This and That:
Really nice unboxing experience with a packaging that has got two see-through windows and drawer that contains the accessories.
Carrying case looks nice.
Quite poor ear tip selection - two pairs of single-flange silicone tips, two pairs of double-flange silicone tips, two pairs of foam tips.
Three Balanced Armature drivers per side, three acoustic ways. Dual-bore nozzle design.
Industry-standard cable with twisted conductors; very supple and flexible. Fortunately 2-pin connectors.
I like the shell design with the grey, dotted "ES" and "3" logos and shiny black surface. I have absolutely nothing against plastic shell in-ears and even prefer them over metal shells in terms of feel in one's ears, but the ES3's shells appear a bit thin and not as valuable (finish around the edges; screws) as they could or should at this price point - overall I prefer my Shure SE425's thicker and more premium appearing plastic shells over those of my ES3 that seem thinner and less premium, even though the design (shape, logos) is nice.
Sound:
Largest included single-flange silicone tips, low impedance sources.
Tonality:
Smooth v-shape with main focus on bass.
Rather unique bass implementation (which was the main reason why I bought it in the first place): boosted sub- and midbass, but almost no fundamental range boost and not the tiniest bit of lower midrange spill.
The bass elevation peaks around 60 kHz with around 8 dB in quantity over an in-ear with diffuse-field flat lows (such as my Etymotic ER-4S/the ER4SR). The bass then extends at that level (almost no roll-off) down into the real sub-bass. What's great is that 200 Hz are pretty much in line with 1 kHz, so the low fundamental range doesn't have the typical added warmth that often comes with bass-boosted in-ears, but as EarSonics' ES3 doesn't only focus on the sub-bass but also clearly concentrates on the midbass, it's fun, thumpy and full of impact without a hammering upper bass or lower fundamental range warmth/bloom. Yeah, that's a lot of fun for recreational listening.
It's fun, it's unique, it's addictive; it's simply just great.
The midrange timbre is natural and realistic except for the upper mids/presence range lacking some presence (quite comparable to my Campfire Audio Andromeda), wherefore they lack some glare and crunch and are very mild, even to extend of some vocal resolution being missed in comparison to the rest.
The middle treble is in the background as well, just to come back with a mild peak just a bit above 7 kHz, but it's just mild and gives the treble just a bit of brightness that would be otherwise lacking.
Extension past 10 kHz is really good.
Resolution:
The BA woofer's bass balance between tightness and body is just great - it sounds just a bit more dynamic than absolutely tight-sterile ("dry"), but is still and absolutely clearly on the Balanced Armature side of things - clearly nothing for friends of a more dynamic driver-like presentation (my ES3 is also tighter and faster than my definitely softer, more impactful, dynamic sounding Campfire Audio Andromeda (that's however great in its own way with its mostly controlled rumble) in the bass). Therefore it is definitely tight and fast, but with just a little bit of decay still existing. Bass control is just excellent.
The midrange and treble separation and details are good as in not appearing to be lacking at all, however compared to other in-ears that I own that are more or less in this price range and excellent in this regard, such as my Westone W4R or Logitech UE900, my ES3 doesn't deliver as much and as precise micro detail or note separation. (Ultimately the ES3's treble has an edge over its middle frequencies in terms of separation.)
Soundstage:
Precise imaging (instrument placement; instrument separation is good, too).
Three-dimensional and authentic - overall just slightly more oval than circular. Sounds spherical and realistic.
Extends further than the base of my head.
Conclusion:
Unique and fantastic bass and otherwise good tuning as well as spherical, good soundstage, but I wouldn't mind a better tip selection and thicker, more premium appearing shells.