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Shure E2c
by staceyspiers
I think I paid around £50 for these, but it was a long time ago and the price has dropped- you can't buy them new anymore, so ebay is your best bet if you can stomach the idea of using used earphones (and they are definitely earphones rather than headphones!)
When these first came out (and I bought them) in ear monitors were a ... fairly new thing, so you either had massive 'cans' on your head or tinny earbuds- these invasive sound producers burrow deep into your ear, providing a level of natural noise isolation, and delivering sound straight into your ear canal.
At first it feels weird, the deep snug fit, but after your first 10 times you get used to it. I'd advice spending some time with the included 'fit kit' to get the best seal as a good seal is essential for best sound quality. The foam tips (squished and then inserted and left to expand) give the easiest route to good fit, but if you're frequently pulling them out then the foam tips are slow to use, get covered in sticky wax, and eventually start to look a bit disgusting- meaning you'll need to replace them often. There are multiple sets of hard silicon tips too- these are wipe clean and indestructible, but you'll have to compromise between too big or too small as you won't find a fit that's just right. Too small and you get weak sealing, and bass will suffer. Too large and your ears will suffer.
Sound quality is ok, it's quite bright and metallic, there is bass but it can lack real extension at the best of times (what did you expect from such a microscopic driver?) and with the slightest air gap in your fit the bass just disappears- you might find yourself holding these in your ears to keep the bass strong. They can sound harsh at times,
With a good fit the sound of the world melts away (watch out for passing cars) and their 'flat to the ear' design means you can lie on a pillow and not feel discomfort.
The headphone jack is a 90 degree jack, suggesting it's use for mp3 players and other devices. The included case is nice, but it's too mush effort to use so I usually just shove them in my bag- it's only after many many years of use that the cable is starting to split- when they fail I will probably search for a different product, I think the quality of IEM's has gone up over the years.
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Shure SE215
by MamaC
Earphones are just earphones to me once upon a time until about 2 years ago when I purchased these ones. For years I'd spent the odd tenner here and there on earphones mainly because my children always nick them and the cables end up getting broken. A colleague of my told me to try out the Sure SE215s but warned me they were much more ... of a heavy price tag then I'd been used to before.
I've always trusted the Shure brand so I was very keen to give this par a road test. All of the cables leading to the earphones were clearly reinforced enough to withstand abuse for any child. The first thing that blew me away was how comfortable and soft they felt whilst in my ears. When putting them on ensure that you have the thicker bit of the cable pointing upwards and then bend it over your ear like an ear hook I guess, and it tends to mould itself you your ear better. They come with a variety of six interchangeable sleeves which you can experiment with to ensure that you choose the most comfortable one for matching with your ears - afterall, no two ears are the same. It comes with a cleaning device which will clean out the phone tunnel which is a welcomed touch, I've never considered using one of these before. Usually I can't bare earphones in for more than an hour or so as they become very painful for me. The quality of the bass was superb, along with the warm, rich tones that shouted out 'detail' in all of the tracks I tested them with.
Shure realise the fact that people go through earphones all the time and that's why I think they designed the removable cable system on these, which is brilliant. The plug has a thick coating of rubber to protect it so it will take rather a large amount of abuse before it breaks - mind hasn't broken as yet.
For the audio buffs out there the earphones frequency response is 22 Hz - 17.5 kHz, and the microdriver is the brains behind producing the great sound quality of the bass. As far as sound isolation goes the design and build of the earphones means that 90% of any ambient noise is filtered out. Although this is very difficult for most of us to measure, I'd have to agree that they do in fact filter out a massive amount of noise in comparison to ear phones that I've used in the past.
I'd certainly recommend these entry level ear phones to anyone wishing to use them to listen to their MP3s, CDs, radio etc. These ones are built to last a very long time indeed.
Purchased from Amazon for £86 including delivery 2 years ago.
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Shure SE215
by ILIKEMONEY
I've been through quite a few pairs of earphones over the years. Normally I go for reasonably cheap earphones as with constant use they tended not to last long no matter what brand I bought. Last Christmas I asked my parents for a new pair of earphones as my last pair were falling apart. I was very surprised when I opened these Shure ... se215's as they are way more high quality than any others I have ever had.
The Shure SE215 earphones are IEM's. This means they are in ear monitors so the sound is delivered right into your ear with no loss of sound. As they go into your ear there are different sizes of ear buds included with these earphones. Not only do you get three sizes of rubber ear buds like most other brands, but you also get three sizes of foam buds. These are the same type of foam as disposable ear plugs, so you squeeze the foam, put them in your ear and the foam expands to fill the ear canal and fit snugly in place. I like the fact that you have the option of the rubber or the foam as well as the size choices, I myself use the rubber ones as I find them easier than the foam.
These earphones come in two colours, black or clear. I have the clear ones and they are really cool. You can see all the parts inside which I really like. From what I can see the black colour also has semi-transparent casing and also look pretty good.
The wire length is 162cm according to the Shure website. All I can really say about the length of the wire is it's great. I normally just keep my ipod in my pocket and I usually have a couple of small coils still in my pocket with the earphones in my ears. I like this as it is comfortable when walking as there's plenty of wire to allow movement. There's also not too much wire that you're always overwhelmed with a spaghetti bundle of wire.
The wire is heavy duty. Probably the most quality wire I've ever had or seen on a set of earphones. They coil very easily and don't tangle. Tangled earphones are one of my pet hates in life and these barely ever tangle what so ever.
The actual earphones are detachable from the wire with the Shure se215's. This is a great feature as most problems I've ever had with headphones is the wire becomes loose around the jack and breaks. If this does happen with these headphones I'll only need to replace the wire and not the whole earphones. With this feature Shure have also got new wires available that will convert your earphones into a hands free kit compatible with your Iphone. This is great as apple earphones are terrible quality so this would be a great replacement product.
At first glance these in ears look different to normal ones. This is because the wire hooks over the top of your ear and then the ear phone goes into the ear. The wire that hooks over the ear has a small bit of bendy metal (or something metal like) and is thicker plastic than the rest of the wire. This allows it to be moulded to a nice hook to go over your ear. It took me a while to get used to this design but after a while I began to get really used to it. They fit really snug and don't fall out easily. There is one annoying thing about this though. I tend to wear these hanging from my top when I'm not listening to anything; the problem with this is with the nice little hook that you bend into the wire you tend to get caught on things. Can be very frustrating when you don't notice and try to move away then realise you can't because you're attached.
I realise up till now I realise I've said nothing about the actual sound quality of these earphones. Well with the snug fit these earphones are great sound isolators. At times I actually find this quite frustrating because they're so good I end up in a wee world of my own and ignore people or walk in front of busses. Not that I've ever been hit by a bus but it is a real concern! Shure claim that they isolate 90% of background noise. I think this is pretty accurate as I find it hard to hear anything with them in.
Shure also say that these earphones have a single dynamic micro driver. I'm not sure what other types of drivers are available for earphones, but these are great! I find the sound really crisp and detailed throughout the range. So much so that I actually use these from time to time when I'm sound engineering, something that I could never do with other earphones I've had.
The 3.5mm mini jack is high quality and the connection to the wire is encased in thick rubber. The jack is right angled which is good as it doesn't get caught on things easily as it's not sticking out. I can't see there being much going wrong with this jack as it seems well constructed and the rugged rubber will keep the connection safe from damage.
So now we come to price. I've found them online selling from between £70 and £100. This is far more expensive than I would usually spend on a product like this. However, these are the most quality earphones I have ever owned and I can see them lasting me a long time, especially since the wire is replaceable. I would also say that for £70 these are great value when you look at the price of some ear phones like "beats by Dr. Dre". The fact that people pay well over £100 for these just because they have a famous rappers name on them is just wrong. I've listened to them and don't see anything good about them what so ever. Rant aside, I think the Shure in ears are far better quality and therefore defiantly worth the money.
Shure make a range of in ear monitors and these are the entry level product in the range. Hard to believe as they are so great. I'm not sure I would pay more for the better quality ones as these are all the quality I think I can deal with!
When watching TV I have noticed various people wearing Shure in ears. From news reporters to sports commenters you can see people wearing them. Since these are the "entry level" in the Shure range then TV stars are probably using the higher level product, but the fact that Shure products are used in a professional scenario also shows that they must be a professional quality product.
I almost forgot that as a small added extra, the Shure se215's come with a small Shure carry case. This is great for taking them on holiday and such but since I use them near enough every day I don't bother using this case.
I would give this product 6 stars if I could, but since I can't I suppose 5 stars will do.
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