[FlurkingShnit]

I just recently got a pair of these myself and am amazed at the quality of sound. I'm driving them with the uDAC-2 out of my laptop and it's wonderful. Can't wait to do a comparison to my er-4p's when I get them back from Etymotics.

 

[Beyerfan70]

Well i'm so pleased that my little review is helping some of you guys decide about these beautiful iem's, and i just wanted to add a few more things which may be of some help.
Before i do though i just wanted to say that it pains me that after going through the many threads here that the Mc5 compared to other models that have not been out for that long either have a huge amount of queries and impressions on them such as new models from Shure, Earsonics etc etc and yet the Mc5 are receiving next to nothing in the way of intrest, Now obviously i can understand that to a point Because the others are deemed to be more 'professional' but i feel that the main problem is that when people think etymotic they think Cold detailed sound with little bass and an overall boring sound, and coming from listening to say a top end shure to an er4 that does make sense but these are so UN ety like in many ways that i just hope they do get some love.
I also think that judging by the people that have heard and own these the feedback from them is excellent and that can only be a good thing, i just hope these gather some steam because like i said in my original post (Which i still stand by) that these are without doubt one of the very best sounding iem's on the market and can easily compete with phones 3 times the price.
But anyway with that out the way ......
About the comparrison to the hf5 the first thing what springs to mind is body of sound, The Hf5 is indeed a slightly warmer sounding er4p but the Mc5 takes that warmth a step further, not to the point of anything like say a senn ie 7 or 8 or maybe a atrio m5 but certainly i feel the warmth leans towards a shure type sound with mids that are just as clean (allbeit with more punch) but without the rolled off highs and without the mid bass,that the higher end models portray, add to that the dynamic driver and the timbral presentation and you have an iem that should not be overlooked, Once again i must stress that these are not bass heavy by any means but they have a bass that is stronger than any other ety phone, it's real difficult to compare it directly to something but if i was forced to pinpoint it the only word i can think of is Grado, The bass is very grado esq in it's body in fact come to think of it the Mc5 is very grado sounding throuout the spectrum and something i maybe should have put in the review but hey better late than never lol.
I hope this gives you guys a bit more insight into these babies. and yeah i'm still loving every minute listening to them, They seriously rock!

 

[supersleuth]

It's fascinating that you mention Grado because my full-size cans are SR80s and I definitely hear the resemblance too, though the MC5 is a bit smoother in the treble and with a bit less midbass.  I think the reason for the resemblance is that contrary to myth, Grados, besides being clean and punchy,  are actually within shouting distance of being flat, for all practical purposes, from around 60 Hz to 9 KHz (and I further tame the upper-mid prominence that is there by wearing the bowls supra-aurally and forward) and of course that kind of accuracy is Ety's design target. It's really nice to have very similar sound quality whether I'm listening with full-size cans or IEMs; there's no adjustment going back and forth to distract my attention from the music. I sometimes use the MC5s with my home rig just because I enjoy their sound and the absolutely silent background.

 

[JosephKim]

where can you buy these online for CONUS?

 

[Anaxilus]

Quote:

where can you buy these online for CONUS?

Amazon.com
 
As for Grado, the only Grados these remind me of are the MS1i but smoother w/ better depth.  As for the bass on these, I still think the ER4S can hit harder and deeper when needed but most of the time the MC5 bass is fuller and more present at all times.  For example, w/ almost every song the MC5 has more 'apparent' bass than the ER4S which is good.  The minute I put on something like Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam the ER4S punches harder.  Its really kind of interesting, must have to do w/ the speed of the ER4 driver.  

 

[rawrster]

There's also B&H and J&R and Etymotic themselves. I'm hoping one of the stores have them for a demo since I read something about Etymotic providing those. Of course I should have remembered to look those up while I got my J3 from one of those stores today..

 

[shaddix]

Got mine in the mail today, udac2 still on the way, so straight out of PC. A/B with my HD595s, mc5 are extremely sibilant, no bass at all. I'll give it a few days, maybe udac2 will help.

 

[Beyerfan70]

Quote:

Got mine in the mail today, udac2 still on the way, so straight out of PC. A/B with my HD595s, mc5 are extremely sibilant, no bass at all. I'll give it a few days, maybe udac2 will help.

Extremely sibilant with no bass does not sound like the Mc5 at all, Sounds to me like the seal may be a problem.
I would not sugeest the small ice triple flange they ship with as they are really difficult to get a fit unless you have really tiny ears so give the triple white flange a go and try inserting them a bit deeper.
Of course another reason they may sound a tad thinner is they will not have the same type of sound as a full size can, in fact virtually no iem will sound like that, so an a/b with a full size can isn't the best way to judge an iem.
I notice you were also interested in the re0 and if you think the ety has no bass the Re0 has even less!, If anything the Mc5 top end is more natural than any other ety phone and in no way is it harsh at all so it's something to think about but in no way are these bass lacking or shrill.
Hope that helps bud.

 

[anadin]

They have a very mediocre review here.
 
http://www.trustedreviews.com/mp3/review/2010/08/16/Etymotic-MC5-Earphones/p1

 

[shaddix]

Quote:

Extremely sibilant with no bass does not sound like the Mc5 at all, Sounds to me like the seal may be a problem.
I would not sugeest the small ice triple flange they ship with as they are really difficult to get a fit unless you have really tiny ears so give the triple white flange a go and try inserting them a bit deeper.
Of course another reason they may sound a tad thinner is they will not have the same type of sound as a full size can, in fact virtually no iem will sound like that, so an a/b with a full size can isn't the best way to judge an iem.
I notice you were also interested in the re0 and if you think the ety has no bass the Re0 has even less!, If anything the Mc5 top end is more natural than any other ety phone and in no way is it harsh at all so it's something to think about but in no way are these bass lacking or shrill.
Hope that helps bud.

Yeah I have some RE0s on the way lol, hopefully I can just send them straight back. Gonna try out some bass heavy iems and see if I like them more. The 595s were described as balanced and slightly weak on the low end so I just used that description to help me choose IEMs, but like you said seems full-size cans and iems can't be directly compared like that.

 

[Anaxilus]

Quote:

They have a very mediocre review here.
 
http://www.trustedreviews.com/mp3/review/2010/08/16/Etymotic-MC5-Earphones/p1

Interesting, he said they needed an amp to sound good.  I haven't heard them unamped so I guess I wouldn't know.  Saying the MC5 doesn't have warmth doesn't sound like someone familiar w/ the Ety signature.  Compared to the ER4S the MC5 is definitely warmer.  I'm pretty sure I would take an X5 over the S4 and I know I would take the MC5 over the X5.  

 

[Beyerfan70]

Yes i read that review last week before i got mine.
i'm not using an amp and am mostly using them straight from my sony s638 and my samsung stick player and they are perfectly loud enough with good warmth and punch,Even a fiio will enhance the sound a tad but it doesn't make a huge difference.
Sounds to me like the reviewer prefers something a bit bassier although i didn't understand him recommending the more expensive phonak over these as they have less quality bass and virtually no isolation at all.

 

[David58117]

So if you have the ER4S already, the MC5 would be the ones to get as the HF2/5  are pretty similar to the ER4? 

 

[goodvibes]

When first looking at the specs, the one thing that concerned me was the efficiency. 100db is not unusually low (REO) but I do like it better when they're 105 or higher for portables. That's a lot less work and more battery life for a player. Even less battery and more risk of clipping if you add bass. You could add a couple DB of bass to a HF5 and still have 3 db more headroom. 2 x power = 3db.  2 x volume = 10 db. All that said, I think 100db is still acceptable without EQ and should be fine for 5v portables. Here's some pretty balanced review of ETs. http://www.pcmag.com/products/?action=defaultadvancedquery&cid=26584&sid=26584&gridtitle=Recent

 

[supersleuth]

I will agree that they are not outstandingly efficient, and don't give me the best possible battery life with the aging 3G Nano I got back from my daughter (now that I have phones that will give me terrific sound anywhere, I will probably buy a Classic soon and rip a lot more of my CD collection.) Given the pretty much unmatchable combination of price, sound quality, build quality, and isolation, I'm willing to live with that.