Earis Premium Personal TV Audio System Review

[Bob Rapoport]

The Personal TV Audio System I'd Been Searching For

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By Bob Rapoport, Essence For Hi Res Audio
★★★★★ 5.0 / 5 — Highly Recommended

Is Earis Premium For You?

• Anyone struggling with dialogue — Hear voices clearly without constantly increasing the television volume or reaching for the remote.
• Longtime audio enthusiasts whose hearing has changed — Personal volume and left/right balance controls help restore clarity, stereo imaging and localization without giving up high-fidelity sound.
• Viewers tired of remote riding — Enjoy quiet dialogue, music and loud effects at a comfortable personal level without continually chasing changes in soundtrack volume.
• Audiophiles and home-theater enthusiasts — A 24/48 PCM signal path, Wolfson DAC/headphone amplification and 14.8 mm moving-coil transducers deliver genuine high-fidelity personal television sound.
• Headphone and earbud users looking for an alternative — Earis provides a dedicated television audio system without Bluetooth pairing, ear-canal insertion, heavy over-ear headphones or dependence on a phone or portable source.
• Couples who prefer different listening levels — One person can enjoy personal sound at the level they want while the television or room system remains comfortable for everyone else.
• Late-night viewers — Enjoy movies, sports and television without filling the room with sound or disturbing someone nearby.
• Apartment & Condo Residents — Enjoy high-quality TV sound at your preferred volume without disturbing neighbors through shared walls, floors or ceilings.
• Home theaters with a powered subwoofer — Turn down the main speakers, keep the subwoofer active, and combine Earis personal audio with the physical lowest frequencies for remarkably complete full-range personal home-theater sound.

For Audiophiles Who Aren’t Quite Hearing What They Used To​

Years of enjoying music and home theater don’t make anyone immune to the gradual changes in hearing that often come with age. The Earis Premium gives experienced listeners another way to enjoy today’s television and movie soundtracks—with personal volume control,

exceptional dialogue clarity, and high-quality reproduction of music, ambience and effects without continually riding the remote.

A balance control on the rear of the receiver also allows the left and right channels to be adjusted independently for equal channel balance. For listeners whose hearing differs from one ear to the other, restoring proper channel balance can help restore precise stereo imaging and localization rather than allowing the soundstage to pull toward the stronger ear.

And because Earis is a true personal audio system rather than simply a speech-enhancement device, the goal isn’t merely to hear more words. It is to recover more of the complete experience.

The Earis Premium is an alternative personal TV audio system designed for the ultra-wide dynamic range in today’s 4K streaming shows and movies.​

About 10 years ago, I adopted a dialogue-enhancing headphone for listening to TV for a practical reason: modern streamed TV shows and movie soundtracks were becoming increasingly difficult to control at a single, comfortable volume over a conventional audio system, soundbar, or even the TV’s built-in speakers.

Today’s 4K WiFi streaming TV shows and movie soundtracks are produced with enormously wide dynamic range, the difference between the softest and loudest sounds we hear.

Soft-spoken actors, British accents, and whispered dialogue often required turning the volume up, only to have the next explosion, musical crescendo, or car chase arrive much too loudly. My wife would yell, “Turn it down!” when that happened. Sound familiar?

I found myself continually reaching for the remote—turning the volume up for dialogue, down for loud effects, and back up again when the dialogue resumed. Close-captioning was no solution, it drew my eyes to the bottom of the screen, away from the scene and actors faces.

“Remote riding” constantly interrupted my immersion in the story. I kept the remote close by, sometimes even in my hand, ready to react to the sudden intrusion of loud special effects or cut-aways to a commercial.

The headphone solved the volume-control problem by giving us individual headsets with personally adjustable volume control.

But dialogue was only part of the soundtrack. Music, ambience, sound effects, bass extension, spatial information, and everything else the recording contained mattered too. Low-priced TV headphones were not an audiophile solution.

The headphone we used was the best available at the time, but it wasn’t truly a high fidelity product. As streamed soundtracks became more sophisticated and dynamic, its limitations became increasingly apparent.

That experience started my search for something substantially better—not merely another dialogue-enhancement product, but the best-performing personal television audio system I could find.

That search led me to a specialty manufacturer in Germany called Humantechnik—pronounced “Human Technique.”

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My Evaluation

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I ordered a system and evaluated it over several days at home, listening to the same kinds of demanding material I use when assessing any serious audio component.

This included dialogue-heavy American and British dramas, movies with very wide dynamic range, orchestral scores, electronic dance music, popular music, deep bass, quiet atmospheric effects, and action sequences containing sudden changes in level.

The difference was immediately apparent. The rotary dial turns the volume up and down at the touch of my fingertips, giving me instant personal control without fumbling around for a remote. I stayed immersed in the story.

The Earis Premium produced a smooth, rich, full-bandwidth presentation with no audible background noise. Voices were naturally intelligible without becoming thin, exaggerated, or detached from the rest of the soundtrack.

Music retained its tonal weight and harmonic character. Ambient sounds, room tone, footsteps, distant effects, and other low-level details remained intact.

Loud passages retained their scale and impact without harshness.

Most importantly, I no longer had to sacrifice the complete soundtrack simply to understand the dialogue.

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House of the Dragon

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One of the most revealing evaluations came from HBO's House of the Dragon.

The dragons sounded real. Their movements and vocalizations had texture, weight, and location.

In flight, I could hear their high-pitched squeals moving through the scene with startling realism. As they descended to land, the sound fell away naturally toward the ground. When they landed, their enormous physical weight became part of the experience.

Their growls and rumbles could be heard both close and at a distance, precisely positioned within the scene.

That was more than bass or volume. It was scale, movement, perspective, and believable physical presence.

The Earis allowed the soundtrack to create the reality of the scene rather than merely accompany the picture.

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Madonna and Electronic Dance Music

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Music presented an entirely different test.

Electronic dance music depends on rhythmic drive, deep bass, speed, layered electronic textures, and the ability to remain clean when the mix becomes dense. Madonna’s new hit album passed that test with flying colors.

The Earis preserved the energy and pulse of the music without becoming hard, congested, or fatiguing. The bass had genuine foundation, while the vocals, effects, and surrounding production remained clear and distinct.

This was important to me because a personal television audio system shouldn't merely make speech understandable. It should also reproduce music with the drive, weight, and excitement the recording was intended to deliver.

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Terence Blanchard and Perry Mason

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Terence Blanchard’s trumpet on the HBO soundtrack for Perry Mason offered another kind of challenge.

His playing is evocative, brassy, atmospheric, and inseparable from the jazz-age mood of 1930s Los Angeles created by the series. The sounds of the automobiles and trolleys of that period were distinct, bringing that time to life.

Through the Earis, the trumpet had the proper metallic bite and body without becoming shrill. The surrounding ambience remained present, allowing the music to draw me into the time, place, and emotional atmosphere of the story.

I grew up in Los Angeles, and that soundtrack made the period feel real to me.

Hearing its tonal character and atmosphere reproduced so convincingly reminded me that high fidelity is not simply a collection of specifications.

It's the ability of sound to establish a place, create an emotional response, and pull the listener more deeply into the story.

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Comfort Matters​

Comfort was equally impressive.

The two-ounce under-chin receiver is exceptionally light, works well with glasses, and applies just enough inward pressure to remain properly positioned without becoming fatiguing.

During extended viewing, it became easy to forget I was wearing it.

That ability to disappear physically is important because anything that calls attention to the listening device works against immersion.

A product can sound excellent for ten minutes and still fail if the listener wants to remove it after half an hour. The Earis passed both tests: sound quality and long-term comfort.

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Key Specifications​

Specification	Earis Premium
MSRP	$699
Wireless transmission	2.4–2.5 GHz digital
Digital audio input	Optical 24-bit/48 kHz PCM stereo
DAC / headphone amplifier	Wolfson WM8918
DAC THD	0.005%
DAC signal-to-noise ratio	96 dB
Moving-coil driver diameter	14.8 mm
Frequency range	20 Hz–16 kHz**
Maximum output	122–125 dB SPL
Analog input	3.5 mm
Microphone input	3.5 mm
Balance adjustment	Independent left/right balance control
Battery life	Up to 9 hours
Charging time	Approximately 2 hours
Operating range	Up to 210 feet under ideal conditions
Headset weight	Approximately 2.2 ounces
Included	Transmitter/charging base, headset receiver, cables, and power supply

* Wolfson WM8918 DAC specifications. The Earis Premium system operates at 24-bit/48 kHz PCM.​

** See FAQs​

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My Conclusion​

After my evaluation, I reached a straightforward conclusion: the Earis Premium is the most accomplished personal TV audio system I’ve evaluated in this category. I'd say it's the first of its kind and won't be the last. The category is real because the content is so good now it creates the need for this kind of control.

It's not merely a device for making voices louder. It's a genuine high-fidelity personal TV audio system capable of delivering dialogue, music, ambience, localization, dramatic impact, and the full emotional character of a modern soundtrack.

Eliminating the room reflections made a huge difference. I blended the Earis with my powered subwoofer below 50 Hz, with the main speakers off, and got the best of both worlds: uncompromised, full-range performance. One transmitter can drive two Earis headsets.

I was impressed enough to begin discussions with Humantechnik about bringing the Earis Premium to the American audiophile and home-theater market through Essence For Hi Res Audio. My first shipment will be on its way to me next week.

I didn't decide to import it because it was adequate. I decided to import it because it was the first product of its kind I'd heard that met my standards.

Bob Rapoport
Essence For Hi Res Audio