|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Technical Details
- Compatible with iPhone and other mobile phones
- Response accuracy of Etymotic's ER-4 earphones
- Highest noise isolation of all competing headsets
- 3.5mm stereo plug makes the hf2 compatible with any music player
- 4ft cable
Product details
|
Product Description
Manufacturer's Description
The award-winning Etymotic hf2 headset delivers the most accurate fidelity of any earphones available today. We constantly test against the competition. The uncompromising performance standards and noise-excluding eartips provide a level of clarity that lets you hear parts of your music you may have never heard before.
The award winning, no-compromise headset for iPhone, Blackberry and other smartphones.
The judges at MacWorld had this to say in awarding the hf2 the iPhone Accessory of the Year award:
"The hf2 is a phenomenal set of iPhone-ready earphones that deliver the kind of sound reproduction you could pay a lot more for. Add custom fit, personalised earbuds these will truly be the best earphones you can own."
Experience the best sound quality available for your iPhone or Blackberry smartphone
Make clear, intelligible phone calls with the integrated high-sensitivity microphone
Keep it in your pocket - Exercising? Commuting? The conveniently located microphone button also doubles as a remote control for pausing and navigating forward through music tracks in your playlist
Get back to your music - your music resumes when the call ends
Rediscover Your MusicThe uncompromising performance standards and noise exclusion of Etymotic earphones provide a level of clarity that lets you hear parts of your music you never heard before.
Block Out the Noise
Make and receive phone calls with confidence. The eartips seal the ears, allowing you to hear and be heard even in noisy surroundings.
The Reviews Are In
Etymotic's hf2 was awarded the prestigious Best iPhone Accessory for 2009 by Macworld U.K., and consistently garners top reviews from around the world.
 Included in the box are the hf2 headset and earphones with a lengthy, 4 foot cable, assorted eartips, filter tool with replacement filters, and a storage pouch. |
"This is perfect for use on trains, airplanes, or other loud spots where you might want to make/receive calls or listen to music. As an added benefit, the passive noise-canceling tech lets you bypass the bulky, battery-eating characteristics of other phones that accomplish the same thing via active noise-canceling circuitry."
-- MacLife, Editor's Choice
"The new model is fully iPhone- and iPod-compatible, looks great, and sells at a very reasonable price given the sound quality of the ER-4Ps, which were long considered our reference standard for iPod in-canal phones."
-- iLounge, 2008 Best of Show Winner
"A phenomenal set of earphones... we believe they deliver the kind of sound reproduction you could pay a lot more for. We also found them to be among the most comfortable in-ear headphones we've tested."
-- MacWorld, Editor's Choice
Music controls at your fingertipsKeep your phone in your pocket. Use the in-line end/send button.
* 1 click = music pauses (another click resumes music)
* 2 clicks = skip to next track
* 3 clicks = go back to previous track
iPod Voice Memo Recording with hf2* Pause/resume recording from in-line microphone
* Voice memos can be saved to iTunes library by connecting to a computer
CompatibilityiPhone (2.5 and 3G versions) Blackberry Curve, Blackberry Storm and Blackberry Bold and other music smartphones with 3.5mm/4-contact phone + stereo plug Etymotic hf2 Headset Features
| What we say | Why we say it |
| Best sound quality available for iPhone or iPod | Etymotic earphones deliver the truest, unaltered sound of any earphones, regardless of the number of speaker drivers. Tests on competitive products confirm the superior accuracy of Etymotic earphones. (See "How we measure response accuracy" at www.bestipodsound.com) |
| Now qualified for the Blackberry Curve, Bold and Storm | The hf2 has been fully tested with the latest Blackberry smartphones, delivering unmatched music fidelity and handsfree microphone convenience to Curve, Bold and Storm |
| Better noise isolation and portability than big noise-canceling cans | Tests conducted by independent labs show that Etymotic products block 2X more noise than ANC headphones that require batteries hf2 provides more noise reduction than other passive noise isolation earphones |
| Clear phone calls with the integrated high-sensitivity microphone | The high-sensitivity hf2 mic is positioned close to the mouth. Combined with the noise isolating eartips, phone conversation intelligibility on both ends is greater than that of standard Bluetooth or wired earbud-type headsets. |
| Multiple award winner | hf2 won Best iPhone Accessory. Macworld UK 2009. Etymotic earphones and headsets are consistently among the highest rated products View a full list of awards at: www.etymotic.com/hf2 |
| hf2 FAQs | Response |
| "I heard that Etymotic earphones do not provide a lot of bass." | Etymotic does not add an artificial bass boost to its earphones The majority of concerns regarding lack of bass result from an improper seal between eartip and ear canal. |
| "How can the hf2 mic be used with an iPod?" | Music controls: the end/send button will pause playback, skip to next track or go back to previous track. for iPod users who also have an iPhone, or are thinking of upgrading, the hf2 provides future-proof flexibility Voice memos: The microphone enables iPod voice memo recording with pause/resume control. |
Noise Cancelling vs. Noise Isolation:
Popular, large, battery-powered active noise-canceling headphones use circuitry to cancel the acoustic signal. A low-level hiss in the earphones is noticeable when they are "on" but not reproducing an acoustic signal.
All Etymotic earphones and headsets use passive noise isolation, which means that sound is reduced naturally (not electronically) when the noise-isolating eartips seal the ear canal.
Sound reduction tests performed at qualified labs across the world indicate that Bose earphones reduce about 20-22 dB of noise while Etymotic earphones reduce 35-40 dB on average, (twice as much as active noise-canceling headphones) which results in about 98% noise isolation.
About Etymotic Research:Established in 1983, ER's mission is to design high-fidelity products to measure, improve and protect hearing. ER has developed and patented some of the most innovative hearing technology available today. ER's products are used worldwide by scientists, hearing practitioners, hearing-impaired consumers, professional and amateur musicians, and others who insist on superior sound quality.
Box Contents
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Firstly, the quality. Audio reproduction is awesome. Mids, highs and lows are all beautifully reproduced - I really don't own another pair of in-ear headphones like them. You can easily spend double on another pair but I don't think that you'd be able to distinguish them easily.
Be aware that many people have complained about lack of bass. This simply isn't the case - you just need to ensure that you have a good, deep, seal in your ear canal. The product ships with several replacement tips, but I found the default three-flange ones to be great for me. Many prefer the foam buds, however. Once they're in, I can hear virtually nothing of the surroundings which is fantastic whilst sitting at work.
Quality of the actual product itself is very good. Cabling is nice and not too noisy when rubbing against clothing, although some noise is inevitable. Microphone is excellent, having tested it in calls today and asking people what they thought!
Overall, I don't think you'll find a better pair of headphones for the price.
I got them about 6 months ago. The flanged tips didn't fit at all (too long for the wider flanges to fit in my ear) but the foam one basically worked. Everything was clear, but the bass was a bit lacking. Recently, the foam tips needed replacing, so I tried some Comply TX100 ones. Now they sound SUPERB, completely smooth and natural.
Previously I've used much cheaper senheiser headphones, which had a very boomy bass, but the default medium tips fitted perfectly.
So in summary:
The drivers are excellent
There is less bass than on some cheaper headphones, just because the bass is flat and not boomy.
There is a moderately common ear shape that can wear senheiser (and sony) earphones with the default tips, but NONE of the supplied Etymotic tips work properly.
If you buy these and find none of the tips fit properly, consider getting tips from third parties like Comply.
All that considered, the Etymotic Research HF2 headphones were not preordained to please but, after a good bedding-in, I'm happy to say they perform and impress on every level. All frequencies (including bass), are present, correct and perfectly turned out. Yes, you do need a good seal for them to work but, no, this is not painful or difficult to achieve if you follow the instructions. Prolonged usage, weirdly, does not lead to painful ear canals... though some of the (admittedly easy to clean) ear tips supplied are more prone to collecting ear funk than others.
The other plus is the mic and control button. This works incredibly well and I use it on my bike all the time to receive calls, skip tracks etc. Anybody on the other end of the line can here me fine even with background wind, so that's really quite impressive. If you are using these on a bike, you should only ever ride with one ear in as otherwise you will be totally oblivious to even the most monstrous of trucks bearing down on you from behind. You have been warned.
So, in summary, a great pair of phones at a very reasonable price. Be sure to give them at least a week's worth of listening to bed them in and get used to the sound before you pass judgment on them, especially if you've moved from a pair of artificially bass-enhancing headphones: you'll be very glad you did. Build quality is great and functionality is spot on, though a 'last number dialed' call option would be welcome if they could figure out how to do it. One final note, if your remote stops working (as mine did), but you can still hear music fine through the headphones, it's probably not because they've busted but because you've got some lint or dust in your iPhone headphone jack - definitely worth fishing around in there with a paperclip before you get on the phone to customer services.
These are much better! Read more
On the other hand, if you want to hear all the subtleties in the high-end, these are a bargain and... Read more
"The headphones provide excellent sound. I have used many headphones over the past few years, and the only ones that I felt were better than... Read more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Search Customer Discussions
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192198663_.gif){kind=small}
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
|
