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Having cycled through WH1000XM3, XM4, AirPods Pro, I am back to my trusty Shure SE215 that I use wired. — They never deafen me with connected/disconnected soun
by strogonoff 5y ago
Having cycled through WH1000XM3, XM4, AirPods Pro, I am back to my trusty Shure SE215 that I use wired.
— They never deafen me with connected/disconnected sounds (which can never be configured quiet enough) or music briefly playing at insane volume after switching or connecting.
— I know I get the source quality.
— I would never lose one randomly (always a chance with “true wireless” models).
— I don’t get weird phased low-frequency rumble from active noise compensation gone wonky.
— Most of all, their passive noise suppression with Shure’s black sleeves, depending on exact noise profile either beats or is on par with top-of-the-line active isolation (both according to rtings’ test benches and my subjective experience), and does not end when battery runs out inevitably at the most inconvenient time.
Addendum: 1) I connect them via a tiny Ikko Zerda DAC, which I started using way back when I still had a phone with a headphone jack (this is subjective, but with lossless sources I hear more detail—as in literally small instrument parts I didn’t hear before in complex arrangements—compared to built-in DAC). 2) I generally pass the wire under the top layer of clothing, and personally taking an earbud out and letting it dangle is about as difficult as switching on the transparent mode on AirPods (and without audio degradation inherent to such modes).
- grp000 5y agoAs far as their SE215 model goes, the sound, isolation, and ergonomics are great, but I've always had issues with the cable breaking at the ear curve next to the connection point to the earbuds.
- strogonoff 5y agoNow that you say it, I’m not using the original cable, and I don’t recall what happened to it because it’s been so long ago (could’ve been a similar issue to the one you described). I couldn’t find a Shure original cable to replace mine with right away, so I got a compatible one and been rolling with it ever since. It’s slightly thinner, more flexible and without the thicker malleable parts near earbud connections. I was cautious about those differences at first, but in the end grown to prefer it more than the original, these thin wires wrap around my ears just fine. As a side note, one of the things I treasure about the design of these IEMs is the replaceability of the cable. The IEMs themselves can probably survive for ages, which gives a nice feeling among the increasingly disposable electronics—I just hope the model would still exist on the market when something eventually happens to my unit.
- greedo 5y agoIt's been awhile since I used Shure's in ear monitors, but they once sent me a kit with one of everything in that part of their product line. Nice stuff, and if you can tolerate in-ear stuff, incredible sound. But all the cables failed over time. Not heavily used either. They were great about sending replacements, but they were very aware of the reliability issues. And these were monitors that had MSRPs over $800.
- strogonoff 5y agoCables (as well as sleeves) are certainly the disposable part of IEMs like these. Earbuds themselves proved incredibly reliable to me (compared to AirPods Pro at least, which I had to exchange once and which still had problems after that). Also, SE215 cost much, much less than US$800. More like $100.
- grp000 5y agoYeah, I have two pairs of SE215s for convenience. But, replacement OEM cables cost 20-30$, and maybe it's the geometry of my ears, but I've had to replace 3-4 cables by now, since the cables, OEM or not, kept failing at the same section, at that metal wire you bend over your ear.
- strogonoff 5y agoI see. Well, YMMV but you could try a different type of cable. There are cables not using metal wires that you bend around the ears, but the same thin flexible cable throughout the entire length. I have not had problems with one in more than a couple of years of use.