Repost:Ety ER6i initial BAD experience

[xfile]

I purchased a pair of Etymotic ER6i headphones from Buy.com, at $69.99 shipping included. Prices were similar at Amazon.com, and a few other places. I ordered them based on several glowing reviews given them, on this site as well as others. I had never listened to them before, but figured I couldn't go wrong with all of the positive reviews. I have been using a pair of Sony MDR-EX51s, which although not awesome headphones, served their purpose well enough. I had been using the medium sized earpieces, that seemed to fit my ears pretty well. Not perfect, but, for the money, not awful either.

My observations upon getting them yesterday. I wanted to do an A/B test right away, just to see what the differences were. I picked a few songs I know very well, from long time listening. I have a 30gb U2 SE Ipod, using 192 as my compression rate for ripping them into ITunes.

Started with the standard 3 flange earpieces. Started my misic, and lo and behold, TOTAL CRAP! I figured the earpieces were not seated right, so I fussed with them for a long time. No matter what position I put them in, ZERO bass, and very Bright sounding. I know the bass depends on good ear seal, so I fiddled some more. I tried ALL of the enclosed earpieces, messed with each one carefully. all with the same result. Tinny, no bass, like in a tin can sound. Horrible, and very surprising, considering the reviews and comments I read. Finally, I even pulled the filters, thinking there was an obstruction or something. No change. I was really bugged. I did everything I could think of, to no avail.

My set came with: standard 3 flange earpieces, a set of foam pieces, a 2 flange small set, and a 2 flange med. set (imagine the 3 flange with the small tip cut off, as has been suggested on this forum for people having fit trouble) filter change tool, 2 replacement filters, black soft velcro close case.

Basically, no matter what I did, I could not get the sound everyone has raved about. They are on their way back to Buy.com, for replacement (opened package will not get u a credit on your CC). I sure as heck hope it was just a bad pair. Likely, I imagine... An odd thing was that when I replaced the filters after removing the 1st set, there was no tab in the earphone body to slide the notch of the filter on to, as depicted on the Ety web site. Weird.

Did I get a funky pair, and was the price too good to be true? Any other people have this experience with these highly rated earphones? I was so excited to get them, and after about 2 hours of messing around, really, really disappointed..

Any thoughts or help would be great!!

X

[L3on]

I dunno there could a lot of reasons you didn't like them, May be it was Fake, or Bad pair.
Is there any way you could tryout earphones before buy them, maybe somewhere in the shops...??
I say you should go for a cheaper pair of earphones.

I Actually wanted to get them but instead bought a cheaper pair of Sennheiser CX 300, for less than $30, and they sound pretty good, sometimes I think that Bass is kinda too heavy and Voices faded a little bit, but when you are outside or on the train, they block almost all sounds. I'm quite happy with them!!!

[Leang]

Hm, well, the ER-6i's were not my first foray into in-ear canalphones and I already knew what to expect with regards to how they fit and feel. I ordered the ER-6i's for my brother, but, of course, I couldn't resist testing them out myself. Compared to my Shure E2C's, I felt that the ER-6i were more lightweight and while I wore them I 'felt' their presence less. Haha I don't know if that makes any sense. Sound wise, I was actually surprised how different it was to my E2C's. Like a lot of reviews, I noticed a much clearer mid and high range. And where a lot of people thought the base was lacking, I had no problem with. The bass is there, but because the highs and mids are clearer, you notice the bass less. That's how I felt anyways. My E2C's seem to be more averaged out. I can see how some people can prefer one over the other. It all comes down to personal preference. That's why we have equalizers, yes? I like both of the them, but I would have to say I like my E2C's more because of the small things like the thicker cord, how it wraps around the ear, and the spooling hard case.

If you aren't getting a good sound, all I can suggest is to try to make sure you're getting at least a decent seal. You don't want to jam them into your ear, but its gotta be tight. Getting them in shouldn't be too difficult. I can just push them in a bit and they stay and make a seal. After reading so many threads about how people can't get them to sound right, I've come to the conclusion that they just don't fit everbody. You might just be unlucky. If this is the case, I think the foam tips might be your best best as they'll expand to fit any shape. Lemme know how the replacements turn out. I hope it was just a defective pair and that you'll learn how great they really are. Going from the MDR-EX51 to ER-6i is a pretty big upgrade. You should be enjoying it.

[mdarnton]

You might want to break them in first. It does seem to make a difference, and loosens up the bass, some, along with making the treb less crashy. Also, as I just posted on another thread, they're much more comfy after they're lubricated a bit--earwax or nose grease--so that they can slide around until they find a place to lock in, rather than sitting some place where you forced them in that they (and you) don't want to be. In general, if you want groundshaking bass, they aren't going to do that: they're for audiophile-type people who want clarity, not folks who keep their bass set at +5 all the time.

[Macromedia]

The is no burn in for armature drivers...