Shure SE110 Sound Isolating Earphones (black)

Summary: I bought these to replace my E2c's that I thought I had lost. I then found the E2c's allowing for a direct comparison. These earphones are far superior ...

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Summary: I bought these to replace my E2c's that I thought I had lost. I then found the E2c's allowing for a direct comparison. These earphones are far superior to the in-the-box iPod earphones. They both offer similar (and surpisingly good) deadening of external noise. I belive these are a superior alternative to noise cancelling headsets for air travel - think decent ear plug quality sound isolation. Like the E2c's, these are quirky to get in your ear and require a good seal for effective noise isolation. I have no discomfort from extended wear. I was surprised and disappointed to personally prefer the sound rendition of the E2c's. The SE110s have a more balanced sound and more midrange. The E2c's comparatively sound brighter, maybe a bit artificial. The biggest surprise was a relative lack of "presence" to the SE110s. The E2c's to me, have always been a bit magical, allowing total isolation from the outside world and giving the impression that the music is in your head. The sound is so direct, so detailed, that you hear the music differently, appreciating every sound (and defect in the iPod's quality). Comparitively, to my ear, the SE110 sounds smoothed over and distant.

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Summary: I just got mines from the apple store at 5th ave NY with the new ipod classic (80GB)i try it for about 3-4 hours today and they sound very ...

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Summary: I just got mines from the apple store at 5th ave NY with the new ipod classic (80GB)i try it for about 3-4 hours today and they sound very good but i find that the Etymotic Research 6i which i also have has a better imiging and clarity of the music (whatever you trough at them) although bass is much,more present on the Shure SE110 i guess you have to sacrifice either one of both for that price but atleast they perform way better than those that come with the ipod and the $20's-$50's made by Sony, JVC and others.

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Summary: Shure has everything right about these earbuds except the sound quality. The short cord is great for armband i-pods. Don't understand why few other companies do the same. Good ...

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Summary: Shure has everything right about these earbuds except the sound quality. The short cord is great for armband i-pods. Don't understand why few other companies do the same. Good selection of ear insertions sleaves. Nice case. Extra extension cord.

Oh - almost forgot sound quality. Not enough bass. No real highs either. All mid-range. Nothing exceptional. Could improve the bass a little by being careful with the insertion into the ears, but could not get consistently good sound. Not worth the $110 I paid for them.

Next day I found and bought a pair of Koss KE29A earbuds for $25 at WalMart. They sounded much, much better than the Shure's. They sounded much, much better than several other high end earbud sets I just bought. Go for the Koss. Cheap, and great sound.

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Summary: Ok, here goes. I feel I owe a good review because I have been reading reviews online for a while and could'nt wait to try a pair of Shure'...

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Summary: Ok, here goes. I feel I owe a good review because I have been reading reviews online for a while and could'nt wait to try a pair of Shure's. I have been using $50 Sony MDR-EX 55's for about a month, and I'm tired of the heavy, muddled bass and the lack of clarity and intrigue in my music. The ex-55's are almost identical to the 71's I also tried. These are in the next "league" from those. I can tell because although I don't own high-quality earbuds, I constantly "borrow" my roommate's Sennheiser HD 280's, great but those are traditional design and not mobile. I would be much more upset right now if I bought these online and had to go through the hassles of shipping them back, and then paying the infamous ?restocking fees?. I am so thankful for the people who were truthful in their reviews about these headphones. I simply did not believe people when they said these could be a pain to put in, or they did'nt like the cord, etc. They are good, but not great. For the price, I absolutely believe that there are some better alternatives, such as the UE studio 3?s, Etymotic ER6?s, and even the UM1?s. Heck, I believe whoever said that the E2C?s are better. I?ve got my final verdict at the end of this long review about which one of the above I ended up choosing and why. I completely understand that these are entry-level shure's, however, $100.00 plus tax is simply too much for these. Here's why:
I am a cheap audiophile, as in I want the best I can get for around $100, and my budget can't justify anything more for entertainment expenses at the time being. I burned a few cd's in Apple Lossless format for my 80G classic iPod in order to fully test these out. Tool's 'Lateralus', Radiohead's 'OK Computer', Incubus' 'Light Grenades', Smashing Pumpkins 'Mellon Collie....', Kanye West's 'The College Dropout', and Paul Oakenfold's 'Bunnka'.
The packaging was nice because I did not have to tear it apart to open, which will make this easier to return. I immediately laughed about the cord. Shure says that it's ideal for people who wear their music player close, literally on the bicep. It's waay tooo short, and the wires are the thin, standard kind you'll see on cheaper headphones. I have no doubt these would break after a year of use, especially if you work-out with them. Also, there is a cord extender which helps at home, but you will definitely have to have it attached if you go mobile with this in any way. I'm 6'0", and the cord(without extender) is much shorter than my FOREARM. I did not believe people who said they had trouble putting these in, or experimenting alot to get a good fit. It's all true. I love canal-style headphones, they're usually not uncomfortable for me, and these wear a pain to adjust properly. I did get a great seal, and then I noticed that the wire they want you to wrap around your ears is still loose and flimsy, and would easily slip off when I tried to run or walk fast. Oh, you can wear these so that you dont have to wrap the wires around your ears, however the cord is short and heavy, so you'll notice the "tugging" of your buds, as gravity wants to pull them out of your ears. However, even with the tugging, they do stay in place, albeit more uncomfortably in this manner.
Ok, the sound. Obviously, everyone has different tastes and differently shaped inner-ears and expectations, so I'll try my best to explain. Ok, first-off, these sounded better than my previous cheaper Sony's because I could hear more detail in my music and subtle nuances. However, the sound was just not as warm as I thought it would be with higher-end earbuds. Some rock/alt I listened to sounded harsh at times because the highs tend to roll-off, and it sounds too loud at times. It was fun listening to these with Radiohead and Incubus(all the vibes and background noises were there), but with Tool, the music sounded overly harsh, but the bass sounded great, and I did hear all those lovely Tool sounds come to life. Hard to explain. It's just that I felt the sound was louder than it should have been and the clarity started to get lost with the "heavier" sounds. I had the volume at about 70-80% throughout. I had to turn it down at times because the highs were too prominent in some heavier rock songs. Oakenfold's music(techno/pop) felt harsher than it should have been, it should have been more spacious sounding, but it wasn't, it was just there and clear sounding. I dont listen to much rap or r&b, but I feel bad for those who bought these to listen to that. I had to fiddle with my EQ to get the bass right on Kanye West's music, because the bass does sound distorted often, as mentioned in another review of these. Oh, these have the kind of tight-bass I like with my rock, but with rap it was too distorted sounding most of the time. Note: all voices sound amazing with these, hence the pronounced highs produced. I really thought that my Smashing Pumpkins would come alive with these, but the sound was only mildy better than the sony's all throughout, and it did'nt wow me anymore than when I first tried on the sony's. I have a high tolerance for pain, and dont mind some uncomfort for great sound, but like clockwork these became really uncomfortable after a few hours. I believe Shure knows this, and they let customers know not to listen to music for over and hour at a time. It's not for hearing loss, it's because these can and will get uncomfortable, no matter what great seal you initially have. I admit I had tons of fun experimenting with these for about a week, but this is where I decided I would return these for something comparable.
Poetically, a friend of a friend who I met days after I purchased these was boasting about his UE Studio 3's, that he bought 2 1/2 years ago and still worked great apparently! Although I never got a chance to try his out, he gave me a thorough review of my Shure 110's. "Nice try, the UE's are just better than this man"!! Obviously, he was biased and only listened to a few songs, but I just believed him, being a band person and all. He later explained that he was in the market for the UE 5's. So, I ordered a red pair of UE Studio 3s off of buy.com today($59.99 - no joke, but in red only). I am looking forward to getting them now, because these 110s are good earphones, but I could get better for less cash. Yes, I have nothing better to do today than write this, good luck to everyone in their purchase, hope this helps somewhat. I will definitely get back to you if you have any questions or comments within a reasonable time frame(not, say, 3 years from now). Also, I planning to review the UE's also. Peace.

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Summary: Owned 3 pair of Shure E2C, all failed within 1 yr. Cords intact, but lost sound in left ear... Tried UE brand, but "bendable custom fit" wire in the cord ...

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Summary: Owned 3 pair of Shure E2C, all failed within 1 yr. Cords intact, but lost sound in left ear... Tried UE brand, but "bendable custom fit" wire in the cord around the ear = weak point = cord split + failure in 6 mo. Shure lasted the longest (12 mo.) in a "tough" environment where I need to remove my earbuds dozens of times a day @ work. YMMV.

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Summary: These earphones feel SO confortable, especially the foam earbuds! They fit and feel so good! You can wear them the traditional cable down way and they still sound great! The ...

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Summary: These earphones feel SO confortable, especially the foam earbuds! They fit and feel so good! You can wear them the traditional cable down way and they still sound great! The bass is a bit weak, but it sounds much better than regular cheap $10-$30 earphones. I bought these earphones from eBay for about $80 with shipping, but I don't think its worth over $100. I recommend these earphones for those who like comfortable earphones that sound better than the ones that came with their MP3 player, but look for bargains on eBay.

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Summary: I previously owned an Ultimate Ears Super.fi 3 Studio ($99). Its sound was spectacularly bright, with perfect flat response. After almost 2 yrs of workout abuse, the cord (which ...

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Summary: I previously owned an Ultimate Ears Super.fi 3 Studio ($99). Its sound was spectacularly bright, with perfect flat response. After almost 2 yrs of workout abuse, the cord (which was extremely thin and HIGHLY susceptible to tangling) shorted.

Hearing great things about Shure's competing SE110 ($99), I decided to try it out. I was pleasantly impressed with the build quality of the earpieces (as good as UE), as well as the cord (better than UE).

Out of the box, the SE110's cable length was barely 2 ft, which was a bit shocking as most earphones come with a standard 4 ft cord. Thankfully, Shure includes a high-quality extension cable to give more-than-sufficient total length, but now you have a small pendulum swinging from your neck.

The SE110 came with a nice selection of S, M and L sizes of foam ear-tips as well as S, M and L sizes of silicone ear-tips.
My old UE came with S, M and L sizes of silicone ear-tips, M and L sizes of "double-flanged" silicone ear-tips and a single one-size-fits-all foam ear-tip.

After securing the fit with L silicone ear-tips, I hooked up the SE110 to my Cowon iAudio U2 containing a few lossless-encoded WMA's and high-bitrate MP3's.

The sound was good, but I could immediately tell, the SE110's sound was nowhere near as spectacular as my Ultimate Ears Super.fi 3 Studio. The SE110 has good bass response and poor high-freq response. Pop, rock, slows ... they just don't sound as clean, clear and bright as the UE emitted. I think it's the wonderful flat response (not a bass-favoured one, as CNet claims) from a single full range precision balanced armature (not a dynamic driver, as CNet claims) that enables the UE Super.fi 3 Studio to deliver crisp mids and stellar highs with enough low end, not to mention ample sound isolation.

That said, those who PREFER bass-enhanced sound will likely shun the UE Super.fi 3 Studio and want the Shure SE110.

After using the SE110 for a couple of weeks, I'm returning them and getting a replacement cable ($20) for my Ultimate Ears Super.fi 3 Studio.

For me, the much cleaner and brighter sound of UE is more important than having a cord that doesn't tangle.

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Summary: this are better them bose inear sounds good with ipod touch but low wow effect with pc

Summary: this are better them bose inear sounds good with ipod touch but low wow effect with pc

Summary: These earphones have zero low frequency(bass)output, sound quality is below average, they are difficult to wear behind the ear, with $100 price tag you can get better headphones ...

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Summary: These earphones have zero low frequency(bass)output, sound quality is below average, they are difficult to wear behind the ear, with $100 price tag you can get better headphones out there, i returned them back.

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Summary: Ok just bought these today for 71? (thats euros and not US dollars). My out of the box experience was a bit mixed because the first few attempts of fitting ...

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Summary: Ok just bought these today for 71? (thats euros and not US dollars). My out of the box experience was a bit mixed because the first few attempts of fitting the ear buds incorrectly made feel angry and I almost wanted to take them back where they came from. A few hours latter I finnalllly managed to put them in and my ears were thankful. Quite tired from this ordeal of trying all the foams and sleeves that come with them I finally started to listen to some music.
For all those music lowers, I had some Sony DJ headphones, some in-ear headphones (from phillips, sony and sony ericsson - about the Sony ericsson headphones, they are actually not bad for a standard set of earbuds).
I first tested them with my SE W950 and I was amased about the sound detail that they put out, so I decided to test them on my Labtop with the Creative Audigy 2ZS (THX certified and so on...) and fiddled around with the settings a bit and let me tell you that there is not much that the headphones cant handle. I cant get the volume pass 75 percent (otherwise its simply too loud and not because of distortion, its just too loud). I mainly listen to house, dance, trance... and also 80s 90s music so diffrent types of music was tested and to sum up, they are worth every penny and I only dream of having 500 bucks to see what Shure made with those headphones, although I cant imagine anything better than my SE100s right now.

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