I’ve been involved in the games industry most of my life. I was a fan of every type of game from childhood on. I used to joke with my parents that I’d grow up to work for Mattel. At the time they were the big name in the industry. When I did finally get out on my own I started a company that specialized in electronic game development. We mainly tested software and hardware for publishers and manufacturers in, or related to, the games industry.

During that time sound cards for PC’s emerged. I happened to be at the right place at the right time and was able to help foster the growth of this new industry. As a result I ended up forging a close relationship with all the various sound card manufacturers, most notably Creative Labs. In 1992 I wrote the bestselling “Sound Blaster; The Official Book”. As a result of this experience I was exposed to virtually every type of multimedia peripheral you can imagine. Sound cards, speakers, headphones and many other related products would show up at my door over the years. I had my choice of the very best equipment out there.

However, just like most gamers, I fell into a common trait. I had put a lot of emphasis on my PC (and related peripherals) including, of course, my sound card. I also ended up using highly-regarded speakers. When it came to headphones, however, I didn’t apply the same level of quality to those as I had elsewhere. Most people spend $50 or less for headphones and I ended up using, for many years, a $100 pair of headphones. That seemed like a quality move at the time but proved not to be as time went on.

Very early on I noticed a strong improvement in my play in first-person games using headphones instead of speakers, even average headphones. After a while my current headphones literally started to fall apart. It was time to look into a replacement. I visited all the popular locations, asked a slew of increasingly detailed questions and got a few strong recommendations. Among those recommendations was a set of earphones from Etymotic Research; the ER-4P’s. Reviews of the product were universally positive. Everyone I talked with that owned them, swore by them, instead of at them. At $300 it was quite an investment to make over what I’d previously spent for headphones but then again, I’d been paying $300-$500 for video cards just to get another 5 frames per second out of my games. I bit the bullet and bought the ER-4P’s.

They showed up and I was immediately impressed with the packaging. It wasn’t just a pair of earphones in a small bag. The package included a hard case packed with replacement eartips of different types along with several other related tools and accessories. Then I tried them out. Understand that I’ve been evaluating audio products for a long time. One thing I know about audio analysis is that your brain becomes trained to whatever product it is that you use. Thus, any new product is going to take time to fully evaluate. It can take weeks to acclimate away from the old product and into the new one. However, the ER-4P’s provided immediate obvious benefits. The isolation I was getting was second-to-none. Nearly all outside sound vanished. I could hear the intended sound as clearly as if it were the only sound coming from the room.

What’s more is that music I’d listened to for years took on an entirely new level of detail. I heard elements in the songs I’d never heard before.

Over the next few weeks things continued to improve. I got better at inserting them properly and also benefited from the acclimation period. Everything I listened to just became more clear and better sounding. Most importantly I noticed some dramatic changes in my gaming.

In first-person shooters I noticed that I could hear 3D sounds (called spatial cues) more clearly than ever before. I could tell where an opponent was hiding based on the angle and direction of one of their bullets as it hit the ground next to me. In Delta Force the most prestigious way to kill an opponent was to sneak up behind them and slit their throat. The developers designed player’s footsteps so that they could be heard from a very short distance away. With my other headphones I could hear those footsteps from about 5 feet away which, when heard, gave me only an instant to try and turn and defend myself (with speakers I couldn’t hear them at all). When I first tried the ER-4P’s I’d hear footsteps only to turn around and find no one there. After this happened several times I thought something was wrong. I later realized that I was hearing the footsteps from opponents 20-40 feet away. I then noticed I could hear volume differences in the footsteps so that I could remain calm continuing my attack until the footsteps sounded loud enough that I knew they were now at about 10-15 feet away. I would then calmly spin around and gun down the stunned, knife-wielding opponent.

Of course, as this behavior continued I began to get the greatest compliment any player can get and that was, “You cheating bastard.” Most opponents were absolutely certain that I was cheating. Anyone who knows me knows that I’ve been a steadfast opponent of cheating so it was quite a leap to be cast in the role of a cheater.

Furthermore I went from being a typical .500 player (that is I’d die as often as I killed someone) to one that showed steady improvement. After a few months of this I went from being invited to take part in various tournaments to being a top tournament player, all while in my mid-to-late 30’s, generally playing against kids half my age.

As luck would have it, I had the chance to meet with and talk to Etymotic about the opportunity in the games industry. The interest was mutual so we agreed to work together to bring Etymotic into the games industry and the rest is, as they say, history.

- Rich Heimlich