Etymotic Headphones

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wabi

Joined
Sep 18, 1999
Messages
224
I was just reading in Newsweek magazine about stereo headphones by a company called Etymotic. These little buggers fit inside the ear like a good pair of occlusive ear plugs and are reported to offfer great sound from your diskman/mp3 player. I have been thinking of the Bose noise reduction headphones, but they do have some associated bulk with them.
Does anyone have any experience with the Etymotic products? The website is ok (www.etymotic.com), but I would love to hear of any first hand experiences.

wabi
 
Hi,

I have the Etymotic Research ER-4S earphones. They were very pricey ($300 at www.headphone.com), but worth it IMHO. I use them at work in my cubicle, and they effectively block out the chatter. I find that I can listen to music at a much lower volume since there is little noise that comes through the 20-25db noise isolation. On the other hand, I can still hear my phone ring, so that's good. They will certainly work better than any active noise reduction headset.

Etymotic offers three models you can consider: the ER-4S, ER-4P, and ER-6. The ER-6 is not quite as good as the ER-4, but it's still excellent. It offers slightly less noise isolation. It costs quite a bit less. The ER-4S has the best sound, but you need sufficient power to drive it properly. The typical CD portable may not be able to drive the ER-4S well without the assistance of a headphone amplifier. At my desk, my PC's sound card is too weak for the ER-4S. I am currently using a Stereo-Link (www.stereo-link.com) USB external sound processor that has a good headphone amplifier built in, and it's great. There is also the ER-4P, which is nearly as good as the ER-4P (same cost), but requires less power to drive. This one was designed for underpowered portable audio devices.

Note that Etys will not exhibit bloated bass like 95% of the mass market headphones. The Etys offer very flat frequency response without any mid bass hump. It may take a little get used to hearing "real bass" vs "bloated bass".

Also, there are two tips options: plastic and foam. It takes some practice, but a lot of people have had success getting the plastic tips to seal properly and comfortably. For myself, I prefer the foam tips.

For more information, check out the Head-Fi forums at www.head-fi.org. Lots of Ety fans there.

Good luck!
 
Oh, one more thing. I wouldn't use Etymotics for exercising or for any activity where you are moving around a lot. Since they form a seal in your ear, it would be unpleasant to have them accidentally pulled out of your ear (ouch). Also, they exhibit quite a bit of cord noise if the cord rubs against your clothing, etc. Just a side effect of how they work.
 
A cheap alternative to these headphones are made by koss and they are called "The Plug". They are about 20 dollars and give excellent sound quality(Probably no where near to the quality of the etymotic headphones). They block out noise very effectively. I've run many miles with these headphones and they have blocked out even the noisest treadmill. I like them because for about 20 dollars i will not cry if i break or lose them(i've already broken 3 pairs in about two years, and right now I am going to have to buy a new pair tommorow because of a little accident with my emerson cqc7 and the headphone wire.)

If i did not already own a good pair of sony studio heaphones i would defently buy these.

Anyway my .02
 
I'd be absolutely lost without my Etymotic phones for traveling. I've got two pair--got the second when my first pair went lost before an overseas trip, then found them later. They are a bit inefficient, which means they are often not quite loud enough, something I notice mostly while flying. I use headphone amplifiers from Headroom to get around this problem. If you are planning to listen for long periods of time, the best thing to do is have a custom molded earpieces made, before doing that, I preferred the plastic (silicone?) tips over the foam.
 
SAS, DanJ, Skyline:
Aloha and thank you very much for your thoughts on the Etymotic headphones. The headphone.com link was very helpful. I am torn between some good and very good headphones such as the Etymotics. Do any of you have any experience with the Bose noise reductions headphones? Friends of mine who travel recently got some and swear by them, but they have not had them long. They are nice, but again are quite costly, and as a down side to the Etymotics or other bud type headphones, the Bose are full on large which makes for another bulky object in the carryon bag.
Any thoughts?

wabi
 
A (small?) percentage of people get pain and/or ringing in the ears after using noise-canceling headphones. I'm one of them.
 
The Bose are good but way over priced. Aiwa makes a pair for about $40.00 at Best Buy but they totally suck. Koss makes a pair that works a little better for a little more money but still not worth it IMHO. Sennheiser makes a pair that work pretty well for about $139.00 but are somewhat bulky. Sony makes two different pair, one around $100.00 which I find uncomfortable and another pair at $200.00 which look and feel good, but again bulky.

Panasonic makes a pair (RPHC100) which at around $100.00 seems like the best compromise between comfort and bulk. The seal well (better than all but the big Sony's)and sound pretty good. I haven't bought them yet, but they're at the top of my list after much research.

I have borowed a couple pairs and find N/C headphones to really reduce the fatigue on long plane rides.

jmx
 
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