[roybatty]

OK, though this is oft written about here, thought I'd throw in my .02 and share my head to head comparison of these 3 phones, in my quest for IEM's for the gym in the $100 range.

Based on what I'd read here, I narrowed it down to these three choices. I tried each with the same playlist, on my iAudio U3, and wore them at the gym, which is where they will get 99% of their use.

Songs on my test list included; Matisyahu - King without a Crown (live), Pizzicato Five - Baby Love Child, Blue Man Group - I Feel Love, Eric Clapton - The Core, Ben Folds - Landed, Max Webster - Battlescar, Toots Hibbert - Funky Kingstown, and Erin McKeown - Cinematic. All in all a good mix of female vocals, good bass, and nice bright highs, representative of the kind of music I regularly play. If you don't listen to this kind of stuff, your mileage may vary.

First the ER - 6's, with foamies, don't find flanges comfortable, or isolating enough in the gym. Overall, amazing detail. Very bright, very clear, and once I learned how to get a good seal (thanks to this site), very nice bass. Not the most comfortable, but not uncomfortable. Occasionally slightly harsh, on say the Blue Man or Ben Folds, but never painfully so. I would think for hours they could get a bit wearying, but then again I'm not at the gym for more than an hour or so. These are the one's I tried first, and used for the longest - I'd been using them for about a month, and grew very accustomed to their sound.

Next the ER - 6i's - Very comfortable indeed. Beige foamies provided excellent isolation, and what I thought was slightly less microphonics than the 6's on the treadmill, with both looped over the ear, due to what I'm guessing is the foamie. Overall, not bad, but I immediately noticed that I missed the detail of the 6's quite a bit. Vocals got lost, cymbals not as bright, and bass kinda washed over everything just a bit too much. The difference to me was quite noticeable, and on every track I consistently preferred the 6's. I did adjust the U3's eq, and it did get them closer to what I liked, but I still didn't get the level of detail I had with the 6's.

And finally the UM-1's. Well, I liked the braided cord, and the foamies, and that's about it. Definitely muddy on all counts. I found myself straining to hear details I had grown accustomed to with the 6's and that were still there to a lesser extent with the 6i's but were just lost in the wash on these, and with nothing in return to replace them. The bass felt flat, and the soundstage on these as compared to the others was awful. Unlike with both ety's, I couldn't clearly place the vocals in the center of my head or the drums in the background, it was all just a wash.

In the end, the winner for me was unquestionably the 6's. Maybe because I listened to them first for a few weeks I got hooked on the clarity and detail, but I've always liked really bright highs, and I don't listen to too much bass heavy stuff. I actually liked the bass on the 6's the best, it wasn't all over the place, and it definitely wasn't lacking with a good seal. All in all, there was nothing I could fault them on. Great bright sound, really nice details, and for me, the most bang for my buck. Wish Etymotic would make beige comply-like foamies for these too, but I would think it's doubtful.

Anyway, hope this helps at least consolidate some of the most commonly discussed topics on these into one thread.

 

[Jimothy]

I have the UM1s too, and I agree about the muddiness. But I attribute it to the foam, despite how comfy it is. Switching to modded biflanges cleared things up a lot. Made everything much more enjoyable.

Probably not as detailed as the Etys still, but I wouldn't know.

 

[asap2006]

Hey, this is actually an awesome comparison and I think pretty accurate. I have the UM1s and have to agree about the muddy sound. I have a test tone generator and there is without a doubt a boost in the bass-midrange from 50hz to 2khz and a large amount of treble roll off after 6khz. This is with the foamies, with the triple flanges, the sound is a lot more muddy, haven't tried the biflanges, but I doubt the difference will be night and day. Bottom line is the UM1s were designed to sound warm, not completely neutral.

So I was down to either the er6i or the er6 last night and decided that based on etymotic's frequency response, the er6 is much more accurate than the er6i, which has an 8db boost from the bass-midrange over the er6, but relatively the same treble performance...in other words, sound thats similar to the UM1.

I was looking primarily for accuracy so I decided on the er6.

Also, based on frequency response, you might wanna try adjusting the eq of the u3 around 4khz and reduce that when using the er6, that might solve some of the harshness issues. Also, don't the westone comply tips fit the etymotics?

I'm also buying either the iaudio u3 or the monolith premium to try out the er6 so I'm glad that your experience has basically confirmed what I was thinking.

 

[roybatty]

I spaced and forgot to try the comply tips on the 6's before I returned them. But I think I read here that the comply's fit the 6i's, which means they probably won't fit the 6's.

 

[Oga]

Quote:

Originally Posted by roybatty Wish Etymotic would make beige comply-like foamies for these too, but I would think it's doubtful.

Why? I'm an Er-6i owner and I can tell you that beige is actually the dumbest colour they could have used - they get dirty from your hands, let alone before you even put them in your ears.

I much prefer the grey-black foam that was on the Er-6 when I owned that a while abck. Much more practical for something that you KNOW is going to get dirty.

 

[JeffS]

Look here:

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/earplugs...otipeco1p.html

 

[roybatty]

It wasn't the color I meant, it was the shape. The 6's only take the disc-like foamies, not the comply shape. It looks like the earplug store ones only fit the 6i.

 

[mf6421]

Tips for the 6i have a smaller diameter base that snaps on to the driver. Although i have sucessfully put on 6i flanges and foams on my er6 its a squeeze but they do fit on tightly.

 

[asap2006]

OK, just got my er6...and oddly enough I prefer the UM1. I'm fully convinced that the UM1 sounds best to my ears with the small comply tips. Highs are not muffled with the small comply tips, pushed as close to the units base as possible.

Now the er6... the sound quality is too bright. Bass is not a problem, I think its plenty and balanced, mids are nicely balanced too, there's just too much treble. My ears were hurting and I was squinting after just a couple minutes of playing. The highs almost sound like distortion when I turn it up to the same volume as the UM1. I heard odd artifacts, which to my ears sounded like distortion, maybe this wouldn't have been a problem with an amp, but I was using the headphone jack from my pc speakers(pretty high quality ones), an ipod mini, and an iaudio cw300. All far from top of the line, but pretty characteristic of what most people who plan on using these on the go will be plugging into.

Also, the physical size of the balanced armature driver seems much larger on the UM1 (seems like 1/3 to 1/2 larger) which has to play a role in the UM1s much greater sensitivity and seemingly less distortion at high levels. The UM1s seem much more dynamic to me, able to play at high levels without a change in sound signature...like comparing very small bookshelves to much larger towers. These UM1s also respond much better to eq, you can boost the highs or lows etc and not experience distortion.

The UM1s are not perfect, they are relatively balanced and VERY smooth and easy to listen to, but do lack slightly in the highest highs starting from 10khz and on. But I think the UM2 is probably an extremely well balanced unit, adding more to the upper highs and lowest lows.

So in the end I'm keeping my UM1s, which also have much better build quality, better wires, and much greater sensitivity. With the comply tips, the UM1 is absolutely awesome in terms of fit, comfort, and sound.

I'm glad I had the chance to compare the er6 to the UM1, i'm content and not curious, just happy with my UM1s now.

It's amazing how the different tips affect the UM1's sound quality, not sure if other iem's are as sensitive to different tips, but these definitely are.

 

[R MaN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by asap2006 OK, just got my er6...and oddly enough I prefer the UM1. I'm fully convinced that the UM1 sounds best to my ears with the small comply tips. Highs are not muffled with the small comply tips, pushed as close to the units base as possible. Now the er6... the sound quality is too bright. Bass is not a problem, I think its plenty and balanced, mids are nicely balanced too, there's just too much treble. My ears were hurting and I was squinting after just a couple minutes of playing. The highs almost sound like distortion when I turn it up to the same volume as the UM1. I heard odd artifacts, which to my ears sounded like distortion, maybe this wouldn't have been a problem with an amp, but I was using the headphone jack from my pc speakers(pretty high quality ones), an ipod mini, and an iaudio cw300. All far from top of the line, but pretty characteristic of what most people who plan on using these on the go will be plugging into. Also, the physical size of the balanced armature driver seems much larger on the UM1 (seems like 1/3 to 1/2 larger) which has to play a role in the UM1s much greater sensitivity and seemingly less distortion at high levels. The UM1s seem much more dynamic to me, able to play at high levels without a change in sound signature...like comparing very small bookshelves to much larger towers. These UM1s also respond much better to eq, you can boost the highs or lows etc and not experience distortion. The UM1s are not perfect, they are relatively balanced and VERY smooth and easy to listen to, but do lack slightly in the highest highs starting from 10khz and on. But I think the UM2 is probably an extremely well balanced unit, adding more to the upper highs and lowest lows. So in the end I'm keeping my UM1s, which also have much better build quality, better wires, and much greater sensitivity. With the comply tips, the UM1 is absolutely awesome in terms of fit, comfort, and sound. I'm glad I had the chance to compare the er6 to the UM1, i'm content and not curious, just happy with my UM1s now. It's amazing how the different tips affect the UM1's sound quality, not sure if other iem's are as sensitive to different tips, but these definitely are.

I have the UM1's and love them... I used the short complys for about a month now and have a good idea how they sound.. Now I'm going to switch to the standard complys and se how the sound is.... I run a iPod 5g.......

 

[Veniogenesis]

Thanks for the review.

I'm sure a lot of people new to IEMs are considering IEMs near $100 for their first one.

It's interesting that you pointed out the ER-6 has more details than the ER-6i. I'm considering buying a new IEM to replace my broken ER-6's. I was thinking of many getting a ER-6i since most people like the 6i more, but I'm a detail freak, so I'm not so sure anymore.

Maybe I should try to get some more money and get a E4.

 

[parrot5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Veniogenesis Maybe I should try to get some more money and get a E4.

This is exactly what I did. I'm totally satisfied by the details and the attack/impact/body of each note (for now anyway. My brain(s)/ears get pickier as time goes by

)

 

[roybatty]

I have a feeling that I'll be openinging the spigot on my wallet one of these days and getting a pair of the 4's, too. My second pair of er-6's just came today - my wife did the same comparison and got the same result as me, with the only variation being she prefers the flanges. Now she has a pair too.

Still it was interesting to see that asap2006 found the Westones easier to eq, I found it just the opposite. Knocked off the highs just a bit on the 6's and they were perfect for me. With the UM-1's, no amount of eq-ing had much effect. I didn't spend much time with the short tips though, didn't think they isolated as well at the gym, and didn't find them as comfortable as the standards.

 

[asap2006]

roy, I found the UM1s easier to eq because I upped the highs from 8k-15k a tad and they sounded almost perfect to my ears with the small comply tips, more dynamic, full, but still naturally detailed. Everything I played sounded like I was there with the artist/band. In other words more natural to me.

I eq'd the er6's highs around the same range, mostly from 4-8khz and while they were no longer harsh, they sounded lacking, not as natural and not as much presence as the UM1s. They were slightly thin sounding and when I turned up the volume, they didn't play as smoothly and naturally as the UM1s.

I think its important to note that the UM1s driver is significantly larger than the etymotics, which I htink plays a big role in its performance.

Different strokes for different folks, but I definitely enjoy the sound out of the small complys the best, as others in this forum have too. The triple flange tips do sound distinctly muddy to my ears, ver noticeably so. I'm going to try cutting off the last flange to see if it helps as others have mentioned.