Etymotic HF3 Earphones with Mic Compatible with iPod / iPhone / iPad - Black

The main purpose of this review is to give people an idea of the long term robustness of these headphones. Mine have just gone past the two year mark (purchased 5th Jan 2011 through Amazon) and have reached the end of their life.The headphones have failed on two counts: firstly, the wire has split in three places, and secondly, the right earbud now makes a rattling sound pretty much permanently. The two things may be related, but it's obviously the rattling sound that has lead to the 'phones now being unusable.If I had abused these headphones, I wouldn't be posting a three-star review, but I have been *extremely* careful with them at all times (>£100 is a lot of money for headphones). I have always kept them in their pouch when not in use, and have never tugged or twisted the wires; never wound them round my phone and chucked it in a bag, etc. In fact, it's because I've been so extra careful with these things that I felt compelled to write a review. For the wire to split even with such careful use I think is an indication that it's too fragile. Whether or not this 'splitting' has anything to do with the degradation in the sound quality, I'm not 100% sure, but it's likely.I don't know, maybe I'm being overly harsh. Is two years a reasonable life expectancy for a product of this type at this price point? I wouldn't have thought so, and as such I'm slightly disappointed.When they worked, I found the sound quality to be absolutely superb. 5 stars there, no doubt. In ear headphones are a very personal thing, but I found that these fitted very comfortable also.But I do think that a life of just two years with careful use means they're not well built enough.(To be fair to Etymotic, they offer a two year warranty, which is reasonable. I'm just outside it, and I have not investigated whether Etymotic would honour it. They may well do. I know other companies that have in cases where things have failed so close to the end of the warranty period.)

Having been a Shure customer for a couple of years I heard about Etymotic and decided to give them a try. Etymotic make professionally sounding, flat sound signaure IEM's. These are the mobile version with built in microphone and playback controls. I've had these IEM's for over 3 years now and love how they sound. Unfortunately during that time I've had to have them replaced 3 times by Etymotic due to faulty cables, always around the headphone jack. This would make one of the earphones cut-out and crackle. I can't fault Etymotic's warranty and service and they have been excellent replacing them for free each time, even courier collecting them. Considering they are a US based company, you really wouldn't want to send them at your own expense!Having been an Etymotic customer for over 4 years, I absolutely love their sound signature. Unfortunately, after this pair has now become faulty again (same cable issue at the jack, even after a re-design) I've decided to give another manufacturer a try. I absolutely love these IEM's, but for the price, there are similar manufacturers with similar sound signatures that offer replaceable cables.I've decided to check out the Westone UM-Pro 10's with replaceable cables! It seems such a waste having to ditch this earphone just because of a faulty cable.If you're willing to put up with potential failures, they sound great and are worth the purchase.

Whilst there are many positives about these earphones, ultimately I can't recommend them.Pros:Crisp, insightful, transparent sound. Remote mic/volume controls are also useful. Noise isolation is good too.Cons:After 5 months of daily use, the connector has become worn and I need to constantly adjust it in the socket to ensure I get a feed to both earpieces. I now need to carry my ipod (rather than keep it in my pocket). Simply not durable enough for day-to-day use.Also, whilst on certain (acoustic, for example) tracks, the sound is excellent, it simply lacks sufficient low end for certain genres of music. Rock tracks sound awful frankly - they simply lack bite, bass and sound shrill as a result. Some tracks are simply unlistenable. I bought these headphones with my 'ears wide open' so to speak - the reviews, and even the manufacturer, are very clear that they do not produce a bass heavy sound (and I didn't want that). However, even when they are properly fitted, the sound is just too anemic.Shame, but even with the discount, I don't think they are worth getting.p.s. just bought some Soundmagic e10's to replace the etymotics. first impressions are excellent - great detail with good low-end heft.

I've had these for a couple of months now and can only say good things about them. Once correctly inserted into the ear, sound quality is truly excellent. I regularly listen to a wide variety of music ranging from rock to dance to alternative and the depth and range of music is (in my opinion, as they should be) far better than the Klipsch S4i headphones I tried previously. The phone control buttons are also good and despite having to get used to not hearing your voice as clearly as the call recipient (ears isolated from outside noise) people receiving calls have all confirmed that sound quality is excellent. In brief, I'm very happy with the HF3's and the icing on the cake is that they block out the noise pollution of household noises such as TV or other music I don't want to hear whilst revealing elements in music I've sometimes not noticed before.UPDATE: I was happy as Larry with the HF3's until the cable broke. I really did look after these earphones and feel that Etymotic need to resolve this apparently (reading blogs) common issue. Thank goodness I purchased from Amazon and returned within the Warranty period.