Drop + Etymotic - ER3SE / ER3XR

Campfire Solaris 2020 > Etymotic ER3XR > Aurvana Trio > Tin P1 > Soundmagic E10

I love Etymotic! Made me fall in love with IEMs. My first was the ER3XR, and I had tears and giddiness hearing it.

I know, I just personally disagree with "If IEMs are expensive, then they're not worth buying." But that's just my opinion amongst yours and many others. To each their own. My first pair of Etymotics was an extraordinary experience. Teary eyed, laughing my head off at what I heard in music I thought I knew inside and out. It took me a foolishly long time to realize this subreddit isn't mostly audiophiles. And I'm still adjusting. I assume everyone into IEMs is looking for the same things. And it's for a much larger range of reasons than I thought. Happy listening!!!🙂

If any "audiophile" here says that a 100 dollar iem doesn't sound better than a 20 dollar Iem, they are completely deaf. It is true that higher price points have diminishing returns, but they still give you returns. Sweet spot is somewhere between 100-400 dollars for sound quality per dollar. Especially around the 100 dollar price point. But, for anyone saying you don't get more quality when you spend more is likely trying to convince themselves that what they can afford is good enough. And fair enough. My first pair of Etymotics blew away anything I had heard before. People need to try good values at higher price points to really go "ohhhh so this is different"

Etymotic ER3XR. Every time I've gone away from Etymotic for IEMs I've been disappointed. Owned the ER6, ER6i, ER4PT, and now the ER3XR.

When I'm out & about on daily walks I wear my Etymotic ER3 SE IEM's, connected to a FiiO BTR5 DAC/Amp, and stream Amazon Music over bluetooth from my Pixel phone. To conserve battery, I use the APTX codec. I have typical ski slope loss from 2K on, and it's severe to profound. I can say the sound is comprable to when I use my Sennheiser HD 6XXs connected to my Aszus Xonar Essense STX sound card with my Oticon Intents on. I have a custom Music program which acheives a very HiFi soundstage. Bottom line, the wired cans with HAs are a step above, but the IEMs w/o HAs are very pleasing, and the passive noise reduction is great!

I got the ER3SE for cheaper than the ER2 were listed on Amazon. If you wanna try a clean reference sound, an interesting soundstage that’s very in your head, and the best passive noise isolation (ER stands for Ear R*pers), get em. I also like using the graph of them to compare to other IEMs I’m interested in (kinda like a neutral reference).

Totally right about a lack of true neutral these days, everything has boosted subbass. People don’t even know what neutral actually sounds like unless they’ve heard old sets or… …Etymotic ER4SR are the most neutral around your price range, $225 on Drop. Or could get the ER3SE/XR or ER2 for even less. edit: my faves that would be considered neutral are the HiFiMan RE600. Only ~$70. https://i.imgur.com/PBeCdF3.png

Any of the the Etymotics (in order of cost): ER2SE, ER2XR, ER3SE, ER3XR, ER4SR, ER4XR. SE/SR models have less bass, XR models have a small bass lift (the ER2XR has a larger bass lift, but is close to Hexa for bass amount). These are extremely neutral, and all very detailed with fast (albeit not heavy) bass attack. Soundstage is tiny though. 

Any of the the Etymotics (in order of cost): ER2SE, ER2XR, ER3SE, ER3XR, ER4SR, ER4XR. SE/SR models have less bass, XR models have a small bass lift (the ER2XR has a larger bass lift, but is close to Hexa for bass amount). These are extremely neutral, and all very detailed with fast (albeit not heavy) bass attack. Soundstage is tiny though. 

1. HEK Stealth: I expected them to be too bright for me but they appeared to be perfect. Bass is well detailed and in good amount for my liking -not a basshead- mids are not as forward as I would like, but still intimate enough, and highs are of course detailed but not to a fatigue threshold. Soundstage here is narrower than the HD800S but more "holographic", the imaging is perfect, you can pinpoint everything. 2. HD800S: I am probably biased but I really love the mids on these, trebbles can be a bit too hot for me though. Of course soundstage is very wide and the imaging is excellent only second to the HEK. Bass are the real weakpoint barring them to be an all rounder imo. 3. Arya Stealth: Very detailed but a bit sloppy in its execution. It can get a bit overwhelming on some kind of musics where your mind is just attracted to every bit of information. Feels like the headphone is trying to shove the details in your throat. Too bright to my likings but mids were nice and bass really good. Soundstage is on the narrow side but in a holographic sense "taller", imaging is very good but detrimental to the overall pleasure. 4. HD560S: was not expecting them to be that good honestly. Got them during christmas as a gift, and I must say that I am very pleased: very detailed, they are tuned in a way that makes me rediscover some aspects of my music which I find quite enjoyable. Trebbles are not harsh at all -we're talking about Sennheiser so that's normal- mids are really good, although not as good as the HD6XX series imo. The bass are in the average when compared to other HD5XX series, although they feel tighter: maybe because these are newer than my previous HD5XX headphones. Only exception would be the HD58X which have more bass in quantity. Soundstage here is not the focus of these headphones but wide enough, imaging on the other hands is excellent and on par with the above IMO. 4. ER4XR: these IEMs are really good, really good clarity, bass are tight and trebbles not aggressive at all, the mids feel a bit too recessed to my likings but still okay overally. Soundstage wise they are on the wider side, as for imaging they are excellent. 5. HD598: I may be biased as they are my third "audiophile pair of headphones" after I sold the HD599 and the HD598CS. I love them to bits, and I always get impressed by their sound signature everytime I put them on. Trebbles are not harsh at all, mids are forward and bass can be considered as a lackluster but when you become accustomed to its sound signature you can often find yourself wondering why there is too much bass on some tracks. The imaging in these in is not as precise as the above -of course we are hundreds of dollars below the previous sets- but still quite good if you want to really focus on details. Of course the soundstage is quite wide for its price tag. However these are very old and I suspect that most users here would consider these as a relic of the past: understandably so. 6. ER3XR: really similar to the ER4XR, I would say 90% similar, they just lack a bit of clarity: that bit makes the ER4XR shine in comparison. However the ER3XR still keep the same sound signature as their big brother. So overally really good pair of IEM. 7. HD6XX/HD58X: The two of them are quite similar in their presentation, rolled of trebbles, forward mids -even more as they age- a good amount of bass but a clear lack of sub bass. The difference I hear is that the bass region in the HD58X is more bloated than the HD6XX. Other than that on a quick blind test I would often fail to distinguish one and another. However if I had to keep only one I'd go with the HD6XX as I feel like the bass area in the HD58X can often be detrimental to some genres. These two are "fun" headphones and by no means neutral. On the soundstage side, they are on the narrow side, I have often seen people calling them claustrophobic, the imaging can be a mess sometimes but if you concentrate yourself you can still pick a good amount of the details, which are believe are more present in the HD6XX. However I must say that they are on the same league as the ESP95/X although very different in their presentation.

None of the cheap Chinese IEMs hold a candle to Etymotic. If you're not gonna get custom molds, get Etymotic ER3SE.

I'd be a bit sceptical about ER3XR's neutrality, but I totally get your way of thinking. I own a set, and I really like it, although there are some caveats. Honestly, the biggest one is the lack of upper frequencies and their extension. A slight boost above 5 kHz (3-5 dB) generally fixes it. Without it, the sound could be described as "through a blanket," but it's kinda song dependant. Even though I'd say that ER3XR with some tweaks could be described as my "go-to target." >Totally right about a lack of true neutral these days, everything has boosted subbass. I fully agree with you. Looking for a neutral set (in neutral's real meaning) is a nightmare. I have no idea how 8-10 dB bass boost could be considered neutral, but here we are...

Love those but so bulky when traveling. I use Etymotic ER3SE Studio Edition Earbuds for travel. Not exactly Audio Technica, but close.

Etymotic ER3SE Studio Edition Earbuds.