[DrBenway]

Note: If I am late to the party on this one, please direct me to any pre-existing threads. I searched on "Ety ER6 discontinued" and came up empty.

A few months ago, I went to J&R here in NYC to buy a pair of Ety ER6's. They were still listed on the J&R website, but, to my chagrin, all they had in stock at the store was the ER6i, which I have no interest in.

I thought nothing of it; I figured they were just out of stock, and intended to try again later. Well, I just visited the Ety site, and it doesn't look good, ER6 fans.

On Ety's product comparison page, the 6's are nowhere to be seen; only the 6i's are shown.

There is still a product page for the original 6's, but note the bright red "unavailable" flag in the upper right hand corner.

I called Ety's 800 number a few minutes ago, but it's Saturday and their offices are apparently closed.

To make matters worse, the J&R website doesn't even list the 6's anymore; only the 6i's are shown.

I am not jumping to conclusions. Perhaps they are just out of stock, both at Ety and J&R. But I will be bitterly disappointed if they are gone. I just can't even think of springing for the 4's right now, and I was hoping to pick up a pair of the 6's. I owned a pair about four years ago, and loved them. Unfortunately, I was very careless in my treatment of them, and they were pretty much trashed within 18 months (my fault, not Ety's.)

Anybody know? Are the hf5's supposed to replace them? Can anyone tell me how the hf5's compare to the original 6's?

 

[episiarch]

I just noticed this today. It's upsetting! The ER-6 is brilliant.

I probably will be trying out the HF2 (headset version of HF5) by the end of this week. If I do, I'll report back (I own ER-6, ER-6i, ER-4S and ER-4P so I think I can give you an informed comparison.) By the "accuracy score" numbers, though, the HF2/5 looks like it's a substantially better ER-6i but not something that approaches the ER-4S as closely as the ER-6 did.

 

[episiarch]

I talked with some folks from Etymotic today. Yes, the ER-6 is discontinued. It wasn't one of their big sellers, but the big deciding factor was that its design included lead solder which is now banned in Europe. With Europe off the table unless they reworked the product, they decided to focus on their newer and more successful products instead.

Having now heard the hf2 and hf5, I can't really argue with the decision. Those earphones are IMO better from an unamped iPod-class device, and they are almost as good as the ER-6 when they are amped (if you like a slightly warmer sound than the ER-6's leanness, then they are actually better). And they work with a much wider variety of eartips than the ER-6's limited selection too.

The midrange Ety is dead, long live the midrange Ety.

 

[jaw2ek]

Nerver heard ER6, but I love my HF5. I'm on vacation and I left them at home. I will be glad to hear them again

 

[flashfan]

This is bad news indeed. My ER6 broke, so I just purchased an ER6i, mistakenly expecting the same performance of the ER6, but with a little more on the bass end. Not so, and the high end tends to be shrill. I should have stuck with the ER6, or waited and saved for a pair of ER4 IEMs.

 

[episiarch]

The Ety guys also told me that their engineers back at the office tend to be crazy about the ER-6. One hoarded a big stash when they decided to discontinue it. I understand. The hf2/hf5 is super nice, but the ER-6 is a better purist earphone.

flashfan, I think the hf2/hf5 is just what you want.

 

[flashfan]

episiarch, thank you for the recommendation. However, according to an earlier post, the hf series sound almost as good as the er6 when amped. I use an amp, and did so with the er6, and really liked the sound (a tad more bass would have been nice)...so I don't know if the hf series would be for me. The er6i (so far) just isn't as clear, crisp and "accurate" as I was accustomed to on the er6.

I'd really like to get a pair of er4 IEMs, but just can't justify the cost. Thanks again.

 

[episiarch]

I would say the hf sound almost as good as an amped ER-6 if you are a purist who thinks the ER-6 sound is just right, and I would say the hf sound better than an amped ER-6 if you like a little extra warmth and boost in the bottom end compared to the ER-6. So I really do think the hf series is a pretty decent bet for you given what you said you were looking for.

That said, I had only a few songs worth of audition, and it was under the 'meet conditions' of a busy Apple store (though wearing high-isolation custom tips) so I won't claim my impressions are definitive by any means. I am fairly confident of them, though, since I know the ER-4S and ER-6 so well.

 

[DrBenway]

I've been offline for several weeks, so this is my first chance to catch up with this thread. I've given up iPod bashing, honest. But it sure looks like the popularity of the beast has caused yet another worthy product to bite the dust. This is so sad.

I had a pair of ER6's, which I treated like crap, as I do with most if not all of my portable stuff. Accordingly, they only lasted about a year before falling apart. This was several years ago, and I've been reminding myself ever since that I had to remember to replace them. Had I known this was coming, I would have acted a lot sooner. And I would have been much kinder to the pair I owned.

I agree that they had a very accurate (some would say clinical) sound signature, and that's exactly what I want from my equipment, portable and otherwise.

Heavy sigh.