Shure SE215 In Ear Monitors Review
Let me start off by saying that these are honestly the best in ear headphones that I've ever heard. I listened to the SE315s at Macworld when they had just come out about 5 years ago, and they had room for improvement, but with these new 215s, I see literally no problem and they will definitely be replacing my beats tour in ears as my primary in ear headphones. Now onto the review:
Let's start with the sound quality...
Highs: The highs are crisp, but somewhat lackluster with a flat EQ. They are definitely better than almost any in ears, but for $120 I was expecting a bit more focus on the high end. 7/10
Mids: Mids are what a majority of the sound that we listen to is categorized as. Encompassing high bass and lower highs, the range here is very large, and these headphones don't miss a single frequency here. The mids are very rich, and the sound really feels like you are sitting in front of a set of KRK Rockits at a perfectly comfortable level with a great EQ. The sound alone makes me want to listen to more and more, and that is most definitely what I plan to do for the next 48hrs. 9/10
Bass: What? Great Bass with In Ear Headphones? Impossible...Wrong. These bad boys pack in the richest and yet darkest sounding bass that I've heard anywhere. Any sub-woofer/speaker combo couldn't provide the bass response that you get from these headphones alone. I think it's because the sound is literally right there in your ear canal, which means that less of the bass is lost in transition. 10/10
Overall Sound: Pretty F**king Amazing. Honestly. Amazing. I'm left speechless when I play bass heavy dubstep, High Frequency Minimal and even moderate Hip-Hop sounds amazing in these. I could honestly listen to the same song on repeat for a day and notice something new that I never heard before with each replay.
The highs are a bit lackluster, but maybe it's just my choice of music. I prefer deep house, Dubstep and Tech House, maybe I should toss some fidget house or trance in there to hear exactly how the highs respond, but for my liking, the lack of super strong highs really highlights the power and crispness of the mids and bass.
Also, looking at the frequency range, it goes all the way down to 22Hz to 17.5kHz, which compared to my Denon HP1000's 5Hz to 33kHz seems lacking, but the fact that the sound goes straight into your ear canal and literally none of it is lost through soft earpads. 9/10
Comfortability: Let me start by saying that these are my first pair of IEMs and as such, I have no comparison besides the SE315s that I tried on at Macworld around 5 years ago, but for me wearing In Ear Headphones for long listening sessions is always my first choice even though by doing so you give up sound quality that you could find in your generic cans, simply because the constant pressure on your ears from even the nicest Sennheisers, Samsons and AKGs is enough to make my ears sore after a couple of hours of good music.
This being said, these Shure SE215s really bridge that gap of sound quality and comfortability. I have enough faith in them in terms of comfort to sleep a full 8hrs worth and not have any ear pains or problems. They simply feel good to have in your ears.10/10
Overall: These are the best headphones that I have owned hands down. They bring in the portability and comfortability of a good pair of in ears, but boast the sound quality of very nice studio headphones while only bringing you back $120 including shipping from Amazon, and knowing amazon you're guaranteed to find them for cheaper elsewhere. If you are on the fence between a new pair of cans and these bad boys, be sure to consider these, as I would highly recommend them to anyone looking for new in ear headphones. I say a solid 9/10, only losing one point for the lack of very strong highs. Final Score 9/10.
