Etymotic ResearchER2SE Studio Edition High Performance In-Ear Earphones (Detachable Dynamic Drivers, Noise Isolating, High Accuracy, Studio Grade Accuracy)

Etymotic. ER2SE ReviewCost:£70, supplier was Amazon UK prime next day delivery.The little iem that can.Equipment used :FiiO M11 Plus used as both A DAP and a transport for the Hip DAC 2Ifi Hip. DAC 2 (connected to both phone and M11 PlusIncluded dongle to run from phone DAC (Poco F3)TLDR: get a set they're amazing!Packaging :Nice big box for good store presence, designed to hang from a shelf peg.Very good quality carry case, faux leather and faux suade.Inside the carry case were the goodies. A bag containing a filter removal tool and two extra filters in case the originals get blocked. Don't think I'll need them personally but nice to have.Also inside was two different sizes of triple flange ear tips a medium (I'd say) and a large. A pair of foam ear tips are also included, along with a great selection of double flange tips from small to extra large.The cable is MMCX but don't expect to be able to use your fave MMCX cable with these. They've customised the MMCX so that there's a slot you have to line up to get the cable to snap in. It's a shame as the included cable while Perfectly serviceable is a little microphonic.Fit:Try as I might I could not get on with either size of triple flange tips. They were OK in my right ear but wouldn't go deep enough to seal and.trust me these things go in really deep. Extremely deep.I ended up settling on the XL double flange. Fit is still extremely deep but not uncomfortable. You get a tremendous seal and the IEM almost completely disappears into your ears.I recommend trying the triple flange first and if you can't.get them to fit right do what I did and go for the double flange.I should have tried the foam tips for this review but avoided them as they seemed cheap and nasty. I'll try them and post if they're any good.Sound :The. SE are studio tuned so lack any real bass thump from stock. Vocals are forward, male and female both soumd smooth. Mids are where you want them and the highs shine without a hint of sibilance, just a sparkling performance.For the following tracks I listened to them both through the M11 Plus as a DAP and. The Hip. DAC 2 using both my phone and the M11 as transports.All music is.sttramed from Tidal in "up to" Master quality. For Example Dire Straits was unfolded to 192KHz.All the following were listened to using either Wavelet EQ or ifi XBass.Listening to Dire Straits (Money For Nothing) the guitar and drums including symbals are equally represented without one masking the other.They also excel at dance music. Listening to the best of Scooter the artificial instruments were silky smooth and really represented what I've heard from some good sets of speakers.My G by Ed Sheeran and Aitch when EQd or Xbassed sounds full and. Has a wide sound stage. Aitch's rapping and the backing track are perfectly balanced. There are layers to the back g track that are only apparent when I use the Etymotic.Psycho by Aitch and Anne-Marie really thumps with a decent EQ bass.shelf and lyrics and the piano are almost 3D sounding.My Humps.by Black Eyed Peas really thumps.with the right EQ (for me). The song is sub bass and semi mid bass heavy on the beat and this really comes through clean and snappy especially using XBass. XBass really works magic on these IEMs.Jucy by Doja Cat sounds the best I've ever heard. The bass line when EQd to my tastes is.forward but not too dominant. The female lyrics are lush and you can hear every word even when the bass line is at its peak. Simply a fantastic rendition of one of my favorite Tracks.Ed Sheeran Shape of You has.everuthing in its place. The high pitched.beat that runs.throuhh the whole.trsck is always present but doesn't take over like on for example. QKZ x HBB. A perfect balance.of instruments all in the right places and very clear lyrics.Lack of Bass (EQ)EQ and final thoughts.on source pairing:As I got the SE and. Not the XR (Xtended Range) the bass is extremely light.To cure this and bring the bass shelf up to my personal tastes I used Wavelet combined with Tidal to increase all frequencies from 80Hz to 300Hz. A boost of +3 on each really brought out some smooth non boomy bass.On the Hip DAC 2 I used the XBass function which adds a nice dollop of bass to anything plugged into it. They sound great through this DAC with. XBass!The lack of bass really isn't an issue as these respond to EQ so well. If you want more bass simply increase the frequencies of your choice. I did not find that doing this over shadowed the mids or highs and there was no bass bleed or boominess.As for source pairing I was supremely impressed by ifi's XBass. It just adds the perfect amount of bass and in my opinion wins over anything I've tried in wavelet including custom EQ files. I'll. Definitely be reaching for the HIP DAC 2 when using the Etymotic!My phone could drive these but at a very reduced maximum volume. It was listenable but left you wanting to turn it up a bit more.The M11 Plus with wavelet was decent and had plenty of power to bring out the best in these earphones. I did have to use higher volume. Than usual but still had 30 clicks left after they became loud enough for me.Conclusion:For £70 these things are a steal. As long as you're prepared for an IEM that inserts very deep in the ear canal you will love the sound of these.EQ is the icing on the cake. They respond so well to EQ ing a decent bass shelf. XBass. Is the star of the show though for me.I highly recommend this set as long as you're prepared to EQ if you like a bit of bass. I'm not bothering with Moondrop Variations. I've got such a versatile set in these ER2SE I'm going to save the £400+ and get the car a full service. What ever is left over I may try the latest interesting IEMs Like I did with QKZ x HBB.In short…… get the ER2SE or ER2XR, they're worth the money and with some tinkering they're honestly the best sounding set I've got in my collection. They beat Timeless and. Dioko hands down for detail retrieval.Get on Amazon and grab a pair. You have 30 days to return them if you don't like them. It's a no loose situation if you have a localised version of Amazon.Anyway, enough rambling. Get them!

The wire has stopped working on one side 10 months later, but is otherwise still good. I live by a busy road, and nothing really will completely remove the outside noise because of the damned loud motorcycles, but this does well enough. Better than cheap earmuffs, and better than a silicone earplug designed for sleeping. For best noise reduction, you want a good seal.However, it must be noted that although it is *technically* MMCX compatible, a standard MMCX cable is going to be useless because it lacks this etymotic-specific locking mechanism, which meant at least in my experience, the earbud would come right off with the slightest pressure, so a standard cable was hardly usable. Fortunately, replacement cables with this special locking mechanism can be purchased rather cheaply from Ali for a fraction of the price that Etymotic would sell them to you for.

Taking the underground and busses frequently these are a life saver anc eliminates the sound which i dont mind such as the train rumble but leaves the sound of people talking and watching tiktoks at max volume. however these are able to block out the noise and allow me to not have to blast my ears with music.the fit was uncomfortable the first time and pulled out a load of ear wax however after a few trys they seem completly fine and I have no issue with comfort

I've been listening with IEMs for many years, including deep insertion ones such as Klipsch used to make. Currently I have JVC HA-FDX, Mee Audio Pinnacle PX, Shure SE215, Moondrop Kato, Moondrop Quarks, Truthear Zero. For full size headphones I have Sennheiser HD650, HiFiMan HE4xx and others. I state this as context for my comments on the Etymotics. I am used to In Ear Monitors and am familiar with a range of equipment at prices ranging from a tenner up to many hundreds of pounds, including some of good sound quality and a few which are exceptionally good.Etymotic have a big reputation for sound quality and noise isolation, and for the deep insertion fit. I fully expected to enjoy these but was thoroughly disappointed and ended up returning them. Here's why:Sound quality: it's nothing special at all. Yes, better than whatever you got with your phone or iPod or similar, but really quite ordinary compared to competing products, even some much cheaper ones. I'm not complaining about the bass. It's OK and as expected for an IEM designed with a neutral sound in mind. What disappointed me was that the midrange is dull and human voices sound lifeless. Neutral doesn't have to mean joyless but in this case it does.On top of this the cable transmits unwanted noise to the ears with every touch or brush against clothing. With many IEMs you can wear the cable back and over the ear to remove this issue but with the Etymotics the fairly short cable and the way it fits to the body of the earphone makes this very hard to do without compromising correct fit in the ear. They could at least have supplied a longer cable with a softer outer which transmits less noise.Noise Isolation: Again, better than average but no longer special or extraordinary. While most IEMs/earphones come with silicone tips you can buy memory foam tips to fit just about any of them these days. I tried Etymotics double and triple flange tips and their foams. Etymotic foam tips look & feel like something from a surgical appliance shop of yesteryear. While the body of the IEM is extremely narrow, the foam tips are massively wider even when compressed and in use. They just don't work as well as the more common designs as used by Shure, Moondrop, JVC etc. You do get good isolation, better than shallow fit earphones, but it's no better than any other model which allows a bit of depth when used with memory foam tips. I get noticeably better isolation with Moondrop Quarks with aftermarket foams (total cost under £15).Comfort: Uuuurgh. Aaaaaaaaaagh. Yes, you spotted it, I hate the fit. If you're one of the three humans on the planet with ruler straight ear canals which are also of exceptional depth and with uniform and very generous width all the way down then you might love these. The other 8 billion of us are going to wonder what on earth the designers were thinking? Were they thinking at all? I get the distinct impression that Etymotic design for dummy testing heads and measuring apparatus and have never seriously considered applying basic knowledge of human physiology to their product which is, after all, actually inserted deeply into a sensitive and essential bodily orifice! I could get a good fit with correct seal but it felt horrible. The IEMs feel like they are really wedged in....and then they move and you have to try again. You'll probably end up with the IEM or its cable join sticking out a bit, in which case every outdoor breeze will add mysterious whooshing and whistling to your music. It's truly rotten design, totally unergonomic and if they made hearing aids like this then people would prefer to be deaf.I returned them. Amazon were brilliant with a speedy delivery and then making the return easy and in refunding me and unfortunately that was the best part of the entire purchase.