Etymotic Etymotion Wireless Bluetooth Cable – Review

Stability & Features

The Etymotic Etymotion Wireless Bluetooth Adapter features a Qualcomm’s Bluetooth 5.0 chipset for a stable and hassle-free connection. There are several codecs that are supported by this adapter. AptX, AptX HD, and AptX Low Latency. Highest rate that is supported by the Etymotion Adapter is 576 kbit/s, 24-48. On the other hand, LDAC or LHDC currently support up to 990 kbit/s for reference. Etymotic combined this chipset with the Japanese Asahi Kasei Microdevices DAC, AK4331. The AK4331 is an advanced 32-bit high sound quality stereo audio DAC with a built-in ground-referenced headphone amplifier. It has four types of 32-bit digital filters for better sound quality, achieving low distortion characteristics and wide dynamic range. The Etymotic Etymotion Wireless Bluetooth Adapter costs $179 USD when purchased separately. As a reminder, the bundle we received costs $199 USD. I will talk about the sound performance in the sound section. 

Let’s talk about connection stability & latency. During my time with the bundle, I had absolutely no Bluetooth instability issues. The adapter automatically connects to my Android phone and starts the playback seamlessly. I had no cut-outs or any connection problems in the 7 meter radius. I conducted several tests and there is a slight delay while gaming, however, watching videos via the YouTube app has no latency issues at all. 

As for the battery solution, according to Etymotic, Etymotion provides 8+ hours of playback on a single charge. During my testing, it took 7-7.5 hours to deplete the Etymotion Adapter’s battery with continuous AptX HD & Tidal playback. That’s great for a very light adapter! It takes around 2 hours to fully charge the adapter. Surprisingly, Etymotic did not choose USB-C as the charging port and instead they went with the good old Micro-USB. I personally like USB-C more and find it more durable compared to Micro-USB.

Moving on to the mic quality, Etymotic did not specify anything special about the mic module and I had my doubts about that but all turned out quite alright! I managed to talk with my friends & family without any major problems or crowd noise issues. The mic works well and captures the sound of your voice well enough! Recipients heard me okay with a moderate amount of background chatter, so that’s good! The 3-button controller on the cable lets you answer and decline calls, change the volume or skip to the next or the previous track, as well as play and pause tracks.

Sound

Before I say anything at all, I want to talk about the tonality of the ER2XR. 

This is a special earphone in that regard, it feels “accurate”. It has a very linear, clear, and resolving presentation. No overlapping, no coloring, no congestion.

From top to bottom, frequency regions are very defined. It also feels quite agile, despite it featuring a dynamic driver. Etymotic tuned it very similar to their ACCU·Driver balanced armature earphones. Let’s divide it into sections and dig in.

Bass

Tight, snappy, agile. The bass response of ER2XR is linear. It is not boosted or it does not go very deep but it is quite present when the track asks for it. Low reproduction is very neutral, flat. It does not feel particularly lacking but it is not tuned in an “exciting” way. The excitement comes from mids & treble. Tuning the bass this way allowed Ety to get a very spacious presentation out of a single dynamic driver.

The bass never overlaps the midrange and with a good seal, you actually get a good sub-bass performance out of the XR. The texture and technical capabilities are outstanding for the price. I am really curious how these would sound out of a desktop DAC & AMP but unfortunately the odd MMCX design prevents me from experimenting with that.

Midrange

The midrange is devilishly clean and resolving for the asking price. Vocals are delicate. Micro-detail retrieval is really good. Midrange follows the general presentation, they are spacious and effortless. If you are switching from a Harman curved IEM you may feel like these lack a bit of note weight and you may be right. Foam tips help with this by a lot and I recommend you to try these if you feel you need it. On a side note, in my opinion, it is definitely meatier than, for example, the old ER4P/T.

Upper mids are clear but smooth. There is nothing that scratches your ears, no peaks. Everything is under complete control. It feels like reference, it feels natural. For me the most impressive thing about this bundle is how clean the reproduction is. I can hear all the recording crackles of Johnny Cash’s albums. I can easily appreciate the attention to detail that Michael Jackson has put into his albums. It is easy to follow mid-dependant instruments as well, such as guitars and hi-hats. They’re easily discernible. 

Treble

Just like the midrange, the ER2XR has an excellent treble response. Clear, clean and resolving. These three elements seem to be following us to wherever frequency range we go. They are of course very welcomed by us audiophiles. The treble region is not over-done, not hot at all, but the extension is very good for the price. I mentioned that there is an excitement factor in the ER2XR. That comes from the upper mids and treble region of the ER2XR.

Because the attack & decay is very fast and the treble is very clean, it gives the listener a sense of dynamics, a sense of articulacy. It is quite fun to listen to congestion prone passages with multiple instruments via the ER2XR. It handles them very well for this price bracket.

Soundstage & Imaging

The sound stage is one of the things that is special about the Etys. They have this unique sense of imaging, rather linear than dimensional. The width is definitely better than the depth to my ears. However, soundstage & imaging is highly dependent on the source, just like many things. I still feel like there is a great room for improvement here. If only I could hook it up to other sources! Anyway, the instrument separation is very good for the price. Instruments have adequate space between them. 

PRaT

I mentioned that the dynamics of the ER2XR are impressive. They really are. The technical know-how of Etymotic is in action here. The ER2XR feels fast, articulate and surgical.

Transitions are effortless and congestion never is a problem. Of course the quality of recordings are especially important here. Benching with bad files will give you bad results inevitably.

Comparison: vs. Fostex TM2 

Fostex’s wireless system, TM2, is a direct competitor to Ety’s in my eyes. TM2 also features a single dynamic driver and the housing of both are very similar. They have many similarities but they are very different, sound-wise. The TM2 is warmer and has a bigger, deeper bass response. The ER2XR is cleaner and feels more reference. The ER2XR also feels more spacious and effortless compared to the TM2. The ER2XR is technically more capable as well.

The TM2 has a more “fun” sound and will attract better to the general consensus of the consumers. The ER2XR features AptX HD whereas the TM2 only supports AptX. They are both good products but the ER2XR is almost $100 USD cheaper, so I’d keep that in mind.

Last Words

With the Etymotic Etymotion Wireless Bluetooth cable, Etymotic researched & designed a great product and a good adapter for us audiophiles. The ER2XR features a clean, resolving, spacious sound and in my opinion, the asking price of the bundle is very reasonable in exchange of what you get in return. You can’t go wrong with this. If you want to buy an IEM that could potentially challenge the technical capability of the ER2XR in this price bracket, you’re going to have some trouble finding one.

Plus you have the option to use the Etymotic Etymotion wireless Bluetooth cable with other MMCX IEMs as well. That is exactly why I am saying that this is reasonable pricing. I do not recommend buying the standalone adapter and paying $179 USD for it. Get the ER2XR bundle instead and enjoy the heck out of it!