Shure SE535 In-Ear Sound Isolating Earphones - Bronze

I have always been a huge fan on Shure since I first purchased my E4C's a few years back.

Even the E4C's with their single drivers blew me away, but as was frequently reported, the cable (on the E4C's) would wear away and the connection would break - this happened twice, but fortunately both times Shure were absolutely fantastic. I called their customer helpline, explained the problem and the helpful person on the other end simply said to pop them in the post and they'd send out a new pair. No arguments, no excuses or backtracking. Both times they complied willingly. In fact the second time round they replaced them with the new upgraded model SE310's.

Based on my fantastic experience with Shure, once the connection broke again on my SE310's a couple of years later [this time outside my warranty period], I decided to stick with them and upgrade to the SE535. The design of these alone suggests that Shure realised that in previous models they'd been sending out rather too many free replacements - so the SE535's have kevlar coated DETACHABLE cables. Genius. This means that when I fall outside of my warranty period again, IF the cable busts, I'll be able to get a replacement cable instead of forking out what is admittedly enough hard cash to give most people a nasty chin bruise as it thuds to the floor. (Most people who find out how much I spent on earphones do think I'm absolutely mental... BUT they haven't actually HEARD how amazing music CAN sound, which is exactly what these earphones achieve)

So this brings me nicely onto my next and most important part of my review; the sound... This, after all my other waffly guff, is what you are really here to read about.
Let me put it this way, I regularly commute on the tube (the subway trains) in London which is generally rather a noisy affair. Loud clattery trains, and unnecessarily loud tannoy announcements.
Many of the 'iPhone headphone' wearing parade get around this problem by whacking up the volume so loud you wonder why there aren't spots of blood dribbling out their lug-holes. It also means that all the 'non head/earphone-wearing' crowd around them are subjected to what sounds like a distant train transporting a cage of angry insects.

This is NOT the case with the SE535's. Of the wide selection of ear fittings you're given, I personally like to use the foam earplug variety. When these are snugly fitted, I could play the loudest angriest most 'GRRRRRR!' metal song EVER and, as far as everyone around me is concerned, I could be listening to "4 minutes 33" by John Cage.
Further to this, selfishly ignoring the (lack of) experience of others around me, MY OWN experience is phenomenal.

I hear basically NOTHING but the music. I will be stood on the tube platform and a tube train will come screaming into the station with all its clatter, horrible metal-on-metal screeching noises and some tedious platform announcement booming away overhead and I am able to close my eyes and pretend that I am standing in the same room as the song artist(s). The sound is SO clear, the frequency response is awesome.

On the bass level, it's actually quite surreal because when you turn it up a bit on a bassy song, it sounds like you're stood near some über-watt mega subwoofer where normally you would FEEL the bass waves rippling through your body. Unfortunately Shure's current earphone technology doesn't yet provide the physical body-wide bass ripply experience other than in your ears, but my goodness it's awesome.

In short: Amazing. Buy them. Eat baked beans every day for a month with the small change left from your paycheck. At least your ears won't be bleeding.

I got these earphones as a replacement from Shure when the cable on my SE530's cracked. First off, that won't happen with these earphones. They have wisely reinforced the over-ear part so that normal wear won't damage the cable which used to happen a lot on the older models. Also, the detachable cable means that any damage that does occur can easily be replaced without the need to send the enclosures away.

The enclosures themselves are a different shape to the SE530's. At first, i found them quite fiddly to fit into my ear but after a couple of minutes i actually found the 535's easier to fit in. As for the physical fit in the ear, they are just as comfortable as the 530's and after wearing them for a few minutes you begin to forget you have them in. The cables have all been updated and seem of a better and stronger build, but only time will tell.

Sonically, the 535's are amazing. I have used them on a range of devices, from my iPod (using apple lossless and WAV audio) to mixing in ear monitors for live bands. I've found the frequency response to be quite natural, no major boosts or peaks, and the stereo image is clear and present. I only use the large size rubber tips as i remove and replace the earphones quite regularly but the fit in the ear and the seal they create is really good. Outside noise reduction is excellent and it makes listening to audio a lot easier at lower levels.

I'm really enjoying these earphones and would recommend them to anyone who seriously enjoys their music. The title i used is quality earphones for quality audio because you can't use these earphones on low quality, badly ripped mp3's as they really show how bad the sound quality is. The 535's demand high fidelity!

I have spent a lot of money on many different earphones in the last three years. I had some q-jays, shure scl2, then some from sony in the 40-70 range and I ended up with Shure SE530 which was really dissapointing experience ( I mostly listen to rock,pop maybe thats why, who knows) When I saw the SE215, I just said to myself I have to give them a try. That was probably the best decision I could have done. These earphones produces very enjoyable audio experience, it so much fun listening to them. Everytime I put the SE215 on, I can't stop smiling. Therefore I can truly recommend these earphones for everyday use since the price is not high and the fun factor is fantastic.

There is, of course, one cosmetic drawback: It is difficult to find perfect fit first time you try it. The cable has some extra plastic coating(up to 3cm from the earphones) so you can create tight form around your ears. I consider this solution being not very comfortable and you have to be carefull too, because it seems you can break the connection cable-earphone when trying too hard.
Anyway, great earphones, do not hesitate!