The Shure E3c's are the next step up from the E2c's we tested before and they seem quite similar in design on the face of it, the in ear fir while close and sound isolating is not quite the deep ear penetration of the E2c's which for us is a good thing. At 28grams they are 2 grams lighter than their baby brothers, but the real differences are in the audio technology utilised in the E3c's.

The E3c's are made from studio grade components which greatly increase the sensitivity from the high energy micro speaker and what a difference that makes in the listening tests, using the same tracks we tried with the E2c's and the Sennheiser PX100's there was a marked improvement in clarity and bass response.

Where the lower model Shure's lacked that bit of warmth and bass on Hammond organ tracks and even on some bass and drum sections the E3c's performed much better with a warm and rich sound while retaining that top end clarity and an overall punch to the sound. But it would be fair to comment that these portable headphones till lack that real deep bass that only reference headphones can deliver.

Most other elements are the same as the rest of the E series, there's a handy hardened carry pouch, 3 sizes of ear sleeves to get that very tight and sound deadening fit and gold plated 3.5mm jack. We did notice that the cable is shorter by a bit on the 3's which is a bit of a nuisance as we found the cable on the 2's to be a bit short if your player is on a desk rather than in your pocket.

Of course the Shure E3c's are designed for portable use and the sound isolating capabilities are as good as the 2's we tested before, yet they manage this without that extra intrusion that the E2c's require. Once again we tested the E3c's in noisy situations and found them to be excellent at blocking background noise, through careful selection of the right sleeve and a better in ear fit we found them to offer an extra level of comfort when wearing for prolonged periods.

The styling of these earphones will cheer up anyone pairing them with an Ipod as they have the same ice white look as the Apple player, Shure even put a sticker on the box saying MP3 ready.

Overall the £125 Shure E3c's perform very well and were more to our tastes than the muffled and lacking bass of the e2c's, but as always you should choose carefully, if you like music with great clarity and richness then these could be for you, should you want substantial bass then you may still be disappointed.

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