Etymotic Research Ety8 Bluetooth Stereo Wireless In-Ear Earphones | 
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| Brand: Etymotic Research
Category: CE
List Price: $299.99
Buy New: $228.31
You Save: $71.68 (24%)
New (8) Used (3) from $124.99
Rating:  21 reviews
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3
Dimensions (in): 5.9 x 5.8 x 2
MPN: Ety8
Model: Ety8
UPC: 898234000503
EAN: 0898234000503
ASIN: B000KK4G00
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | The world's only Bluetooth-enabled earphones | | • | Great sound without the need for wires | | • | Controls on the earphone itself let you change tracks and volume without having to touch your iPod | | • | Includes 8Mate adapter for iPod, leather case, eartips, USB charging cable, filter changing tool and filters | | • | Compatible with 1st & 2nd generation Nano, 5th generation iPod, 1st generation mini, 4th generation iPod, iPod and iPod with color display |
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Product Description
Etymotic Research developed the worlds first in-ear high fidelity, noise-isolating earphones. Now enjoy the freedom of wireless in-ear earphones and audio quality expected from Etymotic.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 21
 Letter Written to Team Ety August 26, 2010
Ety Owner x 2
Team Ety,
Wanted to say thanks so, so much for your great service with my
broken ety-8 bluetooth headphones. I was heartbroken after the nice
gift from my girlfriend broke after only 2 weeks. Have definitely
posted good things on the amazon site she said she got em from after
receiving a brand new pair. Great service and great customer support
on the phone -- makes an expensive purchase worth it! (All this
caused me to just buy a pair of your ER4's last week to add to my
collection for longer term study, and they are even better at blocking
out noise!).
Dont know if you will ever use this, but I have found something
that works really nice. My wireless headphones broke after being
stuck in a front pocket of my backpack inside the soft leather
carrying case. Though I am not rough with it, anything in a back pack
will get jostled around. I have found that a tin of shoe/leather
polish is the perfect protective, small container to protect them for
the future.
Take it for what it's worth, and keep up the good work!
Ety owner x2,
 Very nice! February 11, 2010
Jake Cremins (New York)
Normally I buy headphones on the cheap side--it was a big deal when I first went over the $10-15 dollar range. Recently I've gotten the same $30 pair two or three times, replacing them when they inevitably disintegrated just because I liked them so much when they were working. I finally decided to look around and buy a pair that might last, and something wireless would be a huge improvement (and cut out 90% of the causes for my old headphones breaking). My point is, I'm very new to headphones at all like these and have never had a ~$200 pair before, or anything using Bluetooth. With that in mind, here are my impressions:
PROS:
-Sound quality is excellent. I'm used to headphones that go heavy on the bass, so at first these seemed tinny by comparison, but once my ears had gotten used to it it became clear that what I was hearing was really a proper balance. I didn't think I would actually hear details I'd never heard before, especially on songs I've listened to often, but I did!
-Bluetooth wireless works very well in low-impact situations, and is generally awesome. I typically listen to these at home, during the commute to work and at my job (in an office, where walking from one place to another is about as much activity as I get). I've had few problems getting this to work with the included dongle on an iPod Classic and the effective range is pretty good. My iPhone paired with it easily. At home I've used a separately purchased dongle that works from a headphone jack (Sony Bluetooth Transmitter and Adapter for iPod and MP3 Players); pairing the two was very easy as well. The convenience of wireless headphones is great; no more awkward fumbling or ripping the phones out of my ears because I wanted to shift around and get something out of my bag, no dangling cords to get caught on something.
-The controls are a nice touch. Play/pause/skip/volume controls are on the right earbud and they control my iPod without a hitch. Play/pause works for the iPhone, though not skipping (?). Even if they're attached to something they can't control remotely, the volume controls still work by making the headphones themselves louder or softer. Convenient!
-In-ear design works. I'm surprised at how comfortable these are after hours of use. Though they're large, they don't feel heavy and stay firmly in your ears. The headphones include various replaceable tips of different design/material to ensure a good fit.
-Easy, effective instructions. Using these adds a layer of complication if you're used to wired headphones, but the instructions couldn't be clearer and you'll be a champ at it after the first day.
CONS:
-They look goofy. From the side, not bad, but from the front they look like very odd earrings. It's up to you as to how important that is.
-Background noise. There is a constant, faint hiss under everything; I found it easy to ignore (and it's utterly drowned out by anything except very quiet passages) but your mileage may vary.
-Instructions must be followed EXACTLY. Playing music through these on an iPod involves a few distinct steps to get things started, and unless you follow them precisely you may be in trouble. Simply plugging everything in and turning things on in a random order will probably not work, and may produce weird effects.
-iPod dongle is very easy to knock out. It's large, light and asymmetrical, and is very easy to dislodge from your iPod (for instance, if you're carrying it in a pocket that presses against something as you walk). Once this happens you have to go through the whole process again to restart things. It took me a little while to find a place to put my iPod where the dongle wasn't constantly removing itself.
-Going with the above, these are not good for working out or other situations with a lot of movement. If a badly chosen pocket is enough to cause dropouts and the dongle being knocked out while walking down the street, a workout is probably out of the question. The manual also warns that sweat will cause the headphones to stop functioning until they dry out.
-Low battery warning is kind of ridiculous. If you turn the headphones on when they're already in your ears, you can hear a brief tone, but the low battery warning just involves the light blinking...and, of course, if you're wearing them you can't see it. I've already had the batteries die unexpectedly on me once because I was listening without a break and couldn't notice they were getting low.
-Sound quality is very dependent upon a good fit. Unless you seal off your ear canal completely, most of the bass drops out, and you may have to experiment a lot with different tips, etc. to get the sound quality you want.
-Out of the box, these only work with iPods or phones that are already Bluetooth-enabled. That covers a lot, of course, but not including a dongle that can handle headphone jacks seems like a notable omission. I had to cough up another $50 dollars or so (and do another round of amateur research first) for the convenience.
Overall, I'm very happy with these. I was never intending to use these for exercise and for sitting/walking they're generally excellent. I got a little bit of ribbing about the way they looked, but more awkward-looking electronics have certainly been made, and it's more than worth the convenience and quality. If they end up having a long life as well, these will have been two hundred dollars well spent!
EDIT: After a little while of steady use, I've got one more con. The headphones suffer from a weird power/connection issue I can't quite make sense of; it seems to be related to trying to switch quickly between devices, or turning the headphones off by hand (instead of letting them turn off automatically). At any rate, the end result is that it's not difficult to make the headphones "freeze" and refuse to do anything. (With the iPhone, for instance, they end up in a weird limbo where they can still control things with play/pause but can't accept any audio!) So far, plugging them into the charging cable for a moment to reset them seems to work every single time; obviously this is not ideal if you're out and about and aren't near a USB port/don't have the cord. I got used to it, never trying to switch between devices if I'm out taking a walk and always keeping the cord with me in case this happens, but judge for yourself as to how serious an issue it is.
 Tried twice...background hum in both units February 7, 2010
K. Smelcer
I've had a pair of ER-6i earphones for a number of years, but when the cord failed I thought I'd try the these bluetooth earphones. Checked all the reviews, which said sound quality was excellent, so I got a pair. Unfortunately, they didn't live up to the hype. The first set I got had a persist and nasty hum in the background. The hum intensity didn't change with when increasing the volume, but it was VERY apparent in soft passages. Thought these were just a bad pair, so I got a replacement set (thanks Amazon for a quick turnaround). Bad news, these had the same problem. I also picked up a new problem in that every time I put my iPod w/adapter in my pocket, I'd lose signal. I tried these with my Motorolad DROID and with the iPod adapter and same results. Looks like I'm back to the ER-6i. The cord can be a pain, but it's better than that annoying hum.
better than the $500 pair from hammacher June 3, 2009
gus octel (New York , NY USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I paid 500 for a pair of what were amazing head sets from hammacher and 7 days returned them for this set.
These are much, much better. You get 3 times the range, better hold in the ear. the safety of a wire around your neck so if one falls out you don't lose it.
Also volume, forward,rev and pause on the ipod. All not available on the other product. Long battery life, expensive cost to replace the ear foams.
The only negative, the look totally stupid on you. I suffer through it for the amazing convenience but why they could not have made them to look more like ear buds instead of boxes is beyond me. BUY THEM!
 Ety8: Your Time Has Passed April 29, 2009
Basil One (So Cal)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
Take a close look at the main product photo in the listing. Notice anything? What's missing? That's right - the big, thick, annoying cable that connects the two ear pieces has been digitally removed! I was all excited about these things for a year or two before I finally broke down and bought a set. In the time that passed, the ety8 passed from being state of the art to an also ran. First, the basics. The sound is not even that great. I have two other Bluetooth stereo headsets - Motorola S9 and Sony DSC-whatever - and they both sound better. The ety8 is OK, but nothing special. Which brings me to the second feature that bluetooth stereo buyers are interested in - size and weight. OK ety is pretty good here - until you get the things out of the box and discover that they are connected by a big hairy cable! At first I thought it was just a leash, since the pictures don't even show it! What a deliberate deception and ripoff! That cord is just a complete killer to the deal. Not only is it too thick, heavy, and long, but it catches on your neck and is almost as annoying as cables that go all the way to your mp3! Not only that, but it seems like it was designed by/for cro-magnons. Terrible human factors design. The cable connects to the actual part that goes in your ear, so it interferes with fit and can actually hurt. Why couldn't the cable at least connect to the outside of the units? Bottom line: overpriced, bad design. It works and sounds OK, otherwise 1 star.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 21
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