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Etymotic ER6i Earphone Review


bazza_g
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grin.gif As some of you may know I've been looking for some upgrade earphones in place of the standard Apple ones that come with the iPod - here

Well I finally took the plunge and went for the Etymotic ER6i earphones for my Nano 169144-ok.gif

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grin.gif Have spent some time messing around with them this morning. At first very dissapointed with the sound quality as they had very little in the way of bass response - then I fitted them in my ear properly - wow 169144-ok.gif

They are called 'noise isolation' as opposed to the active 'noise cancelling' like Bose do. Basically this means when inserted in your ear properly its like having really good earplugs in - background noise is more or less copmletely removed to the point of having to lipread Lady T 169144-ok.gif

The output they provide from what is obviously not the greatest sound source is excellent - crisp punchy bass, forceful midrange and very clear vocals. I can't wait to try them out on a train or to connect them to my laptop to watch a film on a plane.

They are a real improvement on the original earphones - even at max volume and the EQ on bass 'boost' I can't make them distort - my ears complained long before the headphones did yelrotflmao.gif

Should be noted that due to their noise isolation properties its not reccomended they are used whilst jogging or cycling.

They get the full bazza_g thumbs notworthy.gif

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Good review 169144-ok.gif

I have a pair of ER6s which I bought for use with my Sony VAIO Pocket. I finally bit the bullet and went for them after trying numerous other 'upgrades' from Sony and Sennheiser. Flush.gif

Etymotics are easily the way to go if you can stomach the price.

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Talking of stomaching the price, have you seen these ? Ultimate Ears UE-10 Pro's.

Basically you go to an 'audiologist' to get a mould of your ears and the bits are built into the mould - a snip at $900 plus mouldings.

The downside is that i can't see much of a market on them on Ebay when you get bored with them smile.gif

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  • 1 month later...

Just ordered a pair of ER6i's and a Creative Zen Nana. I'm impatiently waiting for the Parcelfarce guy to turn up with them!

I'm also looking forward to trying them on a plane as I can never hear the on-board entertainment properly with all the background noise. Anyone know what headphone connection Virgin Atlantic use?

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I have the exact same phones and use them for listening to music on my laptop and iriver. They are stunning!

I am so sick of reading reviews of idiots who say the sounds quality is rubbish. They have no idea that you have to put them right in your ears, literally as far as they will go.

Me owning these phones caused a ban on MP3 players at work though frown.gif. You cannot hear a thing, at all, when you are wearing them, and as such loads of people at work got sick of having to thump me to get my attention.

Bazza - get yourself a headphone amp, and these phones will blow you away! Have a look on ebay - you can get them from about £30. I've go tone in an Altoids case - looks cool too.

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My ears are hurting this morning! I tried the ER6i's using the medium sized eartips and although the seal was good it felt like they were stretching my ear canals crazy.gif

They did sound very good though. The Zen Nano is nice too, although I think the sound could be a bit more punchy. I like the fact you can just plug it in a USB port and drag files to it rather than having to use some special media manager. Plus with 1GB of memory I can get a lot more on it than my old player with only 192MB!

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[ QUOTE ]

Bazza - get yourself a headphone amp, and these phones will blow you away! Have a look on ebay - you can get them from about £30. I've go tone in an Altoids case - looks cool too.

[/ QUOTE ]

grin.gif Interesting, I'll look out for one - though at the moment its pretty flippin loud and I don't want to kill my hearing yelrotflmao.gif

crazy.gif my only moan is that I'd prefer them in black, having any kind of white cabled headphones just shouts I've got an iPod - please come and mug me ....

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That's why I got mine in black, Bazza smile.gif

Had my first morning commute with them this morning and WOW! The 6i Isolator is very aptly named, I felt like I was in a world of my own this morning on the train. The Etymotics sound brilliant, much better than my MX300s. They have a really effortless and natural sound, with fantasically clear midrange and treble. Even on the underground I only had to have the volume about halfway up, with the noise of the train almost completely blocked out.

I did wonder how loud they sound to other people. Presumably the seal keeps the music in as well as the noise out?

Anyway, 6i Isolators - highly recommended! 169144-ok.gif

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've just done a lot of long haul flying with with er6I's. wonderful.

I was given some Bose sound cancelling ones as well on one flight, and placed them over the etymotics, well I've never slept so well on a flight before. No background noise at all.

just make sure you get them well into the ears. i tried the Bose on their own, and the etymotics were better IMHO.

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[ QUOTE ]

grin.gif Interesting, I'll look out for one - though at the moment its pretty flippin loud and I don't want to kill my hearing yelrotflmao.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Doesn't neccessarily mean they go louder, just means there's more power, so you're full range is clearer. If I turn my amp off now, I start to wonder why I thought the phones were good on their own. It really does make a huge difference.

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