Black ER6i's Different than white? I'm upset

[jorwex]

I had the e2c's for about two years, and I replaced them while my warranty was still good (more than once) because the wire kept separating from the earphone just a smidge and crackled.

My warranty is up and i decided to try the ER6i's. I don't really like the way the white ones looked so I picked up the black ones on amazon last week. I convinced my friend that the apple earbuds weren't the way to go, and he wanted to stay ipod-ish, so he opted for the white er6i's.

They both came in the mail last week and my blacks have a thinner gauge cable and have a right angled plug. The earphones are definately er6i plugs, but did I somehow get the ER6 original cables?

Having converted from the shure phones, I'm still getting used to the triple flanges from the foamies. The foamies feel slightly better. I can really hear my footsteps tho with the triple flanges, even with the shirt clip.

I'm also reading that the ER6i's are less durable than the e2c's, which is a disspointment cuz that's why I switched from the shure's. Can anyone lend any advice? I havent tried my friend's white phones, but these black ones sound slightly worse than my old e2cs, but the foamies feel a bit better and are definately easier to take out.

Thanks

[jhollington]

The black and the white 'phones should be identical in terms of sound quality. Although I'm not sure about the gauge of the cable itself, the ER6i white earbuds were the first ones manufactured, and they originally went with a straight plug. They later decided that an angled plug stood up better to the wear-and-tear, and therefore will apparently be going with angled plugs for all future models.

We actually had a similar question to this in last week's Ask iLounge column (http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/ask-ilounge-3-22-07) and wrote to Etymotic for the answer.

[mdarnton]

I have both the Etys and Shures. My Shures died relatively quickly, the wire breaking just as yours did. In spite of appearing less tough, and getting some pretty nasty accidental tugs out of my ears, my Etys have had no problem at all. Don't pull them out by the wire. . . . but I'm sure you know that already.