[Review] Shure SE530

[sxr71]

I know some of you are balking at the cost of these and I don't blame you. My experience with IEMs is that if you are not a basshead and I mean someone who listens to music for musical content which resides mainly in the mids, then the ER-4P or ER-4S is IMHO the best buy.

I say this as an owner of the ER-4P and S as well as the UE Triple.fi. I have the SE530s coming in on Monday as well. The Etys are the most versatile phones I have ever heard. If you want more bass for more fun listening on the go then they handle judicious use of bass boost better than anything I've heard. In fact I consider the ER-4P almost a canvas which you can use to make your music sound like what you want it to for on-the-go listening.

For critical listening, (yes I use the ER-4S for that even having Grado SR-225s and the AKG-K701) I do not use any EQ and they sound phenomenal!

One thing as an audiophile the main reason why we use headphones is to get the sound of a major 5 figure stereo system for hundreds. One reason why headphones excel at that is the lack of a crossover network. While I think the UE Triple.fi sounds great, I would avoid a crossover in a situation where excellent results in terms of frequency response can be achieved without it.

Still, at the end of the day maybe you can get your $500 headphones + $400 amp + nice $1200 CD player to sound like a $50,000 stereo setup in many ways, but I can tell you that my $300 pair of NHT M-00 powered monitors give me more satisfaction at home. Nothing can touch the realism of speakers setup correctly. That means measuring all distances and angles from the speakers to you.

BTW, the SE530 are available for $300 just look at Amazon marketplace.

Also for those of considering a SE420, don't do it. I got one and returned it in 2 days. I haven't heard an SE530 yet, but all reports on Head Fi state that the jump from SE420 to SE530 is huge. I found the SE420 disappointing for its price. If you want Shure go straight for the SE530 or try the current version of the E4c ( I forgot what they call those now SCL- something).

Edited July 5, 2008 by sxr71

[Aerrow]

If you're an audiophile I could understand about $100 but $500 dollars for earbuds! That's, that's creepy. The highest I would spend for earbuds would be $50.

[Cormier6083]

That was an alright review...doesn't make me want to go out and spend $500 though.

+1

[Snakehn]

Great review, but wouldn't spend $500 on earbuds, not in this life LOL

[.tony]

I definitely wouldn't spend that much if I had an iPod.

My guess is you've had modifications performed to your iPod at the very least?

My setup is fairly basic. Creative EP-630 + Samsung YP-K3, I can't say I'm an audiophile, but I can say that my EP's sound terrible bundled with an iPod with EQ settings.