Generally it isn't polite to tell someone to stick it in their ear, but in the case of Etymotic earphones, sticking them in your ear is a good thing.

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Etymotic Research, Inc.' s lineup of in-the-earphones -- the ER-6 "Isolator" and ER-4 "MicroPro" -- are to ear buds what Jeff Gordon's NASCAR Chevrolet is to the Chevys at your local dealership: they sort-of look the same, but have much higher performance and higher prices. ER-6s have a $120 street price while the top-line ER-4 are $250. New to the line is the $130 ER6i (below), which as you would guess from the "i" means that it is white so it color coordinates with an iPod and is optimized for portable music players.

The Illinois-based company started out developing products to help musicians with their hearing: earplugs to protect against hearing loss; hearing aids for those with hearing disabilities. Neither is a simple task. Ever wonder how the player in a symphony orchestra sitting right in front of the timpani doesn't get his or her eardrums blown out during a concert? Ear plugs are how. But while the plugs must reduce the overall sound volume, the sound that does get through has to be high fidelity -- otherwise the musician winds up playing off key. Similarly, a hearing aid designed for music has to have much greater frequency response than one intended primarily for listening to speech.

So add those two core competencies together and what do you get? Earphones.

For this review, I sampled the new ER-6i and the ER-4. The ER-4 (bottom) was the original offering, aimed at the musician and audiophile market. It is an intelligently designed piece that, among other things, has replaceable filters to protect its drivers (the components that make the sounds) again earwax, sweat, and other bodily intrusions. Ridged silicone tips are standard but it also has foam rubber alternatives that Etymotic says will provide further noise isolation. I personally thought the silicone ones were more comfortable. It comes in a cool fitted box, with a zipper case and spare tips.

In an effort to make the technology available at a lower price, Etymotic introduced the ER-6, which has become its best-selling model. The driver component is simplified,  the plug wire is a thinner gage, and there are fewer accessories. The main downside is that you need to be more careful pulling them out of your ears because the wires don't have the rubberized protectors that the ER-4 has. The sound quality of the ER-6 is excellent, however, and many users would regard them as more bang for the buck than their higher priced counterparts.

The 6i fills a missing niche in the lineup. It has lower impedance so that it will work with low-output music players and other devices without needing a headphone amplifier. Etymotic's high-impedance models won't deliver their full frequency range if they don't get enough input from the music source. Driven directly by an iPod, for example, the ER-4 loses some high notes and isn't as crisp. The compact iPod and its competitors practically beg for a solution that doesn't require an amp -- in other words, the ER-6i. The 6i also gets a bass boost, partially to make up for the low-output and partially to fit customer tastes.

While it costs a lot more than the standard portable player earbuds, the 6i might well be the single best investment you can make to extract the maximum in listening pleasure from your player.

Listening to an Etymotic earphone is an experience that takes some time to absorb. For one thing, you have to suppress everything your mother told you about not sticking anything smaller than your elbow in your ear. You need to put the earphone so that its makes a snug seal with your ear canal -- you'll feel it when you get it right. (But, hey, listen to your mom: don't just shove the thing in there and hurt yourself. Gradually slip it in.)

The combination of sound isolation and high fidelity response results in extraordinary detail. You can hear why audiophiles love the Etymotics. Particularly with an ER-4 and a headphone amp, you can hear things like the violin bow working on the strings or the snares vibrating on the drums. A musician probably can figure out that Joe is the string section missed a note while Jane over in the woodwinds muffed her cue. We civilians will find ourselves hearing subtleties in music that we had missed before.

There are no free lunches in life. You can't have a driver miniaturized to fit in an earplug and expect it to deliver the same thumping bass or general depth of music as a full-sized over the ear headphone. The bass boost in the ER-6i helps with rock and roll, but symphonic music does loose a little presence. Also, be aware that to get the full value of an Etymotic, you do have to listen to your music. If all you want is a little background music while you go about your daily routine, Etymotic detail will be a waste.

Etymotics have a very different sound to from the top level Sennheisers I have reviewed. The best I can describe it is that a premium over-the-ear headphone such as a Sennheiser puts you into a concert hall with world class acoustics and tries to place you in the best seats in the room. An Etymotic puts you on stage in the center of the orchestra (albeit without as much bass as the real thing).

Do not, by the way, ignore the value of sound isolation in and of itself. An Etymotic earphone will shut out the sounds of noisy neighbors, TV, and other distractions in your home as well as the noise of planes, trains, and automobiles while you are traveling. Etymotics will let you hear your music above the daily din.

The ER-4 and ER-6i demonstrate that, for sound, beauty definitely is in the ear of the beholder.

(c) 2004 Al Gordon.

In addition to his computer interests, Al Gordon is a principal in the Boston-area strategic consulting firm, Mary Fifield Associates, www.maryfifieldassociates.com

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You can reach Al Gordon at:

al@tnpcnewsletter.com