Etymotic EVO

I will try to share my thoughts briefly to cover just the most important points. I personally do not like reviews with a lot of text and I usually jump right to a Sound section. This is what many of us usually do I think)

Nevertheless, I’d like to mention that Etymotic products are not new for me. I owned almost all models of the S, SR, SE series in the past and some of them for two times (ER4SR).

I do keep the ES3SE today - in fact, this is the only IEM left in my collection after I completely switched to full-size headphones 1,5-2 years ago.

Of course, the news about the release of the multi-driver model by Etymotic generated serious interest. Although, I was a little discouraged at first by the configuration of the drivers, where two out of 3 were given to bass. Why not a classic configuration of 1 - Highs, 1 - Mids, 1 - Lows? And for sure I would not buy the IEM with two bass drivers without listening.

Don’t get me wrong. I like bass but I like it tight, fast, and full-bodied with linear response like on my 2700 USD planar-magnetic headphones.

Therefore, I signed up for the tour and I am grateful to the organizers for letting me take part in it.

Perhaps I will omit the Packaging section, since this tour sample does not come in its original packaging. The information on what you will have inside the box is available on the official website.

Build Quality. Fit. Cable.

The design and ergonomics are very well thought. The shells are quite heavy but the fit in the ear does not cause any problems. The weight is perfectly distributed over the auricle but after 1.5-2 hours you definitely start feeling this weight. So if lighter but equally strong materials used in future models it would be a big plus.

On the other hand, you realize that if you drop the Evo on the floor nothing will happen to them most likely. I remember my Earsonics S-EM6 v2 fell about 3 years ago and that led to subsequent repair in France which cost me quite a lot.

The classic Ety’s nozzle has survived. So all the tips are interchangeable with other models.

It also has an excellent noise isolation, just like the classic Etymotic models.

The supplied cable does not look as reliable as Evo shells at the first glance but after 4-5 days of usage you realize that it is reliable enough.

Anyway I would replace it with a custom balanced cable.

Sound Impressions.

Source

ifi audio iDSD Diablo.

It is quite difficult to find a better transportable (cannot call it portable) DAC/Amp than Diablo today. The Diablo itself has a reference neutral tonality and a very powerful amplification section with up to 5 watts @ 32 ohms. I normally use it with my planars when there is a need to move or travel far from my home desktop system.

So I used its 6.3 mm output through a 6.3 mm to 3.5 mm adapter.

Let’s consider the SE output of Diablo as good as a balanced 4.4 mm output but with 2 time less power.

You can listen to Evo at a comfortable volume either in Eco mode (somewhere around 12-13 h) or in Normal mode (somewhere around 10-11 h) depending on the recording. I personally liked Normal mode more thanks to extra power it gives. I think it would be Eco only when connected to the 4.4 mm output at 10-11 h. This is just my assumption since I cannot confirm it without a proper cable.

The combination has a completely black background without any hint of noise regardless the gain mode is used.

The Music Used

From Instrumental (and vocal) Jazz to Technical Death Metal and Funeral Doom:

Avishai Cohen Trio - From Darkness (96 kHz / 24 bit)

Tord Guvstansen Trio - The Other Side (96 kHz / 24 bit)

Tord Guvstansen Trio - Being There (96 kHz / 24 bit)

Alboran Trio - Islands (96 kHz / 24 bit)

BassDrumBone - The Long Road (44.1 kHz / 16 bit)

Jo Kaiat - Come to My World (44.1 kHz / 16 bit)

Sinee Eeg & Thomas Fonnesbak – Staying in Touch (96 kHz / 24 bit)

GoGo Penguin – Man Made Object (44,1 kHz/ 24 bit)

Ulcerate – The Destroyers of All (44.1 kHz / 16 bit)

Ulcerate - Stare into Death and Be Still (44.1 kHz / 24 bit)

Ad Nauseam - Imperative Imperceptible Impulse (44,1 kHz/ 16 bit)

Rome in Monochrome - Away From Light (44.1 kHz / 16 bit)

Carach Angren - Where the Corpses Sink Forever (44,1 kHz/ 16 bit)

Mournful Congregation – The Monad of Creation (44,1 kHz/ 16 bit)

Funeral Moth - Transience (44kHz / 16 bit)

Intaglio – Intaglio (15th Anniversary Remix) (96 kHz / 24 bit

Tonality. Soundstage. Imaging. Instrument separation.

To be honest I expected something close to a moderate bass-head tonality knowing about the driver configuration. I was pleasantly surprised that this was not the case.

The tonality is very balanced with some added weight in the lows.

There is a little more bass (sub bass mainly) presence than a completely neutral reference tuning, but this is not a bass-head type of sound either.

The bass is maybe not the fastest I’ve heard in IEM but it is tight and sounds very natural especially with live instruments like double-bass and drums.

The mids are neutral and full-bodied. Etymotic has always been famous for its midrange and Evo is not an exception here.

Highs are crystal clear and detailed, without feeling any lack of extension. They do not have that artificial boost to give more airiness and sparkle. Cymbals sound very naturally.

I can also imagine that some people will find these IEM to be slightly on the dark side, especially if they were dealing with bright IEMs all the time.

One of the strengths of the Evo is imaging, instrument separation and their positioning. There is a lot of air between instruments too. The images are large and very well defined.

The sound stage is wide and deep. May be not the widest I heard but it is above average.

I believe that the balanced connection to Diablo could make the soundstage even wider and make the channel separation even better.

Evo is very dynamic IEM too with very high level of engagement.

Therefore, the instrumental jazz in them is gorgeous. Funeral doom sounds awesome.

It also sounds good on other heavy genres. But for bands like Ulcerate I would prefer minus 2-3 dB in sub bass area to make crazy double kick drum beats of Jamie Saint Merat even cleaner and refined.

Summary

This is the situation when the product exceeds my expectations. For me Evo is not just a new multi-driver model of the company. It is a significant step up in everything in comparison to a previous generation of their famous single driver bullets.

Of course, EVO is not perfect. There is nothing perfect in this world…

I've owned several expensive multi-driver IEM in the past and can judge the level of the Evo based on my experience.

Despite some drawbacks I personally would consider this model for purchase and in my opinion it will be difficult to find equal competitors in the price range up to 1000 USD.

For 500 USD it has an incredible price/performance value.

Of course Evo needs a high-quality source to deliver its ultimate performance.

So, what would be an Ideal Evo for me? This Evo with maybe minus 2-3 dB in lows and with lighter shells. Evo SR version for purists one day maybe?)

The rest I would not even touch – just perfec