Digital Trends

Etymotic hf2

May 8th, 2008 | by Mike Kobrin

Sound Quality

On Buckwheat Zydeco's Hot Tamale Baby the washboard doesn't turn everything (especially the horns) to mush -- nice detail in the mids. You can hear the buttons being pressed on the accordion.

Led Zeppelin's When the Levee Breaks lack the sheer bass impact required to send us to classic rock nirvana, but the vocals and guitars sound crisp and clear. Jay-Z tracks from The Blueprint have lots of snap, but they don't quite achieve butt-shaking thump.

On anything with tympani, heavy bass drums, or electric bass, you get a lot of punch without any exaggeration, so they'll seem to lack depth to the majority of listeners. Tambourines, snare, and cymbals have exceptional clarity, which is what sells many critical listeners on Etymotic headphones.

With movies, sounds seem to come from where they're supposed to according to what's on-screen. When the dwarf Gimli blows that huge horn in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, you really get a sense of space. But huge explosions, like when General Ross blows up those desert mountains in The Hulk (2003), suffer from too much detail and not enough impact.

We engaged our iPhone's bass boost, but it didn't really improve the sound any. We're not big fans of Apple's EQ presets, and since these headphones require the iPhone's volume to be up fairly high, which can cause muddiness when the bass boost is on.

Call Quality

As you'd expect from a company that designs hearing aids, Etymotic put a lot of effort into call quality. The mic is one of the clearest we've heard, and it falls right near our mouth, though it is susceptible to wind noise.

Conclusion

If you fit in the hf2's fairly narrow niche and rock out to music that isn't dependent on throbbing bass, the hf2's are a worthy investment. But if you're just looking for a reasonably priced upgrade to the iPhone's stock headset, check out the V-Moda Vibe Duo ($99) or Skullcandy iPhone FMJ ($79.95). Bass heads should try Shure's SE series headphones (starting at $119.99) and Music Phone Adapter ($49.99).


Pros:

• The sound is accurate enough for pro monitoring
• They block noise very effectively

Cons:

• Bass could use some beefing up for musicality.
• The silicone eartips are intrusive.
• Suffers from “cable thump”.