Onkyo E700BT Impressions

[erich6]

So last week I acquired a pair of the Onkyo E700BT IEMs which are strictly Bluetooth phones.  I haven't seen much information on this site about them so I decided to start this thread in the hopes folks out there that have heard/own them can comment on them. 
 
I'm new to the audiophile world so I don't have a trained ear but I think I can tell the difference between good and bad quality sound. I think these IEMs are definitely in the "good" camp!
 
I bought these primarily to have something with good noise isolation that I can use while doing yard work.  I was using my Bose QC15's but they're not really designed for outdoor work and I sweat a lot so that's terrible for the pads.  Also, I wanted a Bluetooth set of phones to avoid dangling wires that tend to get in the way.
 
I haven't yet put the Onkyo's through their paces with outdoor work so will report on that more later.  However, my initial impressions are very positive.  Using the stock "medium" tips I get very good isolation.  I have Comply foam tips coming that should make that even better.
 
The sound is excellent playing from my iPhone 6s.  I did try using them with my laptop which is a bit older and doesn't have AAC or Apt-x and the sound is noticeably mediocre.  From my iPhone, however, playing from Tidal I get wide soundstage, deep bass without being too blown, articulate mids and clear treble.  The sound signature is slightly warm which matches my taste.  They are also plenty loud given their high sensitivity.  I have to come back to the soundstage though, it rivals my SHP9500s which are open back--it is that good!
 
As far as comfort goes they are great so far.  Not much weight even though it might seem at first they would be clunky with the two dongles for controls and Bluetooth connection.
 
About the only thing I would say could be a negative is that they are strictly Bluetooth.  I'd prefer to have the option to switch to wired mode if I wanted to (like with my Onkyo H500BT).
 
What do you all think?

 

[davescleveland]

Love them and my Rbh epsb as well as the freedom f5. I have gone through a lot of bt iems and these 3 are the best of the best

 

[radical_tyro]

I have these and am extremely impressed with the sound quality. If I'm being over critical, I find them a little harsh on the highs and the mids a little recessed. I fixed with a slight EQ tweak in the onkyo player on my iphone.
 
One thing that is bothering me though is there is a rather obvious white noise when audio is being played through them. It's not really noticeable when loud music is playing, but for quiet and spare music such as solo piano (or just turn the volume all the way down), you hear this hissing the whole time. When you pause the music, the noise goes away. The noise level doesn't vary with the volume setting. Does anyone else have this problem?
 
I'm guessing it's just that they are too sensitive, and the built-in amplifier gain is too high. I find them already too loud at half volume. I wish there was a way to lower the gain on them. I had the same problem with a pair of wired earbuds and solved it with an inline volume control but that's not an option here.

 

[erich6]

  I have these and am extremely impressed with the sound quality. If I'm being over critical, I find them a little harsh on the highs and the mids a little recessed. I fixed with a slight EQ tweak in the onkyo player on my iphone.
 
One thing that is bothering me though is there is a rather obvious white noise when audio is being played through them. It's not really noticeable when loud music is playing, but for quiet and spare music such as solo piano (or just turn the volume all the way down), you hear this hissing the whole time. When you pause the music, the noise goes away. The noise level doesn't vary with the volume setting. Does anyone else have this problem?
 
I'm guessing it's just that they are too sensitive, and the built-in amplifier gain is too high. I find them already too loud at half volume. I wish there was a way to lower the gain on them. I had the same problem with a pair of wired earbuds and solved it with an inline volume control but that's not an option here.

​I haven't noticed it but I haven't used them with quiet recordings.  I'll test it this weekend...my guess is this may be infamous Bluetooth "hiss" reported with every Bluetooth headset out there.

 

[erich6]

So I tested the E700BT with Talk Talk's "After the Flood" track from the Laughing Stock album...it has a very quiet introduction and sure enough there's a bit of a hiss.  I don't hear it with a wired headphone and my Onkyo H500BT doesn't have the hiss in Bluetooth mode either.  On the E700BT the hiss is there until about 15 seconds into the track then I can't hear it anymore.  This is probably due to the gain settings Onkyo decided to put on these.  They really do have powerful volume so they probably could have tuned it a little better and lower the gain some.  That said, I hadn't noticed it before and really had to listen for it to pick up on it....
 
For me a bit of hiss vs. completely "black" background isn't an issue but I can see why someone who is sensitive to that might have a problem with it.

 

[radical_tyro]

Thanks for letting me know it's not just a problem with mine. I agree that most of the time I'm listening to loud/full music and don't really notice it, but it does bug me. If I could get rid of this hiss, these would be perfect
 
It seems to be related to the way the volume is handled over the A2DP protocol. From what I can tell, it gets paired in a mode where the volume is controlled over AVRCP and volume is "in sync" between the source and sink (headphones). In this mode it appears the headphones are at max gain and the source controls the volume by scaling the digital signal down, which reduces the resolution. From what I gather, this is the most common method for bluetooth headphones. However, there appears to be an "absolute volume" mode of AVRCP where the source sends the signal at 100% and volume is set via the gain on the sink (ideally after the DAC). I don't know if the E700BT support this, but I haven't been able to get it operating in that mode. Another option would be to disable the AVRCP volume control, so source and sink have separate volume controls. I'm still playing around but haven't had much luck figuring these things out. I'll post back if I'm successful. In any case, this does appear to be a problem with many bluetooth devices, not just the E700BT.

 

[erich6]

It would be awesome if you can figure out how to configure the E700BT so the source volume does what you describe.  I love that feature in the Oppo HA-2SE where the digital volume acts more like a gain settting without affecting the overall dynamic range resolution.  Having an option for separate volumes would be a plus also.

 

[Tommi Hjy]

Hi, just created a new account when I saw this thread.
 
I have the E700BT as well, love the sound and convenience paired to my phone. But I find that the cord is really long, and the bluetooth dongle is dangling awkwardly on the top of my back. Anyone has a solution for this? I thought of using a cable clip to shorten it (ala the jaybirds or other sports bluetooth earphone clip) but can't seem to find one.