[Killcomic]

In fact, when you get deep insertion, you get the right treble response.
It's not that the treble disappears, the fact is that almost neutral treble sounds that way. You will hear higher or lower cymbals (volume) depending on the recording. Probably you are used to IEMs with elevated treble (the majority).

You get "higher" treble with the shallower insertion because of the peaks on the wrong places of the Frequency spectrum.

If you want a little more treble, even more neutral (Frequency response identical to ER4XR) I highly recommend a 75ohm impedance adapter.

Well, I feel silly now. It appears that I have weird ear canals. I needed to push downwards. Now they are fully inserted and the treble is spot on.
Slightly subdued but clearly present with no peaks.
Putting these things on takes a lot of practice and trial and error.

The funny thing is, I didn't realise how good Etys are till I tried listening to some of my old IEMs like the Fiio F9 Pro and ATH-E40.
They sounded unnaturally thin and boring with weird peaks all over the place.

 

[guicnovaes]

Well, I feel silly now. It appears that I have weird ear canals. I needed to push downwards. Now they are fully inserted and the treble is spot on.
Slightly subdued but clearly present with no peaks.
Putting these things on takes a lot of practice and trial and error.

The funny thing is, I didn't realise how good Etys are till I tried listening to some of my old IEMs like the Fiio F9 Pro and ATH-E40.
They sounded unnaturally thin and boring with weird peaks all over the place.

Glad to know that you discovered the true sound of the Etymotic with the right fit.
Anyway, I recommend this video made by forum colleague @luisdent, wich can help more when inserting your Etymotic:



Another recommendation I make for you is to buy a 75ohm impedance adapter. It only costs $ 9 on Penon Audio or Aliexpress. The ER3XR becomes an ER4XR, in terms of sound. It is important to note that they both use the same Sonion drivers.
See the Comparative Graphs:

ER3XR vs ER4XR

(ER3XR + 75ohm adapter) vs ER4XR:

Link of the Adapter:

https://penonaudio.com/3.5mm-impeda...6Oz5Yna7wefoKod-cTtAPXL8fxIM19kthMwyP4SQrhiQ5

 

[Killcomic]

Glad to know that you discovered the true sound of the Etymotic with the right fit.
Anyway, I recommend this video made by forum colleague @luisdent, wich can help more when inserting your Etymotic:



Another recommendation I make for you is to buy a 75ohm impedance adapter. It only costs $ 9 on Penon Audio or Aliexpress. The ER3XR becomes an ER4XR, in terms of sound. It is important to note that they both use the same Sonion drivers.
See the Comparative Graphs:

ER3XR vs ER4XR


(ER3XR + 75ohm adapter) vs ER4XR:


Link of the Adapter:

https://penonaudio.com/3.5mm-impeda...6Oz5Yna7wefoKod-cTtAPXL8fxIM19kthMwyP4SQrhiQ5

Yeah, thanks for that video! I wish I'd come across it earlier.

I actually got the 20ohm adapter and I really, really like how it changed the sound. I'll get the 75ohm one at some point in the future and see how it changes the sound. Probably one of the cheapest sound mods out there!

 

[luisdent]

I've been messing with the eq that compensates the er4sr to Harman target and it sounds soooooo good. I can't wait for it to be a physical filter. Just allows you to use it on any device anywhere you have the filter. So cool.

When things are finalized I'll post a parametric eq if anyone is interested. But basically it softens the 2khz or so just a touch and brings up the 7khz (critical you have a deep fit so you dont get extra resonances) adds the perfect missing bass, and slightly tamed the 10khz or so.

Again, gearing towards a Harman accurate sound. Although the treble of Harman and diffuse field for the er4sr are very very similar other than the upper 10khz+ not needing much in diffuse field correction. Otherwise, correcting the two main peaks makes the sound slightly more relaxed and warm while actually bringing out more detail and space. After listening with the eq a while it's hard to go back.

 

[G_T_J]

Does anyone know from where I can source a short mmcx (ER4XR) cable for use with Bluetooth adapters?

 

[bcaulf17]

Crinacle just posted a review of the ER2 and he says it’s almost as good as the ER4 in terms of detail and clarity but the timbre of the ER2 is better; has anyone compared the two? Wondering if I should just aim for the ER2XR at half the price.

 

[TheoS53]

@crinacle , Just read your take on the ER2-series and totally agree that Ety really hit it out of the park. I also find myself in full agreement about the T4. Out of interest, which would you say is the better of the 2, the SE or XR and why?

 

[briank996]

Crinacle just posted a review of the ER2 and he says it’s almost as good as the ER4 in terms of detail and clarity but the timbre of the ER2 is better; has anyone compared the two? Wondering if I should just aim for the ER2XR at half the price.

I currently own the 2, 3 and 4 XR models, and I can honestly say that I only listen to the ER2XR anymore. They ER2XRs just tickle something that feels substantially nicer on almost every song.

 

[G_T_J]

I have booth ER2XR and ER4XR.
I agree that the timbre is slightly better on the ER2XR, something that has to be expected given one is a dynamic driver iem and the other a balanced armature.
However, to me that's only area that the ER2XR are better compared to ER4XR. The ER4XR beat them in all other technicalities such as definition, air, effortless presentation, detail levels.

To my ears the ER2XR is like a small brother to Hifiman's RE600 with the RE600 being far superior. The signature is quite similar but less prominent. Of course the ER2XR have better isolation, again something to be expected due to their deep insertion form factor.

 

[headenvelopedinsound]

I unfortunately do not have the ER4XR to compare it to but I did just get the ER2XR and it's superb. It has a nice presentation with just the right amount of sub bass to get you engaged but not warm things up to much. Comparing it to my Fearless S6 Pro it is not as open and airy but it does have a more natural presentation that really feels like listening to my 2.1 studio monitors. I got my pair on Amazon for $125 so even less than half of the ER4XR. IMO if you haven't really dipped your foot into a Diffuse field tuning the ER2 series would be a good introduction.

Crinacle just posted a review of the ER2 and he says it’s almost as good as the ER4 in terms of detail and clarity but the timbre of the ER2 is better; has anyone compared the two? Wondering if I should just aim for the ER2XR at half the price.

 

[bcaulf17]

I have booth ER2XR and ER4XR.
I agree that the timbre is slightly better on the ER2XR, something that has to be expected given one is a dynamic driver iem and the other a balanced armature.
However, to me that's only area that the ER2XR are better compared to ER4XR. The ER4XR beat them in all other technicalities such as definition, air, effortless presentation, detail levels.

To my ears the ER2XR is like a small brother to Hifiman's RE600 with the RE600 being far superior. The signature is quite similar but less prominent. Of course the ER2XR have better isolation, again something to be expected due to their deep insertion form factor.

Thanks for your input. Seems like both are great. I asked for the ER4XR for my Christmas gift from my family this year, I wish I knew the ER2 was this good to save them some money. I’m sure I’ll be very happy with the ER4XR though.

 

[G_T_J]

Yes they definitely worth it. It's an easy to drive Ety after all, ideal for flights and smartphone use (I find the ER4XR a bit difficult to drive at optimum levels from a smartphone) When you need a bit more bass it's the one to go with as it's the most prominent bass there is in the Etymotic roster.

I just don't agree they are on par with ER4XR, at least to the way I perceive sound. Mind you, I'm not a fan of balanced armature drivers nor of the trend of multi-balanced implementations that everyone seems to go crazy about lately. In my book, nothing can beat a finely tuned dynamic driver. However, if you have to have one Balanced armature iem, the Etymotic has to be the one!

I also had the ER4P(S). The definition and detail of the ER2XR is nowhere near as good as with those ER4 or ER$XR and there are passages in certain genres that sound grainy, perhaps a bit blurry and constrained. The word ''constrained'' simply cannot be put beside the ER4XR IMO.

 

[bcaulf17]

Yes they definitely worth it. It's an easy to drive Ety after all, ideal for flights and smartphone use (I find the ER4XR a bit difficult to drive at optimum levels from a smartphone) When you need a bit more bass it's the one to go with as it's the most prominent bass there is in the Etymotic roster.

I just don't agree they are on par with ER4XR, at least to the way I perceive sound. Mind you, I'm not a fan of balanced armature drivers nor of the trend of multi-balanced implementations that everyone seems to go crazy about lately. In my book, nothing can beat a finely tuned dynamic driver. However, if you have to have one Balanced armature iem, the Etymotic has to be the one!

I also had the ER4P(S). The definition and detail of the ER2XR is nowhere near as good as with those ER4 or ER$XR and there are passages in certain genres that sound grainy, perhaps a bit blurry and constrained. The word ''constrained'' simply cannot be put beside the ER4XR IMO.

This is reassuring.

 

[G_T_J]

This is reassuring.

They are different but they compliment one another. That's why I kept both of them.

 

[TheoS53]

I currently own the 2, 3 and 4 XR models, and I can honestly say that I only listen to the ER2XR anymore. They ER2XRs just tickle something that feels substantially nicer on almost every song.

I have booth ER2XR and ER4XR.
I agree that the timbre is slightly better on the ER2XR, something that has to be expected given one is a dynamic driver iem and the other a balanced armature.
However, to me that's only area that the ER2XR are better compared to ER4XR. The ER4XR beat them in all other technicalities such as definition, air, effortless presentation, detail levels.

To my ears the ER2XR is like a small brother to Hifiman's RE600 with the RE600 being far superior. The signature is quite similar but less prominent. Of course the ER2XR have better isolation, again something to be expected due to their deep insertion form factor.

I unfortunately do not have the ER4XR to compare it to but I did just get the ER2XR and it's superb. It has a nice presentation with just the right amount of sub bass to get you engaged but not warm things up to much. Comparing it to my Fearless S6 Pro it is not as open and airy but it does have a more natural presentation that really feels like listening to my 2.1 studio monitors. I got my pair on Amazon for $125 so even less than half of the ER4XR. IMO if you haven't really dipped your foot into a Diffuse field tuning the ER2 series would be a good introduction.

Thanks to the awesome DSP effects on my Cowon Plenue R I've applied a very basic EQ which really do make the 2XR sound phenomenal. Removes just a little bit of warmth and bass presence in favour of adding slightly more apparent clarity overall and sparkle up top.


63Hz = wide = -1
4.2kHz = normal = +1
9kHz = narrow = +2
16kHz = narrow = +2