The Etys are the champs for me. I like them better than all the overears I've owned, and I keep looking for iems to surpass them, and none have been even as good, including recently the Katos, which were decidedly ordinary. Any suggestions on iems superior to Etymotic?
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- Thread starter Fregly
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If you like the sound profile and fit then they are unbeatable. Most of the hyped new models are Harman tuned or thereabouts which sounds decidedly different to the ety tuning.
I like the KATO sound profile minus a bit of bass , less than fond of the sharp edges and fit. Some of the smooth acrylic ear contoured shells like the Blessing 2 work quite well for me.
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I thought Moondrop S8 might be a prospect, though my ears will likely reject the Harmanish bass. In overears all the Senn 6xx are great, yet the Etys beat them too in detail and naturalness, though not in soundstaging. Is the Blessing 2 an improvement for you, or just different?
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Funnily enough I just got the S8. Can't compare it to the B2 as I've never heard but I've had the Dusk. The S8 is tilted far more to the treble, you don't get that feeling of too much bass but it's bright.
Comparing to ety, hard to do. They are just different. Let me do a bit of A/B. Which ety BTW, xr or Sr/se?
I have etys of some kind since 2005. I keep er4sr and blessing 2s both in my bag. I have er2sr as well. I had er2xr but I did not like them.
Sounf wise i usuallly prefer the blessing 2 now. I eq them a lot and find i prefer their detail, but if i decide to crank a song they can distort. I really tune the bass a lot.
they are very different but I still like both. If I had to keep one it would be the blessing if only for the maintenance factor since I prefer the soft tips.
though I find the blessing filters slip off a LOT which is always worrying that something will get inside them.
Sounf wise i usuallly prefer the blessing 2 now. I eq them a lot and find i prefer their detail, but if i decide to crank a song they can distort. I really tune the bass a lot.
they are very different but I still like both. If I had to keep one it would be the blessing if only for the maintenance factor since I prefer the soft tips.
though I find the blessing filters slip off a LOT which is always worrying that something will get inside them.
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So a very quick listen to the S8 vs er2se. Entirely subjective, no real attempt to match volume etc.
1. S8 fit is far nicer, but S8 are same shape as B2 so you can reach your own verdict there.
2. Meatier bass on the S8, as expected. The Er2 sounds "flatter".
3. Real difference was imaging and soundstage. Instruments far better separated on the S8. Er2 soundstage felt squished, no height. S8 felt narrower but taller somehow. Make of that what you will!
Edit- Im terrible at identifying FR but I wouldnt argue with this as being a fair visual of the 2
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I have Er4sr and Er2se. The graph shows similar treble between Er2 and S8. To your ears though is the S8 brighter than the Etys as with the Dusk?
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No, having compared, I'm sure there are treble differences some might easily pick, but it's the bass you notice straight away.
The S8 definitely sounds livelier though for what that is worth. I'll see if I can compare the dusk to the S8 this weekend too, for my own interest.
fieldcar
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I have noticed similar with the etymotics. They are very much so "inside your head" when it comes to soundstage. Probably has a bit to do with the insertion depth causing higher canal resonance around 11KHz rather than the typical 8KHz found in many other IEMs.
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Yup. I also find it hard to separate the physical feeling with headphones and iem from the sonics. I like the ety sound but hard to overcome the physical sensation of having something rammed that far in your ears.
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- #11
Comparison to Dusk should be interesting. A couple graphs of the S8 show 3db more in treble, and I wonder if this is really what is going on when some reviews report a "better, more refined" treble. The push up there will increased perceived detail. I'll wager the Dusk is more than competitive. I have not seen distortion measurements on the S8 -- Amir was about test it, I think.
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OK- so I have just done some quick listening between ER2SE, ER4XR, B2 Dusk and the S8.
The outlier is the ER2SE- but I suspect that is because it requires a fair bit more juice to come alive and I never got near the other 3 in terms of SPL to make it a fair comparison. But compared to the other 3, it just seemed flat. So forget that one
Between the other 3, I suspect the differences come out more if you listen to bass heavy music. I was on some Gram Parsons country rock so no huge bass notes.
The ER4XR had a more "plunk plunk" bass - the Moondrops both more texture. There isnt much on a casual listen between the 2 moondrops.
The S8 is the one I kept listening too though
Yes, I fear it went on "the pile".
Let's put it this way, if you went to a moondrop shop, they made it so the levels were matched and you swapped between the 2, there ain't enough of a difference to double the price. My curiosity got the better of me and I pulled the trigger when they had a discount, but I wouldn't advise anyone upgrade from the B2D to S8. I'm sure the regular B2 is in that category too.
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- #13
I will grab the S8 if it gets nicely discounted. It must be getting towards the end of it's life cycle the way things move in this category. The Kato was a disappointment, though I did not give it much of a listen and tossed it aside after a mediocre first impression; will try again with a long session of music and different tips. My brother sent it to me after comparing to the Senn 660 and finding it a ways inferior.
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Shenzenaudio had a cross line sale just recently that took them down to $629 from 699. That's when I got them. Not seen them lower but black Friday isn't too far away
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- #16
Though I have not heard them, by graph and distortion measurement I don't see them as anything but redundant to the 4xr, and seem a marketing hook of "more drivers are better".
Have owned the ER4SR prior and it was excellent. Also owned the Blessing 2, which in some ways is better, but I don't think the Blessing 2 is worth its high-price. That said, I let me ER4SR go at the time when I had the B2. Ended up losing the B2, and instead of buying another one, decided getting one of the new low-cost planars.
Picked up the Shuoer S12. Oh my. The performance on those planar drivers is incredible. It is clearer than both the Ety and Moondrop and not just due to its tuning. With a good seal, that planar bass is so transparent. I think overall I prefer these to my old LCD2 revision B! Much much cheaper as well. The tuning is more v-shaped so is more exciting than the Etys and Blessing 2. I use mine with spatial audio which helps diffuse some of that intensity.
You may want to look into the Moondrop Stellaris which looks to have Etymotic like deep fit. Also the 7Hz Dioko which has a more Ety like tuning. 7Hz Timeless and other planars in this class. The S12 Pro is out now as well, but is mostly the same, but may be a bit less intense.
I just bought a ER2XR for cheap, and excited to hear it. Missed the isolation as well, which is a big reason I decided to pick it up in addition to its signature.
Also, a shout out to the diminutive and inexpensive Moondrop SSR. That is quite a performer, and in some ways has a presentation similar to the OG of IEMS - the ER4B. Which was designed for binaural use. The SSR I actually preferred over the Blessing 2 in many ways, and even the SSR low-end was more controlled to my ears and I liked its presentation more. Pretty cheap, with a comfy low-profile fit and removable cables. Mine went through the wash and haven't yet replaced it. I'd also be interested to hear the Moondrop Quarks DSP. That little driver is actually very effective, and they are so small you can listen in bed with these easily.
Edit: also look out for the Truthear Hexa, looks like Moondrop Blessing 2 on the cheap yet still with good quality.
Picked up the Shuoer S12. Oh my. The performance on those planar drivers is incredible. It is clearer than both the Ety and Moondrop and not just due to its tuning. With a good seal, that planar bass is so transparent. I think overall I prefer these to my old LCD2 revision B! Much much cheaper as well. The tuning is more v-shaped so is more exciting than the Etys and Blessing 2. I use mine with spatial audio which helps diffuse some of that intensity.
You may want to look into the Moondrop Stellaris which looks to have Etymotic like deep fit. Also the 7Hz Dioko which has a more Ety like tuning. 7Hz Timeless and other planars in this class. The S12 Pro is out now as well, but is mostly the same, but may be a bit less intense.
I just bought a ER2XR for cheap, and excited to hear it. Missed the isolation as well, which is a big reason I decided to pick it up in addition to its signature.
Also, a shout out to the diminutive and inexpensive Moondrop SSR. That is quite a performer, and in some ways has a presentation similar to the OG of IEMS - the ER4B. Which was designed for binaural use. The SSR I actually preferred over the Blessing 2 in many ways, and even the SSR low-end was more controlled to my ears and I liked its presentation more. Pretty cheap, with a comfy low-profile fit and removable cables. Mine went through the wash and haven't yet replaced it. I'd also be interested to hear the Moondrop Quarks DSP. That little driver is actually very effective, and they are so small you can listen in bed with these easily.
Edit: also look out for the Truthear Hexa, looks like Moondrop Blessing 2 on the cheap yet still with good quality.
Bam!
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This is from Head Fi. From "EtyDave" Imho very interesting.
Here the link.
Post in thread 'Etymotic Research EVO impressions and discussion thread' https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ety...ns-and-discussion-thread.954294/post-16376540
sndp said:
Interesting. Do you mean similar to ER2XR or ER(3|4)XR?
Also my question still stands about the "why" behind particulars of the bass-boost on the ER2XR.
Ah, sorry. The bass boost on the EVO is really closer to the ER2XR than the ER3/4XR. There are some mechanical limitations to what we can do with the single BA driver on the ER3/4. We have more sculpting ability with the EVO's dual bass drivers.
As far as the "why", it's because I (and others) happen to like that style of bass boost. We've been kicking around internal prototypes with similar curves (particularly with dynamic drivers) since 2008 or 2009, long before Sean Olive released his target. That's not in any way a dig at the curve, it just wasn't around when we started. Since accuracy in low frequencies wasn't the target, the boost ended up catering more towards our personal preferences, which in my case is a boost with a low enough corner frequency that it doesn't muck up the upper bass and lower mids. So no, we didn't really start out with a target "this is what we need to hit" curve for the bass. There was trial and error, a lot of listening and some arguments with some spirited discussions with driver manufacturers about what we wanted. :wink:
The biggest delay in getting the XR series made was internal. An intentionally inaccurate bass response wasn't really part of the company's ethos, so it took a bit of convincing. Sure, we had released the ER4P, but I've long argued (and still do) that it wasn't really a true bass boost. It was a tilt that gave the impression of more bass and less highs. But the motivation for it (back in the day) was gained sensitivity so that it could be used with the relatively weak outputs of portable players at the time. The XR series is the same sensitivity as the SE/SR series, so it's only about adding bass (thus reducing objective accuracy). Mead (Killion, Etymotic's founder) still makes fun of me on occasion for it, but it has been well received so his teasing doesn't bother me too much. :wink:
Here the link.
Post in thread 'Etymotic Research EVO impressions and discussion thread' https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ety...ns-and-discussion-thread.954294/post-16376540
sndp said:
Interesting. Do you mean similar to ER2XR or ER(3|4)XR?
Also my question still stands about the "why" behind particulars of the bass-boost on the ER2XR.
Ah, sorry. The bass boost on the EVO is really closer to the ER2XR than the ER3/4XR. There are some mechanical limitations to what we can do with the single BA driver on the ER3/4. We have more sculpting ability with the EVO's dual bass drivers.
As far as the "why", it's because I (and others) happen to like that style of bass boost. We've been kicking around internal prototypes with similar curves (particularly with dynamic drivers) since 2008 or 2009, long before Sean Olive released his target. That's not in any way a dig at the curve, it just wasn't around when we started. Since accuracy in low frequencies wasn't the target, the boost ended up catering more towards our personal preferences, which in my case is a boost with a low enough corner frequency that it doesn't muck up the upper bass and lower mids. So no, we didn't really start out with a target "this is what we need to hit" curve for the bass. There was trial and error, a lot of listening and some arguments with some spirited discussions with driver manufacturers about what we wanted. :wink:
The biggest delay in getting the XR series made was internal. An intentionally inaccurate bass response wasn't really part of the company's ethos, so it took a bit of convincing. Sure, we had released the ER4P, but I've long argued (and still do) that it wasn't really a true bass boost. It was a tilt that gave the impression of more bass and less highs. But the motivation for it (back in the day) was gained sensitivity so that it could be used with the relatively weak outputs of portable players at the time. The XR series is the same sensitivity as the SE/SR series, so it's only about adding bass (thus reducing objective accuracy). Mead (Killion, Etymotic's founder) still makes fun of me on occasion for it, but it has been well received so his teasing doesn't bother me too much. :wink:
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