Etymotic Research ER2SE Studio Edition High Performance In-Ear Earphones (Detachable Dynamic Drivers, Noise Isolating, High Accuracy, Studio Grade Accuracy)

Product Information

The evolution of the original irreverent and irrelevant and non-authoritative site for headphone measurements, i. No instances of peaks or harshness are present here in nature unless the track itself is poorly recorded, mastered, or sibilant prone. Please note that the following impressions are based on using them with the Shure eartips with insertion of a normal depth – somewhere between deep and shallow.

To be expected, but honestly the difference is rather close which I think is either a win in the Ety case, or a loss in the Blessing 2 case. Unless you’re using an iPhone with the AirPods Pro or some proprietary Apple headset, you’re bound to run into connection issues. It does have more treble energy than the ER2SE, but it’s not bright, exactly, nor is it much more fatiguing. So I guess it is really hard to more or less pinpoint a reference curve without purchasing some sort of standardized 1/2" pressure microphone.Etymotic’s founders were audiologists who have a deep, abiding concern for hearing health and hearing preservation.

Every audiophile, it seems, has a moment where they discover Etymotics, and their perspective is forever changed. From the start, they’ve made earplugs and hearing aids, so at a certain point, it just made sense for them to bring their expertise to the IEM market. If you’re someone who enjoys listening to music while commuting, then you know the value of a good pair of earphones/IEMs.

Some bright female voice recordings could sound a bit shouty but that is the only negative that I really found in these. The BA driver is significantly faster and there is a certain effortlessness in the 4XR model that makes everything sound sublime. It matches GRAS' RA0045 frequency response almost perfectly and its mic has equivalently-low distortion levels. I’m not a Harman-target guy – I prefer headphones tuned to the diffuse-field target, because I find it a bit more revealing and honest to the recording.