INTRODUCTION

    It’s a topic I don’t talk much about these days, but somewhere in the deep, dark recesses of my past I had a studio and a minor recording career. I even had some small recording success 10 or so years ago. Admittedly, I was looking forward to the opportunity to try out some new audio equipment. But I should warn you – I’m very picky. It used to take me forever to mix songs because I was sensitive to subtle nuances in sound that no one else seemed to notice – but then again maybe I was just a control freak when it came to writing, recording, and mixing (oh my)! Whenever I listen to music on my iPod or my computer, I always seem to ditch the small earbuds and go with my old bulky Sony Studio phones. So would the Etymmotic (meaning "true to the ear") Research ER-6 earphones have what takes to make me give up using my studio phones for daily listening or would I revert back to my trusty headgear? Read on to find out!

WHAT’S IN THE PACKAGE?

    There was a lot of packaging with this product. They didn’t use oversized blisterpacks or anything like that, but it seemed a lot of care was taken – every layer seemed to be individually wrapped. The package includes the earphones, both soft silicone and foam eartips for your ears (more on these next), and a replacement set of filters for when the first set gets dirty (they are disposable and not washable). It also includes a tool for replacing the filters. In my evaluation kit there was also a cord winder.

THE BASICS

    These earphones are light and comfortable. I’m very sensitive to having things inserted in my ears – most earbuds don’t last long with me for that very reason. These were more comfortable than most. The cord was a little short, but it was acceptable for laptop or iPod use, and includes a clip to hold it to your clothes so it doesn’t fly about getting tangled in things. There was one set of silicone eartips and a set of foam eartips. The foam eartips crush to make an exact fit within your ear canal, but I generally found the silicone eartips to be a bit more comfortable. Which you chose to use is simply a matter of personal preference.

SO WHAT ABOUT THE AUDIO QUALITY?

    We’ll talk about the specifications – the "numbers" in a moment. For now, I want to talk about how most of us view earphones. We simply put them in and use them. We either like what we hear or we don’t. With this in mind, I used these earphones for many, many hours and listened to a wide variety of music of many differing types. I listened to classical, rock, pop, vocal, jazz, dance, Broadway, and so on. Heavy-duty listening is a daily ritual for me and I was happy to put these earphones through their paces in the course of my daily musical workout. I focused a little extra time listening to music I wrote and recorded – in other words music about which I know every nuance of and know EXACTLY how it should sound because I put it together in the first place. What’s the verdict? Well for earbud style earphones, the audio response is good. They shut out outside noise very well. I want to point out that the manufacturer claims that these are designed for flat response – i.e. you should hear exactly what was on the original recording, but even so, I felt the bass response on the ER-6 was a little weak. Etymotic makes a model ER-6i with increased bass response for only about $10 more. I would have preferred those, and I think most others will as well.

    To cover all the bases, I tested using an iPod, a boombox, a portable DVD player, and my Apple Powerbook (TiBook, for you Apple fans). The audio on the iPod was good, but on my laptop, I got a bit of distortion in the upper-mid to higher ranges. This was especially evident on bombastic ballads like those that Jim Steinman and others specialize in (think – Bonnie Tyler, Meatloaf, Celine Dion, etc.). The distortion was most notable in percussive tonal instruments like a piano or tympani. It wasn’t severe, but it was noticeable. The DVD player and boombox had good response across the audio spectrum.

SPECIFICATIONS

    The Etymotic Research ER-6 Earphones have a frequency response of 50-6kHz +/- 3dB; 20-16kHz +/- 6dB. They use a balanced armature transducer type. They have a 1kHz sensitivity of 108dB SPL for a 0.35V input (97dB @ 0.1V; 108dB @ 1mW). The impedance is 48 Ohms. The maximum output is 120dB SPL. The maximum continuous input is 2.5 Vrms. They weigh less than 1oz. Those are the numbers!

PRODUCT SUPPORT

    In preparing for this review I found the company to be very responsive to my questions. I am left with the impression that they are striving to put out a quality product. Additionally, the literature that came with the product was very detailed. There are instructions for how to change the filters, and a lot of information about the available eartip types. Although I didn’t have the need to utilize customer support, I would expect the product support to follow suit – high quality product + eager staff usually equals good product support.

OPTIONS

    Although I mentioned it before, it bears repeating that these earphones are a very high quality product and come with multiple eartips (both silicone and foam) and tools for changing filters (which should be replaced when there is wax buildup). There are also other eartips (different sizes and shapes) available if you require more customization.

WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

   
First – I wanted more bass response. Plain and simple. Second – I would have preferred less distortion at the high end. A little equalization took care of a lot of the problem, but equalization is a crutch that is primarily there to compensate for weaknesses in audio equipment and some environmental factors. Most people out there misuse equalization to “boost” output in certain ranges, i.e. you want more bass so you boost the lower ends. This only leads to unnecessary audio distortion. In proper use, equalizers should be used like filters – less is more. Start with flat response (everything set to zero), boost your volume to a comfortable level, then pull back what you don’t want to hear. For example is the vocal too loud? Then pull back the sliders in the 1K and 2K ranges. In the end you will be much happier with the results than if you go around “boosting” the sliders. This isn’t to say you shouldn’t ever boost the sliders, only that it should be done sparingly. With these earphones I found myself going against my own recommendations and boosting the low end sliders to get a little more bass response.

PURCHASING

   
You can purchase these earphones directly at the Etymotic Research web site. Etymotic makes the ER-6 ($139 SRP) that I reviewed here, the 6i ($149 SRP) with higher sensitivity and enhanced bass response, and the ER-4 series ($330 SPR) for audiophiles and professionals.

PROS

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  Nice, small, convenient

• Nice carrying case and accessories
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  Good audio response – shuts outside noise out well

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  Good earbud tip selection – with more options available

CONS

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  Bass response not as strong as I wanted (ER-6i model with better bass response available for $10 more)

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  Earbuds grow uncomfortable during prolonged use (not particular to these earphones)

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  Pricey

Value
Ease of Use
Features
Overall

What
do these ratings mean?

OVERALL IMPRESSION

    Overall, I liked the earphones, but I’m not getting rid of my Sony Studio headphones anytime soon. I find any earbud style earphone grows uncomfortable the longer I wear them – these were no exception. My limit was about a half hour. I found I had to be pretty careful about how I positioned the earphones in my ear in order to get a good audio response. In other words, they had to fit snugly or you would get less than satisfactory results. This means, for me, they get more uncomfortable more quickly. The audio quality was pretty good, but I wanted more bass response. Maybe next time I can review the model with the enhanced bass response! If you’re already considering spending this kind of money on earphones, I’d recommend you look at their ER-6i model, which has better bass response and is recommended for small devices (like an iPod or Pocket PC) and only cost about $10 more!