ER2SE Studio Edition Earphone

I got this to cut down on the AC noise near one of my rooms. I expected decent sound and decent noise isolation. My expectations have been greatly exceeded. First the isolation: when no music is playing I can still hear the AC if I get close enough. Once something starts playing, nothing. The downside is that you won't hear it if someone's trying to talk to you, so one should be careful using it outdoors or anywhere situational awareness is required. The sound: absolutely outstanding. I really can't find any weaknesses. Everything is natural and balanced. The timbre of instruments and voices is natural and there's enough bass, as much as can be expected from IEMs which can't produce the visceral bass of speakers, anyway. The spatial qualities of the sound are as good as can be expected from IEMs but again don't compare to speakers of course. Other things such as detail, balance between treble and mids etc are outstanding. Comfort: for the first couple of days my ear canals got itchy after about an hour or so but now they've accommodated and I can wear them without any discomfort. They are pretty light and the included case is pretty small. Value: Amazon had them for 125 before the holidays and they are outstanding value for money. They seem to be well built and should last quite a while unless mistreated.

I bought these first, and I really liked them, so I thought I would "upgrade" to the ER4SR, which is their flagship. The first thing I encountered upon opening the box was a custom measurement report. That's pretty cool. But then I looked at the report. One side had 0.7% THD, the other 0.4%. Not only is that awful on both sides, it's quite inconsistent. Upon listening to them, I heard what you might expect. In terms of tonal balance and color, not too bad, but in terms of imaging, sound stage, clarity, not very good at all. The ER2SE sounded much better. Then I looked up the numbers. It seems the ER2SE has generally about 10 times lower distortion! Yet they cost much less, at least when I bought mine. What gives? The ER4SR is their flagship "reference" IEM, which has a pedigree going back to research and audiology use, and they have BA drivers, which audiologists might know about because they are so common in hearing aids, being small and power efficient. These ER2SE IEMs have simpler dynamic drivers, but they also have measurably far better distortion performance and sound better to my ears. I rated these 4 stars instead of 5 because none of the eartips that came with them really lived up to the promise of high ambient-noise rejection and a secure, comfortable seal in the ear canal, and when I reordered Etymotic eartips, those were even worse than the ones supplied with the IEMs in the first place. I ended up going with a third party: Comply foam eartips, which work well for me. So the out-of-box experience wasn't so good, as I had to do a lot of experimenting to find eartips that work for me. Also, it's a bit lame that I paid a significant chunk of money to "upgrade" to IEMs that have deplorable distortion performance and sound worse than the ones I already had by the same company. I guess I should have checked first, but you wouldn't think a reputable company would sell you a "downgrade" positioning it as their best.

I got my ER2SE about a month ago. Here I will compare it to my HD600 over-ear open-back headphone since both are tuned towards the diffuse field target. Also because HD600 has a very large user base. Both sound very natural to me. ER2 is more realistic for some of the instruments I play. The hd600 is slightly bassy/darker, and the vocal is just slightly recessed. So if you feel HD600 is intimate, this IEM may surprise you. The ER2 is a bit sibilant compared to hd600, though itself is definitely not. I prefer male vocal on the hd600 because it sounds fuller, and I prefer female vocal on the Ety because it sounds sweeter. Here is how I would describe it. If the brightest headphone is like the noon, and the darkest headphone is the midnight. Then ER2 is like the dawn, a little energetic, while hd600 is like the dusk, very relaxing. Although the lighting is similar, the feeling is different. HD600 has a larger soundstage and is inoffensive. There is a tendency to forget it is on my head after a while. Transient seems to be better on ER2. Everything feels faster. I seriously doubt I heard much detail difference. HD600 is a little more detailed? But ER2 has at least 90% of details I heard on the hd600 at normal listening volume. However, ER2 is only one-third of that price (Let's exclude amp and dac here...) Good job Etymotic. The soundstage is not very wide but there is no feeling of congestion. Instrument separation is still better on HD600. The form factor is of course very different. When I switched to my ER2 while hd600 still playing, the sound leakage from hd600 and every other noise from outside world is suddenly blocked. And when I put on my hd600 while ER2 playing. I can even hear the sound leakage from ER2 on my desk clearly. The new package comes with four double-flange tips. These are my favorites, miles ahead of triple-flange ones comfort wise. It is easy to insert and feels more secure than single-flange. Insert depth affects sound very little because of the new dynamic driver. One side note is that a good seal is necessary for this IEM to shine. Otherwise there can be weird peaks in the FR that isn't supposed to be there as well as detail loss.

These have the same sound quality as any average 20$ ear buds. There are several different ear buds rubbers to choose from. The only ones that would stay in my ears are the 3 level type (shown on the product picture) and then the ear bud peice and the connection to the wires would sometimes cut out. I wear a headband, baklava for work and if it puts any amount of pressure on the ear bud the sound will go in and out depending on my movements. When I first started wearing them. And I found which ones would stay in, my ears would hurt after about 30 min. Causing a sharp pain when going in and when coming out. This pain still happens but after about 2 hours+. The wire itself seems like good quality. The clip that came with, (used for securing the wire to your clothes) broke instantly when used.

The ER2 SE has fantastic sound, dynamics and frequency response. The bass is neutral without being fatiguing. I chose the right earbuds as far as sound is concerned. Minus 1 star because finding replacement eartips (large triple-flange) is difficult. Even the Etymotic site doesn't list compatible earbud models for many of their replacement eartip products. When you take the eartip off, you feel like your going to rip it; so having replacements on hand is essential. Minus 1 star because the cord is flimsy, basic, and not rugged. They charge too much the same cheap replacement cable. MInus 1 star because even though the used a standard MMCX connector, they recessed it and added a tab/notch to make it non-standard. So they force you to buy their more expensive replacement cable. There are tiny removable "filters" one for each earbud. They included a special tool to remove them, and one set of replacement filters. They are only meant to be replaced if they get clogged. The instructions say that the tool is for removal only, and not to use the tool to put the new ones in. I don't have any other earbuds with this "feature". I guess if it helps them sound this good, well that's ok-- I'll make sure to keep the tool and spare filters in the little case. OK, I had to add one star back, because a 2-star review isn't fair for earbuds that do an excellent job with passive isolation and sound so good.

Excellent value. Timbre and tonality is about as accurate as one can achieve in an IEM. Despite the average instrument separation, transparency might be the best that I've encountered in an IEM due to the flat response. Most will perceive the ER2SE as "mid forward". Sure it is probably the most mid forward compared to the majority of IEMs where mids are recessed and/or bass/treble are boosted. But in reality the mids are just as forward as the actual recording, but nothing more. The mids are probably the most accurate that I've heard in an IEM timbre / tone-wise. Highs are crystal clear without sibilance or any hint of compression. I've never heard cymbals so real from an IEM. Bass is very good in quality but is also linear and many might perceive it as lacking. While I can agree that this IEM might be too boring and lifeless to some EDM and bass-centric genres, being fun and engaging is not what it's about. You will buy this for its accuracy, very true to the recording nature at a very reasonable price!

These sound really nice and detailed, works really well for low and medium volume listening. To my ears these iems beat HD650 when it comes to detail. At low volumes they can bring out more treble detail than even HD800. Quite awesome performance! These are a bit bass light though, so if you listen to genres like electronical where bass quantity is important I would rather go for ER2XR. Isolation is of course fantastic. Build quality is good, I can't find any faults. The cable is nice and soft. Comes with a nice pouch and the iems themselves have a nice sturdy feel to them.

I gave it 4 stars for sound, but that is just for the mids and trebles which were reproduced realistically and with detail. There was just too little bass for me to be acceptable, but for the money I doubt people will find much that is better from the mids on up. I like to use voice in my comparisons because I feel I can tell when a voice is more or less realistically produced. Of course, not all voices have equal bass in them. Two voices I know pretty well (though I heard neither live) are those of Eva Cassidy and Gretchen Peters. Cassidy has a higher voice, and I confess I did not miss the bass much when listening to her. But Peters voice is deeper (though still very much a female voice), and there I missed the bass. Even more so with classical music. As others have reported, sound isolation was quite good. But, I found them uncomfortable to wear for any length of time, especially on the move. Others did not have this issue, and they are very unlikely to ever fall out of your ears, something that cannot be said of many others earbuds. So, it depends a bit on your budget and listening preferences. If bass is not a big deal to you, you will have a tough time doing better for the money, and I would recommend you check them out. Just make sure you can return them in case you end up agreeing with me on bass or comfort.