Editor's Weekly Ramblings 14

Friday 20th June 2003

Etymotic Headphones - The Sound of Clarity

Ear-Bud Headphones (the type you put directly in your ears) are generally fairly useless. This seemed to be one of those universal truths that was right up there with food that tastes the best being the worst for you and computers always crashing 3 seconds before you were about to save a vital document. Real audiophiles (the type that have extra hair in their ears because it probably improves the resonance of the sound wave) are generally to be found with headphones that broadly approximate two dinner plates attached to the sides of their head. Fortunately, for the more subtle amongst the breed, or just non-audiophile gadget lovers like me, who occasionally give in to mad buying moments, there are etymotic headphones.

I bought my Etymotic ER-4P headphones back in September 2002 after three weeks of thought and much time spent researching the options. So, although still fairly mad, it was perhaps less a moment then an odyssey. The flame to buy them was sparked off by some direct mail (not 'junk' as it turned out) from BOSE about Noise Reduction Headsets that sounded really great. The idea was that background noise is pitched at certain frequencies, which these headphones then counteracted with some nifty electronics. In the real world this meant that when you were sitting on a plane, train or car the sounds of the mode of transport, and more importantly the irritating conversation of the folk sitting next to you should become a distant memory. The music should sparkle through.

This idea of music without the dull hum of normal life getting in the way was very attractive. However there were problems. Firstly, the cost. These headphones cost £245 ($410) which was more then twelve times the most I had ever spent on a pair of headphones (£19 for some Sennheiser MX-500s) up to that point; and frankly that seemed incredibly excessive for a product that, at least at this stage, I was as enamoured of for the technology and coolness factor as I was by the potential to use them. Secondly, these headphones are bulky. They are the wrap-around dinner plate variety, and also have a brick shaped wedge attachment to carry out the nifty electronics. No chance of putting these on your head on the underground without looking utterly ridiculous, and simultaneously illuminating the 'Please Rob Me - These Headphones are Clearly Expensive' sign above your head. Both of these together were enough to convince me that great though these may sound they were not for me.