As I mentioned several days ago, I finally received my pair of Shure E4c-n Sound Isolating Earphones in Black.
I had actually mention a few months ago, before I got my Logitech Wireless Headphones for iPod, I was contemplating on getting either the Etymotic ER-4P Portable Earphones or Etymotic Research ER-6 Isolator Earphones, but I hesitated and the prices just weren’t right. Last week, or maybe 2 weeks ago, Buy.com was having almost 50% off Shure earphones including the coupons available on the new black versions of their E2c, E3c, and E4c. I jumped on this opportunity and got myself a nice pair of earphones and am quite happy with it.
The sound is just amazing! Or maybe that’s just the self-fulfilling prophecy since I paid so much for it. I’ve read reviews and they’ve compared the Shure E4c and the Etymotic ER-4P and both were in the same ballpark in regards to quality. They did mention the E4c was missing a shirt clip, which I can totally understand now. The wiring is a bit thick to ensure quality, but that leads to a heavy dangling wire.
The earphones comes in one of those stupid plastic super sealed boxes which requires a razor to open. Inside you’ll find instructions, registration cards, the actual earphones, a volume control unit (which isn’t actually attached to the earphones), tons of ear pieces so you can find the correct ones that’ll fit your ear, some replacement parts, and even a earwax picker. The ear pieces are the interesting part. There’s foam; there’s soft plastic; there’s hard plastic; they even have those funky 3 layered ear plug thingies. I haven’t tested all of them yet, but so far the soft plastic is what I’m using. I actually had to switch to a smaller size because the default ones that came on the earphones were a bit too big.
At first it was hard getting used to the earphones, because the plastic actually expands to fill your entire ear. This helps isolate sound and allow more air for bass noises. They help isolate sound so much, I’ve already not noticed 5 or 6 people that were calling my name at work trying to get my attention. Haha.
Did a quick search on Blingo and found this review: TrustedReviews
CNET also has a video and more photos.