Specs
- Drivers: Dynamic
- Frequency response: 20 – 16kHz
- Impedance : 15-ohm
- Sensitivity : 96 dB
- Noise isolation : 35 – 42 dB
- Weight: ±2g per earpiece
Design
If you’re familiar with any of Etymotic’s in-ear monitors, then the ER2XR will look no different to you. It’s a very similar design to the original ER-4 which was released nearly 30 years ago. So, clearly, this is a tried and tested design which has worked for Etymotic ever since then.
The eartips used on these IEMs are of a 3-flange design for the silicone tips, but there is also the option of using foam tips (a set of which is included in the box). Generally, I don’t find myself getting along with foam tips, and the same was true in this case.
The whole process of having to roll it to compress the foam and then trying to, as quickly as possible, get the thing stuffed into you ear before the foam expands becomes even more problematic and annoying for me when we consider just how deep these types of IEM are meant to be inserted into your ears. But, we’ll cover how these get inserted when we discuss the comfort.
If we remove the eartip we can see that the housing consists of 2 sections – there’s the main housing for the driver, and then there’s the nozzle. The total length is about 22mm, of which the nozzle itself takes up about 8mm.
The entire housing is made of metal and it seems to be of a one-piece construction. This is in stark contrast to the plastic construction of older models which would sometimes sustain damage to the very narrow and weak nozzle section.
Right in the front of the nozzle is a little acoustic filter which is used to both dampen the driver (and thus alter the frequency response) as well as restricting debris such as dust and earwax from getting into the housing. These filters do need to be replaced after some time though and Etymotic did include an extra set as well as a removal tool in the packaging.
On the rear of the main housing is a slightly recessed MMCX connector, and we can also see a little cutout which is intended to keep the cable from rotating. The overall design and construction is identical to the ER3 and flagship ER4-series, but the ER2-series offers 2 very distinct differences.
The first is that gorgeous blue colour of the housing, and which is the same colour found on the cable-splitter. It’s a very nice soft-touch metallic finish which both looks and feels high quality.
The colour itself sits perhaps somewhere between royal and navy blue. Almost, but not quite a petrol blue. It is, at least as far as I am concerned, the best-looking model in Etymotic’s entire lineup. All the other models are either black or grey, so this newly-introduced colour is a refreshing change.
The second change in the ER2-series is the fact that these do not use a balanced armature driver, but instead features a more traditional dynamic driver which measures just 6mm. This is certainly not the first time that Etymotic has used a dynamic driver in their earphones, but I think it might be the first time one is used in any model in the ER-series.
The cable, on the other hand, does feel a bit generic. That’s not to say cheap by any means, but it doesn’t feel like anything special either. It’s fairly soft, but there is still a little bit of springiness to it which is probably what gives it that generic feeling. The MMCX connector and the headphone connector housing are also made out of plastic, but they at least feel well-built and robust and they also have a nice soft-touch rubberized finish. There is also no inline mic or volume slider, which might be a deal-breaker for some.
It also picks up quite a lot of microphonics which can be especially annoying as the cable rubs against your skin (even worse if you have facial hair), but this may very well be more as a result of how these IEMs fit rather than the cable itself.
And that leads us to what is perhaps the most polarising aspect of all of Etymotic’s earphones – the fit.
The total length of each earphone including the smaller triple-flange eartip but excluding the MMCX connector is roughly 25mm. Spoiler alert, more than half of that needs to fit into your ear. It might just be the eartip section which will need to fit all the way into your ear canal, but that’s still around 15mm in length. When wearing them it’s only the MMCX connector which is meant to protrude from the ear, and because of this extremely deep insertion, the ER-series of earphones have some distinct advantages and disadvantages.
The first advantage is that it creates a lot of isolation, between 35 and 42dB according to Etymotic. That’s way more passive isolation than you would get from any other type of in-ear headphones, and it can rival even some headphones out there that have active noise-cancellation.
Because of this isolation, there’s practically nothing that can interfere with the music playing. It also means that there’s a fairly large part of the ear-canal being bypassed, which does avoid certain resonances which occur when using regular IEMs.
The disadvantage, of course, is that not everyone would be able to get comfortable with this kind of fit. It’s extremely invasive and to some extent downright painful the first couple of times you wear these. But, truth be told, I got used to it way quicker than what I thought I would. I’m usually really picky with the fit and comfort of IEMs, but it took me just about 3 or 4 days to acclimate to these IEMs, and now I can wear them for hours on end and experience absolutely no discomfort whatsoever.
My only critism of the design is that there are no distinct markings for the left and right side. The plastic housing of the MMCX connector does have an L and R for each respective side, but they are really small and practically impossible to see under subdued lighting conditions, especially for those who have…ummm…let’s just say “vintage eyeballs”.
Sound
But now we get to the most important part of the ER2XR and it’s what I feel is the most stand-out feature of these IEMs. These sound absolutely incredible.
Of the 3 or 4 dozen IEMs which I’ve either just tried or reviewed over the last couple of years, the Dunu DK-3001 and the InEar ProPhile 8 were always at the very top for me. But, I’m feeling pretty confident in saying that the ER2XR has taken the spot of the Dunu.
It doesn’t quite have the same sound quality in terms of overall neutrality and effortlessness of the ProPhile 8, but compared to the DK-3001 it does seem more organic and refined overall.
Usually I would personally do a couple of frequency response measurements, but because of the deep insertion required, that unfortunately means that the measurement rig I use isn’t really appropriate, and so I’ll just borrow the measurements which can be found on the Crinacle website.
The treble on the Dunu sounds especially more forced in comparison, whereas the Etymotic comes across considerably more natural and relaxed, yet it offers an equal amount of detail retrieval. That to me is the very definition of a refined treble response.
The bass level, on the other hand, is less than what the Dunu has, but again it just feels more “correct”. It’s as though everything is just so well balanced and in proportion with one another. It’s also worth mentioning that the ER2XR has the most bass of any of the ER-series, and the reason this is worth mentioning is because I honestly would not want any less bass. To me it just hits that perfect Goldilocks amount.
What’s also great is that it’s the sub-bass which has the highest level within the entire bass spectrum, and this means that you get that nice deep sub-bass punch, but without overly colouring the upper bass and mids. It bleeds just a little bit into the upper bass, but it’s just enough to add some warmth to the signature without dominating any other region of the frequency response.
If we look at the frequency response as a whole, we can see that the response of the ER2XR is also the closest to the ‘Harman curve’ of any of the other Etymotic models.
The upper mids seem way more elevated than the rest of the response, but in reality that’s not what it sounds like at all. They, along with vocals, can sometimes sound perhaps just a touch too prominent, but not so much so as to seem problematic., and certainly not to the same amount as what the graph would suggest.
In the end, the ER2XR actually sounds incredibly natural, coherent, and well-balanced. That slight elevation in the bass and sub-bass is just enough to give it a slightly warmer than neutral presentation which I absolutely fell in love with.
If you want, you can resort to a little EQ work to remove some of that upper bass as well as reducing the the upper mids and increasing the treble just a touch. Doing so does give it a noticeably more neutral signature, but I think I really do prefer that slightly warmer tonality it has without any applied EQ.
When I review gear, I’ve got about 2 dozen or so tracks that I use to try and find some subtle but unique attributes to the device’s presentation. But, by far, the track I use most often is Fragments Of Time on Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories album. This album as a whole is fantastic, especially for testing gear, but this track in particular has such a great mix of instruments and bass lines to pick up on that it really can be quite telling as to whether or not your headphones/IEMs are able to keep up.
The things I listen out for is the texture of the cymbals, the pronunciation of the vocals, how punchy the drums sound, and how distinct and separated the bass guitar is at around the 3-minute mark.
That last one, the bass guitar, is actually a new detail I look out for thanks to the ER2XR. This is because I had honestly never heard that riff as distinctly as I have through these little pieces of magic. Now if I listen to other headphones/IEMs I can pick up on that particular detail, but none of them have ever portrayed it so distinctly and well-separated as the ER2XR.
It’s this ability, among a number of other aspects of its sound character and overall signature which has quickly made it my newest benchmark IEM to judge all others against. From now on, if I listen to an IEM (and perhaps even to some extent a pair of headphones) which cannot portray any significant or otherwise noticeable sonic improvements over the ER2XR, then I would have to seriously question if they are worthy of their price-tags.
Value
So, as for the value, in the case of the ER2XR, the bang-for-buck is simply through the roof. Whilst the retail price is just about $160, you can get these on Amazon for around $130 (excluding shipping and taxes), and at that price it’s an absolute steal considering the sound quality these can provide. I honestly cannot say that I’ve ever heard an IEM provide this much of a refined presentation at this low of a price. Heck, I prefer this to the DK-3001 which still costs around 3 times as much, and the ProPhile 8 can cost around 10 times as much. I really hope that puts into perspective just how impressive these are to me.
Of course, as mentioned, the fit would probably be the most common deciding factor here, but if you can try these out and get used to them, then I’m pretty sure that you too will come to the same conclusion as I have with regards to just how great these sound.
Truth be told, these really do make me curious to try out the ER3 and ER4 series, but I think, given the price of the ER4, I’m really not sure if the jump in price from the ER2 models would really be worth it, but I’ll reserve such judgments until a time comes where I can compare them personally and directly with one another. For now, the ER2XR gets my absolute highest recommendation if you have around $150 or so to spend and you prefer a more natural and slightly warmer than neutral presentation.