The Bottom Line: Because of the quality of the listening experience, I can handle the maintenance requirements; these ER-4Ps are my hands-down choice: worth the money, worth the effort.
PoorRhino's Full Review: Etymotic Research MicroProâ„¢ ER-4P Consumer Headp...
Etymotic ER-4P Earphones
I'm writing this review at 24000 feet, plugged into my laptop and listening to B.B. King and Diane Schuur's "Heart to Heart" CD--hearing only the music and, faintly, the white noise of the airplane's flight. I cannot hear the conversations going on around me--I even needed to lip read the attendant's request for my drink selection. This is the final phase of a test drive I've been giving two different headsets--one of which will become a travel accessory for my now too frequent business trips. Read my other review, when I took the ER-4Ps head-to-head, so to speak, against the Bose Quiet Comfort headphones.
In searching for what I want to be the best headset for my purposes, I had 3 criteria:
1) Minimize external noise (personal privacy)
2) Minimize sound leak (not to disturb others)
3) Compatibility with a variety of sources (low impedance so I can use it with personal players as well as with powered sources)
With those guidelines in mind, I began my search--actually, I wasn't planning on searching but rather just planned on buying the Bose headset because it was a brand and sound that I knew and offered the noise canceling feature I was seeking; however, when researching epinions, I came across a couple passionate Etymotic reviews and thought (besides, "Who/What the heck is Etymotic?") I ought to check them out as well.
Here's my experience with the Etymotic ER-4Ps (Ratings: 10 is excellent, 1 is lousy):
Price: (5) $330 list but I found them for $270 plus $4 shipping from customearsets.com. They also offer a 30 day, 10% restocking fee, money back guarantee. The cost is a lot more than I ever considered spending on a listening device, but with my traveling so often now, I wanted to treat myself to a bit of comfort.
Packaging: (9) Paperback book-sized, plastic shelled storage box with foam insert that holds earphones, stereo plug adapter, pocket clip, replacement sound filters with tool, rubber ear plugs and a bag of soft foam ear plugs (in case the rubber ones are uncomfortable). There is also a shirt pocket-sized, soft envelope-type carrier for the earphones that I'm using while on the road. The small carrier could stand to be a little larger to hold adapters and custom earplugs (discussed later).
Portability: (10) VERY compact--fits in a shirt/jacket pocket, slips easily into any nook or cranny in a computer bag, carry-on, or suitcase.
Durability: (9) Only concern is for pinching the cable or excessively bending the earphone pieces (not much of a worry because they're only about an inch long and have nicely designed flex joints where the cable meets the earphone). Flexing of cable still okay; before putting them in the pocket pack, I wrap it around three of my fingers which minimizes "folds."
Accessories: (6) Earphones are on a 5' cable ending in a mini-jack. There's a stereo jack adapter as well. Would like to have had an extra length of cable for listening at home (don't want to have to sit close to the stereo) and an adapter for the two-pronged airline entertainment jacks--although I thought the two-pronged outlet was being supplanted, the Airbus A319 shuttle jet I'm on is brand new and configured with the double port. (Note: the Bose headphones come with an additional 5' of cable and the two-pronged adapter). The double port adapter sure would come in handy.
Comfort: (8) At first I had unexpected problems with the plug irritating my left ear--I didn't anticipate having this problem because of years of being a pilot and flying with foam plugs to deaden the jet noise and better hear the radios. After about 15-20 hours of listening time, most of the irritation is gone but I'm going to take up the customearsets.com offer of having custom earplugs made (a $100 value for only $30 because I bought the ER-4Ps from them). Weight is not a factor and as long as you're okay with using fully-inserted earplugs, you will ENJOY the comfort and output of these earphones.
Maintenance: (6) These are high maintenance earphones. Because the plugs are fully inserted into the ears, you're going to have to deal with the consequences of body fluids: ear wax and skin oil. I'm at the 30 hour point and have only noted a slight discoloration of the rubber plugs and a slightly greasy feel. I will take care of this with a bit of alcohol/soapy water. However, there are also tiny green filters in the ends of the audio ports of the earphones which will need replacing every once in awhile due to wax. There are four replacement filters and a replacement tool to use for the occasion when the filters are no longer useable. Don't know when that will be for me, but the filters are TINY and it will take a little practice to handle them. Replacement filters from customearsets.com are $10 for 6. [Still have yet to need to replace them after 9 months!] Good durability.
Buying Experience: (7) Not the easiest to find on-line to purchase retail--the Etymotic web site offered them for $330. Epinions cited a website that originally charged $290 but later dropped it to $270. A broader search also located http://www.customearsets.com/home/ and offered the slightly better price; additionally, they gave me GREAT support by quickly responding to my queries both before and after the sale. If you want to correspond, tell mysterious steve at earplugger@aol.com that poorrhino sent you.
Sound/listening experience: (10) I was convinced I was going to go with the Bose, but after listening to the ER-4Ps, side-by-side, CD for CD, I decided that I HAD to have the Etymotics. After a few days of listening, my ears became accustomed to the plugs and now I have no discomfort, even after hours of listening!
Quirks:
Unlike headphones that you can just plop onto your head, adjust the headpiece, plug in and start listening, the ER-4Ps need to be properly "seated" into your ears; this is done most effectively by pulling on your ear from behind with the opposite hand in an up-and-behind-the-head reaching maneuver--no kidding, it's like the picture in the manual and I've always used that technique with my flying earplugs because it works. Additionally, every 30 minutes or so, you may need to reseat the ear plugs to maintain the listening experience.
Physically closing up your ears means you'll hear less from outside and more from inside your head; you'll hear your own voice from inside as well as your mouth fluids squishing around if you eat or drink while wearing the earphones. A weird experience that takes getting used to.
Public Service Announcement: I would warn everyone to NOT wear these while outside running, operating machinery, or driving--it removes so many audio cues which would permit quick reactions that you will be putting yourself and others at risk.
Back to the review:
The difference in audio presentation between the Bose headphones and the ER-4P earphones was almost palpable--the depth and separation of instruments in the Etymotics was amazing; I have NEVER heard sound reproduced so well in an ear/head phone, and the only time I heard speaker reproduction even approach live sound like this was with a friend's cosmic, multi-thousand dollar, 6 foot membrane speakers whose brand I forget.
Where Bose was typically heavy on the bass, I also found it lacking in clarity and definition. The ER-4Ps were clean and conveyed each instrument clearly--I could even hear, as other reviewers have noted, aspects of the recording I'd never heard before: the faint breath or subtle vibrato of the singer, the preemptory 'tick' of the guitar pick on the string, and the special 'coloring' of a song by backup vocalists. I even must confess that I was brought to tears while listening to Diane Schuur sing "You don't know me" on the "Heart to Heart" album. I'm not an audiophile and I can't speak in terms of dB, THD, and wiggly amps, but I'm gaining a whole new appreciation for the artistry of music because I think I'm finally hearing the whole artistic "picture."
The ER4P MicroPro earphones are the next best thing to live music, with noise isolation far surpassing that of active noise-canceling earphones.More at PCNation
The ER-4P MicroPro noise-blocking earphones from Etymotic Research offer realistic sound reproduction and noise isolation that far surpasses that of a...More at Home Depot
Noise isolation: 35-42 dB Maximum output: 122 dB SPL Weight: less than 1 oz. Response accuracy: 86% Frequency response: 50-10 kHz ± 2 dB; 20-16 kHz...More at Amazon
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