I've owned my 6i's for about 5 months now. I use them all day, every day at work with my
Creative Zen Touch. I do like these very much. They're my first pair of in-canal headphones (IEMs, or In-Ear-Monitors).
The first thing that struck me was the attenuation. Once the music comes on, you cannot hear a thing other than the music, even at very low volume levels. The phone in my office rings off the hook, and I never notice. People come to talk to me, and I just see lips moving. It's a little eerie. This is something to consider about IEMs - if you need to be able to hear what's going on around you while wearing them, you may want to look at an open style of headphone instead.
I tried wearing them while chainsawing, once. Once. I literally was having trouble hearing the changes in the engine pitch. I decided that was dangerous, and went back to normal earplugs. Etymotics makes a pair of earplugs that are exactly the same shape as my 6i's, and I use those.
I have no problem getting a good fit in my ear canals. After a little practice I can now slide them in one-handed, and just wiggle them into place. I use the 3-flange earpiece. They also came with foamies, and a little tool to clean out the holes. I haven't had a problem with wax clogging the ear pieces. I clean my ears every morning with Q-tips out of habit, so that may have something to do with it. There is occasionally a bit of wax in the holes when I pull them out of my ears, but I just squeeze the little rubber flange, and it comes right out.
So any set of headphone's performance comes down to the sound. These absolutely deliver. The clarity is a little startling at times. I'm hearing things in music I never knew existed. Right now I'm listening to a piece where the guitar pans from left to right and back, and it's almost surreal - like my head is moving along with it.
Someone once said, "It's like having a soundstage in your head," and I have to agree. The stage isn't huge, like you'd get with a good home theater, but very precise. It's just like the sound "appears" inside your head.
Bass is better than I expected. It's of course not thumping, 15" subwoofer bass, but it's very respectable for such small drivers. One thing that the 6i's have over many other speakers is the fact that you still get good bass if you have a less-than-perfect seal at the flanges.
They seem to be well-made and durable. I frequently end up doing dumb things and hooking my foot or hand on the cables and yanking them out of my ears. The thin-looking cables have stood up to this abuse very well.
The cable itself is very soft and supple. I find it to be a bit on the long side, but that's better than being too short IMHO. There is some cable noise if you move around a lot, but hooking the cable over your ears fixes that. Clipping the included cable clip to your collar helps a lot, too.
I would buy these again. I think they're an excellent value compared to some of the others I see out there. I paid $99 on sale over at headphone.com.
