Etymotic ER 6i's?

[mont7]

I've just received an iPod Nano for my birthday, pushing me a bit more into the 21st Century.

I'm considering buying the Etymotic ER 6i's, with the idea that I might be able to use the iPod on long highway trips in the Seven (to and from track days, etc.). I currently use the ER 20 ear plugs, which I'm quite happy with.

Believe there are several CCC members who have these, so thought I'd ask a few questions:

1) Does the noise isolation work well enough that you can listen to music without cranking the volume way up?

2) Does the combination of noise isolation and music mean that you can't hear horns, etc.?

3) Do you use them when not in the Seven (yard work, exercise), or again do they leave you feeling too isolated?

Thanks.

Steve

[Elv15]

1) Does the noise isolation work well enough that you can listen to music without cranking the volume way up?

Yes to a certain extent. This will depend on your car - how loud it is and if you have a full windscreen/sidecurtains. With side curtains, it is pretty good. Otherwise the wind noise is still pretty high. You could use them with over the hear hearing protectors if you wanted to get better blocking of the car/wind noise.

2) Does the combination of noise isolation and music mean that you can't hear horns, etc.?

Depends on how high you turn up the volume! I found that they do a pretty good job of blocking outside noise, but are not as good as a nice set of over the ear hearing protectors - they are almost as good as the foam earplugs at blocking noise. I find that the "hearos" brand earplug works better at blocking noise.

3) Do you use them when not in the Seven (yard work, exercise), or again do they leave you feeling too isolated?

I use them when I don't want to be distracted with other noises (read co-workers/kids).

FWIW, they are pricey but are very nice and have a great sound quality. Be careful though, you can easily damage your hearing with these things!

[mont7]

Tom - Thanks for the info. Is the warning about hearing damage because it's easy to turn the volume up too far to drown out the wind/engine noise?

Steve

[Elv15]

Steve,

Yep! I think I did some hearing damage to myself while on the US2005 tour because of this. :(