Link to my review and measurement index thread where one can also find a full review overview, more information about myself as well as my general-ish audio and review manifesto: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/956208/
I only give full stars. My ranking/scoring system does not necessarily follow the norm and is about as follows:
5 stars: The product is very good and received the "highly recommended" award from me.
4 stars: The product is very good and received the "recommended" award from me.
3 stars: The product is good/very good, but not outstanding/special enough to get any of my two awards. ["Thumbs Up"]
2 stars: The product is only about average or even somewhat below that and somewhat flawed/flawed in some areas. [neither "Thumbs Up" nor "Thumbs Down"]
1 star: The product is bad/severely flawed to outright bad. ["Thumbs Down"]
EarSonics ES3
Source:
Personal unit.
Miscellaneous:
Really nice unboxing experience with a packaging that has got two see-through windows and a drawer that contains the accessories.
The carrying case looks nice.
Quite poor ear tip selection - two pairs of single-flange silicone tips, two pairs of double-flange silicone tips, two pairs of foam tips.
Three Balanced Armature drivers per side, three acoustic ways. Dual-bore nozzle design.
Industry-standard cable with twisted conductors; very supple and flexible. Fortunately 2-pin connectors.
I like the shell design with the grey, dotted "ES" and "3" logos and shiny black surface. I have absolutely nothing against plastic shell in-ears and even prefer them over metal shells in terms of feel in one's ears, but the ES3's shells appear a bit thin and not as premium (finish around the edges; screws) as they could or should at this price point - overall I prefer my Shure SE425's thicker and more premium appearing plastic shells over those of my ES3 that seem thinner and less premium, even though the design (shape, logos) is nice.
Comfort could be better in my ears, especially as the largest included silicone ear tips could be larger, hence it is somewhat trickier for me to get a consistent seal (similar story as with my Audio Technica ATH-IM03).
Sound:
Largest included single-flange silicone tips.
Tonality:
Smooth v-shape with main focus on bass.
Rather unique bass implementation (which was the main reason why I bought the ES3 in the first place): boosted sub- and midbass, but almost no fundamental range boost and not the tiniest bit of lower midrange spill/bleed; as a result, the bass really only “kicks in” as a deep growl when “needed”.
The bass elevation peaks around 60 kHz with around 8 dB in quantity over in-ears with near diffuse-field flat lows (such as my Etymotic ER-4S/the ER4SR). The bass then extends at that level (almost no roll-off) down into the real sub-bass. What's great is that 200 Hz are pretty much in line with 1 kHz, so the low fundamental range doesn't have the typical added warmth that often comes with bass-boosted in-ears, but as EarSonics' ES3 don’t only focus on the sub-bass but also clearly concentrate on the midbass, it's fun, thumpy and full of impact without a hammering upper bass punch or intrusive lower fundamental range warmth/bloom. Yeah, that's a lot of fun for recreational listening.
It's fun, it's unique, it's addictive; it's simply just a really neat implementation of the bass boost.
The midrange timbre is natural and realistic except for the upper mids/presence range lacking some presence (quite comparable to my Campfire Audio Andromeda), wherefore they lack some glare and crunch and are very mild, even to extend of some perceived vocal resolution being missed in comparison to the rest of the audio spectrum.
The middle treble is in the background as well, just to come back with a mild peak just a bit above 7 kHz, but it's not intrusive and gives the treble just a bit of brightness that would be otherwise lacking due to the recessed upper mids.
Extension past 10 kHz is really good.
Frequency Response:
Etymotic ER-4S-Compensation
That’s also mostly how I perceive the sound, however with a bit less sub-bass quantity and an upper treble peak that crosses the “neutral” line just barely, along with good but not exaggeratedly bright super treble extension.
InEar ProPhile 8 Compensation
Resolution:
The BA woofer's bass balance between tightness and body is just great - it sounds just a bit more dynamic than absolutely tight-sterile ("dry"), but is still and absolutely clearly on the Balanced Armature side of things - definitely nothing for friends of a more dynamic driver-like presentation (my ES3 are, for example, also tighter and faster than my definitely softer, more impactful, dynamic sounding Campfire Audio Andromeda (that are however great in their own way with their still mostly controlled bass rumble) in the bass). Therefore the lows sound definitely tight and fast, but with just a little bit of decay lingering still existing. Bass control is very good as well.
The midrange and treble separation and details are good as in not appearing to be lacking at all, however compared to other in-ears that I own that are more or less in this price range and resolve well, such as my Westone W4R or Logitech UE900, my ES3 don't deliver as much and as precise micro details or note separation. (Ultimately the ES3s’ treble has an edge over its middle frequencies in terms of separation.)
Soundstage:
Precise imaging (instrument placement; instrument separation is good, too).
Three-dimensional and authentic - overall just slightly more oval than circular. Sounds spherical and realistic to me.
Extends further than the base of my head.
Conclusion:
Recommended.
Clearly the bass tuning is what makes the ES3 unique and a very enjoyable recreational listen, but the rest of the spectrum is tuned nicely as well. Along with the fairly nice soundstage presentation, Earsonics’ triple-BA in-ears offer a really good overall package; though I wouldn’t mind more premium appearing shells and a better ear tip selection.
Photos:
I only give full stars. My ranking/scoring system does not necessarily follow the norm and is about as follows:
5 stars: The product is very good and received the "highly recommended" award from me.
4 stars: The product is very good and received the "recommended" award from me.
3 stars: The product is good/very good, but not outstanding/special enough to get any of my two awards. ["Thumbs Up"]
2 stars: The product is only about average or even somewhat below that and somewhat flawed/flawed in some areas. [neither "Thumbs Up" nor "Thumbs Down"]
1 star: The product is bad/severely flawed to outright bad. ["Thumbs Down"]
EarSonics ES3
Source:
Personal unit.
Miscellaneous:
Really nice unboxing experience with a packaging that has got two see-through windows and a drawer that contains the accessories.
The carrying case looks nice.
Quite poor ear tip selection - two pairs of single-flange silicone tips, two pairs of double-flange silicone tips, two pairs of foam tips.
Three Balanced Armature drivers per side, three acoustic ways. Dual-bore nozzle design.
Industry-standard cable with twisted conductors; very supple and flexible. Fortunately 2-pin connectors.
I like the shell design with the grey, dotted "ES" and "3" logos and shiny black surface. I have absolutely nothing against plastic shell in-ears and even prefer them over metal shells in terms of feel in one's ears, but the ES3's shells appear a bit thin and not as premium (finish around the edges; screws) as they could or should at this price point - overall I prefer my Shure SE425's thicker and more premium appearing plastic shells over those of my ES3 that seem thinner and less premium, even though the design (shape, logos) is nice.
Comfort could be better in my ears, especially as the largest included silicone ear tips could be larger, hence it is somewhat trickier for me to get a consistent seal (similar story as with my Audio Technica ATH-IM03).
Sound:
Largest included single-flange silicone tips.
Tonality:
Smooth v-shape with main focus on bass.
Rather unique bass implementation (which was the main reason why I bought the ES3 in the first place): boosted sub- and midbass, but almost no fundamental range boost and not the tiniest bit of lower midrange spill/bleed; as a result, the bass really only “kicks in” as a deep growl when “needed”.
The bass elevation peaks around 60 kHz with around 8 dB in quantity over in-ears with near diffuse-field flat lows (such as my Etymotic ER-4S/the ER4SR). The bass then extends at that level (almost no roll-off) down into the real sub-bass. What's great is that 200 Hz are pretty much in line with 1 kHz, so the low fundamental range doesn't have the typical added warmth that often comes with bass-boosted in-ears, but as EarSonics' ES3 don’t only focus on the sub-bass but also clearly concentrate on the midbass, it's fun, thumpy and full of impact without a hammering upper bass punch or intrusive lower fundamental range warmth/bloom. Yeah, that's a lot of fun for recreational listening.
It's fun, it's unique, it's addictive; it's simply just a really neat implementation of the bass boost.
The midrange timbre is natural and realistic except for the upper mids/presence range lacking some presence (quite comparable to my Campfire Audio Andromeda), wherefore they lack some glare and crunch and are very mild, even to extend of some perceived vocal resolution being missed in comparison to the rest of the audio spectrum.
The middle treble is in the background as well, just to come back with a mild peak just a bit above 7 kHz, but it's not intrusive and gives the treble just a bit of brightness that would be otherwise lacking due to the recessed upper mids.
Extension past 10 kHz is really good.
Frequency Response:
Etymotic ER-4S-Compensation
That’s also mostly how I perceive the sound, however with a bit less sub-bass quantity and an upper treble peak that crosses the “neutral” line just barely, along with good but not exaggeratedly bright super treble extension.
InEar ProPhile 8 Compensation
Resolution:
The BA woofer's bass balance between tightness and body is just great - it sounds just a bit more dynamic than absolutely tight-sterile ("dry"), but is still and absolutely clearly on the Balanced Armature side of things - definitely nothing for friends of a more dynamic driver-like presentation (my ES3 are, for example, also tighter and faster than my definitely softer, more impactful, dynamic sounding Campfire Audio Andromeda (that are however great in their own way with their still mostly controlled bass rumble) in the bass). Therefore the lows sound definitely tight and fast, but with just a little bit of decay lingering still existing. Bass control is very good as well.
The midrange and treble separation and details are good as in not appearing to be lacking at all, however compared to other in-ears that I own that are more or less in this price range and resolve well, such as my Westone W4R or Logitech UE900, my ES3 don't deliver as much and as precise micro details or note separation. (Ultimately the ES3s’ treble has an edge over its middle frequencies in terms of separation.)
Soundstage:
Precise imaging (instrument placement; instrument separation is good, too).
Three-dimensional and authentic - overall just slightly more oval than circular. Sounds spherical and realistic to me.
Extends further than the base of my head.
Conclusion:
Recommended.
Clearly the bass tuning is what makes the ES3 unique and a very enjoyable recreational listen, but the rest of the spectrum is tuned nicely as well. Along with the fairly nice soundstage presentation, Earsonics’ triple-BA in-ears offer a really good overall package; though I wouldn’t mind more premium appearing shells and a better ear tip selection.
Photos: