments. Now imagine that you are having to drive a car on an Alaskan road complete with ruts, and potholes, and lots of left over road gravel scattered about just for reality. And added to all of that, try adding 4 steel studded tires to the mix, and you can imagine what a racket that a normal commute can be.

And just to make sure that I was not fooling my hearing senses, I would stop, and put in the earphones, and drive for a few miles. I would then remove them, and drive a few miles.
Without any doubt, these ER*6 Isolator earphones are a true audio magic trick.
And like the 6i Isolator model, I found myself actually turning down the volume, and actually hearing the subtleties of lyrics, and instruments better than ever.

And wanting to really put these earphones to the acid test, I borrowed a nice pair of the top of the line noise reduction headphones(clue..they start with a B, and end with an E).
And I spent hours running them through my own series of noise tests.
And although unscientific in result, I determined that both of the Etymotic earphones were equal to better in noise reduction(or more accurately, noise elimination) than the name brand headset. I did prefer the larger , and smoother overall sound from the name brand headphones, but once again, it is somewhat like apples, and oranges when comparing the two products.

I am not an audiophile as such. I do not have $10,000 dollar speaker sets in my house, and spend all my spare time trying to record esoteric blues records unto pop free archival DVD,s. I am, however, a total music lover, and my tastes run from classical to country and western, to African, and on, and on. So I tested out these ER*6 earphones by playing selections from a wide range of fairly diverse genre's. These earphones improved my listening pleasure with everything that I tried, including audio books.

In summary, my choice is the Etymotic 6i Isolator, but the ER 6 Isolator is a very close second place. And my reasons are simple, and direct. Both Etymotic earphones are small, require no batteries, and fit under a multitude of hats. Add to that the fact that they are comfortable, and can be worn for very long periods with out irritation of any sort. And finally, they sound absolutely wonderful, and cost less than half with Brand X costs.

If you like your tunes, you need these earphones..


The high quality earphones are all supplied with a standard 3.5mm(1/8") stereo plugs.
The earphones are supplied with a standard 5 foot cord.

Extra replacement filters, and foam eartips are available.

Each kit contains: Earphones with 5' cord and plug,1 pair of flanged eartips, 1 pair of foam eartips, 2 replacement filters, a filter changing tool, shirt clip, and a pouch.

I can't argue with the sound quality (although you definitely hear contact with the wire -- probably unavoidable with a light-weight wire).

More troubling is that they simply don't survive normal use. The wire is too light-weight & didn't last even a year before one ear starting cutting out. I nearly always placed the headphones back in their carrying case after use. They're simply too delicate to be this expensive.

In terms of audio fidelity, these are the best portable devices I've heard. I can't claim an extensive experience with in-ear monitors, but I've listened to the cheap (~$10) headphones, relatively cheap active noise reduction headphones by Aiwa (~$55), passive noise reduction headphones by Bose (~$150), and some relatively high end audio equipment including Martin Logan and B&W.

My preferences are approximately in that order: The Aiwa HP-CN6 headphones are a complete step above the cheap headphones, but are uncomfortable, impart an audible hiss, and are not as effective at noise reduction as the Bose or these Etymotic. The Bose is a complete step above the Aiwa, but these ER-6's are in turn a complete step above the Bose, both in terms of external noise reduction and in fidelity.

I haven't had the pleasure of a side-by-side with the Martin Logan's that a friend of mine has, but my feeling is that these are in the same league in terms of the accuracy of the sound reproduction.

I've seen reviews saying these require an amplifier to really sound good. Since these have a low ohm rating for headphones, I would not be surprised if that is the case, but that would be something to hear, because I don't have one and my laptop and these brings me much pleasure.

They do take just a little getting used to in terms of having something actually in your ear, but in half an hour of listening I was over that. It also takes a little getting used to to get them in your ear correctly, but not a big deal.

I've read reviews where there are complaints that they lack bass. This isn't the case as far as I'm concerned; they seem accurate as far as I can tell, but if you like an over-emphasis of bass, the you'll probably like the ER-6i better. The bass lacks the chest thumping that the Bose subwoofer that came with my car delivers, of course. However they are headphones and they seem to have a wider, flatter, more accurate range of low frequency response than that subwoofer delivers. I.e., that one would probably be called a 'thumper', but these let me hear the different tones in a bass guitar tone.