Frequently Asked Questions

On January 11, 2002, Reader wrote

Hello, Just wondering if you ever listened to ER-6's? Are the worth the price? I'm an audiophile and would like to use them with an iPod. I can't see buying the ER-4p's to use with an mp3 player. 

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Michael Der Responded

I'm always intrigued by Audiophiles and what they will pay for better sound quality.  Just the other week, I walked into a high end stereo shop in Vancouver just for fun.  They had speakers for over 20,000 dollars!!  It behooves me to imagine how much better a 20,000 dollar pair of speakers can sound compared to a pair for 2000 dollars.  Upon asking the salesman why these speakers are priced as such, he arrogantly replied to me, "They sound better of course.! Anybody who has an appreciation for music can tell".  

Regarding your question as to whether the ER-6 are worth the 140.00 dollar price tag (I think that's what they go for these days), it would really depend on you.  First and foremost, the most justice you can do any audio product you purchase, whether it be a 20K pair of speakers or a 30 dollar pair of headphones, is to have your hearing check to see what dynamic range of hearing you possess.  I rarely deal with audiophiles (more often deal with the hearing impaired) so I am not certain as to whether they have a great dynamic range of hearing than the average person or not.  Since you obviously have an appreciation for high fidelity acoustics, it would be worth your time and money (like no more than $50) to have your hearing checked annually.  

I am not familiar with the ER-6 but have seen the ER-4ps.  The response curve is quite impressive on these earphones, but just as a reminder, the manufacturer response curves are rarely achievable in anything less than a perfect recording environment.  Bear in mind that even if the earphones claim to have a flat response to 10kHz (hypothetically), it would be meaningless to anybody other than a dog or a bat since human beings don't have a hearing response curve that is similar.  My recommendation to you then is to purchase the earphones that will last you the longest.  In my practice, I have seen hundreds of dollars spent on headphones of the highest quality, and every year they need to be check to see if that quality is robust.  With a lot of the products out there nowadays, they sound great when you get them from the store, but after they have been exposed to the elements and every day wear and tear, their sound quality significantly deteriorates.       

As an expert in the field of acoustics and hearing anatomy, I would be hesitant to suggest that the ER-6 would sound signifantly better than say your typical pair of Sony earphones at your local electronics store.  What you are paying for in the ER-6 is likely a greater R&D cost and a greater mark up due to the smaller consumer market for these products.  The increased sound quality you may experience with the ER-6 may be attributable to the better attenuation characteristics of these earhphones (most generic earbud style earphones never seem to fit in my ears properly let alone attenuate environmental sounds).  

Regardless, for your personal mp3 player I would hesitate to make a recommendation to purchase the ER-6 over an over the counter pair of Sony's for example, simply because I don't believe that the cost is justified given the return in sound quality.  Ultimately, the decision is yours, and who knows, maybe the ER-6 are the only ones that seem to fit comfortably in your ears.  For some, that is justification enough to spend the extra money.

I know this was a long winded reply but I hope it helps you in thinking about this purchase and future purchases in this area.  

 

Sincerely,


Michael Der

Audiologist    

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Reader Responded

Mike,
        Thanks for the advice! I think I will try these SR –6’s though since I already sent The Sony E888lp’s back. Even after 100 hrs of burn in they had an extremely harsh high end! I don’t see how these could any worse, perhaps the Sony’s had a peak that my hear was very sensitive to. I noticed it mostly on loud crescendos either vocal or musical. Anyway, thanks for your advice most of what you say is really true 

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