Etymōtic mk5 Isolator Earphones
Product Review
These affordable noise-isolating earphones are a great
alternative to bulky, expensive over-the-ear headphones when
you're traveling light but want to shut out your jet's background roar at 40,000
feet.
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ABOVE: An onscreen companion watches my field test of
the Etymōtic mk5 Isolator Earphones during a long-haul Delta Air Lines flight.
By Durant Imboden
If you fly often (or even if
you travel by air only occasionally, but for long distances), the roar of your
jet plowing through the atmosphere for hours at a time can be
annoying--especially if you're trying to hear a guitar solo on your phone or the
dialogue from Spiderman XII on the inflight entertainment system.
The obvious solution--noise-cancelling headphones--creates problems of its own,
because over-the-ear headphones tend to be bulky, heavy, and expensive. It's a
nuisance to lug headphones along on a two- or three-week trip when they're going
to spend most of their time taking up space in a backpack or suitcase.
Recently, I tried an alternative to noise-cancelling headphones: a pair of
Etymōtic mk5 Isolator Earphones, which
are earbuds for people who hate background noise. Unlike bulky headphones from
companies like Bose and Sony, they don't use electronics to generate
noise-neutralizing signals. Instead, they're designed with interchangeable,
tight-fitting tips that physically block outside noise from intruding
while you listen to audio (or even when you're just sleeping). The
battery-free earphones are also
far less expensive than quality noise-cancelling headphones, with a street price
of about US $65.
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The mk5 package includes several items:
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The earphones themselves, which have a 48-inch (122-cm) cord
between the stereo plug and the earpieces. (Yes, these are wired headphones,
and they're designed to fit a standard 3.5-mm stereo jack.)
-
Three sets of interchangeable earpieces: large 3-flange
soft-plastic
tips, standard 3-flange soft-plastic tips, and foam tips that compress to
fit ear canals of any size. You can use whichever tips work best in your
ears.
-
A shirt clip to keep the cord in place.
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A tiny zipper pouch.
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A user manual in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch,
and Italian.
My experience with the mk5 earphones:
Etymōtic
Research mailed me a sample pair of mk5 earphones that arrived in the standard
retail packaging. When I opened the package, I found that the large 3-flange tips were
already installed, so I tried working the tips into my ears with the recommended
twisting motion. They went in fairly easily, but their depth made me feel a bit
queasy, so I tried the other tips. I ended up using the foam tips, which were
the easiest to insert and felt most comfortable.
In subsequent days, I used the mk5s with my Android smartphone and on two Delta
Air Lines 757s with inflight entertainment systems. The sound was clear and
clean, with a smooth frequency response and a total absence of bass-heavy
muddiness. The earphones sounded especially good with classical music and
vocals.
Noise isolation was on a par with the audio performance: When I wore the
earphones but disconnected them from the inflight entertainment system during my
two Delta flights, I could barely hear ambient noise (which sounded very
distant). And when I was listening to music or a movie soundtrack, I didn't
even notice the jet's roar. Best of all, when I got off the plane, I could tuck the
tiny Etymōtic pouch into my shirt pocket instead of adding clutter and dead
weight to my backpack.
As
of this writing,
I've been using the earphones daily for more than two weeks, and I'm extremely happy with them. (I've now
switched to the standard
3-flange tips, which seem to work as well as the foam tips but are likely to
last longer.) The mk5s isolate noise so well that I can listen to a news program
on my smartphone while my wife is playing music on the stereo. She needs to wave
at me to get my attention, even when I'm listening to the news at a modest
volume.
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Note: If you're an obsessive audiophile, a professional
musician, or a recording engineer, you might be tempted by Etymōtic's
mc, hf, or er series, some of which are classified as "studio reference"
devices. These high-performance models range in price from under US
$100 to nearly US $350. Some versions have close-proximity microphones
(for headset-style communication), with optional 3-button controls for Apple
products. But for
price-conscious travelers like me, Etymōtic's more affordable mk5 Isolator Earphones offer
a practical and satisfying combination of noise isolation, better-than-average
sound, and
value.
For more information, see
the Etymōtic
Research Web site at www.etymotic.com.
(Etymōtic products are also available from third-party vendors such as Amazon.)
Disclosure:
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