Drop + Etymotic - ER4XR

So I actually kinda bought a ton of IEMs to answer this question too. I was trying to find something that works for voiceover, for mixing, for critical editing, and for checking how mics sound in reviews. If I had to choose under $300, here’s my categories: * Mixing: Neutral enough to translate well on different setups (HD6xx, speakers, etc.) * Critical editing: Can it expose bad audio or does it hide flaws? * Monitoring: How good it is for hearing your own voice accurately. * Enjoyment: Just how fun it is to listen to. Letshouer Galileo Mixing: Excellent Critical Editing: Excellent Monitoring: Excellent (voice literally sounds just like me when monitoring) Enjoyment: Low Moondrop Blessing 2 / Blessing 3 Mixing: Excellent Critical Editing: Excellent Monitoring: Excellent Enjoyment: Low (pretty harsh, basically MDR-7506s in IEM form) Zigaat Lush Mixing: Excellent Critical Editing: Below average unless you crank the volume on sibilant spots Monitoring: Excellent Enjoyment: Good

Etymotic ER2XR / ER4XR Mixing: Below average (soundstage is too 2D) Critical Editing: Excellent Monitoring: Excellent Enjoyment: Okay Crinacle Daybreak (surprisingly) Mixing: Depends—more “Meta” neutral than Etymotic-style Critical Editing: Excellent (picks up sibilance like crazy, great for catching issues) Monitoring: Excellent Enjoyment: High Xuan NV (big surprise) Mixing: No, too much bass Critical Editing: Excellent (vocals are super accurate for both male and female) Monitoring: Iffy—low impedance can be weird with interfaces like the MOTU M2 Enjoyment: High Thieaudio Legacy 2 Mixing: Excellent Critical Editing: Excellent Monitoring: Excellent Enjoyment: Decent Cadenza 4 Mixing: Excellent Critical Editing: Excellent Monitoring: Excellent Enjoyment: Excellent Orchestra Lite Mixing: Excellent (surprisingly neutral—not bright like Blessing 2/3, not warm like Dusk or Lush) Critical Editing: Excellent Monitoring: Excellent Enjoyment: Excellent Basically the Studio4 but more revealing with sibilance instead of smoothing it out. Hexa I don’t really recommend it—too many fit issues and inconsistent impressions. If you do try it, use wide-bore tips (not narrow). Video explaining why: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x-T8el9fbs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x-T8el9fbs) Hope this helps.

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. 

Etsy are excellent, I love my 4xrs.

I only own three pairs now (one full size headphone, one IEM and one TWS). I’ll rank them and other headphones/IEMs I’ve had but some of this is coming from memory: 1. Focal Utopia* 2. U12t* 3. Focal Clear 4. Sundara 5. Blessing 2 Dusk 6. HD6XX 7. EMU Ebony 8. AirPods Pro* 9. AKG K371 10. Etymotic ER4XR 11. B&O H6 Gen 2 12. Tin T2 13. Beyerdynamic DT177x GO 14. Meze 99 Noir 15. Beyerdynamic DT770 16. ATH M50x * is what I currently own. Everything else has been sold off.

Ugh, I know. I got the ER4XR and ER2 XR. I've flirted with the Hexa, Zero Red, S12 Pro and Letshouer S08, but I always keep coming back to Etymotic. It's insane.

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.

Noise isolation, not cancelation. I got the Etymotic ER4XR. The isolation is good but they don’t sound as good as the Audio Technicas, plus IEMs will always be less comfortable to wear than over ears. I should add that noise isolation requirements also depend on your gear. The ATH MX-50 is sufficient for all the pads and cymbals on my Roland TD-27 except when playing the VH-14D high hat in closed position. That thing is loud.

The only ones I still use are etymotic ER4XRs. But, none of these actually match mixing in the room. Nothing does.

i had the ier z1r. sold it for the mest mk2. both fantastic. sold the mest for a project. maybe the 64 trio. something fine resoluting. i need instrument separation and a fast impactfull bass. a fun and audiophile tuning. still not there... but no worries. i love my ety er4xr and the ca vega og for travelling (vietnam right now)

Etymotic ER4XR with the triple flange default eartips vs Shure SE535 with special triple flange silicon eartips here. special=the triple flange for the shure is a little bit too long, I cut of the 3th flange and the root a little bit. Sound isolation, both have a good sound isolation. If I wear them on the street and an ambulance is very near, it's only a low background sound with both. Maybe only a little bit lower with the Shure. The ER4XR have a little bit better sound, in my opinion. On the other side, the shure fit a little bit better in my ears and/or the problem with the ER4XR is, that the cable goes straight down, not over ear, like the shure. I think this is the reason for the little bit better isolation. I will try the larger eartips for the ER4XR again, but they felt a little bit too large the first time. On the other side, comparing with a DUNU SA6 MKII and S&M Eartips... someone stand 2 metres away with a smartphone and you can hear any single word, forget sound isolation. I can't say anything about filter.

Be careful... seems to me there are different opinions about "Neutral with bass boost". I suggest Etymotic too, either ER2XR, ER3XR or ER4XR the bass boost against the SR version is very decent. The differences between this 3 versions are not very much, maybe you can't hear it. 7Hz Timeless, should be very neutral too. Sometimes you can get the Etymotic very sheep, maybe you get the ER4XR for £100. If you use it with the silicon eartips, this IEM goes very deep in the ear.

Etymotic ER4XR

Seconding these for anything vocal-related: dialogue, vox tuning, etc.  I also like them for general mixing, but as you said, I still will check mixes on proper monitors. 

I use the ER4XR’s for video work. Their sound signature is absolutely perfect for it. They cut a ton of noise as well so I don’t have to worry about contamination from the environment. They are my go-to monitors whenever I need something light or if it’s too hot for headphones. They have never let me down.

I had both the ER4 SR and XR.... still have SR. For neutrality a natural sound of instruments, they are really unbeatable. But the longer I have them, the more I realize their limitations, too: 1) Necessary to insert really deep into your ear canal to get proper isolation and desired sound quality. Some people just find it unsurmountable problem, the others (incl. myself) can do it but it always gets uncomfortable/painful after some time... 2) SR sound more natural to me than XR... but the bass is simply never enough for me and I´m really not a bass head at all. Always use EQ with them, i.e. cca 31Hz/+8,5 64Hz/+3,2.... of course do not know the Q value but now the bass response is +/- OK for me. 3) Very narrow, flat soundstage, no imaging to talk about... they sound more like studio monitor. 4) With complex, loud passages (e.g., full orchestra), the sound kind of leaks together a bit, the instrument separation and transparency is limited Now why do I still have them? Because I want flat response and natural sound in a portable package.... And as there is practically no possibility to try earbuds without obligation, I have no option to try and find something better. Relying on reviews of the others is very, very tricky and believe me I know what I´m talking about, I have been in the review business for some time. So if you somebody find etymotic sound without the limitations mentioned above, please let me know :-)

THIS SO MUCH, etymotics are the goats in their budget tier, i had er4xr and er2xr tonality is unmatchable for me

As someone who mostly uses BA IEMs the multi-flange tips aren't even exactly a matter of isolation, they always provide the best possible bass response and it's very noticeable. I guess that's part of the reason why Etymotic keeps shipping them since the beginning (ER4). Not as noticeable with DDs though

No I think there might not be enough bass and a lower mid, when compared to the 2K peak. However, maybe that will be OK when you take into account the occlusion effect. Also - just as a point, I personally don't agree with having a 'vocal' IEM, or a 'Drummer' IEM, etc. I think they should just be engineered to sound good at a reasonable volume level. Obviously IEM's have some limitations, but even a single driver can sound really, really good - Etyomic ER4 is a great example. I'm still very interested to see some hard, measured data on actual phase and frequency response from 5 or more driver IEMS, because I'm not convinced that they are actually better.

I’d love to keep using the etys but I got impacted earwax in one ear in 2017 very likely from using etys regularly for years. Ok, might have been because I should have kept ear canal clear and wax free regularly, but imo it’s a real risk with these deep insertion earphones. Also, why not get the er4 variants for max sound quality?

Etymotic sound quality is great but not for bass heads. Also the microphonics from the cable will drive you crazy if you move even a little bit.

Might be an unpopular opinion on this sub but Etymotics are better than anything for that. ER4 or ER3, either works. Though deep insertion might not be for everyone! But if you don't like it I imagine you can just return it.