Introduction
This is my first ever IEM review be nice >.<
I've been using the RHA MA750i as a daily portable IEM for over 3 years and is due for an upgrade. I bought this unit for myself intended for portable everyday use and drumming. After years of exploring my IEM tastes I *think* I've finally found it and the ER3XR seemed to offer what I want (portable, noise isolation, non-fatiguing sound sig). The ER3XR were rumored to be 90% of the ER4XR with significant reduction in price made it a no brainer to replace my portable IEM.
Disclaimer & About Myself
This review is based solely on how I perceive music and the headphones themselves. My preferred taste is close to the Harman target, but with a ~4dB boost to the bass instead of the horrifying ~8 dB boost from the IE 2017 target, and a small boost in the 5-8k region. You can learn more about the Harman Target HERE. I am currently a University student with most likely good hearing (no imbalance, can hear ~20-17k Hz), although I've had the occasional tinnitus since middle school (I blame weak genes). Take care of your ears people! I listen to a huge variety of music.
I am also vey direct and critical about stuff, but please don't take it as I hate the products. Just want to make the flaws clear to people/potential buyers.
Please keep in mind I don't own a huge inventory of headphones, so most of my review is based on my experience with the FLC 8s, RHA MA750 and the HD 6XX. I also had a brief experience with the Campfire Comets, Oriveti New Primacy, and the RHA T20i.
Accessories & Build
The ER3XR came with bare essentials and is in a simple box. A bit lackluster compared to Chi-Fi and its ER4 brother but with the price they're charging I guess I'll overlook it. The small pouch is nice with a small extra compartment to put the tools/extra ear tips.
The build quality of the housing is aluminum and is very sturdy. The detachable MMCX cable is a nice touch. The connectors are also sturdy. However, even with the provided clip, microphonics is a huge problem with the cable. The angle of the connectors also don't really allow over-ear wearing which I thought initially would be a problem, but with how sturdy the triple flange "sucks" into the ears I'd say these falling out during a nap on a plane flight isn't a huge worry. However, I can't help but think how much microphonics from the cable will be alleviated if they can be worn so.
Design & Comfort
As mentioned above, these are not designed to be worn over-ear. They don't fall out easily, in fact pulling these out require you to do so slowly (spinning it might help). I often pull these out quickly to talk to people and they feel like pulling out my innards (don't do it often, it actually hurts!). The sleek rubber finish of the cable felt high quality but probably contributed a significant portion of microphonics.
Initially I feared that the triple flanges might not fit my ears well from all the forum talk, and the deep insertion might cause pain. I mostly use Comply's on my RHA 750, but I really dislike them as they change the sound balance despite being comfortable. To my pleasant surprise, these fit my ears comfortably for a long time, to the point I can say they are close to the Comply's on comfort. I normally can't even wear the JVC Spiral Dots for over 3 hours, and even a shorter time for other lesser quality silicon tips.
Alright, I guess it does sound a bit unbelievable that triple flanges are more comfortable than regular tips so let me come clean -- I've interned in a noisy factory, and for a brief period of my life also handled firearms in the military -- I often had to wear triple flange earplugs for hours so I guess I'm kinda a triple flange "veteran"? Although I do have to say compared to those itchy and bulky earplugs these are way more comfortable.
First Impression
So here are my first impressions notes when listening to it for the first time:
- Surprisingly present bass. Lots of people claimed the XR still sounded "flat" and don't get the SE. I disagree, these are definitely warm IEMs and obviously have an elevated bass (in a good and expected way though, I can't stand those 10+ dB V-shaped IEMs. Seriously what the hell, why are those a thing??).
- Warm, not bright at all. Awesome for long sessions without inducing fatigue.
- Single BA has surprisingly good separation, but starts choking on complex passages whenever heavier bass instruments are involved (mostly rock/metal/electronic)
Sound
For those like me who are super technical about frequency curves, here's a frequency graph by a fellow head-fi member: THREAD LINK. I'm not going into detail what the sound signature is like, the graph should tell you about it. However, if I were to describe it in a sentence I guess it would be "Warm IEMs tuned flat with a slight bass boost without fatiguing highs".
I will give each category an arbitrary score on how much value it provides relative to other categories and its price. (Note: I am an extremely critical person. A 3/5 means "acceptable performance".)Without further to do, lets break it down:
Bass (3/5) -- Easily one of the weakest point of the IEM. The ER3XR performs better on simple tracks without fast decaying bass. The lack of a dynamic driver like many multi-drier IEM makes its impact and separation sub-par imo. On simple soundtracks it performs fast flawlessly -- such as a single bass guitar performance, classical piano with simple background music, a drum solo, etc. However, in more complex situations (drum + bass guitar + vocal + guitar + other stuff) the single BA driver starts choking, causing the bass to loose overall quality and bleed into the mids/highs. I would avoid listening to EDM, metal, and more complex rock music with these.
Mids (5/5) -- The mids are intimate and awesome. Piano sounds absolutely amazing. Vocals are perfect. I mean, they are tuned closely to the diffuse field target and close to my ideal sound signature. Nothing to complain here.
Highs (4/5) -- Sometimes I wish the highs could be a bit brighter. From ER3XR and ER4XR measurements, I wish these could be tuned a but closer to the ER4 with a tad bit less bass and stronger highs. I use the grey-grey-gold filters on the FLCs and they sound bright and powerful, especially hearing the details on the trumpets. While details are definitely not lacking on these, the weaker highs make it harder to hear. However, those who are sensitive to sibilance will find the smooth highs perfect.
Soundstage (4/5) -- Soundstage is alright I guess? I do not have similar pricing IEMs to compare. They are definitely larger than the "in your head" RHA MA750s, but do not have the wider directionality my FLCs have. I will say that the soundstage is just right for pianos, as it sounds like you are the player him/herself. Most instruments don't sound like coming afar, but distant enough to differentiate the positions. I guess in terms of a concert hall, the soundstage ability sounds like you sitting in the conductor position, with most instruments no further than 20 ft from you with the exception of percussion effects actually sounding a bit wider. Unfortunately violins sound rather close, but on some tracks the intimacy makes it sound like a private audition which is kinda awesome. The ER3XR definitely has a bigger width than depth.
Separation (4.5/5 Classical; 3/5 Metal/Complex Rock/Electronic) -- I'm going to iterate again, the ER3XR is best not for fast decaying explosive bass, but slow, constant mid-bass focused tracks. On classical music, separation is good. The not rather large soundstage gives an impression things are close together, but I can assure your every single instrument is clearly separate, well represented. On more complex racks such as metal, 80% of the track should be fine. However, when everyone is playing together sometimes the IEM struggles to keep up mushing everything together. On EDM, whenever the heavy bass hits pretty much destroys the detail and separation of the entire spectrum. However, I do want to say that it really isn't as bad as I describe it to be. The bass performance still blew my RHAs out of the water, which bear in mind, was a $130 USD MSRP IEM. I'm just a critical person ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
Music Example
In this section I list random music I felt like listening to in my library with a "rating" how well it performs and random thoughts. Use this section as reference to see if the music genre you listen to are suitable for these. I highly recommend reading the commends by order as you can read my flow of thoughts as I progress throughout my library.
Note: At this point my IEM had over 2 weeks of burn-in if that's a thing you care about.
Note 2: A 3/5 rating essentially means it's acceptable performance to me and I don't mind at all listening to such music with these IEMs.
Rating (out of 5):
1 - Poor performance; 2 - Struggling often; 3 - Fair performance; 4 - Good Performance; 5 - Exceeds expectations
Classical-like/Classical
Florian Bur - [Lovely #04] Lifelong (5/5) -- The intimacy of the piano was great.
Florian Bur - [Welcome to My World (Single)] Welcome to My World (5/5) -- Surprising impact on the low end. Good separation. Great details. Love the strings. Warm and lush. Snare drums at the end had surprisingly wide soundstage effect.
Florian Bur - [Unique #02] Aurora (5/5) -- The 2nd half of the track proves it easily handles separation with good soundstage on a more classical-styled music.
Tunes of Fantasy - [Dream Once Again #16] We Believe (5/5) -- The percussion portion was well separated. Good details. Bass drum were accurate.
Velvet piano - [Velvet piano #02] Mariage D'Amour (5/5) -- Great piano clarity, the backwound was warm and soft while the piano was impactful.
The Piano Guys - [The Piano Guys #04] Beethoven's 5 Secrets (4/5) -- Overall well balanced. Some stronger bass impact portions of the song briefly muffles the mids/highs. Loved the cello.
The Piano Guys - [The Piano Guys #07] Arwen's Vigil (5/5) -- Very clean piano, cello, percussion and bass. Cello was intimate and great.
Lindsey Stirling - [Lindsey Stirling CD1 #14] Transcendence (orchestral version) (4.5/5) -- The voilin was awesome and wasn't overly bright like my FLCs.
Lindsey Stirling - [Shatter Me CD1 #15] Take Flight (orchestral version) (4.5/5) -- Same as above.
Alexander Borodin - Prince Igor Polovtsian Dances Tańce Połowieckie (5/5) -- OH MAH GAWD classical sounds perfect on these. Impactful when needed, quiet and smooth on other portions. Perfection.
[Piano] Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica - Soundtrack Medley [piano] (5/5) -- Beautiful medley.
[Piano] Studio Ghibli Medley (5/5) -- Again, if you listen to a bunch of piano, these IEMs are literally perfect for it. The boosted mid-bass really makes the accompaniment portion more full.
Electronic/EDM
Alan Walker - [Darkside (feat. Au/Ra & Tomine Harket) - Single CD1 #01] Darkside (feat. Au/Ra & Tomine Harket) (3.5/5) -- Everything was all fine until the bass dropped. The bass felt muddy and felt like overshadowing the mids. Definitely not "horrible" category, would still listen to the track when I feel like enjoying some Alan Walker.
Alan Walker - [Faded #01] Faded (4/5) -- Faded performed surprisingly well. While the bass beat had a hint of muddiness, and definitely did not pack a punch from dynamic driver, it managed to separate the female vocal, bass hit and the other sounds well.
Nitro Fun - [EDM] Soldiers (4/5) -- At this point I'm starting to feel that these IEMs don't sound as bad as I thought they would on EDM. I mostly tested these on metal and I thought it would apply to EDM too.
Marshmello - [EDM] Alone (4/5) -- I stand correct. Unless you care dearly about the explosive dynamic driver +10dB bass impact, if you prefer a clean balanced bass thump like I do these IEMs definitely perform fine.
Scary Noise - [EDM] Reaper (3.5/5) -- Same thoughts as above. The excessive bass thumps do reveal some muddiness in the single BA though.
Virtual Riot - [EDM] Energy Drink (4.5/5) -- The mid-bass focused thumps made the track sound rather clean for an EDM.
Jim Yosef - [EDM] Firefly (3/5) -- The more complex electronic rhythm during the "chorus" definitely didn't fare as well on these IEMs.
Metal/Rock
Avenged Sevenfold - [Nightmare #01] Nightmare (4.5/5) -- The percussion was clean and performed well. I was surprised how the double bass during the chorus performed well.
Avenged Sevenfold - [Nightmare #02] Welcome To The Family (4/5) -- Whoah the beginning was awesome. However, as it starts getting noisy it definitely struggles a slight bit to retain all details throughout the spectrum.
Avenged Sevenfold - [Carry On - Single #01] Carry On (3/5) -- The beginning definitely struggles a bit, but the rest were much better.
Avenged Sevenfold - [The Stage CD1 #01] The Stage (3.5/5) -- While portions of the track were awesome, some parts it struggles to keep up with the quick lower toms and bass drums.
Metallica - [Metallica CD1 #08] Nothing Else Matters (4/5) -- The percussion was clean. Can't help but think that bass kick was a bit unnatural and un-impactful. Overall the track was well balanced.
Disturbed - [Immortalized CD1 #11] The Sound of Silence (4/5) -- Intimate male vocals.
MASSIVE ATTACK - [Mezzanine CD1/2 #1/6] Angel (4/5) -- Our classic Head-Fi bass performance test track did pretty well. It wasn't until the more complex portion that the bass kick slightly bleeds into the mids.
Nirvana - [Nevermind #01] Smells Like Teen Spirit (3.5/5) -- Good clean percussion. However, complex portions do overwhelm these IEMs a tad bit.
We Are The Fallen - [Tear The World Down #01] Bury Me Alive (2.5/5) -- Ouch. Yeah the amount of stuff certainly did make it struggle a bit. Not that I "wouldn't" listen to this track because of that, but the lost details definitely made it not as enjoyable.
Queen - [Greatest Hits II #01] A Kind Of Magic (4.5/5) -- Most Rock music that are more calming such as queen will perform just fine. Simple beats and rhythm.
Queen - [Greatest Hits II #03] Radio Ga Ga (3.5/5) -- As expected the super hard bass hit does bleed into the mids.
Queen - [Classic Queen #02] Bohemian Rhapsody (4/5) -- Mamaaaa, oooooooOOOOOooooOOOOooo. The old recording is definitely showing its age. The bad part of having a detailed IEM such as etymotic’s, you hear the flaws of the old recordings.
AC/DC - [Highway To Hell #01] Highway To Hell (4/5) -- Again, 30 year old recording, starting to show its age. However, the simplicity of old recordings means that the Ety's dont struggle at all.
AC/DC - [Warning! High Voltage CD1 #01] Thunderstruck (5/5) -- No heavy bass = pure awesomeness.
30 Seconds to Mars - [This Is War #04] This Is War (3/5) -- Not sure if its the recording, but detail is lacking. And dang the middle school feels.
Bon Jovi - [Greatest Hits - The Ultimate CD1 #16] No Apologies (4/5) -- No apologies, but the song performed well.
Bon Jovi - [Greatest Hits - The Ultimate CD1 #01] Livin' On A Prayer (3.5/5) -- This song struggled a bit, although it sounded like it was the recording though. Separation was a bit lacking.
Aerosmith - [Big Ones #06] Janie's Got A Gun (4/5) -- Clean percussion and overall song.
My Chemical Romance - [The Black Parade / Living with Ghosts (The 10th Anniversary Edition) CD1 #05] Welcome to the Black Parade (2/5) -- WE'LL CARRY ONNNNNNNNNNNN!!! Emo childhood flashbacks anyone? Anyone? Jokes aside, kinda sad these IEMs struggled big time on one of my all-time favorite song. The toms/crash/screaming at the beginning definitely showed it struggled, and the chorus didn't help either.
Male Vocal
Mario Frangoulis - [Sometimes I Dream #05] Naturaleza Muerta (4.5/5) -- Overall it was great. Balanced.
Mario Frangoulis - [Sometimes I Dream #09] Hijo De La Luna (4.5/5) -- The male vocals in this was awesome.
Jeff Buckley - [Grace (MOV LP) CD1 #06] Hallelujah (5/5) -- Flawless male vocals.
Pop
ZAYN feat. Sia - [Dusk Till Dawn #01] Dusk Till Dawn (4/5) -- Sounds alright to me.
Eminem - [The Marshall Mathers LP 2 #12] The Monster (Feat. Rihanna) (3.5/5) -- I blame the mastering for this song. Separation wasn't great. Percussion felt muffled into the vocals. But then it's pop music...
Luis Fonsi ft. Daddy Yankee - [Despacito & Mis Grandes Éxitos CD1/1 #01] Despacito (4/5) -- ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Orchestra/?
Sarah Brightman - [Symphony #02] Fleurs Du Mal (4/5) -- This one did surprisingly well.
近藤浩治 - [The Legend of Zelda 30th Anniversary Concert CD2 #07] ゼルダの伝説メインテーマ (5/5) -- While the trumpet isn't as bright as I prefer, the overall separation is amazing. Stop hitting the damn chicken!
近藤浩治 - [The Legend of Zelda 30th Anniversary Concert CD2 #03] ゲルドの谷 (4.5/5) -- This one was a bit more complex. Overall it was amazing, but sometimes the timpani goes muddy.
J Pop/Anime Stuff (Insert frustration about loudness war ruminants in Japanese Masterings)
LiSA - [Ichiban no Takaramono ~Yui final ver.~ #01] Ichiban no Takaramono ~Yui final ver.~ (4/5) -- Definitely less fatiguing than my FLCs
HO-KAGO TEA TIME (CV: Toyosaki Aki, Hikasa Youko, Satou Satomi, Kotobuki Minako, Taketatsu Ayana) - [K-ON! MUSIC HISTORY'S BOX Disc-1 “OP & ED Single” CD1 #11] NO, Thank You! (4/5) -- This track sounds piercing on my FLCs. On the ER3XR, hey aren't bright at all, once again proving the warmth of these IEMs.
Ayano Mashiro - [ideal white #01] ideal white (3/5) -- This song sounds partly a mess due to the master (Lookup: The loudness war. Japanese mastering are super prone to this.)
Haruna Luna - [Sora wa Takaku Kaze wa Utau #01] Sora wa Takaku Kaze wa Utau (4/5) -- Percussion hits and separation are on point.
[Anime Orchestra] - [Fate stay night] ★ Ideal White (Orchestra) (4.5/5) -- The separation and detail were great.
Conclusion
At $170, I really can't complain about these. I just really wish that the bass performance could have been better. I've always wanted to own one of the Etymotic’s since forever and imagined them as these perfect detail gods. I guess I was just expecting too much out of these, especially them being the budget version of the ER4 costing only $170.
Overall, I highly recommend them. If your library consists of <20% Metl/Rock/Electronic music, these are definitely worth it. If all you listen to is classical, especially symphony or piano, these are definitely 100% worth its price.
EDIT 1: Fixed missing text from intro. *derp*
EDIT 2: Fixed 100+ typo *oof*
This is my first ever IEM review be nice >.<
I've been using the RHA MA750i as a daily portable IEM for over 3 years and is due for an upgrade. I bought this unit for myself intended for portable everyday use and drumming. After years of exploring my IEM tastes I *think* I've finally found it and the ER3XR seemed to offer what I want (portable, noise isolation, non-fatiguing sound sig). The ER3XR were rumored to be 90% of the ER4XR with significant reduction in price made it a no brainer to replace my portable IEM.
Disclaimer & About Myself
This review is based solely on how I perceive music and the headphones themselves. My preferred taste is close to the Harman target, but with a ~4dB boost to the bass instead of the horrifying ~8 dB boost from the IE 2017 target, and a small boost in the 5-8k region. You can learn more about the Harman Target HERE. I am currently a University student with most likely good hearing (no imbalance, can hear ~20-17k Hz), although I've had the occasional tinnitus since middle school (I blame weak genes). Take care of your ears people! I listen to a huge variety of music.
I am also vey direct and critical about stuff, but please don't take it as I hate the products. Just want to make the flaws clear to people/potential buyers.
Please keep in mind I don't own a huge inventory of headphones, so most of my review is based on my experience with the FLC 8s, RHA MA750 and the HD 6XX. I also had a brief experience with the Campfire Comets, Oriveti New Primacy, and the RHA T20i.
Accessories & Build
The ER3XR came with bare essentials and is in a simple box. A bit lackluster compared to Chi-Fi and its ER4 brother but with the price they're charging I guess I'll overlook it. The small pouch is nice with a small extra compartment to put the tools/extra ear tips.
The build quality of the housing is aluminum and is very sturdy. The detachable MMCX cable is a nice touch. The connectors are also sturdy. However, even with the provided clip, microphonics is a huge problem with the cable. The angle of the connectors also don't really allow over-ear wearing which I thought initially would be a problem, but with how sturdy the triple flange "sucks" into the ears I'd say these falling out during a nap on a plane flight isn't a huge worry. However, I can't help but think how much microphonics from the cable will be alleviated if they can be worn so.
Design & Comfort
As mentioned above, these are not designed to be worn over-ear. They don't fall out easily, in fact pulling these out require you to do so slowly (spinning it might help). I often pull these out quickly to talk to people and they feel like pulling out my innards (don't do it often, it actually hurts!). The sleek rubber finish of the cable felt high quality but probably contributed a significant portion of microphonics.
Initially I feared that the triple flanges might not fit my ears well from all the forum talk, and the deep insertion might cause pain. I mostly use Comply's on my RHA 750, but I really dislike them as they change the sound balance despite being comfortable. To my pleasant surprise, these fit my ears comfortably for a long time, to the point I can say they are close to the Comply's on comfort. I normally can't even wear the JVC Spiral Dots for over 3 hours, and even a shorter time for other lesser quality silicon tips.
Alright, I guess it does sound a bit unbelievable that triple flanges are more comfortable than regular tips so let me come clean -- I've interned in a noisy factory, and for a brief period of my life also handled firearms in the military -- I often had to wear triple flange earplugs for hours so I guess I'm kinda a triple flange "veteran"? Although I do have to say compared to those itchy and bulky earplugs these are way more comfortable.
First Impression
So here are my first impressions notes when listening to it for the first time:
- Surprisingly present bass. Lots of people claimed the XR still sounded "flat" and don't get the SE. I disagree, these are definitely warm IEMs and obviously have an elevated bass (in a good and expected way though, I can't stand those 10+ dB V-shaped IEMs. Seriously what the hell, why are those a thing??).
- Warm, not bright at all. Awesome for long sessions without inducing fatigue.
- Single BA has surprisingly good separation, but starts choking on complex passages whenever heavier bass instruments are involved (mostly rock/metal/electronic)
Sound
For those like me who are super technical about frequency curves, here's a frequency graph by a fellow head-fi member: THREAD LINK. I'm not going into detail what the sound signature is like, the graph should tell you about it. However, if I were to describe it in a sentence I guess it would be "Warm IEMs tuned flat with a slight bass boost without fatiguing highs".
I will give each category an arbitrary score on how much value it provides relative to other categories and its price. (Note: I am an extremely critical person. A 3/5 means "acceptable performance".)Without further to do, lets break it down:
Bass (3/5) -- Easily one of the weakest point of the IEM. The ER3XR performs better on simple tracks without fast decaying bass. The lack of a dynamic driver like many multi-drier IEM makes its impact and separation sub-par imo. On simple soundtracks it performs fast flawlessly -- such as a single bass guitar performance, classical piano with simple background music, a drum solo, etc. However, in more complex situations (drum + bass guitar + vocal + guitar + other stuff) the single BA driver starts choking, causing the bass to loose overall quality and bleed into the mids/highs. I would avoid listening to EDM, metal, and more complex rock music with these.
Mids (5/5) -- The mids are intimate and awesome. Piano sounds absolutely amazing. Vocals are perfect. I mean, they are tuned closely to the diffuse field target and close to my ideal sound signature. Nothing to complain here.
Highs (4/5) -- Sometimes I wish the highs could be a bit brighter. From ER3XR and ER4XR measurements, I wish these could be tuned a but closer to the ER4 with a tad bit less bass and stronger highs. I use the grey-grey-gold filters on the FLCs and they sound bright and powerful, especially hearing the details on the trumpets. While details are definitely not lacking on these, the weaker highs make it harder to hear. However, those who are sensitive to sibilance will find the smooth highs perfect.
Soundstage (4/5) -- Soundstage is alright I guess? I do not have similar pricing IEMs to compare. They are definitely larger than the "in your head" RHA MA750s, but do not have the wider directionality my FLCs have. I will say that the soundstage is just right for pianos, as it sounds like you are the player him/herself. Most instruments don't sound like coming afar, but distant enough to differentiate the positions. I guess in terms of a concert hall, the soundstage ability sounds like you sitting in the conductor position, with most instruments no further than 20 ft from you with the exception of percussion effects actually sounding a bit wider. Unfortunately violins sound rather close, but on some tracks the intimacy makes it sound like a private audition which is kinda awesome. The ER3XR definitely has a bigger width than depth.
Separation (4.5/5 Classical; 3/5 Metal/Complex Rock/Electronic) -- I'm going to iterate again, the ER3XR is best not for fast decaying explosive bass, but slow, constant mid-bass focused tracks. On classical music, separation is good. The not rather large soundstage gives an impression things are close together, but I can assure your every single instrument is clearly separate, well represented. On more complex racks such as metal, 80% of the track should be fine. However, when everyone is playing together sometimes the IEM struggles to keep up mushing everything together. On EDM, whenever the heavy bass hits pretty much destroys the detail and separation of the entire spectrum. However, I do want to say that it really isn't as bad as I describe it to be. The bass performance still blew my RHAs out of the water, which bear in mind, was a $130 USD MSRP IEM. I'm just a critical person ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
Music Example
In this section I list random music I felt like listening to in my library with a "rating" how well it performs and random thoughts. Use this section as reference to see if the music genre you listen to are suitable for these. I highly recommend reading the commends by order as you can read my flow of thoughts as I progress throughout my library.
Note: At this point my IEM had over 2 weeks of burn-in if that's a thing you care about.
Note 2: A 3/5 rating essentially means it's acceptable performance to me and I don't mind at all listening to such music with these IEMs.
Rating (out of 5):
1 - Poor performance; 2 - Struggling often; 3 - Fair performance; 4 - Good Performance; 5 - Exceeds expectations
Classical-like/Classical
Florian Bur - [Lovely #04] Lifelong (5/5) -- The intimacy of the piano was great.
Florian Bur - [Welcome to My World (Single)] Welcome to My World (5/5) -- Surprising impact on the low end. Good separation. Great details. Love the strings. Warm and lush. Snare drums at the end had surprisingly wide soundstage effect.
Florian Bur - [Unique #02] Aurora (5/5) -- The 2nd half of the track proves it easily handles separation with good soundstage on a more classical-styled music.
Tunes of Fantasy - [Dream Once Again #16] We Believe (5/5) -- The percussion portion was well separated. Good details. Bass drum were accurate.
Velvet piano - [Velvet piano #02] Mariage D'Amour (5/5) -- Great piano clarity, the backwound was warm and soft while the piano was impactful.
The Piano Guys - [The Piano Guys #04] Beethoven's 5 Secrets (4/5) -- Overall well balanced. Some stronger bass impact portions of the song briefly muffles the mids/highs. Loved the cello.
The Piano Guys - [The Piano Guys #07] Arwen's Vigil (5/5) -- Very clean piano, cello, percussion and bass. Cello was intimate and great.
Lindsey Stirling - [Lindsey Stirling CD1 #14] Transcendence (orchestral version) (4.5/5) -- The voilin was awesome and wasn't overly bright like my FLCs.
Lindsey Stirling - [Shatter Me CD1 #15] Take Flight (orchestral version) (4.5/5) -- Same as above.
Alexander Borodin - Prince Igor Polovtsian Dances Tańce Połowieckie (5/5) -- OH MAH GAWD classical sounds perfect on these. Impactful when needed, quiet and smooth on other portions. Perfection.
[Piano] Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica - Soundtrack Medley [piano] (5/5) -- Beautiful medley.
[Piano] Studio Ghibli Medley (5/5) -- Again, if you listen to a bunch of piano, these IEMs are literally perfect for it. The boosted mid-bass really makes the accompaniment portion more full.
Electronic/EDM
Alan Walker - [Darkside (feat. Au/Ra & Tomine Harket) - Single CD1 #01] Darkside (feat. Au/Ra & Tomine Harket) (3.5/5) -- Everything was all fine until the bass dropped. The bass felt muddy and felt like overshadowing the mids. Definitely not "horrible" category, would still listen to the track when I feel like enjoying some Alan Walker.
Alan Walker - [Faded #01] Faded (4/5) -- Faded performed surprisingly well. While the bass beat had a hint of muddiness, and definitely did not pack a punch from dynamic driver, it managed to separate the female vocal, bass hit and the other sounds well.
Nitro Fun - [EDM] Soldiers (4/5) -- At this point I'm starting to feel that these IEMs don't sound as bad as I thought they would on EDM. I mostly tested these on metal and I thought it would apply to EDM too.
Marshmello - [EDM] Alone (4/5) -- I stand correct. Unless you care dearly about the explosive dynamic driver +10dB bass impact, if you prefer a clean balanced bass thump like I do these IEMs definitely perform fine.
Scary Noise - [EDM] Reaper (3.5/5) -- Same thoughts as above. The excessive bass thumps do reveal some muddiness in the single BA though.
Virtual Riot - [EDM] Energy Drink (4.5/5) -- The mid-bass focused thumps made the track sound rather clean for an EDM.
Jim Yosef - [EDM] Firefly (3/5) -- The more complex electronic rhythm during the "chorus" definitely didn't fare as well on these IEMs.
Metal/Rock
Avenged Sevenfold - [Nightmare #01] Nightmare (4.5/5) -- The percussion was clean and performed well. I was surprised how the double bass during the chorus performed well.
Avenged Sevenfold - [Nightmare #02] Welcome To The Family (4/5) -- Whoah the beginning was awesome. However, as it starts getting noisy it definitely struggles a slight bit to retain all details throughout the spectrum.
Avenged Sevenfold - [Carry On - Single #01] Carry On (3/5) -- The beginning definitely struggles a bit, but the rest were much better.
Avenged Sevenfold - [The Stage CD1 #01] The Stage (3.5/5) -- While portions of the track were awesome, some parts it struggles to keep up with the quick lower toms and bass drums.
Metallica - [Metallica CD1 #08] Nothing Else Matters (4/5) -- The percussion was clean. Can't help but think that bass kick was a bit unnatural and un-impactful. Overall the track was well balanced.
Disturbed - [Immortalized CD1 #11] The Sound of Silence (4/5) -- Intimate male vocals.
MASSIVE ATTACK - [Mezzanine CD1/2 #1/6] Angel (4/5) -- Our classic Head-Fi bass performance test track did pretty well. It wasn't until the more complex portion that the bass kick slightly bleeds into the mids.
Nirvana - [Nevermind #01] Smells Like Teen Spirit (3.5/5) -- Good clean percussion. However, complex portions do overwhelm these IEMs a tad bit.
We Are The Fallen - [Tear The World Down #01] Bury Me Alive (2.5/5) -- Ouch. Yeah the amount of stuff certainly did make it struggle a bit. Not that I "wouldn't" listen to this track because of that, but the lost details definitely made it not as enjoyable.
Queen - [Greatest Hits II #01] A Kind Of Magic (4.5/5) -- Most Rock music that are more calming such as queen will perform just fine. Simple beats and rhythm.
Queen - [Greatest Hits II #03] Radio Ga Ga (3.5/5) -- As expected the super hard bass hit does bleed into the mids.
Queen - [Classic Queen #02] Bohemian Rhapsody (4/5) -- Mamaaaa, oooooooOOOOOooooOOOOooo. The old recording is definitely showing its age. The bad part of having a detailed IEM such as etymotic’s, you hear the flaws of the old recordings.
AC/DC - [Highway To Hell #01] Highway To Hell (4/5) -- Again, 30 year old recording, starting to show its age. However, the simplicity of old recordings means that the Ety's dont struggle at all.
AC/DC - [Warning! High Voltage CD1 #01] Thunderstruck (5/5) -- No heavy bass = pure awesomeness.
30 Seconds to Mars - [This Is War #04] This Is War (3/5) -- Not sure if its the recording, but detail is lacking. And dang the middle school feels.
Bon Jovi - [Greatest Hits - The Ultimate CD1 #16] No Apologies (4/5) -- No apologies, but the song performed well.
Bon Jovi - [Greatest Hits - The Ultimate CD1 #01] Livin' On A Prayer (3.5/5) -- This song struggled a bit, although it sounded like it was the recording though. Separation was a bit lacking.
Aerosmith - [Big Ones #06] Janie's Got A Gun (4/5) -- Clean percussion and overall song.
My Chemical Romance - [The Black Parade / Living with Ghosts (The 10th Anniversary Edition) CD1 #05] Welcome to the Black Parade (2/5) -- WE'LL CARRY ONNNNNNNNNNNN!!! Emo childhood flashbacks anyone? Anyone? Jokes aside, kinda sad these IEMs struggled big time on one of my all-time favorite song. The toms/crash/screaming at the beginning definitely showed it struggled, and the chorus didn't help either.
Male Vocal
Mario Frangoulis - [Sometimes I Dream #05] Naturaleza Muerta (4.5/5) -- Overall it was great. Balanced.
Mario Frangoulis - [Sometimes I Dream #09] Hijo De La Luna (4.5/5) -- The male vocals in this was awesome.
Jeff Buckley - [Grace (MOV LP) CD1 #06] Hallelujah (5/5) -- Flawless male vocals.
Pop
ZAYN feat. Sia - [Dusk Till Dawn #01] Dusk Till Dawn (4/5) -- Sounds alright to me.
Eminem - [The Marshall Mathers LP 2 #12] The Monster (Feat. Rihanna) (3.5/5) -- I blame the mastering for this song. Separation wasn't great. Percussion felt muffled into the vocals. But then it's pop music...
Luis Fonsi ft. Daddy Yankee - [Despacito & Mis Grandes Éxitos CD1/1 #01] Despacito (4/5) -- ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Orchestra/?
Sarah Brightman - [Symphony #02] Fleurs Du Mal (4/5) -- This one did surprisingly well.
近藤浩治 - [The Legend of Zelda 30th Anniversary Concert CD2 #07] ゼルダの伝説メインテーマ (5/5) -- While the trumpet isn't as bright as I prefer, the overall separation is amazing. Stop hitting the damn chicken!
近藤浩治 - [The Legend of Zelda 30th Anniversary Concert CD2 #03] ゲルドの谷 (4.5/5) -- This one was a bit more complex. Overall it was amazing, but sometimes the timpani goes muddy.
J Pop/Anime Stuff (Insert frustration about loudness war ruminants in Japanese Masterings)
LiSA - [Ichiban no Takaramono ~Yui final ver.~ #01] Ichiban no Takaramono ~Yui final ver.~ (4/5) -- Definitely less fatiguing than my FLCs
HO-KAGO TEA TIME (CV: Toyosaki Aki, Hikasa Youko, Satou Satomi, Kotobuki Minako, Taketatsu Ayana) - [K-ON! MUSIC HISTORY'S BOX Disc-1 “OP & ED Single” CD1 #11] NO, Thank You! (4/5) -- This track sounds piercing on my FLCs. On the ER3XR, hey aren't bright at all, once again proving the warmth of these IEMs.
Ayano Mashiro - [ideal white #01] ideal white (3/5) -- This song sounds partly a mess due to the master (Lookup: The loudness war. Japanese mastering are super prone to this.)
Haruna Luna - [Sora wa Takaku Kaze wa Utau #01] Sora wa Takaku Kaze wa Utau (4/5) -- Percussion hits and separation are on point.
[Anime Orchestra] - [Fate stay night] ★ Ideal White (Orchestra) (4.5/5) -- The separation and detail were great.
Conclusion
At $170, I really can't complain about these. I just really wish that the bass performance could have been better. I've always wanted to own one of the Etymotic’s since forever and imagined them as these perfect detail gods. I guess I was just expecting too much out of these, especially them being the budget version of the ER4 costing only $170.
Overall, I highly recommend them. If your library consists of <20% Metl/Rock/Electronic music, these are definitely worth it. If all you listen to is classical, especially symphony or piano, these are definitely 100% worth its price.
EDIT 1: Fixed missing text from intro. *derp*
EDIT 2: Fixed 100+ typo *oof*
