Review: Earsonics EM10 – Emotion

1. Build quality & Comfort

 

The EM10 is the flagship monitor and the build quality is exactly what you expect of one. Earsonics of course has a lot of experience in making monitors and there really isn’t anything to complain about. Size-wise this is a normal monitor, it’s not overly big but it isn’t small either. 10 drivers take up space, that’s just the way it is.

The canal part is short and has soft edged and it fits perfectly in my ear. It’s impossible to break the seal. As long as your impressions are good, I’m convinced Earsonics will make perfectly fitting monitors. That also means that these comfort-wise are exactly what you look for. The EM10 sits really great in your ears and the fit is comfortable. That means it’s not the tightest but it certainly isn’t loose either. As said, it’s impossible to break the seal.

The monitors only come in black and so it’s very hard to judge the internal build construction or the closing of the face plates, but the 2-pin connector sits perfectly flush in the shell. The yellow ES and 10 labeling on the face plates it’s perfect and classy.

The sound tubes don’t go all the way to the end of the canal but they’re a bit recessed. That way Earsonics tunes sound but it at he same time makes it a whole lot easier to keep the canals clean, as the wax can’t get to the tubes directly.

2. Personalisation

The Earsonics ES-10 unfortunately only comes in a full black shell with the yellow ES & 10 label on the face plates. It’s a bit sad not to have any personalisation options on a TOTL monitor, but at the same time it sets a specific image that Earsonics has et out for this flagship model.

I suppose that if you really want a different design you could ask another company to reshell it for you but that’s maybe a little far stretched.

3. Cable

The stock 2-pin cable is quite alright, it feels sturdy and sounds perfectly fine. I however immediately switched it out for the Effect Audio Horus, my favourite aftermarket cable. The Horus gives the EM10 the feeling of delivering the music even more effortless. It has a wide and deep sound stage and a great level of detail.

In my opinion a top level monitor deserves a good cable, and most of the popular CIEM companies nowadays are working together with a boutique cable maker. In that regard it’s a bit disappointing to see that Earsonics is not offering a cable upgrade yet, but who knows, it just might be on their agenda.

Long story short: the standard cable will do the trick but a qualitative aftermarket cable will elevate the EM10’s performance.

4. Price & Accessories

The 10-driver EM10 is available for €1990 and as there are no options to select, this price is fix. Looking at the competition, this European monitor price-wise is very competitive. The “Made in France” monitor comes in the typical ES luxury box we already saw in the ES5 review.

Inside that typical box you’ll find the EM10 with its detachable cable, a cleaning tool, a soft carrying case, a 3.5mm to 6.3mm jack adapter and a small user manual. While the package is really nice and complete, the accessories – when compared to other high end monitors – are on the limited side. The Ultimate Ears 18+Pro in example is much more impressive in that regard.

While there really isn’t anything to complain about – besides maybe the lack of a hard case – there still is margin for improvement regarding the accessories. It’s not a point of criticism but more one of a (possible) improvement.

5. Customer Service

With a perfect build quality, good comfort and no personalisation options, the need for a customer service up to now hasn’t been relevant to me. I’ve not had any issues with the EM10 and everything is just perfect. I’m convinced this monitor won’t die on me any time soon, so I don’t think I’ll be getting in touch with customer support any time soon.

That being said, I’m sure that if anything should ever happen to it, the Earsonics team will be there to help you out right away. I’ve had nothing but positive contacts with the ES team, and I’ve heard and read only good things about them.

6. Sound

The Earsonics team for each model put’s up an overview of what you can expect sound-wise from the monitor you’re looking at. For the EM10 it comes down to the following description:

From this overview you can see that the EM10 is a balanced monitor with about the same level of bass, mids and treble and that linearity is perfectly audible.

The Earsonics EM10 ’s presentation is laid back, the delivery is relaxed and it comes with a good amount of warmth and smoothness. The musicality level is trough the roof on this one and it’s oh so very easy to enjoy your music with the EM10.

But the EM10 brings much more than just musicality. With its 10 drivers it also manages to show you a high level of detail, especially in the mids section and above. While the EM10 clearly is a warmer sounding monitor, it still shows really good clarity and precision. The warmth doesn’t veil anything at all and you get a clean, rich sound delivered to your ear drums.

The EM10’s sound stage width and depth is good in both directions, as well as the layering of bass, mids and treble. Separation is excellent yet the more analytic monitors make this even more precise and obvious. From bass to treble you get just the right amount of air and the EM10 sounds spacious and natural. Yes there are wider and more spacious sounding monitors on the market but Earsonics with this tuning make it a whole lot more engaging. The stereo image and balance just is excellent.

The biggest highlight for me is the rich and layered  mids section, but the full bodied, impactful bass and the lively and contrasty treble make this a very good monitor as a whole. Another point I really love is the excellent decay and extension on both ends. The EM10 in this regard really is a monitor worth the flagship status.

The review continues on Page Three of this article, after the CLICK HERE

4.3/5 - (28 votes)
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Lieven is living in Europe and he's the leader of the gang. He's running Headfonia as a side project next to his full time day job in Digital Marketing & Consultancy. He's a big fan of tube amps and custom inear monitors and has published hundreds of product reviews over the years.

3 Comments

  • Reply June 14, 2018

    Edward

    Hi Lieven, great review. I’m wondering how would you compare this against Aether? Which according to you has better tone, richer and higher resolution? Thanks

    • Reply June 20, 2018

      Lieven

      let me get back to you on that!

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