[Luis Mad]

FYI (UK) hifiheadphones have the EVO on sale at £299 which is a saving of £200 and the cheapest i have seen it - and i just bought one

d

Many thanks for this! I have just bought a pair for me. According to hifiheadphones webpage they are covered by two year warranty in the EU. Only nine left!

 

[Toesnip13]

I hope it's ok for me to say I'm selling my spare pair of EVO on here for around £250 or nearest offer. Thanks

 

[carmatic]

The only reason why there aren't more similar products such as ER4SR out there is it is difficult to sell a product (and make a handsome profit) solely based on SQ............plus the fact that the self-proclaimed "audiophiles" like gimmicks and technical BS (and astronomical prices) to boast about and make them feel in-the-know.

Evo is to compete with outside products, and for people who (sadly) had never heard of Ety or heard the ER4 series. For Etyheads the ER4 is the pinnacle of all things. The only change I would have hoped for is an updated form factor - I'd have no hesitation to get (yet) another pair of ER4 if a new generation of it comes in the Evo exterior.

my dream would be to have an Evo with the channel matching of the ER-4
as in, each of the 3 drivers are channel matched ... due to the bass drivers being matched, this should extend the channel matching down below 100hz which would make such a pair of IEM's objectively superior to the ER-4 series , which are not matched below that frequency

 

[Luis Mad]

My Etymotic Evo arrived this morning. So far very impressed with the sound. My favorite item (until today?) the Er-4XR.

 

[Rackhour]

FYI (UK) hifiheadphones have the EVO on sale at £299 which is a saving of £200 and the cheapest i have seen it - and i just bought one

d

I'm starting to wonder if the MSRP has been unofficially reduced. According to camelcamelcamel, the Evo has been under USD400 on Amazon US since the beginning of the year and is currently just under USD360. A raw currency conversion of GBP299 gives USD389, and I don't know whether UK prices include or exclude tax. Still, that's within the ballpark.

 

[qsk78]

In my opinion Etymotic could charge more for EVO. Price/value ratio is incredibly high.

I believe there are two reasons why some people do not like EVO:
- they can not make it perform as it should (poor/bad sources like smartphones, tablets, cheap DAPs, etc.)
- they don't like its close to reference tuning

 

[tinyman392]

In my opinion Etymotic could charge more for EVO. Price/value ratio is incredibly high.

Don't tell Crin this I'm pretty sure he feels it's overpriced and has no reason for existing despite his review kind of telling you its reason for existing.

In my opinion Etymotic could charge more for EVO. Price/value ratio is incredibly high.

I believe there are two reasons why some people do not like EVO:
- they can not make it perform as it should (poor/bad sources like smartphones, tablets, cheap DAPs, etc.)
- they don't like its close to reference tuning

The odd thing is that the tuning is a little too far from reference tuning for me in terms of my gripes with it. Not that I think they're bad, they're far from it, but from that perspective it's a bit of a picky gripe.

 

[Zachik]

The odd thing is that the tuning is a little too far from reference tuning for me in terms of my gripes with it. Not that I think they're bad, they're far from it, but from that perspective it's a bit of a picky gripe.

Stop being so picky!

Joking aside, and I have seen it with various headphones and IEMs from all brands - the cliché that we all hear different is actually very true.
Internal ear structure DOES change the sound waves hitting your eardrums! Add to that personal tastes and preferences, and you just cannot make a product (headphone, IEM, etc.) that would satisfy everyone.
@tinyman392 - I am curious: which Etymotic products are to your taste? Which do you prefer over the EVO?

 

[Luis Mad]

Some thoughts on the Evo after a few days of use.

Here an Etymotic fan. So maybe not so objective…. I first bought the Er4xr two years ago and became my favorite iem. After that I bought last year the ER2XR with Etymotion Bluetooth for on the go. I use those on the way to and back from work, walking or in public transportation. Last I bought the ER3XR that I use at my office. My favorite headphones are the Denon Ah-D7200 and also like very much the Akg K712 pro. I listen to all sorts of music but in the last years mainly classical. I prefer symphonic classical: Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Beethoven etc. I attend many classical music concerts and when listening to music I look for something as natural as possible and as close to live music as possible.

The Evo arrived last week and I have used them quite a few hours, specially this weekend. My thoughts:

-as all Etymotic without the proper seal they do not sound so good. Here maybe even more extreme than with the classic Etys. My first half hour without proper seal was disappointing. I was horrified no bass and excessive highs. I first tried with my favorite tips with the other Etys but the Evo are different

-after tip rolling and finding what suits you best and the proper seal, the sound is amazing. Lovely bass and clear highs. There is very clear improvement imo from the Er4XR. They sound clearer with greater detail and instrument separation. Transparent is how somebody described the sound. I completely agree. They are simply fantastic for classical. Now without any doubt my favorite iems. They are in a different, higher, category to the Er4Xr and that for me is a lot to say. I cannot compare with other iems in the expensive side but they are simply amazing.

-in my case best seal comes with Comply TX100. I also like the results with the foam tips. With the classic Etys I prefer the triples flanges but I find more difficult to get a proper seal with those and the Evo. Advice, try them all!

-isolation is fantastic. Nevertheless I can get slightly better isolation with the classic Etys. I think the classic get in deeper into the ears.

-the cable has 0 microphonics and therefore is fantastic for deep insertion as anybody with Etys experience will appreciate. It looks fragile but reports as to durability seem to be good. Tendency to tangle is on the bad side. To avoid getting tangled when in storage I fold them on the foam shape in the provided box.

-putting them on and off is not exactly easy. If the classic Etys are peculiar, this is still worse. These are not something you do not want to be putting on and off all the time.

-once properly on they are imo very comfortable and can have them on for long without any discomfort (as long as you do not have to take them off and put on all the time). They are also comfortable in bed even for sleeping or resting sideways.

-the Evo work wonderfully with the Astell and Kern SR25 and with the Sony NWA55L. With the Sony at 90/120 volume. Astell volume max 100/150.

-can’t decide but today I do not know what I prefer: the Denon Ah-D7200 headphones or the Evo. The Evo are sooo good!

 

[InvisibleInk]

today I do not know what I prefer: the Denon Ah-D7200 headphones or the Evo.

They compliment each other. The biocellulose D7200 probably punches and slams and excels at dynamics, which presents a sharp contrast to what the balanced armatures in the EVO are about.

 

[tinyman392]

Stop being so picky!

Joking aside, and I have seen it with various headphones and IEMs from all brands - the cliché that we all hear different is actually very true.
Internal ear structure DOES change the sound waves hitting your eardrums! Add to that personal tastes and preferences, and you just cannot make a product (headphone, IEM, etc.) that would satisfy everyone.
@tinyman392 - I am curious: which Etymotic products are to your taste? Which do you prefer over the EVO?

With respect to tonality, the SE/SR series is closer to my tastes. With the EVO, they bumped the bass but also eased up on the upper midrange. I likely would have been fine with one or the other, not both. The fit and form factor of the EVO is better than the other Etys though too.

 

[Luis Mad]

Has anybody tried the Evo with Etymotion BT cable with T2 connectors?

 

[qsk78]

With respect to tonality, the SE/SR series is closer to my tastes.

Well, EVO is a different beast. This is not the ER4SR/XR upgrade in my opinion.
Try to listen to EVO alone for a couple of months and you will unlikely go back to SRs since it will be lacking many things like soundstage, bass texture and extension, separation, dynamics. I find more similarities here with full size cans. EVO can substitute headphones if needed.

I love the ER4SR and still keep one pair (for on the go purposes). They are clean, crisp, and accurate but this is not enough if you know how good headphones should sound.

 

[carmatic]

In my opinion Etymotic could charge more for EVO. Price/value ratio is incredibly high.

The only way I would accept a higher price for the EVO is if they implemented the ER4 style channel matching , for the individual drivers in each unit

 

[Bret Halford]

It's a very good question. It is certainly a possibility, but nothing is etched into stone yet. It could be an SR EVO or a different model entirely. If that is something that you (or anybody else here) wants, I would encourage you to comment and make your voice heard. The SR models don't sell in the quantities that the XR models do, but I know that many folks love them and I personally would like see new models offer that option.

Sorry for the late response, but I want to chime in and say how excited I would also be for an SR tuned version of the Evo (or whatever). While I enjoy the bass options (including Evo which I am listening to right now) I find the SE/SR/S tuning is so unique to Ety and would scoop a new model up without hesitation.

Love your work, been using Ety's for decades - thank you, on behalf of my ears!