[422561]

I'm using the larger of the two triple flange that came it came with. I'm not a fan of the foam tips as they are more fiddly to insert, don't last long and are expensive to replace.

 

[vipervick]

Listening on my Harley-Davidson as I ride an hour in traffic is good. Not very good or excellent, but good. With the stock triple flange tips isolation is pretty good, but the silicone produces a crackling noise as my head is being buffeted by wind. The foam tips may be better. 
 
I'm using line out from an ipod classic 160Gb to a FiiO E17 Alpen, MP3 320 ripped from my cd's. Switched ipod EQ from off to rock, and lifted the bass on the E17 from 0 to +6. With the MK5 it sounds like I have to turn the volume up more than other IEM's. With MEE Audio M-Duo I turned it up to 35/60, with the MK5 I'm turning it to 45/60.
 
Remember, this is a thread for Metal Music Headphones. Sitting at work I'm listening to Lines in my Hand by Opeth. The recording sounds real nice. I expect the MK5 to improve with a little burn in. 
 
Icon by Bolt Thrower is good. I can hear the kick drum, but I'm still not impressed with the bass. 
 
Sacrificio by Brujeria has a nice crunch and wobbly bassline going on. 
 
Postmortal Coprophagia by Devourment doesn't have the bass slam I'm used to. The vocals are more forward.
 
Dreaming of a Nightmare in Eden by Carach Angren sounds great. The orchestration: (violins and chimes?) sounds good. 
 
Overall it sounds good so far. However, I am not impressed with the recessed lows.

 

[ashn2k]

Owned ER4P and absolutely love its signature; however, I recently purchased an CIEM after my ER4 was broken beyond repair. Still I would like to buy an Etymotic for quick listening/using in the gym. Which one would I order because I also like to try a different one instead of ER4 again

 

[422561]

Having owned these for a while now I am really struggling to understand where Etymotic get their reputation for best isolation from. Of the 5 pairs of IEMs that I own, these have by far the worst isolation. The other pairs are cheaper too. It just makes no sense.

 

[ClieOS]

Having owned these for a while now I am really struggling to understand where Etymotic get their reputation for best isolation from. Of the 5 pairs of IEMs that I own, these have by far the worst isolation. The other pairs are cheaper too. It just makes no sense.

That just shows that you haven't gotten the right fit or used the right size eartips.

 

[vipervick]

That just shows that you haven't gotten the right fit or used the right size eartips.

I agree, I tried to do some listening at work. People had to touch my shoulder because I wasn't responding. I couldn't hear a damn thing except the music!!!

 

[Berkovajazz]

Tried them yesterday in audio shop. So, they were totally new and i hope they need some burn-in time to show their bests. What i like - bass, deep and punchy with good resolution and quantity, detailed mids, good vocals. Treble was short, and upper-mids were to bright, extra bright. When i matched them with Colorfly, this pick was still presented, but in general sound became more wide. So, when they are now, they are 100% power hungry to play good. And this unique pick was little bit shilling my brain. Seal was perfect, i used to have all other Ety's a lot of time during my life.
If upper-mids will calm down, it will be very good analytical phones.  

 

[rhythmrich]

With the westone star tips, holy ****

The star tips have two of the same, shortest, length, but with different widths, I am using these with them (well, I have only tried the one pair, the narrower one, but I imagine the other one of the same length will sound pretty much identical, dk). These tips are only slightly longer than the end of the mk5's sound tube, the end of the tube is all close to the end of the tip

I don't know how exactly thay effects the decay. I do know that having the sound tube right there with little tip overhanging always seems to make the soundstage better, seems to make the location of the sound seem more natural

But more than that, more than that,..I think that decay times in the lower bass are shorter compared to all the other tips I've used. Idk, perhaps even a little shorter decay in some other parts of the spectrum

I seemed to be finding that the low bass was less controlled than some other earphones I've got, but this seems to have improved things. I got the fantastically clear upper/mid bass as always, but now I also have a tight lower bass and more wide-open soundstaging

..Yaaa, tight lower bass, considerably tighter vs the tips I had previously that gave the tightest bass

I am guessing lol, my favorite earphone-tip combination here, out of plenty of well researched, not all that cheap, IEM purchases (have not tried any customs,..haven't gotten into the close to or over $1k mark phones [not even close actually]). I am all about clarity, as far as what is most important to this person

Check the price on some freakin westone star tips if you own these phones!!!
If they sell them individually, I would imagine the smallest ones, both length and width wise, would fit pretty much everyone's ears, with deep insertion for the bigger ear canals (pretty deep with me here now)

 

[rhythmrich]

And btw, as far as the fit between the etymotic sound tube and the star tips, just perfect

 

[rhythmrich]

Sorry anyone, I needed to do more listening smh, those tips I was talking about actually cause longer decay in the bass

Anyways, let me just state, these freakin mk5's...I am all lol wondering if the really expensive stuff can do better than these.., or maybe I should say that I want someone who is a real astute, experienced listener or who has a quality measuring rig to tell me what is better than this. ..I don't know, maybe my Denon AH C400's have as tight or more tight bass, but they distort with almost everything in the bass, and they don't have this leaness/shaprness to the mids and highs

 

[hudamanium]

Anyone have problems with cable noise? Are other etymotic models better? (specifically the HF5) 

 

[ClieOS]

  Anyone have problems with cable noise? Are other etymotic models better? (specifically the HF5) 

 
Cable noise is kind of a common thing on all Etymotic model, mainly due to the design. The quick fix is to use a shirt clip.

 

[ozkan]

  Anyone have problems with cable noise? Are other etymotic models better? (specifically the HF5) 

 
Or you can wear them over your ears. The cable noise will be less that way. 

 

[DetailGirl]

I'm having a problem with hearing the bass at all on the kid version. I expected it to be bass light, but not bass missing. When I listen to choral music that has an organ playing a bass part underlying the choir, I can only pick up hints of the organ here and there. If I watch a jazz video where I can see the sting bass in action, I barely hear a note of it. In both cases I can hear the mids and highs clearly. Do you think I've got a seal problem? I'm using the grey tips because they are the only included tips that stay in. They don't go in as far as I think they should, but I hear a pop when I pull them out. Would buying adult tri-flanges help? If that's just how etymotics are, can anyone direct me to something with clear highs and mids where the bass is present and accounted for?

 

[tomscy2000]

I'm having a problem with hearing the bass at all on the kid version. I expected it to be bass light, but not bass missing. When I listen to choral music that has an organ playing a bass part underlying the choir, I can only pick up hints of the organ here and there. If I watch a jazz video where I can see the sting bass in action, I barely hear a note of it. In both cases I can hear the mids and highs clearly. Do you think I've got a seal problem? I'm using the grey tips because they are the only included tips that stay in. They don't go in as far as I think they should, but I hear a pop when I pull them out. Would buying adult tri-flanges help? If that's just how etymotics are, can anyone direct me to something with clear highs and mids where the bass is present and accounted for?

You need to give yourself some time to adjust to the Ety sound signature. My advice is to use it for about a week at low volumes, and not care at all what you hear or don't hear. Let music play like it's background noise.

Then, after those few days, turn the volume up to your normal listening volume and see if you can hear more things.

This is basically what I do when I want to readjust myself after weeks of listening to bass heavy headphones. It's hard to get over there lack of the "missing 6 dB" compensation that most companies overcompensate for.