OK - I'm willing to admit I where I'm wrong - or at least when things change.

I went and grabbed my E3c's that I had given to my daughter to use with her portable DVD player and there was the sound that everyone keeps raving about. I did some head-to-head (ear-to-ear?) comparisons with my ER6's and the Shure's are now my preferred 'phones (at least for portable use - they still fall short of the HD600's).

I'm pretty sure it isn't a fit issue - my wife is a marketing manager for one of the world's largest hearing protection makers, so I have used literally hundreds of earplugs over the years and know very well the tricks to alignment and fit through both manipulation of the ear and positioning of my jaw.

I will ascribe it to driver break-in. I have heard great improvements in large speakers due to woofer break-in, but I always assumes that was due to the flexing of the surrounds and didn't think it would apply to micro-sized drivers. Perhops I was wrong.

Whatever the reason, thanks for causing me to take a second listen.

nparker99 - it sounds like you both worked on the fit and broke them in at the same time, so hard to tell which was the actual cause. Both topics should be good advice for future users.