My ER-6's

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Tekron

keepin'downtheunderground
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Ordered them on the 24th at about 5 P.M. from ebay...they arrive the next morning. Amazingly fast shipping.

Anyway, just a few quick questions about them. Is it normal for me to be getting a better seal/sound out of the rubber ones over the foamies? The foamies seem to be working horrible in my oppinion...

Also they are hurting a bit as like my Shure E2c's...this is normal right?

And I am having trouble with my right ear. I always had trouble with it...even with the E2c's. Whenever I move my ear a certain way or something, the sound seems to get muted out because of a bad position or something, although my left ear seems to be fine. I think the inside of my right ear is shaped wierd or something because this always has happened. I know I have a good seal because I can feel the suction and I think the suction is what is making my ears hurt so much. Any tips guys?

I'm glad I only paid $107 for them because honestly, I don't see what's so "$150" about them. The sound is pretty good but for $107 I was kinda expecting them to be amazingly great. Bass isn't impressive. On the bright side, atleast they will last me a while...

Edit: also, when I listen to a CD at high level the sound becomes TERRIBLE and distorts so much that it sounds like a really bad recording. Are these meant to be played at low levels only?
 

Jim Reese

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Tek, I have the ER6s and I much prefer the foamies over the silicon tips. I find the foamies included just right, but I am ordering 5 sets of spares, as they tend to wear out a lot faster than the silicon tips. There are 3 sizes available on Etymotic's website. The foamies included are the medium size, so perhaps the larger ones would give you better results. I'd suggest calling them and asking if they can drop a pair to you for free... no point buying the set of 10 of them and dropping $20 (including shipping) if they don't resolve your problem.

As far as the discomfort with the silicon tips, it sounds like what I experienced in the past when I use Q-Tips to clean my ears. I had some pain and discomfort when cleaning in one ear, but not the other. My doctor flushed my ear with warm water from a big syringe, I couldn't believe the amount of earwax that he flushed out into a pan. There was a big hard ball of it that had formed, and was causing the pain. There was a lesser amount in the other ear, but not enough to cause pain. I hadn't noticed any problems with anything sticking to earbuds or even showing up on the Q-Tips, certainly not enough to give me any indication of anything wrong. Also, the music sounded so much better after the cleaning. Perhaps you could check with your doctor, or try some of the over-the-counter earwax removal solutions at your drug store.

As far as the bass response, it's clearly there, but it's not magnified or enhanced like it is with so many other earbuds, especially the Sony EX-70/71s. I suggest listening to them for a week and then making your evaluation again. At first I thought the bass needed to be better, but after a couple of weeks, when I go back to the other buds, I think the ER6s sound better, and the other ones sound too muffled and boomy. I think it's just a matter of letting your ears adapt from the sound they're accustomed to hearing.
 

Jim Reese

Mac user since 1984
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Tekron said:
Edit: also, when I listen to a CD at high level the sound becomes TERRIBLE and distorts so much that it sounds like a really bad recording. Are these meant to be played at low levels only?
Are you listening from a CD player or the iPod? I have discovered that certain equalizer settings on the iPod will distort the music at high volume levels, particularly the Bass Boost setting. While playing the music loud where you hear distortion, try turning off both Sound Check and Equalization, and see if it clears up. In my testing, the music changes to crystal clear the moment I turn off the equalizer, and distorts as soon as I turn it back on. This only occurs at the higher volume settings, very loud.... at moderate levels it sounds fine with equalization. Again, this only occurs with certain equalizer settings and with only some songs.

If you're playing from a CD player, you might try listening to them on another player to see if you get the same effect. Your player might have a cheap or defective amp, or if the CD you're using is one someone burned, their source material might not be of the best quality. If you try them on different sources and still get distortion, I'd call Etymotic and return them to be checked, they could be defective. I know that mine don't distort even at the highest volume on my iPod, as long as equalization is turned off, and I also use high quality encodings, 160kbps AAC or 192kbps MP3 or higher.
 
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