Metal Reviews

I have nailed the alternatives down to two pairs as of now:

Etymotic ER6i



Shure SE210


Being a student, I can buy both for the exact same price at 765kr which equals to about 81 Euro or 134 dollars with free shipping. As I understand, this is a good price and the cheapest I've found in Sweden so far.

So, I'm asking for advice, thoughts and if possible; impressions of either one of these earphones.
The two most important factors are comfort and sound isolation, the latter being something both pairs should be fairly equal in. I will use them mostly for work in a noisy factory environment. Sound quality is of course important too, otherwise I would not be looking at earphones in this price range. I don't care the slightest about how they look.

I've read numerous reviews and are leaning slightly towards the Shure, but I'm not quite sure yet.
There is a third contender: Westone UM1 but I have not been able to find it at any swedish web store yet. If it's really good it might be worth importing though.

Have you been checking out Bose? I really like them, and they're pretty cheap when buying from the US or used.

I prefer big studio-phones because of the quality. And because they're isolated I can play music as loud as I want without bothering anyone else.

Yeah I've read about the Bose Triport In-Ear but they don't seem to block out noise as well as the others.

I also prefer big phones, but that just won't be welcome at work, so I'll have to stick with earphones.

How about buying something that isn't made of diamonds? 81$ wtf? Is it really worth it? Get a sony ffs.

I've tried those Etymotics (I believe) from a friend at work. They're pretty damn impressive, but I didn't get to try them on any real music.



I have a $50 pair of headphones, a broken $170 pair, and I'm using a $103 pair right now. Of course, I bought them all at about half price on my employee discount. I'm going to break them and trade them in under warranty for a $150 pair of headphones. You get what you pay for. Actually, with in-ear headphones, you get about three times as much as you pay for.

My current ones are Sennheiser CX-300 Intraural headphones, and they're pretty damn fantastic. They only run about $100 CDN.

I love music way too much not to buy something that won't give the songs justice. I agree it's a lot of money, and at first I was rather sceptic about paying so much for something so small, but as I studied more and more I realized that to get good stuff the prices are around the 100€ mark.
I believe it's like Faffel say: you get what you pay for.

With headphones, I was pretty happy with my Koss Porta Pro but getting the Sennheiser HD555 elevated the experience to a whole other level.
It's like hearing old songs become new again! And I'd like something similar in quality with earphones as well.



Glad to read some feedback. Does your friend seem happy with them?


I've read positive stuff about the CX 300, although they have been surpassed by CX 400, 500 and 95 Style by now I believe.

both seem pretty good, although i'm not a fan of sticking stuff that deep in my ear, and spending that much on a pair of headphones where one ear will probably stop working after 6-12 months :\

I've got the same ones and I'm really happy about the quality of the sound and it's blocking exterior sounds capacity.

I've tried Shure earphones that belonged to a co-worker and they are awesome. The sound quality was impeccable especially the bass which is usually a problem with this type of earphones. As for Shure's noise blocking capacity, I've never seen any better product you hear nothing with these on. I've purchased Sony's and Panasonic's , both of which I have returned, and they sounded flat, bass' were to low or treble was so so. Definitely worth putting a little more money in a good pair.

Well dude, whatever floats your boat but at least do not carry your mp3 player in your pocket so you don't have to buy a new one every 6 months. LOL NOODLES


ann LOL NOODLES again, those things penetrate your ear like a horse penis, not comfortable but again, whatever floats your boat I don't know what your fetishes are.

If all you can have are the in-ear headphones, I can't help you.

STUDIO QUALITY HEADPHONES FTW

PLUG THEM INTO YOUR ASSHOLE

You can definitely get better than CX300's. I think even in the price range you could do better, but I know they're pretty good headphones. I haven't heard about them from my friend, but he did seem fairly happy with them. Haven't seen him for quite a while.

I'm not too found of putting things there either to be honest, but it's either usual protective earplugs or earphones who can play music. I hope they will last a long time, I'm usually pretty careful with the stuff. I guess I'll rip out the wiring some day though.


Sounds great. Thanks for sharing mate.
From what I've read, a lot of people that do not have Shure earphones buy their foam thingys that you put on separately because they are so damn good at blocking out external noise.



Care to find out?

Ah I needed to find this thread sooner. I HAVE the Etymotics, and they're really awesome. They're made so they can be powered easily by MP3 players (as opposed to having to use an amp) so they're great if you're planning to use them for an iPod or something. The sound is really really good, probably better than the last pair I had (which were Ultimate Ears somethings...I don't remember). The only complaint I have about them is that those Christmas tree rubber tip things didn't fit my ear at all, so I ended up using the foam mold thing, which is extremely fucking comfortable (it feels like it's custom made for your ear), but I find doesn't block out noise as well as the rubber tips on my old ones did. Don't get me wrong, they're still noise-cancelling, but in loud noise situations like a car or plane ride, you'll have to turn the volume up a bit to hear well. But, on the other hand, the rubber tips might fit your ear fine so I dunno.

And oh yeah, you can get them for like $90 here.

Definitely don't listen to those fruits who tell you to go cheap...anyone who's actually owned a pair of decent cans could tell you that there's a huge difference.

Yes you did need to find this sooner, since I just could not bare the wait and ordered a pair of Shure today
But hey, then we can atleast share our opinions on them and stuff. I think both pairs are excellent when it all comes down to it anyway.


Thanks for all the feedback lads. I'll be returning with impressions when I get a hold of the sweeties.

There's nothing like answering to my own topic so here's some feedback from my experience with the Shure SE210.


First of, the sound is awesome. Neutral, warm and rich. Because of this, I can see how many people complain about the lack of bass, but with proper gear, say an iRiver Clix2, I can get very deep bass and still enjoy a clean overall sound. It's a huge difference between these babies and cheaper earphones, trust me. The SE210 also isolate lots of outside noise, just as good as the standard yellow foam earplugs everyone who's been to a gig are acquainted with.

I prefer the silicone medium tip for my ears and even after a 12h work pass my ears don't hurt that much. That includes up to around 4h of continuous use. It's not comfortable all the way, but after these many hours it's very acceptable.

So overall, they sit pretty darn good in my ears and the sound is great. The only downside I've noticed so far is that the cord is a bit on the heavy side which can be annoying when moving around and lifting stuff much. With a shirt clip it's no problem though.

Sweet, glad you like them. Shure's a great brand. Actually probably a good choice because I haven't been 100% satisfied with the etymotics' noise cancelling abilities, although the comfort sounds like it's a lot better than the Shure's from what you said--I can wear them for as long as I like and they're never uncomfortable. But whatever, the differences are probably minor in the end...any decent headphones are a definite upgrade from the iPod buds or whatever.

I got a pair of sennheiser HD555's on friday. They still need to do a little more burn-in before they're perfect, but so far I am enjoying them immensly.

If you're willing to spend a pretty penny, and you want circumaural (fits around your ears, not in them) phones that are good for portable use, they are the best option I reckon.

Cheers mate.
Yeah I guess that the comfort/noise isolation is a difficult balance to achieve. The foam tips with the Shure was not as comfortable as the silicone tip, which is a bit strange since foam is usually better in this regard. I might try em out some more. My ears might be a bit sensitive too, these are my first in-ear phones after all.

The long white tripple ring stuff that comes with both the Shure's and Etymotics is terrible though, but I've read about people who have cut of the smallest ring closest to the end and been happy with the result. Might be worth a shot.


Got the same pair myself. Incredible comfy and splendid sound. Although I would not exactly call them portable, especially since you need an adapter to make them fit in a standard audiojack

This burn-in process is fascinating. From what I've read, no one is 100% if it works and if it's needed but from my experience from the HD555, I believe they did get a bit better after a while.