Pros: Comfortable, nice sound
Cons: Fit takes a bit getting used to
Well here's what I have to say about the SE215. I am a high school student so I don't have too much experience with hi-fi stuff but I am an semi-pro musician so I know what good sound is and that stuff. But then again, everything here in this review is purely subjective and should be left for you to decide when you buy :)
I picked up my SE215's at Best Buy for $99.99 which was a pretty nice deal. I was debating getting these or Klipsch S4's but I eventually caved into buying my first Shure earphones. I am not disappointed at all with my purchase. I have owned Shure mic's and turntable cartridges so I know that they have great quality and customer support.
These earphones are built quite sturdy with some tough looking plastic. At first, I thought the driver was encased in full arcrylic but it is only a plastic shell. The cable is thick yet soft and the stress reliefs seem adequate. The accessories included are enough for everyday use: carry case, 3xFoam tips, 3x silicone tips. I was a bit surprised though that there were no multi-flange tips included though.
The fit kinda took some getting used to for me. The primary IEM's I had been using before were the TF10 and SoundMagic Pl30. The TF10 is just weird and the PL30 sit fairly loose in the ear so the Shure fit was different at first since it actually fit inside my ear taking up all the space. It took me about 15 minutes to mold the memory cable into a position that suited me but afterwards it was fine.
The SE215's definitely sound amazing for their price. I burned them in for ~50 hours using various noises and music. I find the burn in balanced out the sound a bit compared to straight out of the box. The bass is definitely the strong point of these IEM's. The bass is quite punchy and feels accurate. I find there is a mid-bass hump though which gets kinda annoying in some tracks with vocals. Also, it might of just been me, but I find that the bass distorts a bit when the notes go low and the volume is turned up. The mids are adequate: not great but they don't suck either. I find that they just don't sound as smooth as I would prefer. The highs are nice and I find they are able to reproduce quite a bit of detail. I haven't found the high's to sound harsh yet. These IEM's don't have large soundstage and you definitely feel as if you are listening to a recording. But then again, you feel that way when using alot of IEM's.
I don't have too many IEM's to compare to so I'm just going to skip that part.....
Overall, I find these SE215's are excellent value considering their price point. They are now my new 'everyday' earphones so I hope that they will be able to withstand some abuse :p They definitely surpass Monster Beats and many other 'mainstream' headphones that may cost even more than these. They can't compete with multi-driver BA IEM's but are good for what they're worth.
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