SE846

I've owned many "in ear" earbuds and I have to say that even though these are around $1,000, they are worth ever penny spent on them. By far, these are the best set of earbuds I have yet to purchase. I started my audiophile obsession with a pair of Shure SE215's and was quite impressed with the sound that I got from a pair of earbuds that where around $100.00 when I purchased these years ago. They sounded great when I got them and then years later they held me over until I finally bought these. More on that below. I then decided to try the others as well. I have a pair of SE315's that I ordered from a different site and I noticed more bass, but they seemed to lack the highs and mids of the 215's. The SE425's, in my opinion are the worst ones I have ever owned. Sorry for those out there who like them, I just think they have a pure sound, but they are lacking in the bass department. I don't use these too often. I usually use these to listen to my iPad when watching a YouTube video or a news clip or something when my better half is watching TV. I finally broke down in 2012 and purchased a set of SE535's. These sounded great and lasted for four years. When I was single, 16 years ago now, I always listened to music at night turned down very low. I now sleep with earbuds listening to music and my better half wears a CPAP machine. He started noticing that he could hear the music playing very slightly coming from the earbuds. I looked at them very closely only to discover that they where starting to separate at the seams. I tried to use superglue to repair them, but that only made a mess and they still where not sealed around the housing. I finally threw in the towel and bought a new set of earbuds.I own several other earbuds as well. I have a pair of Westone W40's that sound very good, they just hurt my ears after wearing them for long periods of time. I don't like the silicone earpieces and the foam isn't much better, they are also a different size if I remember correctly than the Shure foam earpieces. I also have a set of Bowers & Wilkins C5 Series in ear earbuds and they sound really good as well. My only issue with these are that they coil in your inner ear to keep them in place. Nice amount of both bass and highs, but I must have deformed ears as they will not stay in. Also they are a great value for the price now if you can wear them. I decided that in order to get the best out of my Astell & Kern AK100 3ohm edition portable DAC, I was going to have to buy a nice set of earbuds to complement this player. I considered buying a new pair of SE535's, but I decided on buying something different and newer. I first purchased a set of Westone W60's, which cost as much as the Shure SE846's. I started having issues with the right ear piece immediately after receiving them. I thought about how I did not like the fit of the Westones I still own anyway, so I sent them back. I finally decided to buy what I knew was going to be an exceptional set of earbuds and a reliable brand I have enjoyed for years now. The Shure SE846 with built in subwoofer. I did some research on these and read a few comments about them from AVS forums and was sold on another set of Shure in ear headphones.I have a Astell & Kern AK100II model with the dual Cirrus Logic DAC and a pair of special edition Astell & Kern Angie Special Edition balanced earbuds by JH Audio. This is a really nice sounding setup. I still tend to use my first edition AK100 (the 3 ohm version) more as it has a single Wolfson WM8740 DAC and it sounds so much better to me than the dual Cirrus Logic DAC in my Astell & Kern AK100II Player. It seems to really separate the sound much better than the Cirrus Logic chipset. Don't get me wrong, the newer Astell & Kern is very nice as are the Special edition earbuds. This was a gift from my partner for my birthday. But I still listen to my first edition player using these incredible new Shure SE846's as they sound so great together. I am using the inserts that came from the factory in my new Shure earbuds as they are providing plenty of bass for the type music I listen to. I like Rock, Alternative, and New Wave stuff. I listen to bands like Blur, Suede,and Oasis. I also like the Grateful Dead as well as CSN&Y. So my musical taste is all over the place.These are by far the best set of headphones I have ever owned yet. The Angie SE from Astell and Kern are very good as well, but not as comfortable as my Shure SE846 earbuds. I can wear these for hours at a time and have. I use the large black foam ear piece as it fits the best and is the most comfortable. These have the same size jacks as the rest of the Shure line of earbuds. I think it's 3.5mm gold plated and angled which I really like. The newer Astell and Kern models use the Trrs smaller tip. The balanced output of the player is an incredible feature and it sounds incredible as well, it stil doesn't sound quite as good as my first edition player. I'm also not a big fan of using my iPhone for music as it dosent have enough storage, you need a separate DAC and amp all which takes a toll on the battery life, and it dosent do High Resolution files. I bought an iPod and wish now I had not as it never gets any usage. iPhones and iPods also don't play Flac files without an app. It still only plays 24bit/44kHz files, so you need a very good external amp to get the full sound of high resolution. I prefer a separate portable DAC for my music listening and a phone for calling people. I have mostly 24bit/192kHz files on my Astell & Kern Player. It will also do other formats including DSD, but I have a nice set up at home for really high resolution music listening. In fact these Shure earbuds seem to have more bass response than my Beyerdynamic Tesla headphones that I use with my home set up. I have also decompressed a few Apple Music files and added them to my portable player as well and they sound much better than playing them through my iPhone, iPad, or my iPod with an Oppo DAC/Amp combo.This set of headphones has unbelievable bass response as well as highs, mids, and things I was never even able to hear with my SE535 earbuds. I just can't figure out how Shure engineered these earbuds to get this much bass from such a small earpiece. It is a true subwoofer sound and it blows away any set of midrange priced earbuds away. I have always been under the impression that I needed to "break in" my earbuds as well, but if you go to Shure's website, they say that there isn't any difference in sound after the first day or after one hundred days on their earbuds. They only recommend "breaking in" over the ear headphones. They sounded incredible right out of the impressive packaging. These are top notch and come with a set of different inserts for listening taste. One high range, the preinstalled mid range, and a lower range which neither of the other two I have tried yet. The preinstalled inserts are phenomenal in soundstage and everything I have on my player sounds like it's 10 times better than with my older SE535 earbuds. Them come with an attached 60 inch cable, but you also get a shorter cable (40") , a set of various tips, the extra inserts with a tool to change them, a square hard shell case, and a cleaning rag. Everything is all packaged in a really nice magnetic closure cardboard box with the instructions in a slot inside the lid and the product is in a water tight plastic case. Similar to a Pelican case. I'm not sure if it's waterproof, but it appears to be. I have already ordered another square case, one for my earbuds and another for my accessories. I would not hesitate to buy these again and would highly recommend these to any audiophile who is looking to replace their earbuds or is looking to buy another set that has an incredible sound stage that is customizable for less than $1,000. My Angie Special Editions also are customizable by turning a set of screws on the cord, but I want be changing these for awhile if they continue to perform as perfectly as they are doing know.Some user have complained about the comfort of these as opposed to the others in Shure's line up, but I haven't had any comfort issue, in fact these are more comfortable over long periods of time than my SE535s. My only possible regret is that I'm thinking that I should have bought the black or blue model, as clear plastic tends to yellow with age, but if this is their latest flagship in ear headphones, I can't wait to see what in store in the next couple of years. My only other advice is to make sure that the seller you purchase from is an authorized Shure dealer, or your warranty is already no good.

I have listened to many earphones, over the ear "cans", including Bose Noise Cancelling, and nothing, I mean nothing compares to this experience in good listening. I was happy with them when I first received them, but then I started to look up the interchangeable sleeves, and was curious as to what were the differences. The ones that come with the earphones are a neutral, yet tremendous sounding sleeve, but then I curiously looked at the black sleeves, which were labelled "warm". I took about 20 minutes to figure out the way to change them (took my time, since small parts involved and didn't want to break them, or lose anything). I just put them on with the warm "black sleeves", and these bad boys came to life so well, that I had to write my review and not miss the opportunity to describe them to others. I am hearing things on live recordings that I never heard before, including a live "Croz" show that I bought when I went to the NYC Winery on 1/31/13, and I hear him talking to the crowd, the crowd responses, and the clicking of the silverware on a plate, it is that crisp and clear! The base came to life, and the highs are high, mids just right, and I am only at half volume on my player.I am actually playing these on an Astell and Kern AK100, modified by Vinnie of Red Wine Audio when I first bought it. I am amazed at the clarity and again this is on a high bit mp3 album, and when I put this on the original flac file studio album, I got shivers down my spine. Sheer enjoyment, and the old ear canals can't stop thanking me enough! Shane Fontanes leads are crisper than ever.....and Marcus Eatons accoustic riffs sweet as candy, Crosby vocals like he was in the room with me, and the base/Drum bottom of the band incredible. WOW!I am happy that I bought them, and recognize that they are a small fortune, but if you love good music, good sound, and clarity, with a comfort that I have not experienced before in my ears, then these are the earphones for you. I would do this in a heartbeat now, after hearing them, and looking back is 20/20 vision always. But I read review after review, after review, and none said anything bad about these. Nothing bad....excepting for a once off this (comfort) and a once off that (one side fitting different than the other, and the solution was to put the different size tips on). Again once off, kept me digging and every time I did, I was overjoyed to hear more and more great things about them. Nobody on the downside was right about these phones, nobody.I don't work for Shure, and actually don't like the earlier earphones from them. I have had two pair, and still keep an older pair as a spare. I have owned Ultimate Ears, Bose (still have the noise cancelling for trips), Koss Portaphones (several pair and like these for the beach over the ear), and many many others. Never did I find anything that I liked that was "totally satisfactory"! Now I did, and Shure outdid itself with the SE846-CL.One last thing, I didn't listen to these on an Ipod yet, and doubt they will be different, excepting for the fact that with the Astell & Kern AK100, it is an experience in good listenting!Shure SE846CL = Ear Candy for the Heart and Soul. Hope this helps and start saving, they are worth the spend.