[Duplicitous]

It'll be interesting to see where the Evo settles in once it's a bit more widespread and has had time to sink in.

 

[SXero]

What he says not total wrong. $500market mostly takeover by Chinese manufacturers , and their learning speed are very fast.
(Oh, did ETY knows some Chinese even make ER4S clone? )

I believe ETY put a lot of efforts on EVO, It can easily stand out from this already crowded market for years.

But ETY really need more flexible marketing skill.
Direct sent free samples to famous review website / KOLs have influence is rather basically way.

I think the most important part is missed here, just as the reaction by miserybeforethemusic. In his dissertation, Killion shows how to circumvent a large part of inaccuracy of sound heard; the ear shape induced reflections. This is a physics-based reason why the Ety-sound sounds so "true", like it or not. Like science-books, you can throw them away and much later arive independently at the same patterns/relations.

After all the marketing and preference of whole batches of people has past, such a strong line of reasoning will be one of the few things that remain. The ER4 is a prime example.

Don't know if the idea of "do it because everybody else is doing it" has ever been a part of Etymotic's philosophy, nor do I hope it ever is. I understand the allure of having a robust marketing team and the exposure it brings, but I really do like that Etymotic's just one of those companies you might happen to hear about, might happen to consider, and consciously choose to buy.

That's a far cry from the "every member on the YouTube tour positively loved the thing, so it's going to be a shoo-in, now buy it before they sell out for a year straight!." It's like going to see your favorite band at a local bar vs a huge arena; kinda know what you're in for from the get-go.

Furthermore, what does that say to the inherent value of the product when darn near a hundred pairs are given away before there's even a guaranteed ROI?

And I know that might sound hypocritical coming from someone who's on the review tour, but I would rather see it done this way. At least here you can see exactly who's getting a unit, you can check what they've said in the past, and it should be reasonably assumed that the reviewer has a vested interest in giving back to the community.

Chi-Fi is as Chi-Fi does; doesn't seem sustainable in the long run, especially with the way their companies are structured. Seems like there's little to zero ability to protect your own tech.

I found it odd that after all this time they'd go with multi-BA. But also I'm curious how Ety's mult-BA implementation would sound like. I'm not much of a fan of ER2/3/4 series to be honest.

Ranking these below ER2 would be questionable. But, also Precog claims he hears the peak on his measurements that isn't present in others. Didn't read the review know know what's his qualms with the EVO. I have no idea what shotgunshane means by that, I don't know how he would imagine how others would prefer.

I'm on the tour and I will see how good or bad it is. That's the best way to know, by trying it out.

No, trying out is not the best way... only to yourself. I suppose one could like the ER2 series better if they really dislike BA-based implementations.

This is what I was thinking (I say while eagerly awaiting USPS to get to my doorstep).

I don't know if a lot of people who say "I want a neutral set of IEMs to hear exactly what's in the recording and nothing more," really know what they're getting into when they first try out a set of Etys. Sure, they've released the XR variants (and the 2 and 3) to counter some of that, but it's far from boosted in the way a lot of manufacturers choose to tune. My honest perspective is that a lot of people who think they want an uncolored sound signature really don't. I say that because I was one of those people for quite a while. The difference is I've since come back to Ety's sound since then and have learned to appreciate it for what it is instead of what I am or am not hoping it should be.

So, in a sense, you can't really explain the Ety sound accurately to someone who's not familiar with it. DF tuning in general is "different" from the norm. Regardless, I'll see what I can do to give it a more apples-to-apples comparison to some of the other non-Ety stuff that's out there. Going to be really hard to touch this level of smooth midrange detail and stage management, though.

Going opinion here; I find it amazing too how 'analytical' =def= 'low musicality' yields just what the musicians' technical settings are (magnitudes and phasing for reverb, flangers, overdubbing, etc).

 

[bobeau]

If there are no local stores that carry Etymotic products - I guess your best bet is to buy from a place like Amazon with good return policy in case you do not like it.

As for your (and others') concern about EVO being bassy - I really hope more folks from the tour (and pre-orders) chime in with their opinions... As much as I enjoy and appreciate the EVO bass - I want to clarify that it is NOT a bass monster! On bassy tracks (one of my references is Lorde's Royals) - you will hear a satisfying bass and feel the sub-bass rumble, but it is clean and clear so it does not "pollute" the mids. The EVO won't be bassy on tracks that are bass light.

Again, I'm really not arguing about the sound profile, but the overall performance - it's not quite emerging yet that it's a clear flagship on technicalities, but just a different tuning. I like bass. My daily drivers are IER-Z1R. No issue there. My personal preference curve trends toward oratory 1990, so if anything, these are probably a bit bass light for what I'd prefer, but I was excited to see Ety's take on a tuning like this. Even if the ER4 isn't my preference I've always revered it as being an outstanding value, one that many still prefer over many kilobuck IEMs.

I'm playing a bit of devil's advocate here as I was one of the folks really thinking this one would be special considering Ety's track record of having one flagship for... well, really since the founding of the company nearly 3 decades ago. But it's clear no one sees the value in my comments despite the fact that I'm probably just blurting out what quite a few people were hoping for when these were first announced, so I'll bow out of this thread and let the impressions roll.

 

[koudairanger]

What he says not total wrong. $500market mostly takeover by Chinese manufacturers , and their learning speed are very fast.
(Oh, did ETY knows some Chinese even make ER4S clone? )

I believe ETY put a lot of efforts on EVO, It can easily stand out from this already crowded market for years.

But ETY really need more flexible marketing skill.
Direct sent free samples to famous review website / KOLs have influence is rather basically way.

I believe they knew it...
The Chinese attempt to clone ER4s was a long journey dated back before literally any chifi impact here.

 

[donthuang]

I'm not refer the Moondrop X-01 claims "inspired" by ER4 ,that's sort of marketing,because there are also solid group fans of ER4S in China.
(And they take a nickname of ER4 "Little 4")

But the Yu9 audio's "ER4 clone" still sales on taobao now.

Sorry for off topic.

 

[SilverEars]

Not mention the Moondrop X-01 claims "inspired" by ER4 , but the Yu9 audio's "ER4 clone" sales on tabao now.

Sorry for off topic.

I could see that, but also inspired by Harman target as well. Ety target it different from Harman in the treble (I'm speaking of the highs). Ety's treble drop off earlier and the ear gain peak is between 2-3k, whereas I've seen plenty of chifi with ear gain peak at 3k.

Again, I'm really not arguing about the sound profile, but the overall performance - it's not quite emerging yet that it's a clear flagship on technicalities, but just a different tuning. I like bass. My daily drivers are IER-Z1R. No issue there. My personal preference curve trends toward oratory 1990, so if anything, these are probably a bit bass light for what I'd prefer, but I was excited to see Ety's take on a tuning like this. Even if the ER4 isn't my preference I've always revered it as being an outstanding value, one that many still prefer over many kilobuck IEMs.

I'm playing a bit of devil's advocate here as I was one of the folks really thinking this one would be special considering Ety's track record of having one flagship for... well, really since the founding of the company nearly 3 decades ago. But it's clear no one sees the value in my comments despite the fact that I'm probably just blurting out what quite a few people were hoping for when these were first announced, so I'll bow out of this thread and let the impressions roll.

Isn't Oratory 1990, Harman? Also, Z1R is quite pricy compared to EVO. I liked the bass and the stage on Z1R, but I didn't like all other aspects about it (of what I expect an iem of such price point) that it didn't warrant the price level. I would keep a Z1R just for the bass performance if it was much lower in price, which isn't the case. Also, I'll probably get bored of it at some point anyway, which is usually the case with headphones at a high price range. They just devalue in higher quantity, the higher the pricing. So, the loss is much bigger.

The aspect that keeps me from enjoying a single BA Ety compared to other iems (that is either large dynamic driver or multi-BA) is low macro dynamics. So, I'm looking forward to EVO to improve in that department. I'm hoping that the dual lows would help with this. As far as tuning, I generally don't see people having issues.

 

[miserybeforethemusic]

The aspect that keeps me from enjoying a single BA Ety compared to other iems (that is either large dynamic driver or multi-BA) is low macro dynamics. So, I'm looking forward to EVO to improve in that department. I'm hoping that the dual lows would help with this. As far as tuning, I generally don't see people having issues.

Preliminarily, I'll tell you that the Evo can dig that low. Listened to David Bowie's Blackstar along with my regular demo playlist and it was having a blast with low bass/sub-bass content. Very similar to planar bass is quantity, though doesn't quite come up to that level in quality. Extremely coherent, though.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Checked tracking and my set should arrive today. My technique usually involves a bit of open dialogue, so please feel free to ask me questions (PM is fine if you would rather go that route). I'm not an Ety loyalist, though I do admire their tuning quite a bit. I admire the way they choose to run their business more and it doesn't surprise me that the new form factor is a little polarizing.

Truth be told, I'm curious how these would compare to UM's 3DT, but alas won't have a set on hand during the tour.

Looking forward to your impression, especially interested in comparing to Blessing 2.

The 3 BA reminds me of 1 full-range Knowles BA of ER4 supported by the treble tweeter and bass woofer BAs which TRI Starsea has similar config (Same Knowles Full range BA + custom-tuned treble tweeter(sounded like Knowles), and a dynamic bass woofer)

 

[koudairanger]

I'm not refer the Moondrop X-01 claims "inspired" by ER4 ,that's sort of marketing,because there are also solid group fans of ER4S in China.
(And they take a nickname of ER4 "Little 4")

But the Yu9 audio's "ER4 clone" still sales on taobao now.

Sorry for off topic.

Yeah I was absolutely aware, there are multiple attempts to actually replicate ER4 by many Chinese DIYer back in 2010.
During that time, due to prohibitively expensive nature of custom IEM, DIYed reshell service for around 150$ was quite popular in china, and one of the extremely debated topic is how you replicate the classic ER4 house sound by solely using 29689 and other components from ground up instead of just put ER4 in a resin shell.
It was long believed that a DIYer have to enclose the original tubing ot ER4 into the custom fit shell in order to create a full sound(though now it's known to be false, it's only about how to replicate that tubing structure)
At that time Chinese IEM community and its DIYers was kinda naive on how crossover and reshell could affect the sound, they care more about driver configuration and electrical crossovers instead of the tube/shell(partly because it was hard to control it except the length of tube) There are quite some people believe triple fi.10 was just universal UE10pro(which we now know it's totally wrong after we disassemble them). The TF10 belief make the reshell of TF10 quite popular.
On the other side, some diyer has been obsessed with ER4(one of our important engineer is) and start their own engineering journey.
These two IEM played quite a large role of Chinese new brands' development (the other origin of the brands we saw today was from sony, but that's also way out of topic)

 

[miserybeforethemusic]

A little sneak preview of what's to come. So far, it's been great, though maybe Etymotic will have to release a red variant on a special occasion to better match the SR25.

Keep in mind you don't need any of this gear to make the Evo sound great, but it helps squeeze out a good amount more in terms of technicalities. Even the ddhifi TC35b plugged into my phone can make the Evo sing.

 

[tinyman392]

<snip>
A little sneak preview of what's to come. So far, it's been great, though maybe Etymotic will have to release a red variant on a special occasion to better match the SR25.

Keep in mind you don't need any of this gear to make the Evo sound great, but it helps squeeze out a good amount more in terms of technicalities. Even the ddhifi TC35b plugged into my phone can make the Evo sing.

I actually did test the Evo with the TC35i (Lightning variant). The sound is very similar to the Apple adapter, but I prefer the ddhifi since it's a little smaller and less likely to break (Apple's cabling has been known to be less than stellar*). I'm waiting for the UE BT adapter to come in today. Excited to not need to be tethered to my phone; hoping it helps reduce some microphonics but I'm not holding my breath on that one.

*ironically I've only had 1 Apple cable go bad for me in my life. Maybe I'm lucky. Though I don't use their cables often anymore.

 

[koudairanger]

Looking forward to your impression, especially interested in comparing to Blessing 2.

The 3 BA reminds me of 1 full-range Knowles BA of ER4 supported by the treble tweeter and bass woofer BAs which TRI Starsea has similar config (Same Knowles Full range BA + custom-tuned treble tweeter(sounded like Knowles), and a dynamic bass woofer)

The 29689 sound is extremely versatile depend on the design.
Etymotic's approach is to use crossover to push the high end out at the expense of ease of drive.
Don't know how starsea do it, but it's more likely to be a midrange instead of full range.

 

[miserybeforethemusic]

I actually did test the Evo with the TC35i (Lightning variant). The sound is very similar to the Apple adapter, but I prefer the ddhifi since it's a little smaller and less likely to break (Apple's cabling has been known to be less than stellar*). I'm waiting for the UE BT adapter to come in today. Excited to not need to be tethered to my phone; hoping it helps reduce some microphonics but I'm not holding my breath on that one.

*ironically I've only had 1 Apple cable go bad for me in my life. Maybe I'm lucky. Though I don't use their cables often anymore.

Haven't had any issues with microphonics, funnily enough. Tip selection and depth seem to be major factors in preventing the buds from wobbling in your ear; simple tradeoff for having such a light and unobtrusive cable, I suppose.

Very excited to see if the wireless adapters work. I know you'll have to wait a bit on the Null one, but that's probably the one I'd consider.

Looking forward to your impression, especially interested in comparing to Blessing 2.

The 3 BA reminds me of 1 full-range Knowles BA of ER4 supported by the treble tweeter and bass woofer BAs which TRI Starsea has similar config (Same Knowles Full range BA + custom-tuned treble tweeter(sounded like Knowles), and a dynamic bass woofer)

I'll definitely pull comparisons to the B2. There are clear differences between the two, but don't want to give away any spoilers. Looking forward to your take on the Variations, especially relative to the S8/RSV.

 

[tinyman392]

Haven't had any issues with microphonics, funnily enough. Tip selection and depth seem to be major factors in preventing the buds from wobbling in your ear; simple tradeoff for having such a light and unobtrusive cable, I suppose.

Very excited to see if the wireless adapters work. I know you'll have to wait a bit on the Null one, but that's probably the one I'd consider.

Microphonics isn't an issue unless I go for a walk outside, then I hear my footsteps. It's not bad by any means though (unless I run). It's what I'd expect from an IEM that is worn over the ear. It's much better than the classic Ety designs though, that's for sure.

Null shipped overnight. But it's coming from Singapore. They have to make it to order though, so when you order you'll have to wait a week or two.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

The 29689 sound is extremely versatile depend on the design.
Etymotic's approach is to use crossover to push the high end out at the expense of ease of drive.
Don't know how starsea do it, but it's more likely to be a midrange instead of full range.

Ah then Starsea’s ED29689 might actually works as midrange. I just received KBEAR Neon, a bullet ER4 style sole-ED29689 IEM, it sounds very different compared ER4. Treble is rolled off, bass is about same pure flat. With wider diffusion field. Very versatile that knowles driver indeed.