Digital Trends

Etymotic ER-6i

April 5th, 2005 | by Brandon King

Testing

The sound signature is very middle ground. There is no strong emphasis on either highs or lows, except at the lowest frequencies a very slight boost. The bass is tight and accurate, not atmospheric or boomy. The treble is a little bright, which makes the sound slightly fatiguing. Mids were clear and slightly under-represented. The sound stage is a little wide, but not too much so. To briefly compare them to the Shure E2C and E3C, the signature is more similar to the E3C, but with stronger bass. The bass on the ER-6i is even more present when using the foam sleeves, which also offer better sound isolation. Driving the ER-6i was easy for every device we threw at it.

We used the same music from our Shure E2C and E3C reviews for the sake of consistency:

Bjork's “Vespertine” (DVD-Audio and MP3), Mahler Symphony 10 (Berliner Philharmoniker — conducted by Sir Simon Rattle — DVD-Audio), The Cure's “Disintegration” (Audio CD and MP3), Gary Numan's “Exile” (CD and MP3), and Delerium's “Karma” (CD and MP3) from a SoundBlaster Audigy 2 Platinum (for DVD-Audio, CD, and MP3), iRiver SlimX 350 (CD and MP3), and Apple iPod photo (MP3).  All MP3s encoded with VBR 160kbps-320kbps/44kHz. We decided to add a few new choices as well: “Storm” by Assemblage 23 (Audio CD and MP3), “Futureperfect” by VNV Nation (Audio CD and MP3), and “All Time Greatest Hits” by Louis Armstrong (Audio CD and MP3).

The bass expansiveness during Bjork, as well as the transitions in voice were followed very well. The mids sounded a little flat, and slightly overshadowed by the highs and lows. We are accustomed to headphones where the mids are cleaner and closer. The soundstage created was a little different, with highs and lows closer and mids either directly in line or slightly behind. This setup worked well most of the time, but made VNV Nation, characterized by very deep bass and very high instruments with little mid-range, sound tinny and strained. Assemblage 23 sounded great, coming across very energetic and strong. What really surprised us was the outstanding quality during classical music and jazz playback. The Cure, Gary Numan and Delerium all came across well, if slightly flat. In all, we highly recommend these cans for Jazz, Classical, Synthpop, Techno, and Atmospheric/Ambient. Hardcore Industrial, Vocal, and Rock listeners will be pleased as well.

For gaming we used Half Life 2, Doom 3, and City of Heroes. We also tried the ER-6i with the Sony PSP, playing Lumines and Wipeout Pure. For PC gaming, sound localization was very good. The bass was good, but not a guttural boom most gamers are looking for. The highs came across a little harsh, but the transitions in volume moving toward and away from a sound generating object was very smooth and added to the environment greatly. Environmental sound was extremely clear, as were event sounds, like bullet ricochets, gunfire, punches, and cackling alien voices. On the PSP, we found the sound to be excellent across the board. We would strongly recommend these for any hardcore PSP addicts.