Shure E3c, impressive sound quality
Written: Dec 09 '04 (Updated Dec 10 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Extraordinary sound quality, accuracy, perfect fit, light weight and sound insulation.
Cons: None so far
The Bottom Line: Absolutely recommend. Remember, these are not expensive! What really happens is that all your other headphones are cheap!
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| felixcatus's Full Review: Target Shure Sound Isolating Earphones - E3C Radio |
If you read my prior review of the Shure E2c earphones, you may have read that I try them, loved them but couldn't quite fit them in my small ear canals and returned them. However, I was taken by the sound coming out of these headphones and I ordered a pair of E3c's expecting they'll fit me better.
Since the E2c and the E3c are products from the same family, this review will have many points in common with my prior one. My apologies if I'm a little redundant.
The E3c's impressed me right out of the box. They're smaller, much smaller and lighter than the E2c's to begin with, and despite the size, they sound slightly better, if that is possible. It almost feels like having the instruments playing inside your head.
To achieve good results first you'll have to fit the headphones to your ears, same as the E2c's. Without a good fit, the bass is lost and the sound, while good, is not as good as it could be. But once one hits the right fit, the sound is pure nirvana.
Fitting a good fit is easier for the E3c's since they come with more fitting options: one pair of gray, soft silicone earbuds (pre-instaled in the headphone), three additional pairs of gray silicone earbuds, three pairs of clear silicone earbuds and one pair of sponge or foam earbuds. There's also a wax-removal tool which seems to be important (especially if you find yourself a little waxy after spending the night with another 200 people on a plane!).
The yellow sponge buds with the E3's seems to be different from the orange sponge buds that came with the E2's. There must be some difference since Shure provides only one, "one-size-fits-all" yellow sponge buds for the E3's, but three S/M/L sponges buds with the E2's. However, I haven't used them for a long time to tell whether there's a real difference in the quality of the material.
I could write extensively about my favorite settings, but don't think it would be of much help since I guess each person has different size ear canals and different preferences. While most users seems to agree that the sponge buds provide the best insulation and also the best fit (something that can be confirmed through the tests in the Shure website) I would encourage readers to try every available earbud for a period of time to determine which one provides the best sound insulation and also the best sound quality.
Once I had the headphones fitted to my ears, it was time for a test drive! I believe the only way to define these headphones is by saying that they show amazing precision at reproducing all the instruments as they were recorded. Not only the sound comes out clear, without distortions, but one can really tell where the sound engineer intended the instrument to be from left to right. I can close my eyes and almost see the location of the instrument behind my head! The sensation is amazing, especially coming from such small drivers. A few times I've found myself looking at them in disbelief that such sound could come out of these small part weighting less than half-ounce each!
I've tried listening to jazz, a piano concerto, pop songs, heavy rock, you name it. In every case the sound was clear, crisp and precise. One gets to hear such details as the singer's breathing, the fingers slipping over the instruments, small voice arrangements that normally are lost, every detail in the music becomes clear. All that while canceling every other noise in the room.
As I did in my prior review, I have to say that the bass in these headphones is amazingly clear and precise. I've heard that many people find the bass underpowered but I think that's the result many listeners getting used to the exaggerated use of synthesized bass in popular music. If you've ever heard a live bass (even better if it was an acoustic bass) you'll see that the E3c's makes it sound just like it does in stage.
Now on to the hard topic... price! Most people think that the Shures, either the E2c's (sale price $68) or the E3c's (sale price $125) are terribly expensive. I used to think so, but... not anymore.
I'm not rich (in fact I only bought the Shures with points from a membership program) and I didn't feel I could spend $130 in a pair of headsets. However, the more I think about it, the more it makes sense to spend on a quality headphone.
I started thinking of my personal stereo as a system and I concluded that the sound quality would be as good as the cheapest of its components. The headphones are as important as the music source, if not even more important. I've come to realize that it didn't make sense spending $300 in an iPod, encode all my music at high bitrates or perhaps even AAC or Apple Lossless, just to listen to the whole set through a pair of $10 headphones...
I believe most hardware manufacturers discovered long ago that the headphones being the only piece of the equipment in permanent contact with the user are subject to strong personal preferences and tastes. So instead of spending money in quality headphones they provide us with the cheapest thing they can get away with so we can at least taste the product, but they probably know that in the long run we'll all switch to our favorite headphone. And who doesn't have a favorite headphone? Most people I know do.
Either purchased separately or through "headphone evolution" (basically keeping the one that fits better from all the products one buys over the years), we all have our favorite headphones and end up using it with every new piece of equipment instead of whatever the manufacturer provides. Most of the time these are hardly quality headphones, but we grow used to them. Actively buying a portable headset is an absolutely different thing.
On a final note, I believe Shure is up to something here, perhaps along the lines of tapping a new market, massively launching a product we didn't have before but that may become basic in the future. Perhaps even without knowing it, they may be playing a genial marketing hand, akin to Nike producing specialized shoes for each sport or Procter & Gamble launching hair conditioner for mass consumption. Both were products people didn't massively use twenty years or so ago, but now we all do. Perhaps the Shure's will start the trend for high-quality portable earphones (not just high-end players) and we'll see this segment grow and become more important over the years.
And in this segment, the Shure's rule. I know there are other headphones out there in the market almost as good or perhaps even better, maybe cheaper, but they are not portable or as small as Shure's, not to mention also noise-insulating.
So I absolutely recommend these headphones to anyone with an interest in re-discovering his or her music collection. These headphones may seem expensive (now repeat with me three times, "they're not expensive!"), but they will give you a newfound love for music that's priceless.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
felixcatus
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