Shure Sound Isolating Earphones

• Reviewed by: blue_fireball_eater

  Strengths: unparalleled performance and comfort, great warranty (2yr)

  Weaknesses: none

  Overall: I have used these earphones extensively, and previously used E4Cs from the same company. The sound quality is the best, just read the reviews. When mine broke (the black plastic piece that holds the foam eartip snapped off) Shure replaced them for no cost!

• Reviewed by: mkentor

  Strengths: Well designed, practical.

  Weaknesses: Should spend several minutes actually reading the directions.

  Overall: Improved by getting the custom fit ear pieces from an audiologist. Able to block out extraeneous noise and great on an airplane or at home. Replaced all other sound cancelling ear phones.

• Reviewed by: hedson

  Strengths: bass, and bass!

  Weaknesses: high end roll-off

  Overall: what can I say? this is probably the only IEMs that can give you the fullest bass experience, the tri-driver design really makes a difference. you get a lot of details for the mid-low end sound while it's being well-controlled. however, the highs suffer a 'shure signature' roll off. which means you are not going to expect sparkles on the high side, well, the details are not really missing, they are still there you just have to carefully listen to them. some said this will less likely get your ears fatigue, I personally disagree because I am not a person who will wear IEMs more than 4 hrs a day.compared to the etymotics(I know, they are not at the same price range), I'd very much prefer using the ety for classical and female vocal recordings and the e500 for pops ,r&b and rocks etc.

• Reviewed by: Green_Z

  Strengths: Superb sound, clear vocals and ample bass. Includes the Push-To-Hear module at no extra cost (compared to the SE530s where it's $50 more)

  Weaknesses: Expensive, but a bargain if you can find them under $300.

  Overall: I bought a pair of Shure e3c's a few years ago and my ears have never been the same. I thought I was crazy to spend $120 on earbud until I popped them in my ear. Then I thought I was nuts putting those distorted $20 bargain buds in my ears all these years. As luxury products go the e3Cs spoiled me and left me wondering what even better headphones would sound like. When I say the E500PTHs on sale for 50% off I jumped and boy I'm glad I did.As wonderful as my e3c's are the E500PTHs are truly mindblowing. When listening to lossless (uncompressed) music with them you hear even the subtlest instruments. And where you assume you give up bass when you listen to music with earbuds the E500PTHs have plenty of it to spare. Right now the E500PTHs are a particularly good value because Shure renamed them SE530s, raised the price and removed the Push-To-Hear module in the basic bundle. A SE530 bundle with the PTH module is available for an additional $50. But there are plenty of E500PTHs out there for a fraction of what the SE530s cost. There is absolutely no difference in the headphones of these two models. In fact the only difference is that the SE530s come with the new black foam inserts. If you really want these a 5 pack is $15 plus shipping online.

• Reviewed by: vertigelt

  Strengths: Clarity of all tones; comfort in wearing; strong (but not boomy) bass

  Weaknesses: The sleeves sometimes pop off the stem... I've had the sleeves get stuck in the ear canal a couple of times... not good

  Overall: As pretty much every other review you'll read states, these little guys put out some incredible, amazing sound. Worth every penny. If you're listening to them, and you're not really sensing that what you're hearing is markedly improved over other listening experiences, I challenge the source of the music. My first listening experiences were impressive, but not THAT impressive. Then I started listening to music with a little bit more going on, and which was also encoded at a higher bit rate. It knocked my socks off. I had to go back an listen to the track several times over. I had to take them off and call somebody, just to tell them what an ear-opening experience it was to hear this music so amazingly for the first time. It was a sonic epiphany. The only bad thing about them is the sleeves... it's not like I can easily say to someone else, "oh, man... you gotta hear this", because no one's going to stick something in their ear which had just been stuck up in my ear. So... it's an amazing experience, but it necessarily must remain a personal one.