Top 10 Best Etymotic Earbuds 2022 Pick By Experts

These earphones replace a pair of Etymotic Research ER5 earphones I used for nine years before one earphone quit. The price of those ER5 earphones was comparable to what I paid for these HF5 earphones. Because my old Etymotic Research earphones performed so well, I had high expectations of these HF5 earphones. I’m not disappointed. I find the HF5 sound isolation and audio quality are excellent. I don’t miss the ER5s at all.I consider sound isolation to be essential to audio quality. To my mind, if you have other noise bleeding in, it doesn’t much matter how good your earphones are. I spent a lot of time researching earphones when I bought my first pair of Etymotic Research earphones. Those rated high on audio quality and no one else could claim the sound isolation they had. They delivered on the promise. When it was time to buy new earphones, I did the same research and got the same result: no one else makes earphones with both excellent audio and excellent sound isolation.With all noise shut out, these HF5s make me feel as though I’m in the studio with the band. Every rustle and breath comes through. You hear the guitarist’s shirt brush against his guitar. I point this out not as examples of distraction from the music but to show how completely these earphones deliver every bit of sound in a recording. If the artist didn’t want those sounds in the recording, the engineer would have removed them. When I listen on these earphones, I hear everything.The HF5 earphones also create a huge sonic space. You feel as though you’re in a vast empty room with just you and the music. They place each instrument separately in that space–when the music is produced that way. It’s complicated, and I don’t understand how it works, but some producers pull all the sound together into one stream, others maintain or create separation between the instruments and voices.Any pretty-good earphones with good fidelity in bass, midrange, and high end will do for music that’s pushed together into a wall of sound, as much pop music is. But many indie, folk, blues, jazz, classical, and other specialized recordings often use this separation in space to bring you into the middle of the sound. You feel as though you are there, with the music spread around you, just as it would be if you were right there during the performance. The intimacy of this experience has an almost emotional quality. These earphones deliver that experience.Etymotic Research promises more than 40 dB of noise reduction. That’s a lot. By comparison, the best foam earplugs, when inserted deeply into your ears, reduce noise by 32 dB. That’s plenty to save your hearing, but not as good as these earphones. I use foam earplugs often. The company’s claim is true: these earphones keep out more noise than the best foam earplugs I can find.I’m an artist working with steel. I use power tools in a small, concrete-walled studio. The noise is truly deafening. It’s loud enough to be annoying even with foam earplugs. However, I put in my Etymotic Research earphones and listen to acoustic music at medium to low volume while I use a power grinder on steel . Another example: When I use the lawnmower (a quieter machine than the power tools I use), I barely notice the mower.Time will tell whether these new earphones are as durable as the last ones, but I expect they’ll do as well or better. The old ones had ordinary wires, but these have Kevlar reinforced wires. These HF5 wires are also springy so they don’t tangle easily. The earphones themselves are made of metal and stick out of your ear a little so they’re pretty easy to remove. Because of the seal necessary to keep out noise, Etymotic Research earphones are a little difficult to pull out. The long body of the HF5s helps with that by giving you something to grip.Not very many things I’ve bought over the years have given me as much satisfaction as my Etymotic Research earphones. If sound quality matters to you and you listen to music anywhere but in your living room, I highly recommend these HF5 earphones.UPDATE–CAUTION IF YOU HAVE WIDE EAR CANALSFit on these earphones is not as good as with the earlier ones. None of the silicone tips fit snugly for more than a few minutes. For me, noise isolation isn’t much better than non-sealing earbuds. The memory foam tips work well, but only two or three times per pair, then they are squished and not strong enough to maintain a seal. Noise isolation is crucial and an important reason I bought these to replace earlier ER earphones. THE PROBLEM IS PARTICULAR TO SIZE, NOT A GENERAL ISSUE WITH THE EARPHONES. I’m average height and weight, but apparently my ear canals are large: consider the size of yours when buying. I now need to buy custom tips which will nearly double the cost. I’m in my fifties and have lost a little high-frequency hearing, so I can’t comment authoritatively on the sound, which means I can’t confirm the value for cost, now that I have to get after-market tips. ER is a reliable brand and I still recommend their products. However, sound isolation now depends on the size of your ear canals. If you have large ones, you may want to look elsewhere, I’m afraid.

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.

The first and third pairs of MK5 were lost, one in the case, one out of the case. The wires wore out on the second pair. I have a gold ribbon attached to the black case and another to the gray wires. On asphalt the case or the wires just almost disappear. They sound great, are comfortable under helmets (Schubeth C3 Pro and E1), and even without any music playing are perfect for deadening wind and motor noise on a motorcycle (stock pipes). It is just possible to hear someone speaking loud with the helmet and earphones, unless music is playing. It is easy to hear a siren or honking horn even with music. As earplugs these are quieter than Etymotics earplugs. I use large size “Christmas-tree” shaped tips. Getting the right size and shape of tip is important. I have another brand of 20 dB noise reducing earplugs, and the earphones are way better. It does help to lick them before putting them in your ear (get used to it) and to pull the top of your ear up if they are not seating well. I address the worn out wire issue by being sure to put the earphones in a protective case and to NOT leave them flopping around in a bag or pocket. These Etymotic MK5 earphones are also better than the Apple AirPod Pros at reducing noise. The AirPod Pros make the motor sound awful and a bit louder, with the noise cancellation turned on. Also, the AirPods fall out of my ears when I remove the helmet, often bouncing on the asphalt or concrete surface. My nightmare is that they will fall into the hot bike innards and come out as a piece of white chewed gum — but that has not happened yet. The Etymotic MK%s stay in my ears until I take them out. For riding I would rather use the Etymotic earphones with a dongle to attach them to a lightning port on my phone than use the AirPods. But I have done both.

The short of this is:1. These sound spectacular, are well tuned, detailed, and resolving. The sound quality and price is spot on and class-leading. They do require more power than most other IEMs and have the below caveat.2. The cable is nearly unusable in any situation where you cannot sit down and not move at all. The cable just rubbing on my shirt overpowers what I am listening to. Using these while moving around or working out is not a good experience.Sound:From the sound perspective (the main reason why I purchased the ER2XR), these are at the top of anything I have listened to IEM (in-ear monitor) wise for under $200. While I tend to prefer neutral tuning, I wanted something a bit warmer with good bass extension which these hit effortlessly (if you don’t want the bass boost, get the ER2SE instead). The bass is detailed and reasonably tight while not overpowering the mids. The extension is great as well, listening to deep house or chopped and screwed music is honestly a lot of fun with these without being overdone! The mids are also quite good, neutral, detailed, not recessed or pushed forward, just right! The treble, while slightly boosted over neutral, is not sibilant, harsh, or fatiguing. After getting the right tips on for my ears, I can listen with these for hours at a time without my ears fatiguing from the sound or fit.Ear Tips:Using the triple-flange ear tips that are included (the small ones that were on the IEMs out of the box were too small for me and did not seal well), the isolation achieved is better than any IEM I have ever used, but these need to be inserted really far into your ear. The isolation is as good or better than any earplugs I have used. I can only think that well executed active noise cancellation can be better than the isolation these provide. Seriously, even at low volume I can barely hear people in the same room. If swapped over to the any of the dual-flange tips that are included, the isolation isn’t as great, but still is at the top of any IEM I have used.Now, two points of consideration when it comes to the ear tips. One, if you are used to single-flange tips, you will probably feel like your ear is getting violated by these IEMs. Even the dual-flange tips insert pretty far compared to other dual-flange tips on other IEMs. Two, the stem on the IEM is very long and thin. To use tips from other brands, a small nozzle that is long is needed. Using a nozzle that isn’t long enough will either cause the end of the stem to be exposed (and may get clogged with ear wax) or the tip will slide around a lot on the stem.I do have two small complaints with the included tips. First, they are all glossy smooth and honestly have a “sticky” feel with how grippy the material is. Sometimes it is uncomfortable to remove the ER2s from my ears because the tips are yanking on the inside of my ear so hard (the biggest flange almost always gets folded backwards). Second, the glossy finish makes cleaning the tips without wipes or cleaner very difficult. Normally, removing earwax from other ear tips without cleaner or wipes is pretty easy thanks to a satin finish but that is far from the case here.The Cable:I despise the cable that the ER2XR comes with. The construction and quality control is fine, that is not the issue. The issue is the design and intent for how Etymotic wants the user to wear the ER2. As can be seen by the product images, the connector at each IEM comes out at an angle that is clearly intended to be worn straight down out of the ear. When worn as intended, the microphonics are downright awful. The cable material transfers noise really well especially with how deep of insertion into your ears these IEMs are intended for. The cable just rubbing against my shirt can be heard loud and clear. If I am not sitting completely still while listening, the microphonics easily overpower the music. It honestly reminds me of the cheap ear buds that I used as a kid. Using the included shirt clip or using the slider to cinch the cable below your chin would both help the microphonics. Personally, I find both of these solutions to be inferior to ear loops and the slider is very hard to move in my case.Looping the cable over the ear makes the microphonics almost unnoticeable unless nothing is playing. The issue there is with how the cable comes out at an angle from the IEM, the cable is pushed away from the ear. This results in the cable often falling off the ear when turning the head or moving around. The cable lacks a rigid wire to form an ear loop and doesn’t feature any pre-defined ear loop.Normally I would not complain so much about the included cable and just replace it with an aftermarket one. However, Etymotic designed the ER2 with a semi-custom MMCX connector meaning there are nearly no aftermarket options for a cable. The connector is slightly recessed into the IEM and there is a small “key” that locks the included cable into one position so it does not rotate. Using a straight MMCX connector cable would result in a worse cabling situation than what I’ve already described with the included cable. Then there is the fact that it may not even have enough depth to clear the “key” protruding from each connector at the IEM. What is really needed for a cable to effectively loop around the ear is a 90-degree MMCX cable. At the time of review, there are no such cables offered on Amazon. Looking to popular 3rd party sources, none of them have such a cable on offer either. The only places I have found a 90-degree MMCX connector cable with adequate depth to clear the “key” is either Chinese marketplaces, or custom made by Audiophiles on various forums. Buying from a Chinese marketplace has its risks and buying custom is simply expensive (the cable alone can be 50-100% the cost of the ER2).Other Items:Lastly, the product box and included accessories are fairly nice. The foam inserts in the box hold everything securely in place. The included ear tips have many different sizes that should work for the vast majority of users. The included soft pouch not too small or too big, includes a small internal pocket for holding extra tips, tools, filters, etc., and the materials feel rather nice. No complaints here, but swapping the plastic packaging materials for renewable materials would be a nice touch.Closing Thoughts:These are phenomenal IEMs from a sound quality perspective, though they are not very sensitive. On my EarStudio ES100, I can max out the volume and the volume still is not uncomfortable. Doing that with any of my other IEMs is downright painful. These want power like many over-ear headphones in order to achieve “loud” volumes. Once I get the cable on these replaced with something that can go over my ears with a balanced connection, they will likely become my daily drivers.

Elaborations aside — comfort and compatibility with YOUR ear is the only concern — there is no better wired IEM.Discussion of electrostatic, planar, bass-reflex, folded horn, open or closed back room speakers or over-the ear cans is a topic for another time.Regarding fitment to your ear — search out a DIY ‘molded to fit’ hearing protector found here on Amazon — about 15 dollars.This is a two-part material used to cast a silicone like plug for your ears. Uncured it has the texture of silly-putty.Once cast to your ear shape, a Bic-pen like barrel with the ink cartridge removed makes an almost perfect tool to sculpt out a space for any of the Etymotic IEMs. The Etymotic IEM is then inserted — non permanently — into this space. I got it right the first time I cast my ear canal and use this one set of canal plugs interchangeable with several Etymotic IEMs.If you get the insertion wrong the cost of casting a new ear canal plug is quite modest.As to whether you should choose the XR line or the SR line of Etymotic IEMs the difference is in the power output requirement you require to get as much from your driving amplifier to achieve the sound pressure level you desire.I maintain quite firmly that regardless of what acoustic transducer you employ to convert an electrical signal into an audible sound wave — you WILL need to equalize for the room, or for your specific ear shape and sensitivity, additionally for the type of music, the vintage of the recording, for the variations in producer and studio, and for variations found in various brands of speakers, headphones & In Ear Monitors.If your sound playback app or system does not provide an equalization option you need to search further.If EQ makes no difference to you then any Hi-Fidelity investment is not the best way to spend your money.Any speaker is just a ‘pump’ to impel a shockwave into your listening space or your ear space. All spaces have individual resonant frequencies. Each separate ear responds to sound differently than any other ear — even your left vs: your right.Exposure to loud sounds and the passage of time also have an effect — even dietary factors like sodium content and alcohol have an effect.Equalization is a must. To get the most from your music means you will have to learn what is happening in your listening space and with whatever system you are using. Study can not be avoided if you want the most from your music dollar.REMEMBER: You will likely spend more $$$ on the music than you will on the hardware that plays your music by a factor of three or more. My expenditure just on digital formats is in excess of $10,000.00 — I wont bring up tape and vinyl formats here.

The sound quality of these is simply better than regular headphones, especially open back. The noise cancellation lets you hear things you otherwise wouldn’t like subtle reverb. However, there’s a massive issue with deep insertion and it’s comfort. I quickly learned after buying these that my left ear canal isn’t straight like my right one, and as a result I simply can’t insert the left earphone as far as the right one. This results in two things: channel imbalance, and massive pain. I’ve tried every single stock tip and no matter what, getting a decent seal means pain for extended listening. I’m past the return period because I like the sound quality, but I simply can’t wear them for hours like I used to with my DT770. I guess if you have straight ear canals, you won’t be able to find anything better without spending a lot more.The cable produces a lot of microphonics and looping the cable behind your ears is a must. Getting an aftermarket cable is a hassle as these use a proprietary connector. Speaking of which, if the cable were to get snagged on something and the earphones were to be yanked out of your ear, the differences in pressure would probably cause severe damage to the eardrum, so I certainly wouldn’t risk wearing them unless stationary.Overall they’re good, but there are caveats with wearing a special IEM like these. For some they might be unusable.

I’ve used earbuds in the past but they were never advertised as IEMs. Just your run of the mill earbuds. It always got me by on mobile devices but they never compared to a pair of headphones. Very rarely do I even use earbuds for music listening and especially gaming on a PC. I decided to experiment with a pair of normal earbuds and gaming but the prolonged use of them in my ears was painful. I decide to check into IEMs for better sound quality and comfort. I didn’t want to spend a crazy amount of money and saw these IEMs were reviewed highly so decided to give them a try.I have been using these IEMs daily. I wear them for 6+ hour stretches at a time for both work (Zoom, music listening, etc) and gaming. I could not be happier. Initially I found them to be uncomfortable but after trial and error with the different sized tips I’ve come up with a configuration that works perfectly. The more I use them, the more comfortable they get. To the point where now I don’t even realize I’m wearing them. The build quality is great. The sound quality is great. Granted I’m not using them for music production or anything crazy but I doubt I’ll be going back to headphones any time soon. Great set of IEMs.

If you’re getting on the audiophile step ladder (like me), this is is a fantastic IEM for a neutral sound, with great precision, clarity and detail. Just make sure that’s what you really want. You may think you do but might then complain about the lack of bass. Well, the bass is there but requires a perfect seal and even then the bass might be less than you were expecting. Remember, these are Studio Reference earphones.Achieving a perfect seal is a story in itself. To achieve it requires deep insertion in the ear canal, which in my case meant a lot of trial and error with the supplied tips, not to mention discomfort, before finally settling on the tips that were both sealing and comfortable. The supplied foam tips proved to be both sealing and comfortable but in most cases impractical as they are so isolating that conversation is impossible. With the silicone tips you can at least make out that someone is trying to talk to you, with the foam tips, no chance. Although, come to think of it, depending the relationship, this might be a plus.

I’ll say this first, there is a learning curve to them, your ear will adapt and it will like it. First few weeks were sort of unpleasant with them in my ears, but after that break in time it all became worth it.With them just in your ear and no music playing they’re like very good earplugs, very useful for traveling, exceedingly useful for traveling, best thing is that you don’t need to charge them, they’re small, wired, and never run out of battery! And we haven’t even gotten to the point of the product yet hahahaha, the sound, oh my…As soon as sound starts playing the outside world vanishes, everything but a jet engine right next to you might as well not exist, that and maybe gunshots or loud sudden noises. For almost every other situation, they offer unparalleled noise isolation. You might be familiar with noise isolation in its active form, its what all the nice bluetooth headphones and earbuds (airpods) use, and its quite nice, its nice that you can modify it and adjust its intensity. But even on an ANC’s highest level, it can barely hold a flame to what these things can do passively (no fancy programming required!), its hard to imagine so my words will only do it partial justice, but I can’t stress it enough, you’ve never had isolation like this before. If you’re looking for the ultimate study, focus, silence, earbuds, you may not like it but this is about as good as it gets.AND WE HAVEN’T COVERED SOUND YET. They sound amazing, super crisp, insanely crisp, some may say its a bit clinical of an experience, idk, I like it. I think theres enough bass, although I can see how one may want more. You’ll hear details that you’ve never noticed before in music, songs youve heard a million times before. Obviously soundstage is going to be compromised for something that is halfway into your ear canal, but they still put down great numbers. Other people have done more in depth reviews on the stats than I’ll provide here so go check those out before you buy if you care about the numbers. While they may be about as good as it gets for noise isolation, I won’t deny that its not exactly the case for sound, ofc there are better sounding headphones out there, especially at this price point. But I think overall, for the packaged deal, these tiny little things, that fit in a cute little pouch you can easily slip into any pocket and not have a weird bulge, these little earbuds that you can just forget about and throw them in your bag when you’re leaving without worrying about them not having enough charge, these little monsters you can put in your ear and drown out the world all while enjoying world class quality sound, these earbuds? They’re worth a buy