Etymotic ER3XR Extended Response Earphone,Black

A nice step up from the HF5
I have only had these about 30 minutes so far and will be amending my review as I break these in. But since no other reviews seem to be out there, I thought I’d put a bit of my first impressions out there. Though it is still early and these thoughts may shift some as I become more familiar with these. I’ll also preface by saying I have not heard the ER4 range of headphones by Etymotic. But have owned the HF5 along with a collection of Sennhesier open back headphones and PSB closed back headphones.I upgraded to the ER3XR from the HF5. The HF5 has been my daily go to headphone to throw in my pocket and take on the go and to the office. I started looking into etymotic for passive noise isolation after listing to the “best” active noise canceling headphones out there and realizing ANC is garbage at best.If you are familiar with the HF5, the ER3 is a step up in the detail and separation in the sound. Maybe not a huge improvement for some, but it is very noticable to me on first listening. This is especially true in the treble detail. The biggest improvement however is in the bass region. The ER3XR clearly have a much needed bass boost in the low bass/sub bass frequency response compared to the HF5. It is very clean, separated and detailed bass and not overly bass heavy. Just gives a nice bit of increased support in the low end which was the main limiting factor with the HF5.The build quality is also significantly improved. The HF models have a plastic body and durable but thin cable. These are aluminum bodies with detachable cables which can be replaced. The cables are still quite thin but feel a bit more premium overall. This is nice as the cable seems to usually be the place where the HF models fail.In short, the HF5 are a durable but ultimately a “disposable” ….albeit costly, consumer product by build quality standards. These are approaching more of the professional build quality with replaceable parts so they should last longer. That should be enough of a reason to buy them over slightly cheaper monitors.If you are on a tight budget, go with the HF5 while they are on sale. If you can justify the additional $50-80 it is definitely worth it to go with the ER3.Based on the general impression so far, it recommend strongly that most people will really enjoy the ER3xr for listening to music. The flatter response of the ER3sr may be better suited for studio monitors or musicians monitoring live performances. Again, the slightly emphasized bass boost on the XR is far from what I’d call bass heavy. Definitely still very balanced sounding in my opinion but definitely not a flat response.One general comment/observation I’ve had on etymotic earphones is that they seem a little treble heavy at first and bass light with a very “digital” sound in general. They really open/warm up significantly after several hours of playback. I usually run them overnight with white, pink or brown noise playing through them to break the drivers in a bit.UPDATE #1: I’ve been using these for a few days now and absolutely love them. Based on the feedback I’m seeing online, these really are deserving of the SR series iem name. They are much more similar to the ER4 iems than they are different. It seems the biggest difference in these compared to the ER4 is that they are assembled in China instead of the US and the drivers are not matched to the same tight standards between balancing the left and right channels. However some of the Frequency Response graphs still show very good/great match between the drivers.The ER3 also appears to maybe have a bit more roll off in the high frequency response. this likely translates into slightly less upper high details. Comparing the bass of the ER4 and ER3 seem to rank from least bass to most bass ER4SR, ER3SE, ER4XR and ER3XR. In general the etymotic sound has historically been called cold as it emphasises treble detail and bass detail is light. The XR headphones have a raised bass response which caters towards a more mainstream audience response. The sound of the ER3XR may be a little too bass heavy for the purest/most balanced listeners. But I think most people will really enjoy the warmer sound signature of the clean and accurate bass. However, the ER3SE supposedly still has very good bass and should meet the needs of listeners really focusing on acoustic, jazz, classical or lightly scored vocals. The ER3XR is better suited for pop, rock, R&B and techno which would benefit from the stronger bass.Update: I did end up having a minor issue with these. Not long after receiving these I noticed a crackling/ popping sound coming through each driver when I was moving around…. with pretty much any source. So, it definitely seemed to be something related to the unit. I received a replacement pair and noticed the same exact thing. So, I contacted ETYMOTIC who was beyond accommodating in working to diagnose this. It was baffling to them also. In the end they could not diagnose what the issue was as both the original unit and replacement unit seemed to be within spec. At the end of this, they offered to send back my original unit with an upgraded cable (the ER4 cable) since the issue may have been associated with the cable. But this was never able to confirm since they couldn’t reproduce the issue I was having.When I got the unit back, it seems the issue has been resolved. now I just have great sounding music and absolutely love these earphones. I’ll clarify that I’ve used the unit in the same way as I did when noticing the crackling with both the original ER3 cable and the upgraded ER4 cable, but have not heard the crackling since.Long story short, Etymotics went above and beyond to try to help me out on this which speaks highly of their customer service and support. Sure you can buy cheaper brands, but you will not get this quality or support when you begin to have issues. Further these come with a 2 year warranty when industry standard is 6 months to 1 year for most earbuds if they have a warranty at all.

Okay, so maybe not my life, but at least my hearing (what’s left of it) and my reputation.TL;DR – incredible combination of precise sound reproduction and unbeatable sound isolation, with pro-level build quality at a very fair price. If you need in-ear monitors (IEMs) for mixing or performing you need to check these out. May not be what casual users are looking for, though.I’m a drummer and though I’ve played for ages I’m just starting to play live with a click track. I was using Audio Technica ATHIM-70 IEMs that had been fine in the past, but just weren’t cutting it when I was in a 5-sided enclosure (plexi on all sides except the back)… no matter which tips I used I got too much bleed from the kit coming through, and I either had to really strain to hear the click track or have the volume so high that I felt like it was a sonic ice-pick into my brain. Neither option was a good one.I swapped over the the Etymotics and immediately felt more comfortable and in control and it had in instant impact on my playing. I could hear the click without straining mentally and without having excessive volume due to the combination of hugely better noise isolation and much more precise reproduction. I also tweaked the panning in my in-ear mix to get more things off-center, including putting the click a little to one side which makes it a bit easier to discern, but by far the biggest factor was the change in earphones. Don’t let the single drivers scare you off: these provide far more resolution than my dual-driver Audio Technicas.I’ve used (and loved) Etymotic earphones in the past (the HF2 model) but they seemed to have a design flaw, and I had several pairs where the main body broke in two right where the cable joined the earphone. It was party unavoidable because the canalphone design means that they need to be inserted very deeply into the ear canal to work and sound as intended. When inserted, they create a vacuum and it takes a fair bit of pressure to get them out again, and since they’re so small there are only so many places to hold on while you’re pulling them out. The HF2 is made of plastic that, unfortunately, just isn’t up to the task, so I abandoned Etymotic and bought the Audio Technicas so I wouldn’t have to keep replacing them.These ones, though, have two important design changes: an aluminum body that won’t crack in half, and removable cables so even when the next logical point of failure comes into play you can just replace the cables and not the full earphone. So they won’t break as readily, but if they do they’ll still be less expensive to get up and running again.What’s great – Superb isolation – Very precise sound reproduction – Durable design and build qualityWhat’s not – Fit can be finicky… if you’re not using the right tips for your ears (triple-flange silicon provide the best mix of isolation and durability, if they fit for you), or they’re not inserted correctly, the sound can be highly compromised or even seemingly blocked. It takes some practice to find the sweet spot. – The flip side of the “very precise sound reproduction” means that even the XR (extended range) variant isn’t going to give you a huge, inflated bottom end. I love them for casual listening, but they may not be everyone’s cup of tea. – Deep insertion may take some getting used to, and some people may never get used to it. I find it very comfortable now, but not everyone does. – They can go in fairly quickly, but because of the deep insertion, they’re not quick to get out. It’s important to give them a bit of a wiggle & twist to break the vacuum as you remove them so that your eardrums don’t decide to try to follow. So if you’re in a situation where you need to be taking them off frequently to talk to people they’ll likely be frustrating.If you’re in any situation where you need a high level of noise isolation you should check these out. For me, the build quality (aluminum body and detachable cables) of the 3-series makes them a necessary step up from the 2-series, even though the cost is higher. I haven’t tried the 4-series, but from what I’ve read they aren’t necessarily a huge step up in sound quality, so these are in the sweet spot in terms of features and price. Plan to take some time to get used to them if you haven’t used canal-phones before, and try different tips if you have trouble getting the right seal. I’m absolutely satisfied with my purchase, even if they didn’t save my life. They’re still great.

Muy cómodos al usar las puntas que más acomoden, muy buena calidad de sonido y de construcción. La aislación de sonido es verdaderamente excelente. La bolsa para guardarlos es de buena calidad también, muy conveniente.

los samsung que tengo de 18 eur suena 4veces mas y ademas muy agudo.muy mal y sobre todo 170eur ,para no tener calidad alguna, por eso he adquirido de nuevo los beats a 72 eur cuando estan en ebay la competencia a 45eur, pero de momento os portais muy bien o al menos lo intentais