Justifying
spending north of £50 on a set of earphones is something that can
get you in serious trouble with the lady in your life, but does
splashing that kind of cash really bring massive improvement in
audio quality to justify the price tag? Shure would like to argue
that it does and their latest range of isolating personal earphones
need to prove this as they soon escalate in price as the technology
is added to each model.
The entry level is the set we have on review the Shure SE100
earphones now while £50 may not sound too steep for earphones, when
you consider they are hooked up to an iPod shuffle for our review
they are more than 50% of the cost of the iPod. However that said
the standard earbuds shipped with the shuffle much like the rest of
the Apple range are poor and the Shuffle can sound better with good
earphones the question is can they be £50 better?
Shure make a play for the little SE110 model linking it with the top
end personal and also professional in ear monitors for which they
are renowned, however the SE110’s are built to a price and the micro
speakers used are not the same as in £200+ headphones.
The basic design of the 110’s relies on a good in ear seal as these
are designed to be isolating earphones which relay on a tight fit
within the users ear to keep out extraneous sounds. To those who
have only used standard earbuds the sensation of wearing isolating
earphones can be a little disconcerting at first. We took our review
set out and had a quick nosey in the packing to see what came as
standard. As with previous Shure models there is a range of sleeves
which go over the earphones to get that tight fit, there are both
foam and soft plastic sleeves in 3 sizes from small to large. It
didn’t take long to decide on large and get comfy which is essential
given the length of time you might be wearing them for, they should
be snug but not overly tight.
Once in place you get a surreal feeling where the outside world
sounds muted and distant and the loudest noise is you gulping, this
is the part where some listeners feel they have made a mistake. But
hold fire, plug the long 3 foot cable into your MP3 player and knock
the volume down a few notches then hit play.
This is the moment when spending £50 on earphones starts to seem
sensible as your ears fill with rich music, the SE100’s like other
isolating earphones are like chalk and cheese when comparing with
non isolating earbuds and headphones. The lack of background noise
improves clarity while the good seal with your ear makes bass lines
sound rich and warm but no overly so.
The Shure SE110 earphones stand out from some cheaper isolating
models we have tried and you can hear the difference in the extra
bass and clear midrange that the 110’s have which they have in
common with the upper models which cost much more. That’s not to
mention the high build quality and overall comfort once you get past
the initial moments of the in ear fit feeling.
It’s not all sweetness though as the lack of separate range micro
speakers (yes the higher models pack more micro speakers into the
same space!) can leave the 110’s a bit confused and muddy sounding
on dance music and other bass heavy musical styles. Paired up with
our iPod shuffle and also tested with a few other MP3 players and a
laptop the SE100’s do a more than adequate job leaving most of our
team impressed even though they have all used much more expensive
models and that is probably the biggest compliment we could pay to
them.
Priced at £55 at the time of this review and shipping with a 3 meter
replaceable cable and a nifty black carry case they do make good
sense for those who want to get the most out of their MP3 players.
For us the Shure SE110’s while an entry level earphone in the range
do make the most sense when used with a small to mid range MP3
player like the Shuffle or Nano, if you are spending on a £200 plus
player then perhaps consider moving up to the 210 or 310 model.
Justifying
spending north of £50 on a set of earphones is something that can
get you in serious trouble with the lady in your life, but does
splashing that kind of cash really bring massive improvement in
audio quality to justify the price tag? Shure would like to argue
that it does and their latest range of isolating personal earphones
need to prove this as they soon escalate in price as the technology
is added to each model.
