Hi everyone! Well I just got my new black pair of Etymotic Er6i a few days ago after debating for a while about upgrading from my Sennheiser cx300. I wanted something with great isolation and also great sound. Anyhow before I get into my impression I had a few questions and was wondering if anyone knew the answer to them:

The microphonics on the cable is pretty harsh sometimes and I found that running the cable over the top of my ear really helps this. Is this bad for the cable in any way or putting strain on it? Also, could I wear the er6i's upside down to relieve any possible strain on the cable when running it over my ear?

Impression:
My first impression was not too good actually coming from my Sennheiser cx300. I didn't feel myself tapping along as much or just generally rocking out with the music. The sound in general seems more laid back or farther away from me. It didn't hit me in the face like the cx300 did. Now after some more listening I still am missing that toe taping/head banging sort of thing especially in hard rock/rap tracks and the feeling of being farther away from the music still persists however it is getting better.

I guess what I'm saying is that the sound is less up front and the bass seems to be much, much more tone than the cx300.

After going back to my cx300 for a few songs I noticed right away that they sounded not as clear as I thought or compared to the er6i. The er6i just seemed to be more specific and precise in their sound. The cx300 were almost "foggy" sounding if that makes any sense. Well I figure I'm going to do some more testing in the next few days and see.

The general impression:
Cx300=bang your head, tap your foot and just plain rock out
er6i=soft, precise, analytical almost, calming as well

The cx300 is the crazy rock star with long hair and shredding like made playing as loud as he can while the er6i by comparison is the English Gentlemen sitting quite in his study with a pipe and a roaring fire carefully listening to ever note and sound.

What do you guys think? Think I'm right or dead wrong? Comment away!

I've had both and, yea, I would say that is pretty accurate. ER6i is definitely lean on bass. It could bother you after a while even though the overall clarity is outstanding.

Congratulations on joining the ety club! I made more or less the same switch from sennheiser to ety in 2008 and know exactly what you mean. The term foggy i think should be familiar to anyone who has moved on from sennheiser. I really liked them at the time and only replaced them as they were breaking. I almost returned the ety (er6) at the time due to the bass but i got accustomed to it fairly quickly. They're good phones.

I've never worn ety's over the ear but if that's comfortable for you i can't imagine why not. Do you use a shirt clip? That quite often helps with microphonics.

I went from the CX300 to the ER6i as well when I first joined head-fi.

The microphonics is pretty bad but with over the ear and the clip it helps out quite a bit. I actually didn't try this until I owned them for over 3 months so it made a world of difference for me. Wearing them over the ear would not cause any strain on the cables. The only thing that causes strain on the cable is the really small housing which makes it very difficult to remove it from your ear. That really was the only issue I had with them.

Once you get past the initial shock of lack of bass compared to the CX300 they are quite good. I really liked them as my first real iem's. Once you get used to their clarity it really is hard to go to anything else that has less.

Marcus it's funny that you said you almost returned them due to the bass because I was actually just thinking that same thing earlier today. However now after listening to my cx300 again I don't think I could go back to something not as clear as the er6i.

Glad to hear that the over the ear style shouldn't cause any cable strain, I tried the shirt clip and while it isn't too bad I found the over the ear worked better and was much less obtrusive. I might give flipping them over a try as well just to see how that would effect/benefit the over the ear style.

Go to eBay and get yourself some ear guides (for over-the-ear style). Not only they will help grounding the microphonics, they will also help the cable in the long run.

I tried ebay but couldn't find any ear guides. Are they some sort of plastic tube or something?

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I've worn mine with the cables over my ears every day for over two years. No problem at all.

BTW, I love the Etymotic sound. I use them with a FiiO E5 in bass-boost mode, and they sound great to me.

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Here you go.

Thanks for the link, I might have to get a pair of those. Sounds good Sanka, I will start wearing mine over ear now. I have a PA2v2 amp right now although I don't notice too much of a difference when I'm using it in terms of the bass. Is this just me or does anyone else have experience with this amp and earphones?