Etymotic Research ER-6 Isolator
Earphones
 These days it seems everybody has
some form of portable music device. Whether it's a portable CD player, Minidisc system, or
MP3 player, we all seem to agree that any music is better than no music.
That's not too bad a deal since compared to cassette, all of these formats are capable of
astonishing musical fidelity. No, the sources aren't the problem. The problem is those
offensively nasty "headphones" that come for free with the players themselves.
Those "gimme" headsets have shrieky highs and tinny bass, and the midrange is
fingernails-on-chalkboard irritating. If people experience most of their music through
those abominations, it’s no wonder listening to music is becoming a thing of the
past.
Just ditch 'em -- you don't want 'em. Go out and buy
yourself a pair of real headphones.
For a long time, my portable headphones of choice have been
Etymotic's ER-4S ear-canal earphones -- a $260 test-instrument-quality component. After
years of requests from budget-conscious audiophiles, Etymotic has finally released a
slightly downscale version, the ER-6 Isolator Earphone.
O what is that sound which so thrills the ear?
Actually, $129 isn't chump change -- it's about the price
of a portable CD player or MP3 player. But despite the fact that the ER-6es look
like a conventional set of earbud-type "gimme" earphones, the resemblance is
purely superficial. Earbuds sit precariously in the outer ear; the ER-6es are fitted with
flexible silicon-rubber "tips," which allow them to be inserted tightly into the
ear canal itself.
This is both a blessing and a curse. Because of the
tightness of the seal, the ER-6es block out a certain amount of exterior noise. Etymotic
reckons they reduce external noise by about 19dB, but since everyone has a differently
shaped ear canal, the real number could vary between about 15dB and 23dB. Any way you
slice it, however, that's a lot of noise reduction, enough to make an airplane
flight more pleasant, or to put your life in danger while driving, cycling, or
rollerblading. It is a good thing to make sure you use them only to block out
environmental noise.
Of course, some folks can't stand anything stuck
inside their ears, and they should stay away from the ER-6es. Ditto the squeamish. Not to
be indelicate, but the ear canal is a prime spot for earwax and the silicon-rubber flange
of the ER-6 doesn't provide the canal with any ventilation. That means the temperature in
there will be right around 100 degrees and at that temp, earwax gets real mobile. You will
have to clean off the silicon rubber from time to time and replace it periodically.
Etymotic has fitted the ER-6es with tiny filters, designed
to prevent earwax from clogging up the drivers -- they too need periodic replacement, and
the company provides a convenient tool for removing the filters. Replacements cost about
$5 each. If any of this maintenance strikes you as tedious (or yucky), the ER-6es are the
wrong earphones for you.
The ER-6 comes nicely packaged in a small plastic
container, which fits inside a gray foam carrying "envelope." The ER-6es consist
of an extremely thin, three-and-a-half-foot wire with a right-angle stereo miniplug on one
end and a pair of tiny buds sporting the silicon-rubber eartips on the other. Also
included are two foam eartips (in case they prove more comfortable -- I hated 'em),
two filters (installed), two replacement filters, and a filter-changing tool.
I emphasize the thinness of the ER-6's cable because it
lends the earphone a fragile, almost ethereal feel. That's quite in contrast to the
ER-4S's cable, which is almost rigid. Of course, the rigidity of the ER-4S's cable
contributes to that earphone's microphonic nature. Sometimes, when I have the ER-4Ses on,
the cable transmits every footfall or slither across fabric straight to the center of my
head. Very distracting.
The thin, flexible cables of the ER-6 are far less
microphonic, and that's a plus, but they seem a tad delicate to a heavy user like me.
Unlike the gimme earbuds included with most portables, the ER-6es are not disposable, so
be careful with 'em and coil 'em back into their protective cases when you're done. Don't
just wad 'em into your backpack.
I also prefer the silicon-rubber eartips that come with the
ER-6 to the flanged jobbies that the ER-4S sports. So does my wife. However, many people
complain that the ER-6 is hard to seat in the ear, so this is obviously one of those
situations where everyone is different.
If you don't like the eartips, you could try the
flanged tips from the ER-4S or -- not that this is cheap -- you could have custom ear
molds made by any store that custom fits hearing aids.
I hear a very gentle sound, with your ear down to the
ground
The ER-6es have an input impedance of 48 ohms and a
sensitivity of 108dB/0.4V, which means they are pretty easy to drive, even with portables.
However, in a classic illustration of how people actually respond to THD (total harmonic
distortion), whenever I play my MP3 players straight into 'em at the gym, I find myself
turning the volume down. When I use a portable headphone amp, such as HeadRoom's doughty
l'il AirHead, the amp's extra headroom allows me to listen at higher volumes without
feeling the sound is nasty.
The in-the-ear-canal placement of the earbuds may take some
getting used to. I've been using the ER-4S for about six years, so I've long since made my
peace with having tiny transducers tightly jammed into my ears, but some people just can't
get used to them. Etymotic recommends you tug on your earlobe with one hand while
inserting the "moistened" earpad with the other -- an operation that at least
one user has likened to "wrestling with your own head."
So, why would anybody buy a pricey,
not-always-comfortable earphone that was not easy to drive?
The bells they sound so clear
Three reasons. First, they aren't uncomfortable for
everybody. If they work for you, they just might be the most comfortable headphones you've
ever owned. I frequently forget I have mine in, even when exercising and bopping around.
Further, I love the way they minimize environmental noise. (My wife uses hers as a defense
against the bad, loud disco our gym seems fixated on.) And, far from the least important
reason, they sound fantastic.
No, they don't slay the twice-the-price ER-4Ses. They don't
play as loud, sound as full, or have the crystalline high-frequency purity or the
Stygian bass extension their big brothers boast. However, they also lack the ER-4S's
tendency to sound shrill on bad digital recordings, which may make them a tad laid-back,
but that's not necessarily a bad thing in an earphone patently designed for use with
portable players.
And the ER-6es have as flat a tonal signature as I've ever
heard from a pair of headphones. They might lose a bit on the frequency extremes, but
everything they reproduce is cut from the same sonic cloth, which is not something
that certain $4k electrostatic headphones I've auditioned can claim. Etymotic describes
this property as being "88% of real-ear response accuracy," which sounds about
right.
Their sound is gone out into all lands
I was at the gym the other day with my stopwatch-sized
Intel 3000 Personal Audio Player driving the ER-6es (total weight: 4oz), and I was
listening to the superb two-disc expanded version of Little Feat's Waiting For Columbus
[Rhino 78274]. As all 'Feat fans know, the recording starts with some backstage chatter
and then Lowell George lets out a "Hey, lordy!" as the band passes into the
concrete corridor leading to the stage. Then you hear the group indulge in a few lines of
"Join the Band" as they walk towards the stage, and finally you hear the whole
auditorium open up and the crowd goes wild as the band launches into "Fat Man in the
Bathtub."
I was completely captivated by every tiny bit of audio
verité. I heard the ringing reverberation of the cramped backstage corridor. I heard
the vastness of the Lisner Auditorium. I even caught a waft of steam and unwashed funk as
the band broke into "Fat Man." No, strike that last part; I was so captivated by
what I was hearing through the Etymotics, I completely forgot I was listening in the steam
room. There's a limit to aural realism, after all -- but damn near none to the amount of
sonic detail those little earphones can recover, or the extent to which they keep the real
world at bay.
This quality made me switch from using my tricked-out
Sennheiser HD 600s while recuperating from surgery early in January. I was comfortably
floating on a cloud of morphine and Glenn Gould's Goldbergs when the morning crew
arrived and turned the corridor outside my room into an audible battle zone. The
Sennheisers are superb and comfortable as all get-out, but they leak noise like a sieve. I
was brought out of my recuperative reveries by bangs, crashes, and instructions shouted
from one room to the next -- all at 5 a.m.!
Then, to make matters worse, the meds tech sashayed into my
room to check my morphine pump and left the lights on when he left! I, having worked as an
orderly, was prepared. Even though I was trapped in my bed by my IV and pressure leggings,
I could reach my emergency "rations," which included the ER-6es and a sleep
mask. I put one in my ears and the other over my eyes.
The ER-6es sounded so much more intimate than the
Sennheisers, it was not funny. Part of that, of course, was the immense reduction in
ambient noise -- the hospital just plain vanished. But the in-the-canal position of the
drivers surely contributed, too. Suddenly I was hearing Gould's grunts and moans right
in my ear.
Maybe that doesn't sound like a recommendation to you.
Normally I might even agree with you. Possibly it was the clarity of early morning, or
maybe it was the drugs, but I felt as though I got what Gould was attempting to do
with an intensity I had never previously imagined. I've said before that he was probably
singing a third melodic line, one Bach surely would have intended had he only thought of
it, but I'd always taken that on faith. Listening through the ER-6es, I knew it
with unflagging certitude. Gould was projecting another line and it was intimate, quirky,
and compelling. Who was I to disagree with a genius whispering right in my ear?
All Paradise opens! Let me die eating ortolans to the
sound of soft music!
If you've never liked headphones, you'll probably hate the
Etymotic ER-6es -- listening through them is a profoundly "headphone"
experience. Nor are they the headphones I'd choose if I only listened at home. They're
comfortable enough for me (your mileage may be different) but there are more comfortable,
and accurate, headphones available.
But if you want to take your music with you, or if you need
to shut out the outside world, the ER-6es are champions. They sound great with any kind of
music and they offer 15dB to 23dB of anti-noise defense. They aren't inexpensive, but they
deliver solid sound and jewel-like construction, as well as performance that most cheap
earphones can't touch. I love 'em.
More importantly, you might too.
...Wes Phillips
wes@onhifi.com
Etymotic Research ER-6 Isolator Earphones
Price: $149 USD (street-price typically $129).
Warranty: 90 days parts and labor.
Etymotic Research, Inc.
61 Martin Lane
Elk Grove Village, IL 60007
Phone: (847) 228-0006
Website: www.etymotic.com
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