No-Context5479 t1_j99tt8y wrote on February 20, 2023 at 10:13 AM

u/smalg2, well yes doing a side by side comparison of their FRs and you see clearly the ER2XR has a slightly better low mid and uppermids presence than the S12 right until roughly 2.9kHz, then it starts gliding downwards rapidly to around -10dB at 10kHz whilst the S12 keeps enough energy from the 3kHz to 10kHz region(and even gets peaky).

Yes going from the S12 to the ER2XR is a jarring switch. The Air Frequencies beyond 10kHz have the same intensity so trailing ends of violins, cymbal crashes will still be present but the meat and body of these instruments will be a bit lost...

Here's the comparison graph - https://crinacle.com/graphs/iems/graphtool/?share=Harman_IE_2019_v2_Target,ER2XR_S3,S12_Shuoer

smalg2 OP t1_j99w293 wrote on February 20, 2023 at 10:45 AM

Thanks for your input! Yes I understand the S12 are quite bright, and I wasn't expecting the same brightness in the ER2XR, this is even part of why I bought them. However I now have the opposite issue: I find the ER2XR way too dark, even darker than my old Yamaha EPH-100, although looking at their FR it doesn't look like it should be the case... They're honestly the worst-sounding piece of audio gear I've ever owned, which doesn't seem right given all the praise they receive, hence this post. Faulty unit? Weird ear canal shape? I honestly have no idea, but after spending a day trying everything I could think of, I'm very close to returning them...

No-Context5479 t1_j99wm00 wrote on February 20, 2023 at 10:53 AM

Well from the graph your Yamaha has a worse case called having peaks because there's so much depression in a range... Makes the next highest point sound peaky... If you look at the ER2XR it's a gradual descent so it gradually gets dark whilst your Yamaha has that hole in the upper mids but gets increadly sharp at 7.9kHz approximately... Yeah that's dark but bright at the same time...

The Etymotic isn't that way it's gradual downward slope with zero peaks so there's no brightness sticking out from the dark. So yeah that can make the Yamaha sound dark and bright at the same time whilst the ER2XR will sound dark all the way to 20kHz because there's no unevenness in the treble... It's purely a slow glide

If you don't like the Etymotic get rid of it... And get another neutral set... The FATfreq Reference or the VSonic GR07 Classic is a good neutral set to get

smalg2 OP t1_j99zezo wrote on February 20, 2023 at 11:31 AM

What's puzzling me is that what I hear doesn't match those FR charts. My Yamahas sound a bit weird but are still fun, they were my only pair for almost a decade and I didn't feel the need to upgrade until they developed a channel imbalance. But to me the Etymotics sound bad, almost phone-like, and I have a hard time understanding how what I hear could get any praise, much less the cult following they seem to have... It feels like a lot of $20 chifi IEMs could do better, and the 7Hz Zero actually do, hands down. Which is why I suspect some ear canal shape incompatibility (given their unusual insertion depth), a faulty unit, or something along those lines. I'm seeing an audio nerd friend soon, I'll ask her what she thinks about them, but at that point it would take some "Eureka moment" for me to keep them. Thank you for spending the time trying to help me though...