Etymotic Research MC5 Noise-Isolating In-Ear Earphones

I needed something to replace the stock iPhone 4 ear buds and my requirements were: - not a Bose product (their material quality is crap, as is their customer service) - reasonable price (less than $100) - headset capability for making phone calls - noise cancelling/blocking I am an engineer, and I am super picky about things like spectral response, materials quality, durability, and functionality. I've had the MC3's now for several months, and I can favorably recommend this product for the following reasons: - works flawlessly with iPhone 4. In-line volume, pause/play remote control works well. Can fast forward to next song with double-tap of center button. - noise isolation/blocking is very effective. I can't hear what's showing on TV in the living room while I'm sitting with the family. - great for work when you need to get some stuff done and can't be distracted by noisy people in the cube farm. - sound quality and spectral response is really good. I hear details in songs that I can't hear in the car. - comes with multiple sizes/types of ear plugs. I used the standard triple-flange accessories. - cord length is good. - has a lapel clip for securing to your collar during phone calls and music listening. - materials seem to be of robust quality - comfortable to wear for long periods of time (1-2 hours no issues) - great for airplane use; blocks noise of the engines. I use these for phone calls, Skype, Spotify, iTunes library, and Pandora. In all cases, they fit the bill. If I had one negative, I would point out that the bass response is somewhat low in these phones. Both the spectral response to sub tones and the overall bass impression is a bit subdued. But, for the lack of bass, you get great detail across the rest of the frequency range. I'm a bass-head, and I still like these phones. I've been recommending these to my friends, as I feel that they are of above-average quality and value. If I lost or broke these, I would not hesitate to buy another pair to replace them. I will comment favorably on Etymotic's customer service. I made a call to inquire about Ety-plugs for concert use, and I got a live person that was well informed, patient, and willing to talk to me to figure out what information I needed. Once my question had been asked, the representative gave me sound advice, and I felt like I had talked to an intelligent person that knew their product line. Engineer gives 2 thumbs up!

I will first write about the differences between the mc5 and the hf3, then write about why Etymotic is good in general. (TLDR: They sound great and eliminate environmental noise perfectly.) I previously had the hf3. I switched to this (mc5) because the hf3’s microphone was very bad and people had a very hard time hearing me when I was in a noisy café. The mc5 has no microphone, so, problem solved. 🤓 I wish there was a product that had Etymotic’s superior audio quality and superior passive noise reduction, and had a perfect microphone as well, but there isn’t. The other advantage of the mc5 over the hf3 that I have noticed is that, at least for me, taking them out of the ears is much easier. With the hf3, I had a much harder time twisting the earphones to eliminate the vacuum suction so that I could take them out. And, not seldomly, the silicone tip would get stuck in my ear and I would have to get it out using tweezers. There is no way you can take it out without tweezers if it gets stuck in your ear. I had to carry a pair of tweezers for that purpose alone. Imagine that! 😀 Now, I just twist the earphones slightly, the vacuum is thus broken, and I can easily take them off. In all other respects, this mc5 is identical to the hf3, so after this point, everything I am writing goes for both this model (the mc5) as well as for the hf3: 1) Superior audio quality. First of all, there is no distortion at all. I have a couple of music tracks that I use to test distortion and they tend to get distorted on many other earphones that I have tested or used before (including top of the line Denon and Sennheiser in-ear models), but they don’t get distorted on these earphones. Furthermore, all instruments and the human voice sound natural and balanced. The basses are not exaggerated, but, in my opinion, very satisfactory. I mean, these are not pure monitor earphones, so the basses have been turned up a little for the consumer, so they give a very satisfactory sound range for listening to music. If you love any Beats earphones (or headphones, doesn’t matter), you will hate these. But, if, like me, you hate how muffled and inexact products like Beats sound, and would like to hear details in the cymbals of a drum set or the higher frequencies of a jazz bass, or would like to hear all frequiences in a solo piano recording, and don’t want to hear the piano through a fog of bass frequencies, this product is for you. And, I repeat, the basses are quite full and satisfactory as well, since this is not one of Etymotic’s pure monitor earphones. (Actually, I think Etymotic only has one pure monitor model, and this is not it. I can’t remember what the pure monitor model was called right now. Look at their website. It’s the one with the two variants. One is the regular variant, the orher has “Pro” added to its name. That’s the pure monitor one.) 2) The passive noise reduction is amazing. Go into a crowded café, which would make hearing any detail in the music impossible, and put these on, and the noise almost completely goes away. This is possible because all Etymotic earphones use three-tiered silicone tips like the ones used in ear protection products. If you are going to listen to music on the bus, on the street or in an otherwise noisy environment, you have to have tips like this. Otherwise you can’t hear the details in the music. What’s more, without tips like this, you would have to turn up the volume, which is really bad for your ears. None of the conventional in-ear earphones reduced environmental noise as well as these for me. Noise reduction was never enough and I could never listen to music the way I wanted to, hearing all the details. So, in summation, these would be the earphones I would choose if I was allowed to have only one pair of earphones. At home, I prefer my Denon Music Maniac headphones, of course, but they become useless the minute I step out of the door. Because the best sound quality doesn’t mean a thing if you can’t hear the details it provides, due to environmental noise. And it doesn’t matter if the noise we are talking about is just a far away hum. The details are lost even then.

Great headphones. The sound quality is very good. The buds themselves are very small, no wasted space, they do go quite deep into the ear though. I still find them comfortable despite how deep they seem to go. The cable seems to be high quality and not flimsy. They come with a soft yet durable zippered pouch, which has an extra slot on the side for extra tips or whatever you may have (I put my little ipod shuffle in there). I like the rubber triple flanged tips, I used the slightly larger ones and they fit well and isolate you from background noise very well. My friend has a similar pair and prefers the foam tips, but these come with 4 different types for you to experiment with. You also get a filter remover tool and replacement filters. You change the filter every few months if they have a wax build up. They prevent any foreign matter getting into the actual speaker. I've taken a few flights since buying them and use them at work, nothing disturbs me with these in. The only problem is they work so well I can't hear people calling me. I used to have to BLAST my music using my older earbuds, but these ones you can play your music on low volume and still hear it perfectly while also blocking out external noise. The 2 year warranty is nice, as I mentioned my friend has a similar pair and he replaced them twice so far, no questions asked. I think he is a bit rougher with them because mine don't seem to be showing any signs of wear yet. I don't think I'll buy earbuds from any other company, I'm totally sold on these Etymotic Research ones, top quality and not a horrible price either.

Not eveyones taste I'm sure the deep in ear fit is an odd sensation but I love the way they sound and block out background noise. if you are walking or cyclcing you can get noise if the cables are loose and flopping round ur neck. Tuck them in and enjoy the sound. I think these have a really nice natural balanced sound. If you want a deep heavy bass sound I would try something else.

エティモはhf5を持っていて気に入ってはいたが、エティモのダイナミック型というのが気になり、安かったから試しに買ってみた。三段キノコの小さいやつhf5についてた物をそのまま使っています。慣れているので装着感は問題なし。 最初は、のっぺりとした音でうーんどうかなーといった印象だったが、ダイナミック型ということもありエージングが効いたんでしょうか、だんだんと音が出来るようになってきて今では大のお気に入りになっています。帯域は狭いのかもしれませんが、hf5をもう少し元気にしたような印象があります。これでこの値段。USアマゾンなんかではもっと評価が高いんですけどね。エティモに慣れているなら是非1本！オススメです。

Fast delivery. Quality product

Ich muss schon sagen: Diese In-Ears haben es mir angetan. Ich habe nun in den letzten Jahren so einige Produkte austesten können, von billigen In-Ears, bis hin zu teuren High-End Produkten. Hier spielen wir in der gehobenen Mittelklasse, aber zu einem sehr fairen Preis. Eine kleine Geschichte: Meine guten High-End Kopfhörer haben mich leider auf einer Geschäftsreise verlassen, wahrscheinlich wollten Sie nicht mit mir zusammen den Flieger verlassen. So tingelte ich die letzten Monaten mit billigen In-Ears von Creative durch die Gegend. Ausgehend von meiner Lage verbannte ich auch bestimmte Stücke weiter nach hinten in mein Archiv. Die Filmmusik zu Herr der Ringe, Black Hawk Down oder Gladiator spielte ich kaum noch ab. Denn die Kopfhörer machten mir solche Musik einfach madig, es fehlte an Tiefe, es fehlte an Präzision, kurzum es machte keinen Spaß. In einer freien Minute nutzte ich also die Zeit und recherchierte ein wenig, so kam ich dann auch zu drei Produkten. Ich möchte hier keine Vergleiche auflisten, daher bleibe ich nur bei dem Etymotic. Der Preis war attraktiv, ich erwartete nicht allzu viel und bestellte dann trotzdem. Ein paar Tage später kam er dann bei mir an. Als erstes beginnt der Kampf mit den richtigen Aufsätzen, ich kam am Ende bei den größten an. Denn nur diese dichten optimal ab. Ein erster Eindruck: Recht dicke, aber geschmeidige Kabel - das wirkt wertig! Sehr lange Ohrstöpsel - das schreckte ein wenig ab und es braucht wirklich einiges an Übung bis die Dinger korrekt sitzen und optimal abdichten. Und zu guter letzt sind die Ohrstöpsel verdammt lang! Und das sieht man auch, bei optimaler Trageweise verschwinden die Stöpsel nicht "plan" im Ohr sondern hängen ein wenig raus. Wen der Style nicht so juckt kann darüber aber ruhig hinwegsehen. Mir machte es nichts aus! Das Einführen ist ein wenig kompliziert und bedarf einiger Übung. Nach ein paar Malen hat man es dann aber drauf. Die Kabelgeräusche sind recht laut, was man merkt wenn man nur die Stöpsel trägt aber keine Musik hört. Das kann man aber durch den mitgelieferten Kabelclip und einer geeigneten Anbringung gut reduzieren --> Ausprobieren! Dann steckte ich das erste mal meinen MP3-Player an, sowohl iPod-Touch 3G als auch HTC Desire HD und später HP Pavilion DV7 kamen hier zum Einsatz. Und ich war gefangen! Die akustische Version von May It Be, gespielt vom City of Prague Orchestra aus der Herr der Ringe Triologie... ein Traum. Präzise Höhen, sanfte Bässe und ein zeitweilen recht klinischer Sound der doch zulässt sich im gesamten Ensemble zu verlieren oder wenn man mag sich auf jeden einzelnen Ton zu konzentrieren. Ich gebe sie nicht mehr her! Natürlich, mit High-End Produkten welche an die Ohrmuschel angepasst werden und gut und gerne mal ein paar hundert Euro kosten können diese In-Ears nicht mithalten, auch Aussteuern würde ich damit nicht. Aber für den vollen Musikgenuss unterwegs im Zug oder Flugzeug mit guter Schalldämmung und einem Klangbild in welchem man sich bei guter Musik verlieren kann sind die durchaus gut geeignet! Das einzige was mir auffällt, nach einiger Zeit der Tragens bekomme ich leichte Ohrenschmerzen, dies ist bedingt durch den extrem tiefen Sitz der Plugs. Ich denke das eine andere Position und ein wenig mehr Übung hier aber Abhilfe schaffen werden. Ich gebe eine klare Kaufempfehlung. Für Leute die zwischendurch und auf Reisen einen gehobenen Musikgenuss erleben möchten, dabei aber nicht auf absolut 100% professionellen Sound aus sind und trotzdem ein rundes Klangbild genießen möchten sind diese In-Ears das Produkt der Wahl.