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Etymotic ER-4P Headphones
Corey Greenberg
Etymotic ER-4P HeadphonesYou know what irony is? Irony is the fact that while the hottest category in all of electronics is portable music devices like MP3 and CD players, almost nobody who buys one of these players ever hears just how good they really sound. Do you own one of these portables? Let me ask you something - did you just go ahead and use the terrible, crappy, el-cheapo headphones that came bundled with the player? Of course you did. We all do. It's nothing to be ashamed of.
Sure, you hear the music through these headphones. I mean, they work -- you plug them in and you're going to get sound out of them. But you'll never realize just how screechy and congested and nasal and just plain horrible those came-with-the-player headphones really sound like until you hear something better. And the fact is, most of us never do. We just plug in the headphones that came with the player and that's it.
But I'm here to tell you that your portable MP3 or CD player sounds so much better and clearer and more like live music than you could possibly imagine, but you'll never know it until you trade up to better headphones. Even something like the $40 Grado SR-40 headphones, which I demonstrated on the TODAY Show, absolutely kill any of the 'phones that ship with portable players. But if you really want to hear the best possible sound out of your player, man, have I got some extraordinary headphones for you. And if, like me, you're a frequent traveler who likes to listen to music on planes, these headphones will change the way you fly. They're $330, but they're worth every penny to the serious music lover.
You've probably never heard of Etymotic, but the little Illinois-based company makes extremely high-end hearing aids and, as a sideline, reference-quality headphones for the professional recording engineer market. Unlike traditional on-ear headphones or even the little "earbud" style models that sit right in your ear, Etymotics headphones are actually earphones - tiny and narrow, you stick them in your ear like those disposable foam earplugs. In fact, the Etymotics come with foam plugs that you compress just like earplugs and stick into your ears. When the foam expands, it creates an air-tight seal that blocks out external noise just like earplugs, and ensures a perfect fit between the high-quality miniature speakers and your eardrums.
What do the Etymotics sound like? Like no other headphone I've ever heard. Because they seal out all surrounding noise, you hear the music so purely and cleanly that's it's almost unnerving at first. But listen to these headphones for a few songs and you'll be spoiled for the rest of your life. The Etymotics sound so much more natural and free of distortion and coloration than even the most expensive audiophile speakers and headphones it's silly.
Just for laughs I compared the Etymotics to the generic headphones that come with the Nomad MP3 players. You see these 'phones all over the place - they' re the ones with the headband that goes behind the listener's head instead of over the top. Really cool looking, right? Well, after enjoying some music on the Etymotics, I switched over to the generic 'phones and lasted about five seconds before yanking them off my ears! Ugh! Get that crap offa me! We're not talking about good vs. better. We're talking stinking, rotting death vs. crystal clear mountain streams and fresh ripe peaches and backrubs by Mrs. Olsen of coffee commercial fame. Hey, I'm Mr. Pack Rat - I can't bring myself to throw away anything related to gadgets. But I threw away the generic headphones. The Etymotics sounded like music and the generics sounded like the squawk box you shout your order at when you go to the drive-thru at Mickey D's.
And as if that wasn't enough, the Etymotics' ability to seal off your ears to outside sound is a boon to the in-flight music listener. Most headphones, even the good ones, leak enough sound to the surrounding area that you'll end up bothering the people sitting next to you on the plane if you crank your tunes. And they let enough of the airplane noise in that it competes with the music. Bose and others make special noise-canceling headphones that cover your ears and don't leak any sound, but while they work very well at canceling outside noise, they don't sound nearly as good as the Etymotics. Not even close. Using the Etymotics on my first flight with them was a revelation. For the first time, I was really hearing music at the same level of quality and lushness that I do at home in front of my he-man rig.
Now, $330 is a lot of money for a pair of headphones, no question. That's more than most portable players cost. And because they're very small and unobtrusive, your first thought is "where'd all that money go?!". Ah, but that's the secret to their success. These aren't Korean-made crapola spit out of a plastic mold at a nickel a pop in quantities of ten thousand so manufacturers can throw them in with the players so you can listen to music as soon as you pop in the batteries. The Etymotics are hand-made, precision audio transducers with more high tech behind them than all the MP3 players on the market put together. Yes, they're very small and unassuming. Get over it. They're expensive because they're hand-made and NASA-grade high tech and they sound better than anything else you'll ever hear in your lifetime. I mean, I can't wait to get on my next flight so I can stick these into my ears and escape into my music for a few hours. Used to be I sometimes didn't even take my MP3 player out of my carry-on bag because why bother when the sound is so-so? Now I've got better sound on the road than I do at home, and the Etymotics block out all the plane noise to boot. Seriously, I can't recommend these headphones highly enough to serious music lovers and frequent fliers who want to make the most of their time in the air.
OK, one more thing. Etymotic makes several different versions of the ER-4 headphone. The standard version is the ER-4S, for home hifi use. This is what serious audiophiles plug into their home stereos and bliss out with. This version is not what you want to get if you're planning to plug into a portable music player - the S version sounds a little bass-shy and requires a lot more amplifier power than most portables can swing. What you want is the newer ER-4P version, which was designed for increased sensitivity (i.e. plays louder per watt) and mo' better bass response. The ER-4P is what I've got and that's what you should get too. Don't bother looking for these at Best Buy, by the way. Order them online at Etymotic's site. Trust me, once you hear them you won't ever listen to anything else again. That's a promise.
www.etymotic.com
Corey Greenberg
Etymotic ER-4P HeadphonesYou know what irony is? Irony is the fact that while the hottest category in all of electronics is portable music devices like MP3 and CD players, almost nobody who buys one of these players ever hears just how good they really sound. Do you own one of these portables? Let me ask you something - did you just go ahead and use the terrible, crappy, el-cheapo headphones that came bundled with the player? Of course you did. We all do. It's nothing to be ashamed of.
Sure, you hear the music through these headphones. I mean, they work -- you plug them in and you're going to get sound out of them. But you'll never realize just how screechy and congested and nasal and just plain horrible those came-with-the-player headphones really sound like until you hear something better. And the fact is, most of us never do. We just plug in the headphones that came with the player and that's it.
But I'm here to tell you that your portable MP3 or CD player sounds so much better and clearer and more like live music than you could possibly imagine, but you'll never know it until you trade up to better headphones. Even something like the $40 Grado SR-40 headphones, which I demonstrated on the TODAY Show, absolutely kill any of the 'phones that ship with portable players. But if you really want to hear the best possible sound out of your player, man, have I got some extraordinary headphones for you. And if, like me, you're a frequent traveler who likes to listen to music on planes, these headphones will change the way you fly. They're $330, but they're worth every penny to the serious music lover.
You've probably never heard of Etymotic, but the little Illinois-based company makes extremely high-end hearing aids and, as a sideline, reference-quality headphones for the professional recording engineer market. Unlike traditional on-ear headphones or even the little "earbud" style models that sit right in your ear, Etymotics headphones are actually earphones - tiny and narrow, you stick them in your ear like those disposable foam earplugs. In fact, the Etymotics come with foam plugs that you compress just like earplugs and stick into your ears. When the foam expands, it creates an air-tight seal that blocks out external noise just like earplugs, and ensures a perfect fit between the high-quality miniature speakers and your eardrums.
What do the Etymotics sound like? Like no other headphone I've ever heard. Because they seal out all surrounding noise, you hear the music so purely and cleanly that's it's almost unnerving at first. But listen to these headphones for a few songs and you'll be spoiled for the rest of your life. The Etymotics sound so much more natural and free of distortion and coloration than even the most expensive audiophile speakers and headphones it's silly.
Just for laughs I compared the Etymotics to the generic headphones that come with the Nomad MP3 players. You see these 'phones all over the place - they' re the ones with the headband that goes behind the listener's head instead of over the top. Really cool looking, right? Well, after enjoying some music on the Etymotics, I switched over to the generic 'phones and lasted about five seconds before yanking them off my ears! Ugh! Get that crap offa me! We're not talking about good vs. better. We're talking stinking, rotting death vs. crystal clear mountain streams and fresh ripe peaches and backrubs by Mrs. Olsen of coffee commercial fame. Hey, I'm Mr. Pack Rat - I can't bring myself to throw away anything related to gadgets. But I threw away the generic headphones. The Etymotics sounded like music and the generics sounded like the squawk box you shout your order at when you go to the drive-thru at Mickey D's.
And as if that wasn't enough, the Etymotics' ability to seal off your ears to outside sound is a boon to the in-flight music listener. Most headphones, even the good ones, leak enough sound to the surrounding area that you'll end up bothering the people sitting next to you on the plane if you crank your tunes. And they let enough of the airplane noise in that it competes with the music. Bose and others make special noise-canceling headphones that cover your ears and don't leak any sound, but while they work very well at canceling outside noise, they don't sound nearly as good as the Etymotics. Not even close. Using the Etymotics on my first flight with them was a revelation. For the first time, I was really hearing music at the same level of quality and lushness that I do at home in front of my he-man rig.
Now, $330 is a lot of money for a pair of headphones, no question. That's more than most portable players cost. And because they're very small and unobtrusive, your first thought is "where'd all that money go?!". Ah, but that's the secret to their success. These aren't Korean-made crapola spit out of a plastic mold at a nickel a pop in quantities of ten thousand so manufacturers can throw them in with the players so you can listen to music as soon as you pop in the batteries. The Etymotics are hand-made, precision audio transducers with more high tech behind them than all the MP3 players on the market put together. Yes, they're very small and unassuming. Get over it. They're expensive because they're hand-made and NASA-grade high tech and they sound better than anything else you'll ever hear in your lifetime. I mean, I can't wait to get on my next flight so I can stick these into my ears and escape into my music for a few hours. Used to be I sometimes didn't even take my MP3 player out of my carry-on bag because why bother when the sound is so-so? Now I've got better sound on the road than I do at home, and the Etymotics block out all the plane noise to boot. Seriously, I can't recommend these headphones highly enough to serious music lovers and frequent fliers who want to make the most of their time in the air.
OK, one more thing. Etymotic makes several different versions of the ER-4 headphone. The standard version is the ER-4S, for home hifi use. This is what serious audiophiles plug into their home stereos and bliss out with. This version is not what you want to get if you're planning to plug into a portable music player - the S version sounds a little bass-shy and requires a lot more amplifier power than most portables can swing. What you want is the newer ER-4P version, which was designed for increased sensitivity (i.e. plays louder per watt) and mo' better bass response. The ER-4P is what I've got and that's what you should get too. Don't bother looking for these at Best Buy, by the way. Order them online at Etymotic's site. Trust me, once you hear them you won't ever listen to anything else again. That's a promise.
www.etymotic.com
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