[TeRrAPh0eNiX]

In a small padded bag, my tiny case of ER-6 was lying on my bed. I was pretty happy for the quick shipping; only 2 days!

So, opening the small plastic case (again marveling at all the small size of everything) i found another case, black, with www.Etymotic.com on the front. Inside, i found two bags: One with 2 filters, filter changing tool, and 2 black foamies. In the other bag were the actual headphones. I was absolutely amazed at the size! They're TINY! (sorry, can't think much, i'm listening to them right now with my Karma.

)

Oh yeah. I had my Karma ready and i was listening to my System of a Down. You guys ready for my impression?.....







.....I was somewhat disappointed. I still am right now, listening to them about 40 minutes later. I tried out the silicon dual-flanges first, because, of course, they're on the things when you get it

. So anyway, i was yes, dissappointed.

They sounded bright. Very. I did not notice much more detail in the sound than my Labtecs, i'm sorry to say.





Right now, i'm listening to some new music. Some techno, in fact. I have since opening them ventured to stick them ever farther into my canal, and just now i've gotten to the farthest i've stuck them. How should it look? Looking in the mirror, right now the black end is not visible, it is covered by the flap in front. Another thing...

IT
HURTS

And to me, doesn't sound very good! Taking them out, i feel very strange. It's really hard to take them out too. Am i getting a correct seal? I'll have to practice some more... so far, it's not very rewarding. Some things that i've liked:

On a few songs, the drums seem nicely recreated.
The bass truly isn't that bad on techno.

Bleh.... is this truly what i paid for? I'm sure it'll get better, but right now it doesn't seem like it will...

My ears hurt right now, so i'm taking them out for a while; need to clean my room anyway. sigh.....

 

[pedxing]

I had the very same experience with the ER-6.

Your ears will continue to hurt until they adjust. My ears hurt for the first month of wearing them. It takes awhile to get use to them. Either that or you have extremely small ear canals.

When I first tried the ER-6, I was sort of disappointed too. It plays back music with a lot of details, but it just feels sterile and boring. However, I purchased them for those exact reasons because I was sick and tired of bloated bass.

 

[toaster]

are these your first canalphones?

if they are, then give them some time. when i first got my shure e3's i was like, "i put a hole in my wallet for this?" But as time went on i found what tip worked best and found how to get a good seal. give these things time.

the problem with not getting the top model in the lineup, (like the etymotic er-6, shure e2, e1, or e3) is that you just are left thinking, "the next model up is probably better than what i have, i wonder what it sounds like?" i never had etymotics, but from reading a lot about them, it seems as if the er4's are significantly better than the er6's.

the only time i stopped thinking about how much better the next model up from my e3's was, was after i got the e5's and heard how much better they were for myself. it's usually just a matter of ecomonics which model headphone we buy, but if possible, it's almost always better to get the BEST rather than to desire constant upgrades. (which ends up costing even more money than had you just got the best to begin with.)

good luck. i hope you are able to get more enjoyment out of your er6's before you force yourself to get the er4's.

 

[minya]

I should have my ER-6 on Monday.

I need them for the plane and for general portable use, though. Don't need them for home use.

I'll be interested to hear how they sound.

- Chris

 

[TeRrAPh0eNiX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pedxing Your ears will continue to hurt until they adjust. My ears hurt for the first month of wearing them. It takes awhile to get use to them.

A month?

aie! crap...

Another thing, i tried the snapping-fingers-next-to-ear thing and i heard them snap! I'm disappointed... I'd like to know if it's worth it. Will the sound get better?

They sound very boring.. bleh... i hope i don't have to return these...

After taking them out, my hearing is now somewhat strangely muffled. Maybe all the earwax got pushed back by the phones? o_O

 

[DJGeorgeT]

TeRrAPh0eNiX, sorry you did not like the ER6. I had the ER6 and I liked them a lot, but the source has to be really good and you may have to use a really good amplified to make the ER6 sound really good. It is not as easily driven as the ER4P. In fact I know the bass is weak on the ER6 if you don't use a good amplifier. But there is bass and the ER6 can sound very full and satisfying. When I realized that the ER6 were less portable than what they seemed like in the beginning, I decided to return them. Luckily I got all my money back including the shipping.

Depending on the music that you listen to, you may want to try different headphones. I have about 10 or more pairs of headphones which I use for different types of music.

I usually agree that you should buy the best, but you can't always do that because of economic reasons...also if you get the best you may not appreciate what you have as much. The education part that is...will cost some money. Not everything that is expensive is necessarily good. Look at the Koss KSC-35...dirt cheap and excellent...the legendary V6. The shure E2 which is the lowest end model of the shure line up is quite musical and warm...not detailed but full sounding and I use it for many different applications.

Give it time with the Er6, you may need to buy an amp; otherwise, return them.

George

 

[pspivak]

Hi,

You need to stick them in real deep and get a good seal, this is key. If you can hear someone talking to you 10 feet away with music playing stick them in farther.

Contrary to the opinion of some they do sound better after a couple of months of use. I have heard that they do not require a burn in period and I am not convinced that that is true. I think that the user might need to get used to them and how they sound. I use mine on the train and at the gym.

Also, do not play them too loud. They have very low distortion and you might be tempted to turn them up. You will end up loosing sensitivity, a ringing in your ears and eventually tinnitus. Protect your hearing!

One more thing I use them with an amp. I think that they sound best with an amp. If the volume sounds lower in one than the other check the position in the ear canal. If this doesn’t help, clean the wax out of the silicon. If that doesn’t help, replace the filter.

Do not dismiss these things too quickly. They are indispensable in environments where sound leakage would be a huge problem or in noisy places.

 

[dan1son]

Yeah I had pretty much the exact same reaction from the er-6's at first. They were my first canalphone and were quite uncomfortable at first. After using them a couple of weeks the comfort level went way up, and I finally figured out how to get the right kind of seal.

The phone sound funky if they're not really inserted deeply. They sound bright and without bass. If the only canalphone (if you can call it that) you've tried is the sony's, you gotta remember the ety's go MUCH deeper. All you can see from the front is a little wire sticking out of each ear. You'll know when you find the right spot. They'll sound quite remarkable, imo.

I really enjoy them now. I can wear them for hours without any discomfort. I have the bottom two levels of the eq up 1db on my rio karma, just to make them sound a little more fun.

Just keep playing with the seal, try inserting them deeper and see what happens. They will feel uncomfortable at first, but you'll get used to it. I can't really see any of the silicone once they're inserted, so if you're only one or two levels in, try some more. It'll feel really awkward at first... it's all worth it in the end.

 

[TeRrAPh0eNiX]

The irritation, the discomfort.. bleh.... i'm sure it'll be all worth it, though.

 

[Ticky]

I don't have the ER6, but I bought the ER-4 four years ago. I think I went through a similar "phase" that you are currently experiencing.

The silicon tips on the phones hurt my ears after 15 minutes or so. Felt like my ears had been rubbed raw. Switching to the Foam tips didn't help too much either - they don't fit my ears very well. Acoustically the ER-4 sounded flat. Yeah, the lights were on, but no one seems to be partying.

For $270, I was quite disappointed.

However, forcing myself to live with the etys was worthwhile. After 1-2 weeks (not a month - but I think different people adjust at different rates) the silicon tips don't hurt my ears anymore. Sonically the phones also sounded better. This might be a comibination of burning-in effect and my ears' psycho-acoustic adjustment to the sound.

Mind you, I'm not saying that my ears settled for bad sounding phones. I really think you have to teach your ears to hear the ety's clean and neutral sound. In fact, when I first got my HD600 last year, I felt that the HD600 had too much sibliance. Again, my ears had to adjust to the Sennheiser sound.

Now, I love the 600's soundstage and smooth sound, and also love the ety's neutral "no-msg added" sonic reproduction.

In sum, give the phones some time. If you bought them from Todd or Tyll, you'll have 30 days to live with them. If not, well, I guess you might just have to learn to live with them.

 

[DJGeorgeT]

TeRrAPh0eNiX

you may want to try the foamies...they increase the bass and isolate even more...but the foamies for the er6 are no good

maybe you can try to retrofit er4 foamies into the er6. They will feel more confy and you will be a happy ety listener

OTHERWISE, lick em flanges b4 you stick 'em

 

[TeRrAPh0eNiX]

I do lick them...

Where can i get the ER-4 foamies? So far, i like the foamies best for the er-6.

 

[Elec]

That's kind of been my experience with my ER4s, which I've had for 2 months now. I like that the silicone tips are infinitely reusable but they bother my ears a bit. They don't hurt all that much but they do make my ears itch like a mofo. I had that problem last night - I'd put them in, 3 minutes later my ears would be itching uncontrollably, I'd take 'em out, scratch, put 'em back in, and my ears would be itching again. In that respect I find the foamies a lot more comfortable. I have a harder time getting a good seal in my right ear than my left if I use the silicone tips.

As for the sound, I think mine sound really good, but it hasn't been the "Oh holy wow!" experience most people claim with Etys. They can be a little too bright for me at times, especially when I'm using my S adapter. I'm kind of a Sennwhore and my previous pair was HD545s which are warm, smooth, and airy. The Etys seem a bit dull, bright, and closed in compared to the Senns. Of course, if I listen to the Etys quite a bit and go back to the Senns, they sound a bit muddy, veiled, and strangely fat or colored in the midrange. I have a nagging feeling I'd have been happier with a pair of HD650s, but then the Etys serve a totally different purpose, which is why I'll probably keep them.

I don't have any problems with the bass my Etys produce, especially in "S mode". It's deep, it's full, and it's present if it's present in the music. I really like how they are fast, clean, and pure sounding, even though that sometimes makes them seem dull or uninvolving compared to my Senns. The Etys do some things very well but, for me at least, I don't think they could be my one and only headphone, which is too bad because that only encourages Head-Fiism - the "need" for a different pair of headphones for every conceivable type of music or listening experience

 

[pedxing]

Many people who were disappointed with the ER-6 were happy with the ER-4p. If you ever get use to the earcanal phone experience, it may change the way you perceive sound, especially about deep bass.

I would not be surprise if you can still hear a lot of things with the ER-6 put on. All ear plugs can only attenuate so much noise and they cannot completely block all noises. Most ear plugs become less effective at lower frequencies. Therefore, things like car engines and subwoofers can be heard more pronounced. ER-4's will have better sound attenuation than the ER-6, supposedly almost as effective as the cheap foam ear plugs.

When I first got my ER-6, it would take me like five minutes of fiddling around to get a good seal. Now, I just shove them directly into my ear within ten seconds with no ear tugging (I think the ER-6 enlarged my ear canals over time). The only thing I really hate about ther ER-6 are the filters and my ear wax problem. If I leave the ER-6 in my ears for too long, my ears start producing and oozing ear wax right into the tips. My filters get clogged within 2 to 6 weeks, depending if its allergy season or not.

 

[TeRrAPh0eNiX]

Eww...earwax. I think i'll wait and give it time until i return them. I still have 14 days because i ordered them from iDealSound. I'm kind of looking for an inconspicuous headphone with good sound--non canalphone, i guess.