Customer Reviews

Etymotic Research HF5 Portable In-Ear Earphones (Black)

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I've been using the Etymotic ER-4 for years and recently just bought the HF5. When I first got the ER-4's years ago, my friends first thought I was crazy for paying $275. But I listen to all my music while commuting on the train. If you loved music as much as I do, would you spend that much on a pair of speakers for your home stereo, or skimp and spend $50?

The ER-4 delivered like no other earphones, with not only the sound quality, but the noise reduction. As someone once said "It's the closest thing there is to injecting the music right into your brain." I completely agree. It took some getting used to 'listening' to the bass as opposed to feeling it, but now these are irreplaceable.

I have bought several pair of the ER-4's due to damage, losing them, etc. And it was time to replace my current pair. I decided to get Etymotics newest model, the HF5. I didn't expect a huge improvement over the ER-4's, but I was wrong.

At first I felt like the earphones didn't fit as well as the ER-4's. But then I realized that these actually go DEEPER into your ears than the ER-4's. And once I got them in there... WOW! The sound was actually so much bigger and brighter than the ER-4's. The ER-4's were great, but the HF5's is like watching High Definition Television compared to regular TV. The highs are brighter and the bass is bigger.

The only thing I wasn't happy with, at first, is the cord. They seem to have switched back to the more grabby rubbery style cord as opposed to the smoother plastic. While the rubbery feels nicer, I was worried it would grab onto my clothes too much. That hasn't been a problem so far.

They could have also included a few extra filters. The filters need to be changed every few months when they get gunked up with earwax. This model only includes one spare, and it would have been great to include more.

Other than that I would say these earphones are superb and worth every penny.

Eric Monse

I have a number of different earphones/headphones, including Etymotic ER-4P, Jays Q-Jays, Ultimate Ears 5 Pro and 4vi. The ER-4Ps sound the best to me (but lack in the design category -- they stick out too far when inserted in your ear and the cable feels somewhat flimsy). The ER-4Ps have a level of clarity and detail (and treble) that the others do not match.

I bought these headphones thinking that I would now have the best of both worlds: the sound of the ER-4Ps with a better design. I was wrong. The design of the Hf5 headphone itself is better than the ER-4P, but the sound of the Hf5 does not match the ER-4P. To my ears, the ER-4P and Hf5 are very similar at the low end (neither is particularly strong in bass). However, at the mid-range and especially the high end, the ER-4Ps have more detail and clarity between different instruments and vocals. The Hf5 tends to sound more muddy IN COMPARISON to the ER-4Ps and the high end of the Hf5 has more roll off than the ER-4Ps (i.e., the highs on the Hf5 won't go as high as they do on the ER-4P). Vocals and mid-range on the ER-4P sound so much better than the Hf5 that I wonder whether I had a bad set of Hf5s.

Looking at Amazon's prices, the ER-4Ps are only $20 more than the Hf5. If you are spending that much money on headphones, the ER-4Ps are a better deal.

This is not to say that the Hf5s are a bad set of headphones. To the contrary, I found them to compare very favorably to the Q-Jays. The Q-Jays had better low end (bass) than the Hf5, but the Hf5 was better than the Q-Jays on the high end and the Hf5 seemed to have a better soundstage (more clarity and detail). The Q-Jays are smaller and fit better than the Hf5; HF5 are slightly better than the Q-Jays at blocking external noises.

The Ultimate Ears 4vi are a good set of headphones. With respect to sound, I would give a slight edge to the UE 4vi over the Hf5 (the UE 4vis have better low end and maybe slightly better soundstage than the Hf5...though not by much). The Hf5 fit better than the UE4vi and block more external noise.

The UE Super 5 Pros are muddy and pale in comparison to any of the other headphones.

So, the Hf5s are a good set of headphones...but they do not match the great sound quality of the ER-4Ps.

I will brief. I have used them for 9 months with no complaints. No bulky earphones, no bendy wires behind your ears, no looking for left and right, no drama. Just pop these puppies in and exercise. They weigh nothing, block out all the outside sound and no cord noise. Last, but not least, they sound great.

I love listening to all types of music and have been a musician for 30 years. I really enjoy the hf5's and find them to to be the best of the various earphones I've owned, including ety er6i and altec upgrader 336's. They're very comfortable and the sound is very easy on the ears. The bass is accurate and not overdone, the seperation is wonderful,and so is the sound placement. I hear things that I don't hear in other earphones.

These have the same drivers as the ety 4's. I've never listened to ety 4's so I can't comment on how close they are in sound, but these are noticeably better than the 6i's.

just wanted to say these are awesome buds. the clarity is by far some of the best i've heard in a set. superb. i think that's what really defines these buds. great clarity and presence. replaced shure 210s with these. the isolation of these earbuds are amazing as well...using both the foam tips or the three tiered tips. they do sit in a bit deep in the canal so that might bother some. for me, as soon as i put them in, they're a bit uncomfortable but after about a minute or so i dont feel them anymore. they stay put very well too. i've had them in for a 10+ hr flight and they didn't bother me. out of the box, depending on what you use to play music, i'd say they were a bit quiet and lacked low end punch. it was a big step from the shures regarding low end punch. clarity much better than shures. plus, i would have to have the volume usually maxed out on my mp3 player and because of that, the signal would distort a bit, effecting the sound coming out of the buds. to rectify this, i bought a headphone amp (total airhead) and it really brought these things to a new level. now mp3 player volume sits very low and everything really came to life. low end punch is very good now. what a big difference dynamic headroom makes! i know the airhead has some spatial equalization or something like that which does effect the sound so purists may be turned away from that but it didn't bother me in the slightest.

Etymotic Research's HF5 in-ear earphones worked well on a transpacific flight. Seventy-five percent of engine noise was cancelled and most of speech was nicely muted. They were comfortable but had to be inserted "deeply" to attain reasonable bass and noise isolation. Worth the price and very compact.

I recently came into the market for an upscale set of canalphones. The market is now flooded with options most notably from Shure and Ultimate Ear. Sennheiser just came out with three new models and then you've got Etymotic's offerings. Plenty of other brands as well: Westone, Vmoda, Sony, and more...

I chose the Hf5 because they offer really high levels of sound isolation at this price point. In practice, I find that the isolation they provide is excellent. I've had them about a week (about 20 hours of use) and on NYC streets, with music playing, I can't hear anything. On the subway I can feel the vibration of the train through my body but I don't hear any vibration through my ears. Finally, sitting in my living room, about 6 feet from the TV playing at a normal volume, I can't hear whats on the television. 5 stars in this department.

The sound quality is very good, but not amazing. I used to own Sennheiser cx300's (my cat chewed the cable) and they list at a substantially lower price point. (About 60 bucks nowadays, although I paid about 80 over a year ago) I don't feel that these etymotics sound $80 - $100 dollars better.

That being said - they sound very accurate. Acoustic music sounds excellent through these. I'm also really impressed with how percussion instruments sound. Take Guster for example, the bongos/conga percussion sounds really good here. Also I've found that on Jazz tracks, these sound excellent. They are also strong in the Classical department, I don't have a large classical library to evaluate them on, but I enjoy listening to Holst's Planets Symphony through these. Rock & Roll tracks sound good on these, but since the headphones are so accurate, I feel like you loose a little on the bass end. Howver, guitar heavy music is great. The same can be said for hip-hop and rap. I don't tend to listen to really heavy bass music, so for me this isn't a problem. For example, Jurrasic 5 doesn't tend to overload the bass end and I find these headphones excellent for listening to them. Finally, listening to electronica type tracks (daftpunk, zero 7, underworld) is enjoyable as well. The bass is tight but not overwhelming.

In the end, I like these because they perform well across a variety of musical types, being extremely strong in the Jazz department. They isolate the sound well and are comfortable to wear. They come with three different tip options as well as a carrying case. Incidentally, this case holds the headphones and my third generation ipod nano perfectly together. I feel that they are a little overpriced, which is partially a product of the fact that they are only available on amazon so there is no price competition. I'd also consider looking at the Shure se210 and they the lower priced Ultimate Ear Super.fi 3 and the more expensive Super.fi 5/Super.fi 5 Pro.

In the end I bought these because this was about the amount of money I was looking to spend, wanted sound isolation, and they looked cool. I'm happy with them.

I am generally very conservative when giving out complement. The HF5 however, completely blew me away.

I have tried the Sennheiser HD 650, which is a very good headphone. To my ear, the sound quality of the HF5 is at least as good as the HD650. It is just amazing to me how far the technology of earbud has improved.

My music is New Age/Electronic, encoding is mp3/320kbps and I drive the HF5 via a NuForce Icon HDP headphone AMP or a Sony Walkman NWZS545. I actually prefer the bass response of the HF5 over the HD650. It is tight, clean, with just the right amount of power. The highs and mids are very detail and crisp. As far as sound quality is concern, I just can not find anything to complaint about. In one word: wow!.

I find the sound to be excellent; everything is just there; no tonal range call attention to itself; just sounds like music.

Deep seating earphones take a little getting used to, but I find them quite comfortable.

I wear them on airplanes a lot and they are without doubt the best isolation phones I've ever used. I sometimes use foam earplugs rated at -30 db isolation - these phones are better, even with no music playing.

Customer service - I managed to break one of the earphones. I went to their web site, filled in the return form, printed a copy and mailed the return form, a copy of my receipt and the earphones. A week later a brand new set of 'phones in a brand new box arrived. Couldn't have been easier or faster, with no questions asked.

I have been genuinely pleased with these headphones in just about every way. Their sound quality is excellent; the difference between these and much more expensive headphones isn't noticeable to anybody who's ear hasn't been trained by years of audio production (sorry audiophiles, heard of the placebo effect?). Once you have these, I guarantee you that the sound quality "bottle neck" will be with whatever device you happen to plug them into instead of these excellent headphones.

The only potential downside I see here is the "ear canal" bit. It certainly took some time to get used to, and I could easily see how somebody might not like their ear being reamed out by a triple flanged rubber nub every time they want to listen to music. That being said, the noise blocking ability the seal gives is incredible.

One other note; DURABILITY. A couple customers reported having their headphones stop working after as little as 2 months. I'm under the impression that they got unlucky lemons. My headphones were recently stomped on by my Lincoln Navigator, which for those who don't know is a massive SUV. I was heartbroken as I picked them up and examined the thorough cosmetic damage. I almost didn't plug them in to test them again... good thing I did!

Etymotic: 1

Lincoln: 0